Same Racist Shit Different Year.

Oh Korea, you never fail to show your ass to the world. When asked by people at home if I would ever go back to Korea to live my answer is no. I just couldn't put up with the racist and bigoted bull shit again. If I hadn't used the internet as an outlet to vent when I was there I probably would have lost it. I would never willingly put myself in that situation again. Hopefully, things will change there but looking at some of the current headlines it is a long way off.

An American teacher was turned down by a school for the fact he was black. In fact, that was the reason they told his recruiter and was TEXTED to him.

Sadly, this still doesn't surprise me when talking about South Korea. Nor does the response of the Korean Human Rights Committee.

An official at the National Human Rights Commission of Korea acknowledged that there is no anti-discrimination law in Korea and it would be difficult to take any punitive action in most of the cases.

It would be difficult so we won't even try to do anything about it. Way to protect human rights. It was a better response that a guy I know got when he contacted them back in 2006 about CYJ English Academy's racist ad.  He was told that while it was discriminatory it wasn't discriminatory enough. These are the same fucktards that said banning the use of cell phones in schools was a violation of students Human Rights. What the kimchi?!?!?!?

The official from Butler Child Academy in Sangdo Seoul made all the usual comments to excuse their actions. The children would be scared of him. We had to fill the position quickly and had already found someone. (Yet he was texted his rejection on his way to the interview.) They then fell back on a variation of  an over used Korean cop out ...

“I suspect that there was some miscommunication between him and the recruiter.”

Ah, miscommunication and passing the buck. It was the recruiters fault. It was miscommunication. The recruiter shouldn't have told him the racist reason we gave. It wasn't our fault. Mind you calling it miscommunication is a step up from the over used misunderstanding. Which I found Korean's tend to use when they had lied and you had caught them.

It seems like Korea hasn't advanced that much since I left, at least when it comes to racism. While I could visit there it isn't a place I could live in again. Or even advise others to live in.

Social Experiment

What can I say, I am proud of how this "experiment" turned out. It proves what I have always though about Canada and Canadians.

I heard a lot of people (which means foreigners) in South Korea talking about how they would treat Koreans if they encountered them at home. It pissed me off. I hated how foreigners were treated in South Korea. I would never want to make someone feel that hated in Canada. It is something I actually thought about while there. Something I thought about before I came home and after I returned.

In South Korea I was pretty much labelled as a piece of shit just because I was a foreigner. In my first couple of months I was labelled as having aids just because I was a foreigner. I was labelled as a just wanting to rape/molest "their" women. I always felt like a 3rd class or worse citizen there. Which is why people talking about "giving it back" to Koreans in their home country bothered me.

If I hated being treated some way why the hell would I want to treat someone that way. It would make me a hypocritical piece of shit. Which is worse than being a piece of shit. I wanted to make sure I never treated a foreigner in Canada the way I was treated in South Korea.

While I don't like these ambush type of "media" stories it does make me feel good. I have always thought of Canadians as being tolerant. That "we" wouldn't put up with racist bullshit. This "experiment" actually confirmed it for me. 

What the ... spoof?!?!?

Football Reality or Fantasy? It is hard to tell. A video has been posted on YouTube purported to be an Official North Korean news report about how they are poised to take on Portugal for the World Cup tomorrow. It could be a spoof someone made. However, considering  their reported excuse for the NK women's team losing years ago, it is also believable that the NK's actually reported this.

It is a country that constantly tries to rewrite reality to inflate their own sense of being and importance.

Hairy Bikers Asian Adventure

The Hairy Bikers did a series in Asia. The 6th and final episode was done in South Korea. I liked it.

Unlike a lot of shows that went to South Korea it didn't focus on the bizarre. It focused on what is normal there. Samkyubsal, fried chicken, traditional markets and street food. It was pretty good and had me reminiscing. Watching the market scenes had my mouth watering.

I liked how they talked about what food would be a hit back in the UK. And talked about what was actually popular in the West.

The kimchi making was well done. It reminded me of the time I made sauerkraut with my Great Aunt. Damn I miss her. :(

I really enjoyed the way they looked at Korean history too.

Strangely enough I even liked the way Gangnam Style kept showing up. :)

Damn I want some bibimbap now. And samkyubsal. And yangyum chicken. Sundae!!!!

What the ... bureautards?!?!?!? Part 3

And they wonder why people don't like dealing with Government?!?!? Following the rules? Or think that Government agencies are incompetent?!?!?

My issue with the International Tax Services Office (ITSO) of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has been resolved! Mind you they neglected to TELL ME! They sent me 2 letters to let me know it was under review. Notthing to tell me it was resolved.

It took over 4 months for them to "review" the issue. All they had to do was confirm that I entered Canada to stay on May 10th 2010. Something that I HAD informed the "mother office" of back in 2011. But momma don't tell the young'uns nothing it seems.

Now, finally, the issue is resolved. They confirmed I moved home on that date and became a full resident citizen of Canada then. Let the next phase of bull shit begin!

I got a letter from the GST branch of CRA today stating that ... wait for it ... wait for it ... I owe them money. Not only do I owe them money but they are withholding and garnishing what I owe from GST payments and any tax refund I may get. Nice of them to mail me and let me know there was a problem. Wait until GST payment time and deliver a fait accompli. Fucktards.

What is the problem? Well, now that ITSO acknowledges I have been a resident citizen of Canada since May of 2010 they informed the mother office. Who then informed the other babies. It doesn't matter that the mother office was informed of this a couple of years ago nothing is official until ITSO says so. Now they have spoken.

The GST office says wow! We now know, thanks to ITSO and not CRA that Flint moved back to Canada in May of 2010. We have no information on what he earned abroad for the first 3-4 months of 2010. He has to pay us back all of the GST payments he got in 2011! NOW!

As I said, there was no communication until the letter I got today which delivered a fait accompli. Nothing REQUESTING information. Nothing saying without said information this will happen. Just a letter demanding payment or else they will garnish it. With some bureaucratese on the last page of a 3 page demand stating that they need to know my "world income" earned in Canadian funds for the part of 2010 I wasn't living in Canada. (It makes me wonder how many people just see a letter like that and pay the amount without looking into things.)

They could have simply send a letter saying "Hey, we just found out you lived outside of Canada until May 2010. Could you let us know how much you earned in 2010 while living outside Canada?" That would be too easy. Too civil. Instead attack attack attack!!! Bureautards.

So, I called the 1-800 number and talked to a woman about what was going on. She was incredibly helpful and patient. GREAT customer service skills! Once again, as with ITSO, the solution hinges on mailing them a letter. This one stating what I earned abroad in 2010 and if possible 2009. Wouldn't it have been nice if they had just asked for that from the start?

The letter is in the mail. I expect the next problem to be them wanting some form of documentation about this. The school I worked at closed down shortly after I left South Korea. That makes it kind of hard to get documentation. What can I say, dealing with the government has left me jaded. I expect this to be a problem that takes a while, a long while, to resolve and odds are I won't be informed of the outcome directly.

I am now officially sorry that I followed the rules. I did what I was supposed to. Filled out income tax forms for Canada the first 2 years I was away. Followed procedure and let CRA known when I was back. It has led to nothing but headaches dealing with the bureaucracy. As soon as one problem is cleared up with a branch of CRA another pops up. Problems which should either never have happened if the various branches of CRA communicated with each other or could have been resolved years ago if the branches talked to each other.

This is why people think the Government and it's attendant bureaucracy are a bunch of fucktards and don't trust dealing with them.