Posts: 659
From: South Korea
Registered: May 2009

posted September 19, 2009 09:32 PM            

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"The time has come", the walrus said, "to speak of many things. Of .... : something something "sealing wax and cabbages and kings." Lewis Carrol. Well, actually, the time has come, I reckon, for me to introduce myself. So here goes, first a video, then my chart....

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Be who you are and say what you feel because those who matter don't mind and those who mind don't matter.

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posted September 19, 2009 09:37 PM            

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Be who you are and say what you feel because those who matter don't mind and those who mind don't matter.

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posted September 19, 2009 09:49 PM            

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And now ... 21 Random Facts About Me:
1. I am female
2. I hate eggs.
3. I'm obsessed with my weight - I used to be an anorexic diet pill addict and rehab made me gain weight ... so my mom called me fatinkerbell to tease me and actually I like the name because it reminds me not to go back there... I mean, I reckon it's better to exercize and eat healthy than to just not eat at all. So I'm totally rehabbed, clean and sober for four years now, but I'll never quit smoking so help me God! : )
4. I smoke Marlboro Lights.
5. I'm in unrequited love with a Gemini. Sigh.
6. I wanted to be a ballerina.
7. I went to school with Charlize Theron.
8. I wish I could marry Marilyn Manson and have his babies.
9. I'm ever so slightly obsessive compulsive.
10. I love Terry Pratchett.
11. I want really long hair.
12. I want to be enlightened.
13. I want to be really really really really rich.
14. I'm alarmed and intimidated by all the asteroids out there.
15. My favorite TV programme is Gossip Girl.
16. My second favorite TV program is House.
17. I go to sleep at seven pm and wake up at 5am.
18. I LOOOOOOOVE singing karaoke but I don't often inflict it on my friends.
19. My mom is my best friend.
20. I did a Master's degree in Philosophy on Carl Jung, plus some other existentialists (Sartre and Kierkegaard).
21. I speak Afrikaan 100%, English 100%, Italian 70%, German 50%, Korean 5%, French 1%, and I can sing "Oh Fortuna" in Latin : )

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Be who you are and say what you feel because those who matter don't mind and those who mind don't matter.

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posted September 19, 2009 10:16 PM            

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Hey there fatinkerbell!!

Are you South African?

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posted September 19, 2009 10:22 PM            

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Don't answer that question. I just figured it out when I looked at your chart. What I would like to know is: Where in South Korea are you?

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posted September 19, 2009 10:24 PM            

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Hiya fatinkerbell
How did you end up in South Korea??

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posted September 20, 2009 11:36 AM            

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hey fatinkerbell,

nice to see you around again.

s.

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posted September 20, 2009 11:38 AM            

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Hello fatinkerbell! Nice to meet you!

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posted September 20, 2009 11:57 AM            

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I loved your introduction! I thought I was the only girl for Marilyn, but I see now that there is competition! Although, you want to have his babies, and I'm done with that, so you probably win. Have you read his biography? It is a great story.
So what is unrequited love with a Gemini like? I've never "owned" one myself, so I have to wonder.....
I won't stop smoking either, I. Just. Won't.

Some people stand firm on issues, and that is one I stand firm on.

Nice to meet you.

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posted September 20, 2009 11:58 AM            

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P.S. fellow Sag w/ Aries rising here.

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posted September 20, 2009 12:21 PM            

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hi there! nice to see you coming out, so to speak! i'm also interested in how you find yourself in SK and how you find IT (living there)?

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posted September 20, 2009 04:21 PM            

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Unmoved, Az, Kat ... I'm in South Korea as an English teacher. I teach in a middle school in a pretty rural area in the village of Sagang, which is in the "city" of Hwaseong" which is near the bigger city of Suwon which is about an hour by subway from Seoul. I commute from the slightly larger than Sagang village of Namyang by bus 1o minutes to school, past a mixture of industrial area, green rice planting paddies and loads of small grape farms to Sagang, which is famous for its fish market, but if you blinked, you'd miss it. Sagang is only about three busstops and a couple of supermarkets and small apartment buildings so the school is quite small, only 300 noisy students.
I totally love it here in Korea. The Koreans are completely crazy but aren't we all? An example: you have to bow when greeting your 'superiors' which in school is sort of enforced, somehow. I'm of course the superior of the students so they're supposed to bow to me which some do sort of 'on the run' ... you know like 'run and wave' ... well here is 'run and bow'. Can you picture it? Anyway, I've been teaching at this particular school for almost two years now and every day the students tell me: "Nice to meet you". I've given up so I tell them "Nice to meet you too" : ) At first I bowed to them too but it got exhausting so now I only bow to the admin staff who pay my bills, which I wouldn't be able to do alone 'cos I hardly know which bill is gas, which phone, and which utilities as all communications to my address is in Korean : )

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Be who you are and say what you feel because those who matter don't mind and those who mind don't matter.

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posted September 20, 2009 04:30 PM            

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Safari!!! Whazzup???? : ) Antiquarian and Gypsee, I remember you guys were on my tarot to do list .... uhm ... maybe one of these days again, eek : ) But nice to meet you (haha). Gypsee! Hands off Marilyn!! (Just kidding, we can have a hair pulling fight and the winner gets him OK : D ). No I haven't read his biographgy... what's it called and what's it like? In answer to your question, what's it like to be in unrequited love with a gemini... CONFUSING!! Because one twin is saying 'come on and get me' and the other twin is saying "stay away you stalker!" But he's young (guess that makes me a cougar) and his Saturn return should be coming up in another couple of years and maybe then he'll see the light. Otherwise I might have to jump off the edge of the world.

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Be who you are and say what you feel because those who matter don't mind and those who mind don't matter.

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posted September 20, 2009 04:31 PM            

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cool Stuff...

so, you've just woken up. It's 5:30 there, right? Bowing to people must have been tricky at first. Almost 2 years there. Wow! Don't you miss home, and boerewors and pap?

and what time does school start?

key:
boerewors - spicy South Africa sausage
pap - maize meal starch thing...

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posted September 20, 2009 07:53 PM            

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Goodness, don't jump off the end of the world it is flat you know! lol.

Marilyn's book, it is an autobiography, by the way, is called, "The Long Road Back From Hell" I believe. If a person didn't like him and read the book, they would probably change their minds after reading it. Alot of his persona comes from some disturbing things that happened in childhood, which I won't go into so as not to spoil it for you.
He's from right here in Ohio.
I have a fondess for Capricorns, but since I have SO MANY rock star loves, I won't pull your hair, I will step aside....

No worries about the tarot reading, I'm not completely sure of what you are refering to in the first place, so, it's all good!

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posted September 20, 2009 10:10 PM            

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I don't miss boerewors and I don't miss pap ... I was never that into food anyway and boerewors and pap to me sort of scraped the bottom of the barrel : ) Hey Unmoved, how do you know about boerewors and pap????
I'll tell you what I miss though ... the weather!! But in serious answer to your question: well, I'm quite an introvert and I tend to keep to myself a lot and not really socialize, so for me it doesn't really make a difference where in the world I am ... and I'm getting really fond of Korea ... I do miss SA though, it's got suuuch a wonderful vibe these days, which I picked up on when I went back there for holidays ... There's like optimism in the air somehow ... Of course South Africans are way more laid back than Koreans, who seriously work all the long day ... it's like a competition to see who spends most hours at work... If it's still light when you get home (for a Korean business man) you're not working hard enough. You gotta come home in the dark. Crazy.
Anyway, Gypsee, I gotta get my hands on that autobiography ... maybe I'll order it through Amazon, thanks for the tip!! : ) And thanks for letting me have Manson all to myself, yippee!!! Now I've only got to beat another 50000 goth groupies. Oh well, one thing at a time : )

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Be who you are and say what you feel because those who matter don't mind and those who mind don't matter.

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posted September 20, 2009 10:18 PM            

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Oh Unmoved, as to your question about what time school starts? Well, school starts officially at 08h40 and ends at 16h40, but I get to school at 07h40 because I have an early morning "extra" class. The students have a very full day : they arrive at 08h00 and clean the school before class starts, or attend extra classes like mine, or write Chinese Character tests, or weird things like that... I mean you'd think an 8 hour school day would be enough time to get everything done... but noooo. Anyway, after 4pm the students clean the school ... again!! Then they go .... home? No!! Most go to private academies to study even more... if their parents can afford it they send their kids to math academies, or English academies, or piano academies, you name it ... Then also of course there is all the tae-kwon-do. Especially in elementary school it seems all the kids did it. Then at about 8pm they go off to internet-cafe's to play World of Warcraft until who knows when ... and then the next they rock up and school again at about 8 and sleep through my classes : )

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Be who you are and say what you feel because those who matter don't mind and those who mind don't matter.

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posted September 21, 2009 08:41 PM            

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Oh Wow! Those poor kids. They work so hard!
You seem to be a citizen of the world! Very cool.

Oh, I am South African. Born in Durban and based in Jhb.

I dig your vid, by the way!!!

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posted September 21, 2009 10:15 PM            

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quote:

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The students have a very full day : they arrive at 08h00 and clean the school before class starts

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There's something very wrong with USA schools.....
I will be the first parent to sign my kid up to do school-cleaning!!

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posted September 22, 2009 02:36 AM            

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You can see Unmoved is a South African - laid back and horrified at the thought of all that work! : D Whereas Azkalash is definately NOT South African ... being IN favor of work. I think South Africans hate to even think about other people working too hard.... OK lol I'm actually joking... and commmitting the sin of generalization ... just because I'M South African and I happen to be a little bit ... like you know ... um ... work sucks! I wish I didn't have to work!! ... I'm now saying the same for ALL South Africans. But seriously ... the weather in SA is so nice. I mean, would you want to work if you were living in Hawaii? Sun, sea, more sun, blue skies, basically all year round, except for summer thunderstorms up in the north and non-stop winter rain and wind in the south in winter .... South Africa really is paradise : ) OK, shameless patriotism I know, but people tend to hear negative things about SA so I just wanna set the record straight! Well, I've gone off on a side train of thought here, and actually I've lost the original train of thought so I guess I'll leave it at that for now : ) Thanks for replying to my thread guys : D

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Be who you are and say what you feel because those who matter don't mind and those who mind don't matter.

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posted September 22, 2009 03:27 AM            

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Azalaksh ... sorry I spelt yr name wrong ... my bad : )

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posted September 22, 2009 01:12 PM            

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South Africa is generally laid back, to the point that some people call some of us lazy. We don't hustle hard enough as the other countries. I always get people saying that South Africans waste opportunities in entrepreneurial aspects, where one finds foreigners gaining more from our country because we South Africans expect things to be handed to us. BUT... I am all for balance. From what I hear, all S. Korean kids do is study, study, study with minimal extramural activities that are conducive to relaxing apart from computer games, just as you mentioned above. It is not conducive to human interaction where kids can just be kids and fool around at the beach, hang out skateboarding or surfing as we South Africans do.

I was an over achiever at school, but by choice. I didn't take classes that required exams and grades after school. I did clubs, like drama club, etc. For fun! I would stay at school for a long time, for fun, to finish my art project with friends instead of doing it alone at home. Worse for me because I was a beach child, so even during class, I would stare out the window looking at the ocean and chat after my work was done. Mind you, I was a good student, but our teaching methods, especially in A classes were relaxed. Our English teachers were like the Dead Poet Society type of teacher and the atmosphere was gregarious. Not too regimental and gloomy.

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posted September 23, 2009 12:14 AM            

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The thing I feel most sorry for for the Korean kids is all the corporal punishment. I mean in SA we had corporal punishment too, but it's like ten times worse in Korea. Not a day goes by that several kids don't get whacked. One of the most popular forms of punishment is to make them stand on their hands and feet with their ***** in the air ... sometimes for the enitre 45 minute duration of the classes. Hitting them while they're in that pose on the back of the thighs or on the buttocks is optional. I really hate it. The first time I saw this I freaked out sooo much ... I really made a scene! I couldn't believe that this was "done" ... I thought it was just this one particular teacher being a sadist! But no, I've come to realize, a nice big stick is the teacher's best friend! So everyone carries them around at my school except me. But fortunately I am extremely entertaining so the kids (mostly) listen to me. If they don't I pull their hair, sink my fingers into their necks, make them write out paragraphs on the board, make them repeat sentences over and over again, or I just ask them lots of questions until they answer right. So, it's quite a mission. When I first started as a teacher I would never even have considered pulling kids' hair or grabbing their necks, but the system has made them sort maniacs... I mean I'm sure every Korean kid was well-behaved to start out with, but after eight years of being beaten by teachers they really just don't care anymore about pain ... I mean they'd rather not study, or be noisy, or fight, or whatever and get punished than study, be queit, be civil and not get punished. It's like they expect it now! I mean the kids are actually total masochists in a way because it's like the only attention they get. I just recently got a new co-teacher who is very inventive with his sadism and I just sit there observing him imagining terrible things I'd like to do to him 'cos I just can't stand it!! In Korea also the kids can't fail ... I mean you write exams but everyone goes to the next grade, just by age. So it's impossible to flunk out. How's that for adding to their lack of motivation. At least there aren't any kids in Korea sniffing glue on the streets, or starving at home, because ALL kids go to school and every day a big lunch gets served at school. Not that Korean food is wonderful ... but the kids seem to like it. Everything is spiced up to the max with red hot chilli pepper sauce. I've given up trying to eat Korean food because it really burns my mouth. It must be the hottest food in the world. That just gives fuel to my argument that these people just totally love punishment! Craaazeeee!!! I'm doing my best to sort of like demonstrate that actually school can be fun... learning stuff can be fun! I mean I totally looove to learn. But it's like fighting an army of Agent Smiths, like Neo in the matrix. No matter what you do to make classes nice, the punishment element keeps coming back. I don't know about the other subjects but as far as English goes there are many students in my classes who actually cannot read. Since they don't flunk out, it really brings down the level of what you're able to do with them in class. Every lesson is sort of a miracle of pleasing everybody ... those who don't understand a single word I say versus those who are bored out of their skulls by how easy the class is. If I could compare it to SA schools .... imagine having a Grade 1 student in the same class as a Grade 12 student. I'm not kidding! That's how wide the difference is between the 'good' students and the 'bad' students. Anyway, I see the whole situation as a challenge... I AM Neo vs. Agent Smith and I WILL prevail! lol : D

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Be who you are and say what you feel because those who matter don't mind and those who mind don't matter.

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posted September 23, 2009 08:12 AM            

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God, that is horrifying. I mean the beating until they are desensitized, has got to be soul crushing! I just don't get the pschology of that. Here in the U.S. that would be like creating a serial killer, or at least setting yourself up for a butt load of therapy bills on behalf of your child. Yikes.
Progress: In my Moms day, the nuns at Catholic school made you kneel on a broom stick when you were "bad."

In my day, we got a rap on the knuckles with a ruler.

Now, couldn't tell you, don't send my kids to Catholic school!

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posted September 23, 2009 05:51 PM            

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OMG! re: corporal punishment. I had a taste of it but they ended it when I was in the 3rd grade or something here in S.A. It must really break your heart. It breaks mine just hearing about it.

I'd be so conflicted. The guilt and such. It must harden your heart somehow, right? Gosh, fatinkerbell.

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