When governments are quarreling, The little folk get caught between: They say, “But wait! There is a way!” But none by bureaucrats is seen. “Fill this form out in triplicate, But no, not with that sort of pen. And this one was due yesterday, So now, you must submit again.” Submit, submit, papers and soul, Upon the desk the papers pile, And standing in the queue, souls wait, Submitting to the foul and vile. Like lice, they invade everywhere, And cling, and suck the living blood From institutions. We need them? Why? What official added to the common good? No, …
Tag: Nonfunctional Systems
How to Mess Up Your Kid, or, Is There a Korean Kids Help Phone?
“How was your dinner?” the shop lady asked me. I sputtered, in Korean, “The food was good, but this crazy… crazy… this crazy b-i-t-c-h messed up my whole evening. You know, if this were Canada, I’d call the cops. And the cops would come, and it wouldn’t be easy for her. She would have a problem.” Because, obviously, the woman did have a problem. I hate the B-word. I use it very rarely. (And even less so in Korean, though I don’t know a good insulting but less-extreme word I could have used instead.) To understand why I went ahead …
Shepherds and Sheep
Those of you who knows your Canterbury Tales well don’t need the exact line I’m thinking of in that title, so I won’t give it here, since it would be overstatement. Or, well, no, not really, but it would be not-nice understatement, anyway. I’m struck, in reading the work of schoolteachers who are trying to write an English text for students of the level they teach — and trying is the word, indeed in a couple of senses — that maybe some of the content just shouldn’t be in there. The problem isn’t total incompetence on their part. A lot …
The Supreme Irony
Just a reminder, folks. If you’re here on an E-2 visa, it is indeed illegal for you to do editing work on the side. And from what I’m told, you don’t even need to be paid for it to be illegal enough for you to get into trouble: doing things on a volunteer basis still requires you to register with the local immigration office. (I had it direct from the Jeonju Immigration Office bigwig: even if you choose to volunteer at an orphanage, you need permission from your employer and you need to register with the Ministry of Justice — …
The Iri Yeok Explosion, and the Iksan Landfill Crisis
As you can see from the links above, this is the second in a pair of posts responding to the question posed by Roboseyo and The Korean. If you haven’t read part 1, go check it out before reading this. If you’re not inclined to check it out, here’s the nutshell: To complain is human. I Whinge, Thefore I Am. To complain online is even more common. We’d be reading whining blogs from 1380 is blogs had then existed. Expats probably complain a lot because of a few specific reasons: Many expats are English teachers, a relatively stressful (and in …