RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

Teaching is a profession (despite what some uppity expats here might think), not a charity/volunteer work.

I don't think that professionalism is really the point.

You are an employee. Employees are provided with what they need to do their job.

If you were a contractor* then the discussion would start with an RFP, answered by your proposal, including your rate. Your proposal would make it clear who is responsible for what.

Could you imagine working in burger shop and being told that you had to provide the ketchup?

*for more than just tax purposes.

Agreed. It's always been crazy to me (and no, this isn't just an "in Korea" thing) how schools seem to think teachers should buy their own supplies. Like, if you don't have the supplies necessary to teach students, are you really a school?

Seriously, how are Koreans not committing suicide by the droves as a result of this ridiculous culture... oh wait.

I know this is the ranting/venting thread but... my dude... are you okay?

Seriously, dude is going on about 40 degree whether at 11AM (which a simple weather report debunks) and kids getting heat stroke (seriously, if there's one group of people who can run endlessly in the heat and be fine- it's kids.)

And oh my goodness, the kids wanted to RUN AROUND during their water balloon fight. The horrors! (although picking up water balloon bits does suck)

He does have a point on the garbage bags. Those things are like 1,000 won. Who cares? Go get another one.

Teaching is a profession (despite what some uppity expats here might think), not a charity/volunteer work.

I don't think that professionalism is really the point.

You are an employee. Employees are provided with what they need to do their job.

If you were a contractor* then the discussion would start with an RFP, answered by your proposal, including your rate. Your proposal would make it clear who is responsible for what.

Could you imagine working in burger shop and being told that you had to provide the ketchup?

*for more than just tax purposes.

Agreed. It's always been crazy to me (and no, this isn't just an "in Korea" thing) how schools seem to think teachers should buy their own supplies. Like, if you don't have the supplies necessary to teach students, are you really a school?

I don’t think teachers should have to buy stuff unless they want to buy it. Things like stickers or stamps for younger children. That being said I remember when I was in school and a teacher said I PAID FOR THIS WITH MY OWN MONEY like we were supposed to congratulate her. I always thought that she should not have bought it and not lectured us. If I had known about slow claps I would have slow clapped at any moment I heard that.

Teachers in Toronto are not paid like teachers in West Virginia.

Seriously, dude is going on about 40 degree whether at 11AM (which a simple weather report debunks) and kids getting heat stroke (seriously, if there's one group of people who can run endlessly in the heat and be fine- it's kids.)

   We had record highs in the Daegu area -- highest recorded since records began in 1907 (so possibly they were the highest temperatures ever in Korea, for all we know!). 
   Temps were up at 40.7 Celcius at one o' clock in the afternoon. I assume Aristocrat's rant was referring to one of the days during this heat wave.

Seoul also had temps hovering around 40.

https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/south-korea-sets-all-time-record-high-temperature-amid-deadly-heat-wave/70005657

Nonstop talking over the PA.

I have no idea what they're saying, but I doubt anyone is actually listening.

It's been going for the last 15 minutes now.

   We had record highs in the Daegu area -- highest recorded since records began in 1907 (so possibly they were the highest temperatures ever in Korea, for all we know!). 
   Temps were up at 40.7 Celcius at one o' clock in the afternoon.

I recently learned from a Korean co-worker that Daegu is apparently the hottest part of Korea during the summer, and as such, Koreans have nicknamed Daegu "Dafrica." Haha.

   We had record highs in the Daegu area -- highest recorded since records began in 1907 (so possibly they were the highest temperatures ever in Korea, for all we know!). 
   Temps were up at 40.7 Celcius at one o' clock in the afternoon.

I recently learned from a Korean co-worker that Daegu is apparently the hottest part of Korea during the summer, and as such, Koreans have nicknamed Daegu "Dafrica." Haha.

I think this is supposed to be the main reason why the Daegu area is used for growing those expensive gift apples. It has the perfect "tropical" climate for growing them.

Before anyways says it, yes, I'm aware that I chose to live in Korea and I should expect this.

So why the heck are vegetables always spicy??? Unless they're serving salad, the veggie side dishes are always red, and just looking at it is threatening to me.

Not trying to complain but my low-tolerance for spicy food makes it hard to enjoy school lunch sometimes. My second school especially, which is situated in the the countryside. Today was bulgogi, spicy fish cake soup, kimchi (of course), and some other veggie covered in red. The bulgogi was bearable, but everything else wasn't. I just wanna eat healthy, but they make it way more difficult 

So why the heck are vegetables always spicy??? Unless they're serving salad, the veggie side dishes are always red, and just looking at it is threatening to me.

I like spicy food a lot, but I don't want all of my food to be spicy all the time.

Before anyways says it, yes, I'm aware that I chose to live in Korea and I should expect this.

So why the heck are vegetables always spicy??? Unless they're serving salad, the veggie side dishes are always red, and just looking at it is threatening to me.

Not trying to complain but my low-tolerance for spicy food makes it hard to enjoy school lunch sometimes. My second school especially, which is situated in the the countryside. Today was bulgogi, spicy fish cake soup, kimchi (of course), and some other veggie covered in red. The bulgogi was bearable, but everything else wasn't. I just wanna eat healthy, but they make it way more difficult 

Why not make a healthy lunch and take it with you? It's what I do.

Before anyways says it, yes, I'm aware that I chose to live in Korea and I should expect this.

So why the heck are vegetables always spicy??? Unless they're serving salad, the veggie side dishes are always red, and just looking at it is threatening to me.

Not trying to complain but my low-tolerance for spicy food makes it hard to enjoy school lunch sometimes. My second school especially, which is situated in the the countryside. Today was bulgogi, spicy fish cake soup, kimchi (of course), and some other veggie covered in red. The bulgogi was bearable, but everything else wasn't. I just wanna eat healthy, but they make it way more difficult 

Why not make a healthy lunch and take it with you? It's what I do.

1. I'm clueless when it comes to preparing affordable, tasty "healthy" food. (What's cheap and healthy at the grocery store?)

2. I'm paying $4 a meal, I'd like to get my money's worth 

   We had record highs in the Daegu area -- highest recorded since records began in 1907 (so possibly they were the highest temperatures ever in Korea, for all we know!). 
   Temps were up at 40.7 Celcius at one o' clock in the afternoon.

I recently learned from a Korean co-worker that Daegu is apparently the hottest part of Korea during the summer, and as such, Koreans have nicknamed Daegu "Dafrica." Haha.

I think this is supposed to be the main reason why the Daegu area is used for growing those expensive gift apples. It has the perfect "tropical" climate for growing them.

It is pronounced Deprica, I think. They used to, but I have heard that Daegu pretty much doesn't produce apples any longer, although, still known for apples (and prettier girls?). Also up in Seoul last week it was hotter than Daegu was, somewhere around 2 degrees hotter. Most of that could be due to city heat, considering everything is paved. It is really bad in Seoul because the temperatures don't drop due to the ground and buildings holding so much heat during the night.

Why not make a healthy lunch and take it with you? It's what I do.

1. I'm clueless when it comes to preparing affordable, tasty "healthy" food. (What's cheap and healthy at the grocery store?)

2. I'm paying $4 a meal, I'd like to get my money's worth 

If you don't like the school lunches, just drop by the admin office and cancel your subscription. It's usually a month by month thing in most schools, so it shouldn't be a huge issue.

   I never used to eat lunch, so I opted out of all my schools' lunch services. But I recently moved my running time to early mornings (because it's so *&$^&% hot in the evenings), so now, by the time lunch comes around, I'm pretty ravenous.

   I usually pack a small tupperware with a salad in it (lettuce, a few cherry tomatoes, and some grated cucumber and carrots) along with a small container of dressing. Also, one or two of those yoghurt cups. And enough coffee mix sticks to induce diabetic shock in a gummy bear. Total cost is about 3 or 4 thousand won. 

Before anyways says it, yes, I'm aware that I chose to live in Korea and I should expect this.

So why the heck are vegetables always spicy??? Unless they're serving salad, the veggie side dishes are always red, and just looking at it is threatening to me.

Not trying to complain but my low-tolerance for spicy food makes it hard to enjoy school lunch sometimes. My second school especially, which is situated in the the countryside. Today was bulgogi, spicy fish cake soup, kimchi (of course), and some other veggie covered in red. The bulgogi was bearable, but everything else wasn't. I just wanna eat healthy, but they make it way more difficult 

Why not make a healthy lunch and take it with you? It's what I do.

1. I'm clueless when it comes to preparing affordable, tasty "healthy" food. (What's cheap and healthy at the grocery store?)

2. I'm paying $4 a meal, I'd like to get my money's worth 

Fruit, veges, meat, seeds, and nuts.
I usually just make chicken and pasta, and take a couple pieces of fruit with me. - Simple, doesn't take that long to make, and it's pretty tasty. I have students that will ask me for some of my lunch every day, because they like my cooking :p

Otherwise, I make a protein smoothie. I use apple mangoes, bananas, blueberries, this liquid strawberry yoghurt the supermarket sells, sometimes sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, chia seeds (any combination of the 4), and 2 scoops of this protein powder that I buy (2 scoops sounds like a lot, but it's this special kind, and the scoops are a lot smaller).

And if I'm too lazy for either of the 2. Can't go wrong with a couple of peanut butter sandwiches and a few pieces of fruit.

And yeah, the cost of the lunches are usually paid monthly, you can opt out of them too.

Thanks you guys! I like the sound of some of these meals! (And thanks for reminding me, I was an avid chicken/pasta cooker back home )

I just wanna eat healthy, but they make it way more difficult 

I don't eat meat so all my packed lunches are generally vegetables. I use lentils, rice, salad vegetables. I have been going healthy recently so I am meal planning and it is actually turning out pretty good. I also use frozen fruits or even fresh fruits for smoothies. Whatever I can find to make smoothies.

I ate a lot of pasta when I came to Korea so I cannot stand it now but pasta will help too. I think if you can find the general spices you used at home, it can make it a lot easier to eat the food and not end up eating spicy food.

I love spicy food but the sweetness kills me. So gotta cook. 

do other countries always put granulated sugar into their food? my wife and MIL even put a ton of sugar into bibimbap. why? makes it taste horrible

do other countries always put granulated sugar into their food? my wife and MIL even put a ton of sugar into bibimbap. why? makes it taste horrible

That seriously sounds like a family quirk, or something that your wife picked up from you MIL when she was growing up. I have eaten many a bibimbab with different places, all over the country, and have never once seen that. I have mostly seen granulated sugar added to bread or "donuts" or corn dogs.

That seriously sounds like a family quirk, or something that your wife picked up from you MIL when she was growing up. I have eaten many a bibimbab with different places, all over the country, and have never once seen that. I have mostly seen granulated sugar added to bread or "donuts" or corn dogs.

Second this. I've never even heard of this, let alone seen it EVER in my 6 years here.

My school is in the process of installing more elevators to improve accessibility. That's awesome, because there are a couple of mobility-impaired students at the school, and I can see how much they struggle going between floors in the building that doesn't have elevators. They each have assigned caretakers to go with them and make sure they don't fall, but having elevator access to every floor of every building will definitely be a much better solution. I'm stoked for them.

HOWEVER.

This is the ranting thread, so rant I must. The installation of the elevators was supposed to be completed over the course of summer break. It seems the school and the contractors were delayed in coming to an agreement on a contract, though, so work began ten days later than it was supposed to. That means rather than being done before this semester started, it will be done ten days or so afterwards. That means any classrooms anywhere near the construction get to deal with construction sounds all day (because of course they aren't waiting until after school hours to work on it). The noise ranges from mildly irritating to unbearable. It's distracting to the students, makes listening exercises more difficult, and causes me to have to raise my voice far more often than I'd care to.

I thought that was the worst of it, but this afternoon someone was doing some construction work in one of the main halls of the building I'm in. He was using an pneumatic nailgun to install wooden paneling of some sort, complete with pneumatic hose running down and across the hallway, all while the hall was packed with students going to and from class. It was creating a choke point leading up to a tripping hazard right by someone using a freaking nail gun around students. He had set up a small barricade of two desks and some hazard tape, but the students didn't seem too bothered about just walking on either side of it, and the construction worker didn't appear to feel the need to correct the students who walked on his side of the barrier or to stop working until everyone had passed.

I had to play the nosy troublesome foreigner by scolding the students I saw walk on the wrong side of the barrier, then grumbling about how dangerous the situation was to the head English teacher in my office. Thankfully, the head teacher realized I had a point, so she went out and asked the workers to kindly refrain from using dangerous tools whenever there are large numbers of students trying to get to class.

Nearly seven years here, and Korean schools still find ways to surprise me.