Korean Job Discussion Forums

[crazylemongirl]

Is this related to fan death?

At the moment I am sitting in my coat, thickest wollen sweater and long sleeve t shirt freezing cold because despite me shutting it a number of times the teachers seem to insist that we keep the window open in the staffroom despite it being, well freezing.

[Qinella]

Hehe yeah..

I walked into a class the other night and the students had the windows open. It was freezing cold. They said it was stuffy in there. The heater was not even on. They just felt compelled to open the window..

Every day the freezing cold bathrooms and hallways have their windows propped open when I come in. Makes them even more cold.

Can I understand it? Nope. I mean, if the floor heat is on too high and it's overbearing, sure, but barring that it seems unreasonable.

[Thunndarr]

Open windows, open doors, I wouldn't be surprised if they started drilling holes in walls next. The concept of energy efficiency (as well as efficacy) seems completely lost on them when it comes to keeping the inside of a building warm in the winter (or cool in the summer.) And my God, it's not limited to buildings. I've been in cars driving down the road with the heater going full blast with the windows down.

And let's not even get started with their inability to use any of the settings on a heater or an air conditioner between 'off' and 'full blast.'

No, there is something extremely wonky with how Koreans deal with temperature.

[poet13]

Wow, I have to open the windows in my classrooms cause they are topical hot and dry. There are always teachers wandering around with watering cans pouring everywhere to humidify the place. The staff room can be almost unbearable. The only relief is at the end of the day when they open all teh windows to clean. Teh only cold places are the restrooms and the hallways.

[passport220]

This combined with the water that everyone spills on the floor, I am thinking about bringing a pair of ice skates to school.

[Samantha]

hmm I had the exact opposite at my last school. The only windows were at the very front by the office and they were only open far enough to stick your head out to look for the the school's bus. We had little gas heaters in each class and the students begged for them to be tyrned on. I kept getting looked at strange because I came to work in short sleeve shirts. I tend to "run warm" in the winter and my kids kept wanting to hold my hands since they were always really warm.

[Lao Wai]

Hey,

I teach at a public school in Hong Kong. The same thing is going on here. While it is not as cold as Korea at the moment, it is getting chilly. I'm wearing a light jacket inside because the local teachers have all of the windows and doors open. Their rationale is that by keeping the windows open there's less chance that the students will pass their germs around. There is some credibility to this line of thinking. The reason we get more colds in the winter rather than in the summer is because people are indoors more often and for longer periods of time. By having a constant (freezing) breeze running through the classrooms I guess we have less chance of getting a cold? I don't know...

Still, last February I was wearing my long wool winter coat and scarf inside the school and was still freezing because it was cold AND damp. I'd rather take my chances on getting a cold than on being uncomfortable all day long. I also remember huddling around a gas heater in the staffroom at my old hogwan in Busan. It would run out of gas and we would freeze. I'd then go in and tell my boss, feigning a cough a la Tiny Tim from 'A Christmas Carol'.

In freezing cold Canada, my parents would ocassionally open up some of the windows to 'freshen up' the stale air in the house, but only for a couple of minutes.

[LateBloomer]

The heat was only turned on in my public school this week. A couple of weeks ago when I questioned why it wasn't on, I was told that heating is very expensive in Korea.

As some have said, now the heat has been turned on, but windows are open in all the hallways and most of the school's doors are open so the temperature of the halls is close to what it is outside.

In some classrooms the heat is on but the windows are open. I can't imagine why it's so expensive to heat this school. It's a mystery.
Now, for the first time in my life I have an "inside coat" and an "outside coat". (If you wear the same coat for both purposes, you'll be cold if the outside temperature is a few degrees cooler.)

[Hyeon Een]

[OiGirl]

[thebomb]

There used to be students at my Hapkido Dojang that in winter would come running in and park their butts on the floor with their feet dangerously close to the diesel heater, we had in the corner. They the would spend the next 10 minutes or so complaining how cold their feet were. It's not surprising when they have just walked the 10 minutes from home in sandels without socks on, through the SNOW!!! They don't own shoes?

[LateBloomer]

I had my teachers' class this afternoon after my earlier post.....so I asked them about the open windows. They said it's to let in fresh air??? and to let the dust out. The dust is apparently caused by the kids running around in the school. I will resist the temptation to make further comments.

[jaganath69]

They do it at my school too, something to do with 'letting the bad air out'. I can maybe understand it as the stench from 22 little kimchi farters after lunch can get a bit much. However, the one that stumps me is during the annual dust storms or 'Hwangsa' they leave the windows open for a time to let out the dust. . Never mind that's how it enters the building in the first place.

[Young FRANKenstein]