RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

So I moved to my apartment yesterday in Habuk (Yangsan). After picking me up from the office of education and we headed to Yangsan, he kept telling me that he has two daughters at home and his wife is angry so he had to go home. I didn't get to the Immigration Bureau or the bank. Luckily I had told him I should buy groceries so he took me there. He didn't look too happy because he was such in a rush to go home. I realized after my co-teacher had left that my apartment did not have bedsheets, pillows or blankets. Thankfully my scarves were big enough to be used as my shower towel, my bedsheet and blanket. I didn't have wifi in my apartment so I walked to Paris Baquette and met an elderly Russian man whom I tried to speak to but he just cut me out. I am terribly lonely and although I know it's only the first few days here, I'm freaking out about how bad this could be. I just expected to be better taken cared of instead of just being tossed to figure everything out by myself. :(

Anyone in Habuk or has ever been in Habuk?

Hopefully I can offer somewhat more helpful advice!

I can understand feeling a bit let down by the crappy care provided by your new coworker... especially considering that introducing the NET to their new home and ensuring that they're settled is actually a duty that the NET handler is explicitly responsible for.
Sucks that the dude wanted to be home with his family, but if he didn't want to bothered on weekends, he should never have let the more senior teachers saddle him with the job. 

In so far as sheets and blankets go, they're ridiculously hard to find, and expensive to boot. You might have better luck buying one of those thin mattress cover blankets. Pillows and pillow covers are a bit more ubiquitous: many mid/large sized grocery stores will have them tucked way somewhere.

As for the loneliness... focus on the adventure! Strangeness is just an invitation to go exploring! Make the effort to go out and experience new things things, and you'll be endlessly amused.

Best of luck, and hopefully we'll see more of your posts in the Happy/Rave thread than in the  Rant/Whinge one! 

I don't mean to butt in and be like "You're wrong!"    but every supermarket / department store I've been to has sheets and blankets, so it really must depend where you live. They can be expensive though but not too bad. OP just find the biggest store near you and you should find something   

Also OP when you get to school, ask them about that sort of thing, they might have a budget to buy you things.

Just saw where you live and its a bit rural but good luck! There should be a big ish store somewhere.

Maybe it's partially due to the heat but I think I'm already burnt out on teaching elementary. It's just so, so, repetitive. My coT always makes a point of telling me to save the materials to the computer and to print her copies of the materials and lesson plan-- because I totally haven't been doing that for nearly the past year.     Like, woman! I know! Do you just like to hear yourself talk??

Middle school is a lot more fun, at least.

Maybe it's partially due to the heat but I think I'm already burnt out on teaching elementary. It's just so, so, repetitive. My coT always makes a point of telling me to save the materials to the computer and to print her copies of the materials and lesson plan-- because I totally haven't been doing that for nearly the past year.     Like, woman! I know! Do you just like to hear yourself talk??

Middle school is a lot more fun, at least.

I normally teach middle, and they had me do a week of elementary.  I was bored out of my damn mind.  You just stand there and watch as the kids tape shit together.  It's so sloooow.

Maybe it's partially due to the heat but I think I'm already burnt out on teaching elementary. It's just so, so, repetitive. My coT always makes a point of telling me to save the materials to the computer and to print her copies of the materials and lesson plan-- because I totally haven't been doing that for nearly the past year.     Like, woman! I know! Do you just like to hear yourself talk??

Middle school is a lot more fun, at least.

In what way is middle school more fun? Just curious. I teach 6th grade and have a blast, but when students return for Teacher's Day or whatever other reason and I happen to see them, they almost invariably say they hate middle school. Maybe it's just "something you say" or they're trying to make me feel good by saying their time in my school was superior, but I do get the impression that middle school is when the fun stops and the mind-numbing test prep begins.  Not so for middle school English? At least in the native speaker's class?

Maybe it's partially due to the heat but I think I'm already burnt out on teaching elementary. It's just so, so, repetitive. My coT always makes a point of telling me to save the materials to the computer and to print her copies of the materials and lesson plan-- because I totally haven't been doing that for nearly the past year.     Like, woman! I know! Do you just like to hear yourself talk??

Middle school is a lot more fun, at least.

In what way is middle school more fun? Just curious. I teach 6th grade and have a blast, but when students return for Teacher's Day or whatever other reason and I happen to see them, they almost invariably say they hate middle school. Maybe its just "something you say" or they're trying to make me feel good by saying their time in my school was superior, but I do get the impression that middle school is when the fun stops and the mind-numbing test prep begins.  Not so for middle school English? At least in the native speaker's class?

And staying longer at hagwons, sometimes until 10 p.m. during exam season.

Maybe it's partially due to the heat but I think I'm already burnt out on teaching elementary. It's just so, so, repetitive. My coT always makes a point of telling me to save the materials to the computer and to print her copies of the materials and lesson plan-- because I totally haven't been doing that for nearly the past year.     Like, woman! I know! Do you just like to hear yourself talk??

Middle school is a lot more fun, at least.

I normally teach middle, and they had me do a week of elementary.  I was bored out of my damn mind.  You just stand there and watch as the kids tape shit together.  It's so sloooow.

I teach at 2 middles and an elementary. The elementary is my favourite by far. They give me the freedom to do whatever lessons I want, as they just want me for my exposure to a non-American accent.

In so far as sheets and blankets go, they're ridiculously hard to find, and expensive to boot. You might have better luck buying one of those thin mattress cover blankets. Pillows and pillow covers are a bit more
 ubiquitous: many mid/large sized grocery stores will have them tucked way somewhere.

I don't mean to butt in and be like "You're wrong!"    but every supermarket / department store I've been to has sheets and blankets, so it really must depend where you live. They can be expensive though but not too bad. OP just find the biggest store near you and you should find something   

No worries.
And you're right: let me clarify: comforters and covers are pretty easy to find in the bigger places, but actual bed sheets can be trickier.
And yeah, I live in a pretty rural area, so maybe that's it. 

In so far as sheets and blankets go, they're ridiculously hard to find, and expensive to boot. You might have better luck buying one of those thin mattress cover blankets. Pillows and pillow covers are a bit more
 ubiquitous: many mid/large sized grocery stores will have them tucked way somewhere.

I don't mean to butt in and be like "You're wrong!"    but every supermarket / department store I've been to has sheets and blankets, so it really must depend where you live. They can be expensive though but not too bad. OP just find the biggest store near you and you should find something   

No worries.
And you're right: let me clarify: comforters and covers are pretty easy to find in the bigger places, but actual bed sheets can be trickier.
And yeah, I live in a pretty rural area, so maybe that's it. 

The top bed sheet is pretty easy to find, but I had a hell of a time finding one of those mattress sheets, the fitted sheet, so for a while I just used two top sheets.

The sheets here are scratchy and uncomfortable

They sell cotton jersey fitted sheets in Emarts. They're expensive, but worth it.

Maybe it's partially due to the heat but I think I'm already burnt out on teaching elementary. It's just so, so, repetitive. My coT always makes a point of telling me to save the materials to the computer and to print her copies of the materials and lesson plan-- because I totally haven't been doing that for nearly the past year.     Like, woman! I know! Do you just like to hear yourself talk??

Middle school is a lot more fun, at least.

I normally teach middle, and they had me do a week of elementary.  I was bored out of my damn mind.  You just stand there and watch as the kids tape shit together.  It's so sloooow.

I teach at 2 middles and an elementary. The elementary is my favourite by far. They give me the freedom to do whatever lessons I want, as they just want me for my exposure to a non-American accent.

If I could have that freedom, I would probably enjoy elementary a lot more. As it is, I have to make lessons based off the lessons in the books but I'm not allowed to actually use the book at all cause my coT uses the books when she teaches alone (which is fine cause I don't like the books but it means more work).

In what way is middle school more fun? Just curious. I teach 6th grade and have a blast, but when students return for Teacher's Day or whatever other reason and I happen to see them, they almost invariably say they hate middle school. Maybe it's just "something you say" or they're trying to make me feel good by saying their time in my school was superior, but I do get the impression that middle school is when the fun stops and the mind-numbing test prep begins.  Not so for middle school English? At least in the native speaker's class?

In my case I'm given a lot more freedom and although the book lessons are somewhat disjointed, they tend to be more interesting than "This is an apple!" or "I like apples!" Also the students, being older, are able to have more varied conversations than just "I like apples. Do you like apples?" even if their English levels are all over the place. Many of the students like video games so we can somewhat talk about that (though I do have a lot of elementary schoolers who like Minecraft! hahah).

I also like my middle school coTs a lot more. As for all the testing-- I'm hella out in the country and a lot of my kids don't actually care about testing so they don't get stressed out about it. And for the few that do care, they tend to do pretty well anyway. Not too many of my kids go to hagwons since we're so rural, so that's one less thing on the stress list.

They sell cotton jersey fitted sheets in Emarts. They're expensive, but worth it.

IKEA is where most of our sheets come from.  A good balance of low price and acceptable quality.

Maybe it's partially due to the heat but I think I'm already burnt out on teaching elementary. It's just so, so, repetitive. My coT always makes a point of telling me to save the materials to the computer and to print her copies of the materials and lesson plan-- because I totally haven't been doing that for nearly the past year.     Like, woman! I know! Do you just like to hear yourself talk??

Middle school is a lot more fun, at least.

I normally teach middle, and they had me do a week of elementary.  I was bored out of my damn mind.  You just stand there and watch as the kids tape shit together.  It's so sloooow.

I teach at 2 middles and an elementary. The elementary is my favourite by far. They give me the freedom to do whatever lessons I want, as they just want me for my exposure to a non-American accent.

If I could have that freedom, I would probably enjoy elementary a lot more. As it is, I have to make lessons based off the lessons in the books but I'm not allowed to actually use the book at all cause my coT uses the books when she teaches alone (which is fine cause I don't like the books but it means more work).

In what way is middle school more fun? Just curious. I teach 6th grade and have a blast, but when students return for Teacher's Day or whatever other reason and I happen to see them, they almost invariably say they hate middle school. Maybe it's just "something you say" or they're trying to make me feel good by saying their time in my school was superior, but I do get the impression that middle school is when the fun stops and the mind-numbing test prep begins.  Not so for middle school English? At least in the native speaker's class?

In my case I'm given a lot more freedom and although the book lessons are somewhat disjointed, they tend to be more interesting than "This is an apple!" or "I like apples!" Also the students, being older, are able to have more varied conversations than just "I like apples. Do you like apples?" even if their English levels are all over the place. Many of the students like video games so we can somewhat talk about that (though I do have a lot of elementary schoolers who like Minecraft! hahah).

I also like my middle school coTs a lot more. As for all the testing-- I'm hella out in the country and a lot of my kids don't actually care about testing so they don't get stressed out about it. And for the few that do care, they tend to do pretty well anyway. Not too many of my kids go to hagwons since we're so rural, so that's one less thing on the stress list.

I forgot to mention, I also only do grade 6. I actually wanted to make lessons based on the book. I'm not really creative enough to constantly think of a new topic every week that is useful and good. However, I have stumbled onto a method I plan to keep using going forward. It still needs a lot of tweaks at the moment though. I'm looking forward to going back to the elementary tomorrow, as the co-teacher there, actually gives me useful criticism to help me improve.

We have always brought new bedding and linens over from the US when needed, since Koreans prefer quilted, low quality, low thread count bedding and linens.

Thankfully, Amazon now offers a much better selection of bedding that is eligible for shipping to Korea, so having to pack them with should be a thing of the past.

They sell cotton jersey fitted sheets in Emarts. They're expensive, but worth it.

IKEA is where most of our sheets come from.  A good balance of low price and acceptable quality.

I didn't even think about Ikea! I did eventually find one some at Homeplus though.

As for all the testing-- I'm hella out in the country and a lot of my kids don't actually care about testing so they don't get stressed out about it. And for the few that do care, they tend to do pretty well anyway. Not too many of my kids go to hagwons since we're so rural, so that's one less thing on the stress list.

In one sense I'm glad students in the rural areas don't wring themselves out over tests or excessive hagwon attendance, but at the same time that's kind of disconcerting.  I wonder what that says about how they feel about their prospects beyond high school. I wonder what that means for their actual prospects out of high school. I wish the society itself were less competitive and offered alternative ways to get ahead, but if that's the only game in town and they're not playing, they've dropped out. Of course it is just middle school and high school might be a different story, but when you have a senior official from the Ministry of Education saying a majority of the population are "dogs and pigs" and calling Korea to "consolidate the class system because people are not all born equal," you have to wonder how much that ethos has pervaded the system as a whole.

I forgot to mention, I also only do grade 6. I actually wanted to make lessons based on the book. I'm not really creative enough to constantly think of a new topic every week that is useful and good. However, I have stumbled onto a method I plan to keep using going forward. It still needs a lot of tweaks at the moment though. I'm looking forward to going back to the elementary tomorrow, as the co-teacher there, actually gives me useful criticism to help me improve.

Ahhh see I would like that even more! I have grades 3 - 6 for elementary and then all 3 grades of middle school. I feel spread pretty thin to be honest but I know some teachers even teach high school on top of elem. & middle. I even know of a teacher who taught at 5 schools! 

As for all the testing-- I'm hella out in the country and a lot of my kids don't actually care about testing so they don't get stressed out about it. And for the few that do care, they tend to do pretty well anyway. Not too many of my kids go to hagwons since we're so rural, so that's one less thing on the stress list.

In one sense I'm glad students in the rural areas don't wring themselves out over tests or excessive hagwon attendance, but at the same time that's kind of disconcerting.  I wonder what that says about how they feel about their prospects beyond high school. I wonder what that means for their actual prospects out of high school. I wish the society itself were less competitive and offered alternative ways to get ahead, but if that's the only game in town and they're not playing, they've dropped out. Of course it is just middle school and high school might be a different story, but when you have a senior official from the Ministry of Education saying a majority of the population are "dogs and pigs" and calling Korea to "consolidate the class system because people are not all born equal," you have to wonder how much that ethos has pervaded the system as a whole.

Right? I'm happy they're enjoying more time to be just kids but at the same time... those points you mention. In spite of that, I find I don't worry about most of them. I feel like most of them will be okay.

They sell cotton jersey fitted sheets in Emarts. They're expensive, but worth it.

IKEA is where most of our sheets come from.  A good balance of low price and acceptable quality.

I didn't even think about Ikea! I did eventually find one some at Homeplus though.

Guys, Rant! Vent! Tell me what you really think about bedsheets and comforters.

They sell cotton jersey fitted sheets in Emarts. They're expensive, but worth it.

IKEA is where most of our sheets come from.  A good balance of low price and acceptable quality.

I didn't even think about Ikea! I did eventually find one some at Homeplus though.

Guys, Rant! Vent! Tell me what you really think about bedsheets and comforters.

ahahha, that's what I was thinking. It's turning into a bedding chat. It's a ranting thread, not a thread count thread.