i'm bored so here's what happened sunday night....
so i'm pretty bored here at work today....
it's thursday and i haven't had any classes all week....nor have i been told if we're going to have classes. i kinda doubt it....
why i have to be here all this week and all next week is a complete mystery to me. nothing i'm doing here at school can't be done at home.
i think you're supposed to be preparing for the new school year but the preparations i have to make as the foreign english teacher can be done at home. i don't have to sit at this desk for 8 hours a day being subjected to people opening windows to the winter air and smoking in the same room as me!
seriously, smokers out there- it's really rude to pollute the air that non-smokers have to breathe. you have to be at least 30 feet away from someone outdoors in order for your smoke to not bother a non-smoker...but if there's a breeze, forget about it!
anyway, something happened sunday night that i wasn't prepared to write about til now. our next door neighbors had a horrible fight and i really wanted to call the police. first there was yelling and stomping around but jens and i didn't pay much attention to it because we hear that all the time in our building. korean people are very loud people.
well right as we were getting into bed we heard this EXTREMELY LOUD noise! for a split second i thought something had been dropped from above onto the balcony right outside our window (or bed is right below this window is it was really loud and really freaked me out). but a second later there was another noise and another! i thought someone was busting wine bottles on someone's door!
i slide open the window to yell at whoever it was and jens went to the door to look out. when he opened the door it was even louder. there was the sound of broken glass after each noise. i think the noise happened about 4-5 times but it seemed like an eternity when it was happening because we couldn't figure out what it was and it was a really scary sound. we almost thought it was a gun at one point! jens said when he opened the door he could feel the reverberations after each noise.
but no one was to be seen on our floor so we thought maybe it was happening above us. i wanted to call the police but jens discouraged me. people don't call the police here like we do in the states. plus i didn't know if they'd understand english or what. i thought- better to let a korean person call the police and i thought for sure someone would after an incident like that!! i heard people coming out in the walkway, walking around, some talking, etc. then i heard what sounded like a man on the phone. i thought, ok someone's calling the police.
then a little while later i hear yelling, the door opening and shutting and then the sound of the door handle jiggling. that's when we realized it was just next door! the woman had locked the man outside. he started beating on the door. there was yelling from both sides. and THEN the man started RIPPING the metal bars off the window!!! the fact that these metal bars can just be ripped off with bare hands is not very encouraging!
i said jens i'm calling my co-teacher RIGHT NOW! and i got about halfway through the number before he talked me out of it. he said your co-t won't want to call the police and the police won't want to come out because no one gets involved in domestc affairs here. and i'm like well who the heck cares what they do and do not do here?! this man has obviously gotten out of control, he's ripping metal bars off a window and the woman inside is screaming and crying! so jens went and opened the door and looked at the man (who was probably about a foot away) and he said that the korean guy just got really embarassed and stopped for a minute.
i was sick to my stomach and felt so stuck. i thought if I were her i'd want someone to call the police for me!! and i was livid that jens was acting like this was no big deal! but then he said- she let him back in and there's not very much noise now so it sounds like they've calmed down. so i listened through the wall and didn't hear much so i tried to calm down myself and go to bed. every little noise i heard made my heart jump because i was worried it was starting again so i put ear plugs in, read a little and went to sleep.
but overall i'm not ok with what happened. as a foreigner i didn't know what i should and should not do! i didn't know if i could actually say something to the crazy man or if he would turn on me. i didn't know if anyone at the police station would understand me or make me feel stupid for calling. i just didn't know what to do. and i kept thinking, surely a korean person will call the police. this is the worst fight i've ever witnessed! but no police ever showed up!
i thought about telling my co-t the next day but i didn't feel like she'd really give me any good advice. from what i've seen and what jens has read korean people hate to get into other people's business. they don't want to shame them. but from my point of view that is just ridiculous! it's ridiculous that saving face is more important than safety!
so i emailed our contact person at the jeollanamdo office of educ. and asked her what we as foreigners should do in this situation. she said she's been in a few situations like that too and has tried to do something and is never backed up. the korean people always just act like they shouldn't get involved. and the people that are actually being victimized in the conflict act really embarrassed that anyone is paying any attention to them!
what the heck korea? what the HECK?
anyway, she did say that if i ever feel like I'M in danger or that the situation is crazy enough that i should just call the police (at 112) and that they would have a translator there. or that if anything they have some kind of tracking device on the phone and they can at least come to where the phone call was made. so that's a little relieving.
but that was quite the thing to go through the night before i had to go back to school! when i left for school the next day the metal bars and window screen were in the hallway. but when i came home from school someone had cleaned it up. i kept hoping i would see the guy from that apt. coming out or something so i could give him a dirty look! lol
another thing our contact person said you could do is just tell out the window or door- choyeong! (quiet!) and that the people might get embarrassed and calm down. it's as if they like the drama of a big fight but if anyone actually notices them they quiet down. so weird!
it's thursday and i haven't had any classes all week....nor have i been told if we're going to have classes. i kinda doubt it....
why i have to be here all this week and all next week is a complete mystery to me. nothing i'm doing here at school can't be done at home.
i think you're supposed to be preparing for the new school year but the preparations i have to make as the foreign english teacher can be done at home. i don't have to sit at this desk for 8 hours a day being subjected to people opening windows to the winter air and smoking in the same room as me!
seriously, smokers out there- it's really rude to pollute the air that non-smokers have to breathe. you have to be at least 30 feet away from someone outdoors in order for your smoke to not bother a non-smoker...but if there's a breeze, forget about it!
anyway, something happened sunday night that i wasn't prepared to write about til now. our next door neighbors had a horrible fight and i really wanted to call the police. first there was yelling and stomping around but jens and i didn't pay much attention to it because we hear that all the time in our building. korean people are very loud people.
well right as we were getting into bed we heard this EXTREMELY LOUD noise! for a split second i thought something had been dropped from above onto the balcony right outside our window (or bed is right below this window is it was really loud and really freaked me out). but a second later there was another noise and another! i thought someone was busting wine bottles on someone's door!
i slide open the window to yell at whoever it was and jens went to the door to look out. when he opened the door it was even louder. there was the sound of broken glass after each noise. i think the noise happened about 4-5 times but it seemed like an eternity when it was happening because we couldn't figure out what it was and it was a really scary sound. we almost thought it was a gun at one point! jens said when he opened the door he could feel the reverberations after each noise.
but no one was to be seen on our floor so we thought maybe it was happening above us. i wanted to call the police but jens discouraged me. people don't call the police here like we do in the states. plus i didn't know if they'd understand english or what. i thought- better to let a korean person call the police and i thought for sure someone would after an incident like that!! i heard people coming out in the walkway, walking around, some talking, etc. then i heard what sounded like a man on the phone. i thought, ok someone's calling the police.
then a little while later i hear yelling, the door opening and shutting and then the sound of the door handle jiggling. that's when we realized it was just next door! the woman had locked the man outside. he started beating on the door. there was yelling from both sides. and THEN the man started RIPPING the metal bars off the window!!! the fact that these metal bars can just be ripped off with bare hands is not very encouraging!
i said jens i'm calling my co-teacher RIGHT NOW! and i got about halfway through the number before he talked me out of it. he said your co-t won't want to call the police and the police won't want to come out because no one gets involved in domestc affairs here. and i'm like well who the heck cares what they do and do not do here?! this man has obviously gotten out of control, he's ripping metal bars off a window and the woman inside is screaming and crying! so jens went and opened the door and looked at the man (who was probably about a foot away) and he said that the korean guy just got really embarassed and stopped for a minute.
i was sick to my stomach and felt so stuck. i thought if I were her i'd want someone to call the police for me!! and i was livid that jens was acting like this was no big deal! but then he said- she let him back in and there's not very much noise now so it sounds like they've calmed down. so i listened through the wall and didn't hear much so i tried to calm down myself and go to bed. every little noise i heard made my heart jump because i was worried it was starting again so i put ear plugs in, read a little and went to sleep.
but overall i'm not ok with what happened. as a foreigner i didn't know what i should and should not do! i didn't know if i could actually say something to the crazy man or if he would turn on me. i didn't know if anyone at the police station would understand me or make me feel stupid for calling. i just didn't know what to do. and i kept thinking, surely a korean person will call the police. this is the worst fight i've ever witnessed! but no police ever showed up!
i thought about telling my co-t the next day but i didn't feel like she'd really give me any good advice. from what i've seen and what jens has read korean people hate to get into other people's business. they don't want to shame them. but from my point of view that is just ridiculous! it's ridiculous that saving face is more important than safety!
so i emailed our contact person at the jeollanamdo office of educ. and asked her what we as foreigners should do in this situation. she said she's been in a few situations like that too and has tried to do something and is never backed up. the korean people always just act like they shouldn't get involved. and the people that are actually being victimized in the conflict act really embarrassed that anyone is paying any attention to them!
what the heck korea? what the HECK?
anyway, she did say that if i ever feel like I'M in danger or that the situation is crazy enough that i should just call the police (at 112) and that they would have a translator there. or that if anything they have some kind of tracking device on the phone and they can at least come to where the phone call was made. so that's a little relieving.
but that was quite the thing to go through the night before i had to go back to school! when i left for school the next day the metal bars and window screen were in the hallway. but when i came home from school someone had cleaned it up. i kept hoping i would see the guy from that apt. coming out or something so i could give him a dirty look! lol
another thing our contact person said you could do is just tell out the window or door- choyeong! (quiet!) and that the people might get embarrassed and calm down. it's as if they like the drama of a big fight but if anyone actually notices them they quiet down. so weird!