There are only two things I have learned in Korea.
1. I am repulsive and morbidly obese. My looks are meant to be either ridiculed or cowered at like I'm some sort of movie monster.
2. I am not a person. I am an object, a tool meant to be used and then thrown away when my usefulness has expired. I have no inherent value; the only "worth" I have is what I can be used for. I am not deserving of the classification "human being," and I do not deserve the dignity or respect that comes with the title. I am an object. That's all I am and all I ever will be.
I'm probably going to be banned for life from Korea on Saturday. However, given the experiences I've had here, especially these past 2 months, I say good riddance. Let 'em throw me away. I am of no use to the Korean people, and after all, I am an object with no inherent worth besides what I can be used for, so who am I to protest or otherwise try to stop 'em?
I can't wait until I go to Japan and can put these horrible memories behind me forever. I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that this experience has left scars that will never heal.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Friday, August 24, 2007
Full speed ahead!
Today, I got the visa packet and a confirmation e-mail saying that the job is mine! I start September 3rd. I'm really excited about this! Finally, a job I can do in a place where I actually feel accepted as a person!
All I gotta do now is get the materials needed, send the visa packet, quit my current, impossible job, get the plane tickets (tomorrow), send my stuff, pack and go!
It took a lot of effort and a lot of waiting, but it finally happened. I have a teaching job in Japan. Barring some tragic problem, the dream will finally happen.
All I gotta do now is get the materials needed, send the visa packet, quit my current, impossible job, get the plane tickets (tomorrow), send my stuff, pack and go!
It took a lot of effort and a lot of waiting, but it finally happened. I have a teaching job in Japan. Barring some tragic problem, the dream will finally happen.
Monday, August 20, 2007
An end and a new beginning?
Here's the situation. It's pretty much a safe bet now that my days are numbered at this current job. At both schools, it appears that new, bilingual teachers have been hired. This most likely means that the boss is putting the pieces in place for my dismissal.
However, I just recently got accepted to teach English at a school in the Kinki region of Japan. This is a very good situation for me, since I actually speak Japanese, meaning not only can I actually function in society but unlike in my current job, when someone asks me a question in their native language, I no longer have to answer every question with "I don't understand what you're saying!" (I can speak the Kansai dialect as well, so even that shouldn't be too much of a problem.) I might actually have the chance to be a somewhat effective teacher in a setting that's more suitable for me.
That doesn't mean I hate it in Korea. There are lots of things that I have enjoyed while I've been here. This situation, though, where I've had to magically become fluent in Korean in a ridiculously short amount of time (not to mention having to endure constant insults about the way I look, something that I'm very sensitive about but will take months to change unless I do something drastic and dangerous, which wouldn't be a good idea), has not been a good one. Hopefully this new situation will be a reality -- and one where it's actually possible for me to succeed.
However, I just recently got accepted to teach English at a school in the Kinki region of Japan. This is a very good situation for me, since I actually speak Japanese, meaning not only can I actually function in society but unlike in my current job, when someone asks me a question in their native language, I no longer have to answer every question with "I don't understand what you're saying!" (I can speak the Kansai dialect as well, so even that shouldn't be too much of a problem.) I might actually have the chance to be a somewhat effective teacher in a setting that's more suitable for me.
That doesn't mean I hate it in Korea. There are lots of things that I have enjoyed while I've been here. This situation, though, where I've had to magically become fluent in Korean in a ridiculously short amount of time (not to mention having to endure constant insults about the way I look, something that I'm very sensitive about but will take months to change unless I do something drastic and dangerous, which wouldn't be a good idea), has not been a good one. Hopefully this new situation will be a reality -- and one where it's actually possible for me to succeed.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
An open letter to the taxi drivers of Gwangju, South Korea
Attention all taxi drivers:
Lately, I have been experiencing some incredibly rude, childish and immature behaviour on the part of several of you who I have hired to take me to work. My expectation when I enter a taxi is that you will bring me to my final destination and give me the respect that any normal human being deserves, and if I specify any particular roads, that you take them as long as the turn that I give you is not illegal. In return, it is reasonable to expect that I pay you the money that the meter indicates that I owe you. Therefore, I would like the following behaviours, which I have been on the receiving end of several times, to cease, effective immediately:
1. Complaining, chewing me out, insulting me or otherwise being a pain about where I want to go or the directions that I ask you to take. First of all, the second you start the meter, you're on my time. I don't give half a rat's ass where YOU want the intended destination to be; go there on your own time. As long as that meter is displaying any amount other than zero, you have entered into a business agreement with me in which you take me all the way to my intended destination, and you get paid in proportion to how far you drove. Any deviation from that on your part is breaking your end of the bargain, and spending the entire drive bitching and moaning about where you have to take me is not only unprofessional but incredibly rude. The intended destination and the way to get there is as non-negotiable as the fare; if you want to complain to my face about the destination and start shouting put-downs at me, then I have every right to complain to your face about the lousy service I'm getting and to tell you to shut the hell up and to stop acting like a baby. By becoming a taxi driver, unless you are a complete idiot, you should have assumed that your job would be to take people to where THEY want to go, not just destinations that are close to some place where you can easily stop and pick up a snack or something. Also, just looking at me, you can easily tell that I am not Korean, so the fact that I am making an effort to speak in your language should be met with far more respect than whining and insulting me. I'm not asking for worship or to be "above you;" I'm just asking that you do not talk down to me. In addition to this, I have not been in the city for years and years and years, so it is ridiculous to expect that I know 50 bazillion ways to go between my apartment and work (not to mention there aren't that many ways to and from work to begin with). I am a human being, not a dog turd that you scraped off your shoe; I expect to be treated like the former rather than the latter. The way you have been treating me is acting like you're doing me a favour and getting no compensation for it. If that's what you really want -- if you want it to be you just doing me a favour and you getting nothing in return or if you want the destination to be where you want to go instead of where I want to go, then don't bother starting the meter or asking me for money at the end. I'm starting to wonder if you act this way towards other Koreans ...
2. Trying to dump me off before my intended destination when I am telling you to go the whole way. I am paying you to go all the way to the end. In addition to that, my leg is injured, as you can clearly see by the fact that I am walking around on crutches. I can understand if you think that it is the intended destination, but the obvious eagerness to get rid of me is incredibly rude. If I were doing something like kicking your seat the whole way or loudly singing the song that gets on everybody's nerves or if I smelled like a foot, I'd be a bit more lenient with this, but considering that I shower and that unless I'm drunk (which is never true when I'm on my way to or from work, which has been the case almost every time this has happened), I'm generally well-behaved in the taxi, so there is no excuse for this.
3. Taking wrong turns/turning early/turning late when I'm giving you instructions in Korean or completely ignoring my directions altogether. Stop assuming that I "meant" the other direction. I know "left" and "right" in Korean, and I am telling you "left" and "right" in Korean. If I did not know them, I'd just say them in English and hope for the best. To assume I meant the other direction seems like a thinly-veiled excuse to just go wherever you want instead. Also, the world is not Windows Vista. I should not be asked to confirm over and over whether "left" or "right" is actually the direction that I want to go. The fact that I have to confirm about 10 times whether or not what I said is indeed which direction that I want to go has caused lots of missed turns, leading to me getting lost. In addition to that, unless I had specified it before, when I say "turn left/right," I mean "turn left/right here," not "turn left/right whenever the hell you feel like it, whether it's one street past where I want to go or somewhere a couple of hours down the road." Once again, I refer you to the fact that by starting the meter, you are on my time, and you are to go wherever I want you to go. I am not hiring you guys to drive me to some random place and leave me there. I am hiring you to drive me to a specific destination of my choosing. I am very particular about where I want to end up, and I should be because that's the entire reason why I'm paying you to drive, and if you are not willing to live up to your end of the deal, it is unreasonable to expect me to live up to my end of the deal.
If you don't like the idea of driving people to where they want to go, you should not have become taxi drivers, as the job description is to bring taxi drivers to their respective destinations. When I am spending money on a taxi, I am paying for a drive to where I want to go. I am NOT paying for a situation where I'm constantly belittled and otherwise treated like garbage all because of some whiny, immature driver who doesn't like the fact that he has to drive me to work instead of somewhere he wants to go. If I was that desperate for more belittling and more insults, I would encourage my students to tell MORE fat jokes instead of discouraging them altogether. If you want to go there, go there in your own car, and don't ask me to pay you to take me to someplace other than where I want to go. The fact that you're acting this way towards me is ridiculous and babyish, and if you're not going to show me even a basic level of respect, why should I show you any respect? The terms of the agreement that you're entering into by starting the meter are that you bring me to wherever I want to go, and in return, I pay you. If you don't like those terms, then by all means, feel free to not start the meter. I wouldn't mind a little complaining if the ride was completely free. However, the fact that I am paying for it means that I should not be having to take crap from some stranger. To those of you who are not engaging in such immature behaviour, thank you for your services and your politeness. However, for those of you who are, listen up, and listen well: you have no right to treat me the way you have been treating me. You are not doing me an uncompensated favour. Stop acting like you are.
Sincerely,
Shintarou Inuzuka
Lately, I have been experiencing some incredibly rude, childish and immature behaviour on the part of several of you who I have hired to take me to work. My expectation when I enter a taxi is that you will bring me to my final destination and give me the respect that any normal human being deserves, and if I specify any particular roads, that you take them as long as the turn that I give you is not illegal. In return, it is reasonable to expect that I pay you the money that the meter indicates that I owe you. Therefore, I would like the following behaviours, which I have been on the receiving end of several times, to cease, effective immediately:
1. Complaining, chewing me out, insulting me or otherwise being a pain about where I want to go or the directions that I ask you to take. First of all, the second you start the meter, you're on my time. I don't give half a rat's ass where YOU want the intended destination to be; go there on your own time. As long as that meter is displaying any amount other than zero, you have entered into a business agreement with me in which you take me all the way to my intended destination, and you get paid in proportion to how far you drove. Any deviation from that on your part is breaking your end of the bargain, and spending the entire drive bitching and moaning about where you have to take me is not only unprofessional but incredibly rude. The intended destination and the way to get there is as non-negotiable as the fare; if you want to complain to my face about the destination and start shouting put-downs at me, then I have every right to complain to your face about the lousy service I'm getting and to tell you to shut the hell up and to stop acting like a baby. By becoming a taxi driver, unless you are a complete idiot, you should have assumed that your job would be to take people to where THEY want to go, not just destinations that are close to some place where you can easily stop and pick up a snack or something. Also, just looking at me, you can easily tell that I am not Korean, so the fact that I am making an effort to speak in your language should be met with far more respect than whining and insulting me. I'm not asking for worship or to be "above you;" I'm just asking that you do not talk down to me. In addition to this, I have not been in the city for years and years and years, so it is ridiculous to expect that I know 50 bazillion ways to go between my apartment and work (not to mention there aren't that many ways to and from work to begin with). I am a human being, not a dog turd that you scraped off your shoe; I expect to be treated like the former rather than the latter. The way you have been treating me is acting like you're doing me a favour and getting no compensation for it. If that's what you really want -- if you want it to be you just doing me a favour and you getting nothing in return or if you want the destination to be where you want to go instead of where I want to go, then don't bother starting the meter or asking me for money at the end. I'm starting to wonder if you act this way towards other Koreans ...
2. Trying to dump me off before my intended destination when I am telling you to go the whole way. I am paying you to go all the way to the end. In addition to that, my leg is injured, as you can clearly see by the fact that I am walking around on crutches. I can understand if you think that it is the intended destination, but the obvious eagerness to get rid of me is incredibly rude. If I were doing something like kicking your seat the whole way or loudly singing the song that gets on everybody's nerves or if I smelled like a foot, I'd be a bit more lenient with this, but considering that I shower and that unless I'm drunk (which is never true when I'm on my way to or from work, which has been the case almost every time this has happened), I'm generally well-behaved in the taxi, so there is no excuse for this.
3. Taking wrong turns/turning early/turning late when I'm giving you instructions in Korean or completely ignoring my directions altogether. Stop assuming that I "meant" the other direction. I know "left" and "right" in Korean, and I am telling you "left" and "right" in Korean. If I did not know them, I'd just say them in English and hope for the best. To assume I meant the other direction seems like a thinly-veiled excuse to just go wherever you want instead. Also, the world is not Windows Vista. I should not be asked to confirm over and over whether "left" or "right" is actually the direction that I want to go. The fact that I have to confirm about 10 times whether or not what I said is indeed which direction that I want to go has caused lots of missed turns, leading to me getting lost. In addition to that, unless I had specified it before, when I say "turn left/right," I mean "turn left/right here," not "turn left/right whenever the hell you feel like it, whether it's one street past where I want to go or somewhere a couple of hours down the road." Once again, I refer you to the fact that by starting the meter, you are on my time, and you are to go wherever I want you to go. I am not hiring you guys to drive me to some random place and leave me there. I am hiring you to drive me to a specific destination of my choosing. I am very particular about where I want to end up, and I should be because that's the entire reason why I'm paying you to drive, and if you are not willing to live up to your end of the deal, it is unreasonable to expect me to live up to my end of the deal.
If you don't like the idea of driving people to where they want to go, you should not have become taxi drivers, as the job description is to bring taxi drivers to their respective destinations. When I am spending money on a taxi, I am paying for a drive to where I want to go. I am NOT paying for a situation where I'm constantly belittled and otherwise treated like garbage all because of some whiny, immature driver who doesn't like the fact that he has to drive me to work instead of somewhere he wants to go. If I was that desperate for more belittling and more insults, I would encourage my students to tell MORE fat jokes instead of discouraging them altogether. If you want to go there, go there in your own car, and don't ask me to pay you to take me to someplace other than where I want to go. The fact that you're acting this way towards me is ridiculous and babyish, and if you're not going to show me even a basic level of respect, why should I show you any respect? The terms of the agreement that you're entering into by starting the meter are that you bring me to wherever I want to go, and in return, I pay you. If you don't like those terms, then by all means, feel free to not start the meter. I wouldn't mind a little complaining if the ride was completely free. However, the fact that I am paying for it means that I should not be having to take crap from some stranger. To those of you who are not engaging in such immature behaviour, thank you for your services and your politeness. However, for those of you who are, listen up, and listen well: you have no right to treat me the way you have been treating me. You are not doing me an uncompensated favour. Stop acting like you are.
Sincerely,
Shintarou Inuzuka
Monday, July 30, 2007
Are you sure it's Dunkin' Donuts?
Sometimes, a class has just gotta have some fun.
Once in a while, the classes I'm teaching like to play games, which is particularly okay with me when they're at least using English, since then at least I've got their minds working in English. A couple of days ago, it was Pictionary. One of the students was trying to get across "Dunkin' Donuts." She had a really good strategy: she was going to try to get "dunkin'" out of them by drawing a "donkey." However, it was confused with a horse ... but the trouble is, one of the students didn't know how to pronounce "horse" correctly ... so she started yelling "Whore! Whore!" It took all the willpower I had not to laugh. In the end, they ended up getting it right before the buzzer.
Once in a while, the classes I'm teaching like to play games, which is particularly okay with me when they're at least using English, since then at least I've got their minds working in English. A couple of days ago, it was Pictionary. One of the students was trying to get across "Dunkin' Donuts." She had a really good strategy: she was going to try to get "dunkin'" out of them by drawing a "donkey." However, it was confused with a horse ... but the trouble is, one of the students didn't know how to pronounce "horse" correctly ... so she started yelling "Whore! Whore!" It took all the willpower I had not to laugh. In the end, they ended up getting it right before the buzzer.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
A much-needed update
Okay ... you may be wondering where I've been the past 2 months. Here's basically a summary of what's happened and what's going to happen soon, barring any problems.
After getting let go from my old job, I spent the next 2 weeks looking for a job. I finally found one in the southern part of South Korea in an English academy.
The trouble is, unlike my previous job where the use of Korean was forbidden, the fact that I know basically no Korean at all is a distinct disadvantage in this job, as the teachers are encouraged to use Korean in the classroom. However, aside from that and a few other problems (mainly this group of boys in one of my classes fist-fighting throughout the whole class as well as the fact that I get called fat, pregnant or ugly on a daily basis), things are going okay. I have a trip to Osaka planned in a few days, which will be a nice getaway despite the fact that I injured my leg; hopefully that'll heal at least enough that walking around Osaka won't be too painful.
So, basically, no, I'm not dead. ^_^
After getting let go from my old job, I spent the next 2 weeks looking for a job. I finally found one in the southern part of South Korea in an English academy.
The trouble is, unlike my previous job where the use of Korean was forbidden, the fact that I know basically no Korean at all is a distinct disadvantage in this job, as the teachers are encouraged to use Korean in the classroom. However, aside from that and a few other problems (mainly this group of boys in one of my classes fist-fighting throughout the whole class as well as the fact that I get called fat, pregnant or ugly on a daily basis), things are going okay. I have a trip to Osaka planned in a few days, which will be a nice getaway despite the fact that I injured my leg; hopefully that'll heal at least enough that walking around Osaka won't be too painful.
So, basically, no, I'm not dead. ^_^
Friday, June 1, 2007
It's all over.
I know probably no one reads this blog anyway, but my last blog entry will probably be this month; in fact, this might very well be my last blog entry here. I got let go from my job. Since there's basically no possible way I can get re-hired elsewhere in 30 days, this is where my adventure ends. It's been a great ride, but today, "Great" Teacher Inuzuka is dead. (Note the quotation marks; I'm not great -- just the opposite.) The ride is over.
Where will I go from here? I'll tell you exactly where I'll go from here. Since finding a job in 30 days or less is going to be next to impossible, on July 1st (or around that date), I will be going back home, where every day for the next ... well, eternity ... will consist of getting up early, looking for jobs, going in for interviews and being rejected by every company, all the while feeling like the job search is never going to end, and I am never going to amount to anything. If I'm lucky, I can find some dead-end job where I work for just barely enough to scrape by, and my life will be incredibly dull and stressful, but at least not as bad as being at home. Still, even that's reserved for those with talent and/or experience.
Either way, nothing even remotely noteworthy is ever going to happen to me again, and certainly no lucky breaks will come my way, so this blog will probably end with either this post or another one later this month or on the day I leave. From today, I have 30 bearable days left in my life.
Someone, please end my life right now. I'm begging you. Please do not let me live to see July 1st.
I don't belong here. There's not a single place on the face of the Earth where I belong. Please, someone, rid the world of my presence.
This is Shintarou Inuzuka signing off. Good-bye.
Where will I go from here? I'll tell you exactly where I'll go from here. Since finding a job in 30 days or less is going to be next to impossible, on July 1st (or around that date), I will be going back home, where every day for the next ... well, eternity ... will consist of getting up early, looking for jobs, going in for interviews and being rejected by every company, all the while feeling like the job search is never going to end, and I am never going to amount to anything. If I'm lucky, I can find some dead-end job where I work for just barely enough to scrape by, and my life will be incredibly dull and stressful, but at least not as bad as being at home. Still, even that's reserved for those with talent and/or experience.
Either way, nothing even remotely noteworthy is ever going to happen to me again, and certainly no lucky breaks will come my way, so this blog will probably end with either this post or another one later this month or on the day I leave. From today, I have 30 bearable days left in my life.
Someone, please end my life right now. I'm begging you. Please do not let me live to see July 1st.
I don't belong here. There's not a single place on the face of the Earth where I belong. Please, someone, rid the world of my presence.
This is Shintarou Inuzuka signing off. Good-bye.
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