Korean Job Discussion Forums

[air76]

A student in the lab asked me to edit his essay for his writing class, so of course I said "sure."

The first sentence said something along the lines of "When I was young my favorite thing to do was to follow around the fumigation truck."

I laughed to myself and wondered what it was that he was really trying to say but that had come out sounding as though he used to follow around the fumigation truck. However, as I read on I discovered that this is precisely what he meant to say. He and his friends used to ride their bikes around looking for the fumigation truck so that they could play in the white smoke. They would run through the smoke like it was a cloud and breathe in the smoke because they liked it. Then one day he learned his lesson because he fell down and hurt his knee whilst frolicking in the poison gas (weird)...the moral of his story was that it is not a good idea to follow around the fumigation truck because you might hurt your knee.

If this is a common practice of Korean children, this would explain a great deal of the behavior and thought processes in this country.

EDIT: Actually this is my 2nd favorite essay...my favorite was earlier this semester when a girl wrote that she had "problem with taking a dump due to bathroom smell" during the first month of university and so she got constipated.

[sulperman]

In that movie Chingu the kids do that same thing, if I remember correctly.

[moosehead]

1) I have photos I took of the fumigation truck fogging the nabe in the middle of the afternoon, people walking thru it as if nothing's odd (this is near sungshin uni)

2) my first contract I was horrified when the truck came thru the nabe where our hakwon was located and proceeded to fog - it came in thru the windows and everyone was aghast as I freaked and ran around shutting them as fast as possible.

3) my director (first hakwon) had been diagnosed w/uterine cancer at age 30 and had had a complete hysterectomy. this was before I came. while I was there, the Korean E teacher was diagnosed w/breast cancer - she was 28.

fyi, DDT is still used in Korea.

if you see those trucks, get out of their way, shut your windows, turn off the air con and leave it off for as long as you can.

[danxtptrnrth]

Maybe a stupid question. What are they fumigating against? Bugs? The sewer smell? What?

[Chamchiman]

Kids Love Pesticide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TS6fqwIR18

[djsmnc]

[air76]

[Richard Krainium]

[Senior]

Ddt is a relatively safe chemical, and the effects of the ban are far worse than the chemical itself.

If it is so problamatic, where are all the cases of illness from its heavy use in the past?

[perkxplosion]

Here is my favorite hagwan essay... 6th grade...

Theme: My dream

I have many dreams.
Because, I want to do many thing.
Exemplification, a president, a doctor, a math teacher, a sniper, a god, a dentist, a never die of people, a police officer, an office worker, a king, a computer programer, a scientist, whatever.
A president is same a country and many people manager, I think that is fun.
A doctor do patient healing have many money.
A math teacher is math is very hard, and like of a game, so I love it.
A sniper is I think shooting long gun like fun.
A god is I want to remove earth warming.
A dentist is same a doctor.
A never die of people is I want not die.
A police officer is taking criminal in custody is very nice and I think that is like fun.
An office worker is my father is an office worker.
A king is same a president, too.
A computer programer is make computer virus removing game.
A scientist is make a never die medicine and I eat that.
I want my future is a scientist.
Because I want not die.

[NYC_Gal]

I know it's off-topic, but it's the lack of DDT that's bringing the resurgence of bedbugs to the big cities. Even 4-and-5-star hotels are getting them. Ick!

[Seoulio]

[djsmnc]

[danxtptrnrth]

I thought DDT was banned because of the effects it had on wildlife, or maybe I just made that up. Could someone research this please. It's Monday morning, and I am way too tired to do it myself.

[moosehead]

DDT was banned because as someone else said it accumulated in tissue and caused reproductive issues - still born, infertile eggs, eggs that cracked and therefore the young would die, that sort of thing.

in the 70's into the 80's women were discouraged from breastfeeding their babies because of the amount of DDT found in mother's milk. the fact that many women at that time did not breastfeed helped put an end to DDT in human's tissues as the ban meant that it also wasn't used any more.

unfortunately, that ban was not world wide and yes, DDT has been known to be used in Korea after 1986 or whatever date that was posted above.

I know this from a close friend who owns his own pesticide business and regularly attends conferences regarding pesticide use. he is an authority and knows what he's talking about. considering the cancer rates in Korea, I am not surprised to hear it, not to mention the lack of birdlife, even (or especially) in the countryside.

furthermore, the Korean govt as well as the general population is probably one of the most environmentally ignorant as well as unsupportive populaces anywhere on the planet - just look around and you'll see. there is no reason whatsoever to imagine that any kind of ban would be enforced or even voluntarily upheld.

this is not a smack at Korea, tho no doubt others will make it out to be - it's just simple fact; the OP made it clear regarding children thinking fumigation fog is something fun

no doubt those of you in ps have noticed the abhorrent spray used by the nurses and gym teachers when a kid gets injured - that stuff has got to be full of cfcs, long banned and demonized for hurting the ozone - and probably full of ether as well

at any rate, hope some of you do take the time to incorporate environmental lessons into your English lessons. there is truly a need for it.