Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Stupid questions, stupid questions, and stupid questions. Here's today's allotment of stupid questions:


'We thought of something you need for a birthday present - a phone card. Could you use one if we sent it to you? Have you thought of anything else? Do you do anything when your students have birthdays? Do you use the song "Happy Birthday" as a teaching tool?

Did you get any sunburn on your holiday? Do you have to stay in air conditioned hotels to survive in those countries?

What did you find in Indo-China, or whatever the correct term for that part of the world is now? Was there anything that old folks like us might be interested in? Not that there is much chance we will ever get there. Those long long flights are getting hard to take. But sometimes there are good offers for holidays in Thailand, so who knows? Do they have western style resturants and accomodation, or do you have to go native? Is the airport security as tight there as at home? Do people hassel you to buy stuff where ever you go?

Whe do you start back to teaching? Have they made any changes to your classes this year?'


And they wonder why I never call and would prefer just to exchange emails. BTW, my birthday is 43 days away.

[tzechuk]

Awww.. at least they care, yu-bum-suk... hehe.... I think they are cute!!

My adopted mum does NOTHING to annoy me, seriously.. she is so gracious and lovely. I love her to bits..

OK.. she does sometimes give unwanted advice, especially when Letty was first born and I told her some of the stuff I did with the baby and she didn't approve... but other than that, she is a wonderful person.

My birth parents, however.. are a bit more annoying.

For example: they were looking at Letty through webcam. Letty decided to throw a tantrum (self-inflicted!), I ignored her, they tried to talk to her to *coo* her. I was like WTF?! So I just turned the webcam off.

Heh.

[JongnoGuru]

I have precious little to byatch about on this score. I think I drive them crazy in a million little ways, most I'm not even aware of.

Okay, there was one thing they did that rather annoyed me, though it's too trivial. When I'm home on holiday, my body clock takes a few days to adjust. I wake up too late for breakfast, and the house is quiet and empty when I finally tumble downstairs. They have my breakfast waiting on the table for me. Toast (cold), juice (room temperature), egg (cold), sausages (cold), etc.

This didn't bother me at all. What did, however, is that they'd find articles in the morning paper relating to Korea, and they'd clip them out and place them beside my silverware so it was impossible to miss or ignore them. Some mornings there'd be little columns of two or three clipped-out articles, and those articles that were jumped from Page One to an inside page, all of the sections would be clipped and neatly arranged in order.

Maybe some of you eat, sleep & drink "Korea" every minute you're outside the country. I confess that I do not. In fact, I don't feel like the vacation has genuinely begun until I'm out of the airport at my destination and can no longer see Koreans or hear them talking.

When a few gentle hints to the mater & pater to knock it off with the news clippings did not work, I had to tell them more bluntly:

"Okay, I'm on vacation from that place right now. At least my body is. My mind would be, too, were it not for this little newsclipping serving you're running here. These articles on Korea are violating the sanctity of my holiday. I'm sure that by the time my holiday is over, I'll be itching to get back there; that's always the way. But until then, the only news story coming out of Korea that would interest me is that the Norks have gone berserk and the whole peninsula is now a smoldering slab of glass. Now please -- won't you give it a rest. Thank you."

It doesn't work for long, and they usually forget by my next holiday.

[princess]

[Dexter Sword]

[i_teach_esl]

[Woland]

My parents were both easygoing people, and they put up with me, a most uncommunicative child... no, more, they encouraged and supported me in every decision I made, so I have little to complain about.

Nonetheless, I won't miss driving through the backwoods of Kentucky with them, getting the lowdown on everyone living in every house we passed by, and it was the same story every time I came there. I couldn't tell them, "Please, Mom, Dad, I don't know these people; I don't care about the yokel soap opera that is their lives." I would reach points of numbness sitting in the car.

[princess]

[princess]

Come on now, people! It's not too respectful or classy to come on here and moan about your parents. One of thse days, if they die before you do, you will wish they were still here, so you could get annoyed by their boring stories, or whatever. Show some decency.

[rednblack]

Many years ago I used to indulge in a bit of sticky bud and grew my own under a metal halide (sp) light. Anyway, I was broke. the light blew, and my herb was going to die, so I asked mom to buy a new one for me ($700). She viewed my drooping plants and gave me the money the next day, with a ' don't tell your father'. Given that she revolved in higher circles, I thought she was pretty cool, at times

[rednblack]

Sorry, that was a "why I like..' On the other hand, gettting just a card for your birthday and a box of biscuits for Christmas sucks. I could never work her out, even though she did some 'out if the box things'.

[Adventurer]

[Qinella]

[pdx]

well, at least everyone else's complaining makes my parents seem like angels. I love 'em!

Kind of neat that my parents moved to Mexico almost the same time I moved to Korea - so! I don't get much of the "wow you're living so far away and you live in another country" hokish sort of parents. That's cool. My parents miss me, but they were so encouraging when I said I wanted to live abroad.

I thought of something annoying my dad does - he talks very VERY loudly on any phone.

[i_teach_esl]

when i told my parents i was moving to korea, my father said he thought it was a great opportunity and was happy for me. my mother said, whilst rolling her eyes, "ugh, you're so unstable."
love ya, mom!