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.

What the ... violator?!?!?

Heh, I read a post on Gusts of Popular Feeling that left me laughing. It turns out that Psy's video for his new song "Gentleman" has been banned by KBS because ... heh ... he kicks over a traffic cone at the end. Bwahahahahahaha!!!!!!

It reminded me of when ... surprise surprise ... KBS banned Rain's video for "Love Song" because he ... ran across a deserted street. Which of course is a violation of Korea's traffic laws. And you know how much Korean's love to obey their traffic laws.

And Korean's wonder why the get ridiculed. :)

What the ... copy cats?!?!?

I had thought that I mentioned the culture of copying that exists in South Korea long ago. It turns out that while I can say I did it was really a reference to a great post by Dokdo is Ours. What made me think of it now? A message from a student.

In 2011 I got a smart phone. One of my old students mentioned a program to me called Kakao Talk. According to her it was a great Korean invention that would change the way people used smart phones to communicate. I didn't have the heart to ask her if she had heard of instant messanger or Facebook. I just chalked it down to the usual Nationalistic zeal you see in Koreans. A zeal which often causes them to ignore facts and try to rewrite history. But I digress.

I installed it and it was cute. Nothing really new in the world outside of Korea. I still use it today to keep in touch with some friends and old students. I like the ability to share pictures and videos as well as text.

Last year the same person introduced me to Kakao Story. It is a decent program for sharing photos and stories. When she talked about it being innovative and a game changer I could see where she was coming from. Mind you, I had never used Instagram.

Yesterday I installed Instagram on my phone. Or should I say Kakao Story in English? Wow. Kakao Story is such a rip off of it that it isn't funny. Just when you thought you could believe that someone made something original it turns out to be just another rip off. And not a rip off that actually improved on what Instagram does.

Dokdo Is Ours: A Culture of Copying

The blogger known as Dokdo is Ours departed from his usual style of posts and posted a commentary. It is about the culture of copying in South Korea. I urge you to give it a read.

What the ... Q&A?!?!?!?

I was at work the other day dealing with a customer from Korea. One of my co-workers pointed out to her that I lived in South Korea. (I don't usually mention it because I know the kind of stupidity that can follow.) She immediately started going about how I must miss Korea because Koreans are so kind. Korean food is the healthiest. Blah blah fucking blah.

It reminded me of so much of the propagandist BS that Koreans spouted while I was living there. Korea is the greatest. Kimchi cures all. I bit my tongue because I was at work. 

While I did encounter good (kind) Koreans while living there, I encountered a LOT more rude and obnoxious Koreans. Koreans who believed in fucktardery such as kimchi cures all.

Today I was perusing David Wills blog catching up on posts and comments. I read some of the comments on one post and it caused me to go back and reread the entire post. Part of what he wrote REALLY resonated with me in light of the customer I had dealt with.

Don’t tell the truth. Don’t speak your mind.

Unfortunately, when a Korean is asking you what you think about Korea they don't want the truth. Much like the customer I dealt with didn't really want to hear what I thought about Korea. She wanted to tell me what I thought. If you give them an honest answer that doesn't say Korea is great it won't go over well.

Slurs, sneers, and stares.

"If you're a Jhereg and an Easterner, you have to expect to be insulted from time to time.If you want to live, you have to learn not to take offense at every slur and sneer. But this was beginning to get annoying."

I was recently re-reading the book Taltos, by Steven Brust. (I highly recommend his books.) When I came upon the above quote I chuckled. It SO fits the way foreigners are treated in Korea. I would paraphrase it like this;

If you're a foreigner in South Korea, you have to expect to be insulted. If you want to live, you have to learn not to take offense at every slur, sneer, stare, and rude comment. But sometimes it can be too annoying and you may need to vent in some way.

If I had responded to every major slight, REAL ones not imagined, I would have been in way to many fights. That isn't even considering the smaller slights that happened pretty much daily. One thing South Korea helped me with was to learn to control my temper better than I did before I got there. It just wasn't worth getting physical or even vocal with the idiots most of the time. I am not saying I was perfect and never slipped but for the most part I was able to control my temper. Blogging helped a lot as did venting with friends. It gave me a release for the anger that built up.

For those who complain about bloggers who bitch about the stupidity they encounter in South Korea I have a question. Would you rather people vent and get it off their chests? Hold it in and just go postal one day? Or start attacking every asshole they encounter? I would prefer people do the former but that is just me.

What the ... Police Request?!?!?!?

I was perusing the Action Against MBC Facebook page when I saw something that made me shake my head. It is the perfect example, as if we need another, of why it is so easy to say South Korea is not foreigner friendly and how it is racist.

A guy posted about an article on Busan News. The gyst of it is that Busan Police are telling employers not to allow their foreign workers to go to Haeundae Beach because there have been some sex crimes committed there by foreigners.

Wow. Using that lack of logic and the Virginia Tech shooting the US should be asking all Universities to not allow Korea students.

What a bunch of fucktards.

What the ... solidarity?!?!?!?

And now for something completely different. A post not about the usual suspects (AnonyJohn, KKKorean Sentry, Korea Times).

The brother of one of my co-workers lived and taught in South Korea. P, my co-worker, went to Seoul 5 or more years back to visit his brother. Last night we ended up talking about life in South Korea.

He was not impressed with Seoul or Koreans. Overall, he found Seoul a fairly dirty city and the citizens rude. Which I can't fully disagree with. Compared to Halifax Seoul is pretty dirty. Hell even Cheongju is. If you can't block out the staring, pointing, spitting, and such behaviour people do come off as rude.


Another co-worker had joined and was listening to our discussion. He asked why the ESL teachers didn't form a union so they wouldn't get screwed over. P, who is one of our shop stewards, couldn't stop laughing for a while. He knows how that would end up.


I mentioned ATEK to them. Now, I am NOT an authority on the life, times, and fall of ATEK. (Here are some links you can check out if you want to find out more.) When I first heard about it I reserved judgement. Part of me hoped they would do well. Part of me was pretty sure they would fail. Part of me just didn't give a shit because I wasn't part of them even though they claimed to represent me.


For me, the certainty that ATEK was doomed came about during the Swine Flu BS of 2009. People were exposed to H1N1 at an EPIK (or was it GEPIK?) get together that summer. The Koreans were sent home to be self-quarantined with their families. The foreigners were all put in a hospital. Some were whisked away from their apartments by ambulance to be quarantined. They were stuffed in rooms with few creature comforts to while away their time. 


A group of ESL teachers on the internet got together and organized help for the "prisoners". They rallied people to donate books, games, food, anything that could help the "patients" while away their time. It was a great idea and the organizers still deserve a tip of the hat for their efforts. What does this have to do with disappointment in ATEK? Everything.


This was the perfect opportunity for ATEK to show that they were there to help ESL teachers regardless of the problem. They did jump on the bandwagon many days after the aid was started but for me it was too little to late. (AnonyJohn has decided to be my own little Grammar Nazi. Did I use the right "to" AnonyJohn?) They should have been there for these people from the start and they weren't. If ATEK couldn't be there at a time like this when would they be? At that point I figured they were doomed to failure. Unfortunately, time would eventually prove me right. 


It is kind of funny when I think back. I had held back any criticism of ATEK before that moment. When I mentioned on another blog that I thought ATEK had screwed the pooch this time the reaction from some of the ATEK pushers was funny. One of them told me to get off my high horse. Seriously?  An organization that claimed to be there for ALL ESL teachers, except F VISA holders, whether they accepted the representation or not, was NOT there for some ESL teachers in need. It was the perfect moment for ATEK to shine. And they were no where to be seen until they started to ride the coat tails of the few who started to help the people in quarantine. To me that was very telling. ATEK went for the big headlines (human rights complaints) instead of helping the little people.

It wasn't even just ATEK itself that had me thinking it would fail. My own dealings with other ESL teachers had a hand in that. When the owners of Ivy School were screwing Spock and myself over it was the perfect time for the foreigner ESL teachers to stick together. After all, if they would fuck one person over they would, and did, fuck everyone over. But that isn't how the others saw it. They were more worried about themselves than anything else. So they paid lip service to Spock and I but did and said nothing else. Immediate self-interest and preservation trumped anything else. but I am starting to digress. :)

It was an interesting conversation with some co-workers that brought back some memories of my time in South Korea.

Shit Morons Say ... when lying.

The Wall Street Journal, Asia posted about an interview with an MBC Producer. The producer in question works on the "news magazine" that aired the piece of tripe called Shocking Reality but didn't want to be named.

For some reason the producer just can't understand why the foreigners are upset. He went on to lie and claim that the report adequately pointed out that problems occur in only a few cases. Something which WSJ was quick to point out wasn't true. Someone from the Korean "media" lied. What a shocker.

I was going to write more about it and vent my spleen but decided not to. The Dokdo Times did a much better job than I would have. :)

Shit Foreigners say ... about Korean BS.

"I can't believe MBC would air this."

"I am surprised to see them (MBC) air this."

I know I have talked about this already but I think it bears repeating. Lately I have been reading posts and comments on various sites discussing the latest racist BS to come out of MBC and I encountered several comments like those.

I am surprised that people (foreigners) who purport to live in South Korea are surprised by the drek MBC put out. Have they lived in a fucking bubble their whole time there? Do I have to steal Bill Maher's life Inside the Bubble schtick to talk about these people?

I lived there for 10 years and racist crap like this came as NO surprise. The year before I left there was similar crap painting all expat's teaching English as evil drug using rapists who are there to corrupt Koreans and screw around. There was the CYJ English ad claiming most foreigners have aids, many are gay, they want our women.

For people to be actually surprised about this they have to have been living in a bubble. Talk about it made the rounds on expat websites. I even heard about it from Korean co-workers. You had to have your head buried in the sand pretty deep not to hear something about it.

Then you have the people who start rambling on that "Not all Korean's think that way." Of course not all of them do. But a LOT of them do. I would be willing to bet my own money that it is a majority of them.

If the whole Mad Cow bugaboo showed us anything it is that Koreans are extremely susceptible to what the media, or authority figures, tell them. Even when it flies in the face of reality.

I can remember butting heads with students, both adult and younger, over things they believed that denied reality. One episode that sticks out most in my head is how vehement many were that there are only 6 continents. It didn't matter how much proof you showed them that there are 7 continents they REFUSED to believe it. Why? A Korean teacher taught them that there were only 6. I was just a foreign teacher and therefore not as reliable. When I talked with some Korean co-workers about it they held the same belief for the same reason.

That is just the reality of life in Korea. Hopefully it will change over time but I wouldn't hold my breath while waiting.

Lousy Korea

It is kind of funny. Thinking about MBC's racist BS got me thinking about Lousy Korea.

Lousy Korea basically did what the Korean media does to foreigners. But she did it to Koreans. She took things that aggravated her about Korea and Koreans, focused on them, and exaggerated them to pursue her narrative.

At times she was hilarious. At times she did cross the line into making racist comments. Unlike the media you knew she was doing it tongue in cheek. You knew it was meant as comedy, as well as some heavy duty venting, and not to take it all seriously. Well, anyone with a brain and the ability to understand sarcasm knew it.

That left some "foreigners" and a lot of Koreans out. Her blog drove the KKKlan at Korea Sentry apeshit. Which is a big part of what eventually led to her shutting down the site. Death threats from whack jobs.

If you are reading this LK I hope life is treating you well.

What the ... shocking reality?!?!?!?

So, the Korean network MBC aired a show called The Shocking Reality About Relationships With Foreigners. Foreigners are now up in arms over it. It has its own page on Facebook and people, them damn foreigners, are wondering what they can do about it.


This sort of racist shit is NOT new to Korea. I saw a lot of it during my 10 years there. It isn't just confined to their "media" outlets but they do use it to pander to the people. It is interesting to see "foreigners" getting so upset about it now. Where was the outrage when CYJ English Academy in Seoul posted their ad? An ad which their website still uses. Where was the outrage when shows like "Blue Eyed Devil's" aired on SBS a few years back? It was one of many shows when I lived in South Korea that painted all foreigners as drug users who only came to Korea to rape and corrupt the women.


A friend of mine feels that for many this was just the final straw. And in the age of Social Media it is easier to show your outrage. It could be that, although Facebook isn't THAT new. If that is the reason, holy shit it took a lot of racist BS before people got upset. No wonder people get away with behaving badly.


Someone on Facebook pointed out that it reminded them of an episode of The Simpsons. Homer was accused of molesting a babysitter. A local "news" program interviews him and then butchers it up to make it look like he is guilty. If you watch the MBC piece of crap you will see similarities. Like when one "victim" says nothing happened so the commenter says "She is too scared to talk about it."




Once again though, all I could think of, was that none of this sort of crap from the Korean "media" is new. Neither the stupidity nor the racism. All you have to do is look at the Korean Times to see how pathetic the "media" is there. Remember PD Diary and the story the faked on mad cow disease?

It is nice to see people finally starting to get their dander up over this sort of BS by the Korean "media". I just wish it hadn't taken so long for them to catch on to it. Hopefully they can actually make a difference.

More Mad Cow Stupidity.

A tip of the hat to Korea Beat for translating the article about how Young Koreans fear that the FTA with the US will lead to Mad Cow infected beef coming to South Korea. According to the article:

54.7% of those in their 30s believe that the KORUS FTA will cause rampant mad cow disease, and 69.1% of women in their 30s are worried about it, the survey found.

After being in South Korea during the various bouts of Mad Cow bullshit I can't say I am surprised by the poll. There was a lot of batshit reasoning floating around then. A lot of fears were played on to get people riled up. A lot of anti-American bullshit was heard. Which makes the part of the poll that showed a majority of people feared becoming a US colony due to free trade not very surprising either.

Beauty Pageant Bullshit

A tip of the hat to David Wills for bringing the issue of what happened at the Miss Asia Pacific World in South Korea up on his blog. In a nutshell, some contestants in a beauty contest in South Korea were cheated, harassed, and had to flee the country.

None what happened surprised me. Not what I read on the BBC's website. Not what I saw in videos one of the contestants who fled made while going through the bullshit. Not what I read about it on Critical Beauty.

In fact, it reminds me of the way Hagwon owners treat their slaves errr I mean foreign teachers. Lots of promises that aren't followed through. Lots of lies and bullshit. The rampant corruption. The uselessness of the police. The sexual harassment. The racism and ignorance (all blacks must be from Africa so the black girl from Guyana gets the African award for her national costume). All of which makes what the contestants went through no surprise to me. Been there. Been through some of it. Saw the rest of it. Never bought the t-shirt.

Hopefully the Korean government does something to make sure these assholes never run another pageant again. I don't actually expect that to happen but it would be nice to be pleasantly surprised.

What the ... insult?!?!?!?!

My first month in Korea I got in trouble with a co-worker. In one of my classes the students were noisy. So, I asked one who had half decent English how I would say be quiet or please be quiet in Korean. He told me. I was new enough at the game that I took him at face value.

A few days later I was in the teachers room trying to talk with a co-worker. I say trying because Mrs. Cho who was beside us was so fucking loud that I could barely hear the person beside me. Well, I had learned how to say be quiet so I used it on her. That is when the shit hit the fan.

Mrs. Cho leaped out of her seat and proceeded to get in my face. "What did you just say to me?" At this point I really thought she was going to hit me. "How dare you tell me to shut up!" Yeah, the fucker taught me shut up not be quiet and I was stupid enough not to confirm it.

Once I could get a word in edgewise, which took a couple of minutes, I told her what I thought I said. She proceeded to lecture me on how shut up is the worst non-profane thing you can say in Korean. I should expect a fight if I ever say it to an adult and a phone call if I ever say it to a student. She didn't calm down until I told her the name of the student who misinformed me. He was her student too, and she left to take out her anger on him. He never did volunteer to tell me how to say anything in Korean after that.

According to what I was told by Mrs. Cho, and other Koreans when the topic came up, shut up is extremely rude in Korean. There is no playful way to use it. There is no polite way to use it. Any Korea would take extreme offence to being told to shut up. Mrs. Cho's reaction was considered normal for someone who had been so offended. Which is why I tended not to say it.

Reading many of the comments left on the YouTube video of the BusTard in action had me thinking of the shut up incident. Especially the following comment but some YouTard named StoryOfSoul.

fuckin nigger. i am not trying to mock all the black people, but his behavior makes me angry.

and i cannot understand how come he is an english teacher in korea? such a mother fucker. when you go to Rome, you obey their rules big ass. and fuckin leave? this country. i usually try not to mean to people. but GO BACK TO YOUR COUNTRY SHITTY MOTHER FUCKER

When in Rome eh? I can't tell you how many times some retard, be it an apologist, a netnazi, or just some mook, has used that line. It is as stupid now as it was then.

Up until the point the BusTard started getting physical with the old man and woman on the bus he reminded me of ... a Korean. I immediately thought of Mrs. Cho's reaction to being told to shut up. It had me wondering just how visceral a reaction a Korean would have given if they were told to shut up. Especially by someone younger than them. Or even worse, by a foreigner younger than them.

Even the threats of a beating from the BusTard reminded me of Koreans over reacting. Especially the taxi driver who cursed me out in Korean but wanted a fight because I flipped him the bird after his tirade. He was waving a fist around so much I had to put my hands in my pocket or I would have snapped him upside the head. Which of course is what he wanted so he could cry injury and try to get some blood money. But I digress.

When in Rome? Well, it was in Korea not Rome and up until the point of physical contact the BusTard acted like a Korean. Which doesn't make his over reaction right. It just makes him a BusTard who needs to be punished for attacking an old man and pushing a woman around.

What the ... Era Error 2?!?!?!?

As usual, the Korea Times, Worst in the Nation, just can't let a bad fact go unsaid. In another story about the US using "Sea of Japan" instead of "East Sea" the Times repeated their previous factual error.

South Korea points out that the name Sea of Japan was unfairly established during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

While I can understand why they don't like it being called "Sea of Japan" the above statement is bullshit. The name "Sea of Japan" was established by WESTERN governments long before the Era of Colonial Rule. While using a lie like this gives emotional oomph to the Korean argument it also hurts it because it isn't true.

I had to chuckle when I read the following statement;

The South Korean government filed a formal protest with the U.S. against the move, with South Korea's major Internet portals flooded with messages denouncing Washington.

When the hell aren't the major Korean internet portals flooded with messages denouncing Washington or the US in general? Or some other target of the day?

Then there was this gem.

In July 2008, the U.S. stirred a similar controversy.

The government naming agency described Dokdo, a set of South Korea's islets in the East Sea, as under "undesignated sovereignty" to reflect Japan's claim.

And just what helped push the US to consider Dokdo's ownership disputed thus giving them the status of "undesignated sovereignty"? The stupid Dokdo campaigns Koreans did in the US to show that Korea owned Dokdo not Japan. The Times forgot to mention that in the recent article.

As usual for articles concerning issues like the comment section is good for a laugh.

The Times seems to believe that if they keep telling you the same lie over and over eventually it will become the truth. Hmmm ... that sounds familiar.

What the ... Era Error?!?!?!

An article in the Korea Times, Worst in the Nation, brought up the whole "Sea of Japan" versus "East Sea" bugaboo again. "Korea protests US agency’s support for 'Sea of Japan'" read the headline. (Is it just me or does the use of "agency" seem to be used to imply some sort of sinister intent? Like spy agency?)

A U.S. maritime boundary group told the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) that they supported the use of "Sea of Japan". The British also agreed with using this term. Thus ignoring the Korean desire for "East Sea" to be used.

There was really nothing new in the article but one statement made me wonder just who Korea is blaming for the Western use of "Sea of Japan".

"This is the latest setback to the Korean government’s long-time efforts to replace the appellation with “East Sea” in the guideline in what appears to be a campaign to root out one of the longest surviving legacies of Japan’s colonial rule of Korea from 1910 to 1945."

How is it a legacy of that Era if a) Western countries coined the term not Japan, and b) it was used well before the Colonial Era, possibly as far back as the 17th century?

Year 2 - Party Time and Observations

Another one from the 2nd year E-mail bag.

*****

Howdy

What a wild weekend, and it is only saturday morning.

I had no classes until Friday afternoon and evening. My friend Sunny got back from the Phillipines. So, we had a welcome home party for her Thursday night. That was fun. Wine Sum Kyub Sal (bbq pork) and lots of soju. Sunny is a really nice person and a good friend. We ended up going to Albatross for a while before ending the night. It was a good time.

Friday I went to Seowon Middle School. My friend CS is a teacher there. We were supposed to go out for lunch at 11 AM. I agreed to go see the festival being put on at the school before lunch. It was actually interesting. They had art exhibits by all the students, and in the new gym there was a variety show with traditional and modern acts being performed by the students.

We had bori-bop for lunch. It is barley, rice, and vegetables. It is also very delicious. The only down side was the Christers we met. There were 2 ajummas sitting at the table beside us. They started talking with CS. Their conversation quickly turned to religon, they wanted to know if I was Christian. I should have said nothing, but I said so-so. Then they wanted to give me religous literature and have me come to their church on a sunday. They were very persistent and annoying. I played nice and didn't say what I wanted to.

This is one of the big problems I have with most Christians over here. If you say you aren't a Christian they want to convert you. If you say you are they want to be your church buddy and drive you crazy. The ones who are that bothersome don't take subtle hints to stop, you have to be rude to get them to shut up and leave you alone. And that doesn't always work.

He wanted to go to a nori bang after lunch. Since I had a few hours to kill I said sure. After getting there he invited a couple of female friends to join us. I barely made it to school in time for my first class. Classes were literally starting when I got there.

When I got into my class the kids looked at me funny. One of them ponted and said "Flint Teacher, pe! Pe!" and pointed at my face. Pe means blood. It wasn't blood, it was lipstick from one of CS's friends. I had to go clean my face off before I could start class. Luckily the director and other teachers didn't see that. ;)

After work there was a staff party. Two of the Korean teachers had birthdays, one thursday and one friday. Plus there is a new teacher, from Ireland. So it was a combination welcome and birthday party. It was also my welcome party. They did have one planned for me, but never told me about it, so I didn't go. ;)

You have to keep something in mind about going out with colleagues. At my old school it wasn't just frowned on, it was actively discouraged. The director and her husband were mormons and didn't drink. They also didn't want the Korean teachers and staff fraternizing with the foreign teachers. They wouldn't say anything to us, but they would call the Korean's into the office and take them to task. Especially if they thought they were getting "too close" to a foreigner. So, we rarely had all the staff out together, and it was always a sedate sort of affair.

At Ivy School, the director and her husband don't mind us all getting together. In fact, they join in! They want everyone to party together. Last night was a blast.

We started with dinner, sum kyub sal. That included champagne for the birthdays, soju, and beer. Except for one teacher who was ill all of the foreign teachers were there. Most of the Korean staff was there too. It was a fun meal, very relaxing and a good way to get ready for the rest of the evening. The director picked up the bill. They ended up paying for the entire night!

After eating we went to a bar called Jjocki Jjocki. It is a nice place, for a western bar. There is an outdoor area with a big waterfall fountain. In the summer you can sit out there and drink. We drank a lot of beer and vodka coolers there.

After several pitchers and coolers we went to a nori bang. The room we got was huge. It had to be to fit all of us. I have been to a nori bang with small groups of people, never with 12-15 people. I expected it to be like the smaller groups, but I was pleasantly surprised. Everyone was up and joining in on songs, dancing. It was a lot of fun. We spent a couple of hours there.

Our group broke up after that. Most people headed home, it was almoost 1 AM. 6 of us decided to go to Casanova, a night club. I hadn't been to one in all my time in Korea. It was a fun experience. Yes, I was dancing. :) One of the Korean's I work with is very shy and quiet ay work. When she is out patrying she is pretty wild. It was a great night out.

So far I like this new school. :)

Take care

Flint

******

I am pretty sure I mentioned the incident with the Christians in another post. While out to lunch with a friend I ran into one of the bitches again and she tried to ruin our lunch with Christ talk. My friend got rid of her. :)

What Whitey Wants.

Recently one of the Kimchi Kamikaze Kommandoes made a comment in a thread that bears commenting on. The brave kkklucker known as Anonymous said;

"whitey esl only come to korea for women and drugs"

Now I dealt with the drug part in the comment section so Iwon't go into detail about it here. Suffice it to say that if I was going to a country because for the drug scene I would never have gone to South Korea. There are much better choices.

The lamentation of the South Korean male, be he "real" or ethnic, seems to be that "whitey esl" is in Korea just to get "their" women. Well, if all men includes me then you are wrong. My impetus for going to South Korea was to get a job I hoped I would enjoy and to see the world. I never went there to "get a woman" nor to find a wife. If I found one, and I dated a few, fine but that wasn't why I went there. I enjoyed teaching and saw some of the world and went home so, mission accomplished.

Sure a lot of the guys who come to teach want to party and get laid. What the hell do you expect when you hiring "kids" just out of university? Of course many of them are going to act like a bunch of frat boys.

Add to that a society that doesn't mind drinking, in fact it encourages it at times. Bosses that don't usually do anything if people come in drunk or hung over as long as "whitey esl" is in the class performing for the students. (Actually that isn't fair, most places I worked at didn't care if the Korean teachers were hung over either. Unless the boss was looking to fire a teacher, foreign or Korean.) Jobs with poor communication where anything can change with no warning. Jobs that at times seem more like a joke than a job.

It is a bad mixture of immaturity and stupidity which can cause some bad results. Yes, I am thinking of you twats naked in the stands at the baseball game. However, it isn't all expats. Just like the kkklansmen on Korea Sentry don't represent all Koreans, or ethnic Koreans.

*NOTE* I finished this one a little quickly because I stupidly hit publish instead of save as draft. May have more to say on the matter at another time.

Shit Koreans Say ... about the West.

Sometimes Korean's will make comments about Western culture or life which are meant to show their knowledge of it but actually shows how little they really know.

I remember reading a Letter to the Editor in the Korea Times, Worst in the Nation, around the time of the Mad Cow BS. It was written by a bizzy ditch named Kim Jin-Hyun in reply to a previous letter. Among the nuggets of stupidity in her letter was the following;

Now I ask Mr. Jackson how much he knows about Korean culture. I know most Americans eat only steak, but Koreans eat most parts of a cow.

Most Americans only eat steak? Really? She KNOWS that most Americans only eat steak? She then went on to say in Korea cows are part of the family and a sacrificial food. In the end she looked like she didn't know American OR Korean culture.

The following was written by one of the regulars on Marmot's Hole, YuNa. She was referring to the picture of the naked idiots at the baseball game. It made me think of Ms. Kim's letter to the editor.

It’s not so bad..they look like they are having a good time, and it’s just part of their (probably Anglo-Saxon) culture and heritage.

While I hope she was trying to be funny I am not so sure it was meant in jest. It just comes off as a stupid thing to say when talking about that kind of behaviour. It makes it look like she really knows nothing about Western culture. If she did she would know that behaviour, in the West, would have landed the people with at LEAST a Public Indecency charge.

Nothing like showing your ass when trying to make yourself look knowledgeable.