Black Day (South Korea) Puns

There is actually somewhere in the world a holiday (although an unofficial one) just for single people...

So, what I understood was...

• on 2/14 (Valentines Day) women give small presents (like chocolate) to men
• on 3/14 ("White Day") the men give small presents to women
• on 4/14 ("Black Day") people, who didn't get anything, dress in black, eat black food (especially some pasta dish) and complain about being single

So I'm very inclined to go to South Korea next year to celebrate Black Day. Fittingly, it is also my birthday.

No shit, there I was. Korea. June of 1990. It was also my first FTX in Korea. This is a long story about nothing, kind of like most of my stories. It is what us old-timers call "a yarn."

As with most of our battery level FTX's (Field Training eXercice), we were a few miles away from camp in the hills near the DMZ between South Korea and North Korea. These FTX's could last from a couple of days to a week. FTX's from the Brigade or Division lasted longer. A spring or summer FTX was always preferable to a winter one, because you didn’t have to worry about hypothermia. We also didn’t train quite as hard then, because we fully expected any war with North Korea to start in the winter, when it was easier to move tanks across rice paddies and such. Just like 1950.

So during the summer, you could leave the winter gear back at the barracks and not have to deal with that extra gear. You could wear your BDU sleeves rolled up, and even take your top off some days and just chill in your t-shirt and pants when the first sergeant or commanding officer weren’t around. The hills of Korea in the summer reminded me of the hills in Germany in the summer which reminded me of the hills of Colorado in the summer. It was easy to get mentally and emotionally lost in them. All three places are beautiful.

So we picked a nice high point to set up a firing position on, surrounded by trees, with two readily available paths to drive off on. We had a nice 360 degree view of the battle area. In short range Air Defense, you always set up one primary firing position (preferably on high ground) and two alternate positions nearby. Shoot. Move. Communicate. Repeat. We had two alternate firing points selected within 1.5 kilometers of our main firing site. The weather was NICE and we were laid back, sort of dozing, and listening to the radio chatter. I was topside of the Vulcan, leaning back against the gun turret, with my eyes closed and day dreaming as the other three in the squad were shooting the shit. We hadn't made contact with OPFOR (Opposing Forces) unit yet, which was the other half of the battery, and things were chill. Day one of the FTX and the serious wargames hadn't started yet.

Tomorrow we would be driving, dismounting, fighting, dying, waiting for the first sergeant to come over with the key and turn off the screeching MILES gear when we were dead. (MILES gear is like laser tag. You wear sensors on your gear. You shoot a blank. If the laser is pointed at someone when you d

Then you've found your Seoul mate

Hey r/antiwork, I’m a white dude who used to live in South Korea. I had a swank university job teaching English most of the time I was there. Here were some of the benefits:

• 4-day workweek. Fucking awesome and allows for plenty of time for hobbies.

• Workdays were rarely longer than a few hours. It was really like a part-time gig. I rarely worked for more than twenty hours per week for the university.

• 99% of students and colleagues were excellent, friendly, hardworking, etc. It was odd to see Western colleagues who had been there for many years—it was difficult to guess their ages because they seemed ageless. When your boss isn’t working you to death, your thirties can last into your fifties at least. Teaching and learning was generally a pleasure and very satisfying.

• Respect. Even though a monkey could have done this job (I was technically an assistant professor despite only having a BA and publishing exactly zero research) people thought I was Mr. Important. I got this job 100% thanks to luck. I’ve worked all kinds of jobs—like dog shit picker-upper—and the easiest ones are always those that pay the best and have the least responsibility.

• Universal health care. Everyone gets it all the time no matter what. Going to the hospital is as simple as using a public road. You’re usually in and out in an hour with your medication for maybe $20 or $30. Terms like “copays” or “deductibles” are unknown, as is the concept of medical bankruptcy. We were in the hospital constantly because we had to vaccinate our kids at least a hundred times each. South Korea got universal health care back in the ‘80s and also has free high-quality universal daycare, which is a fucking godsend for parents. We were there when this policy was implemented and it also caused an explosion in business. Private daycares were opening up everywhere. As it turns out, planned economies tend to be much more efficient than the anarchic economy we all know and love here in the USA! South Korea’s life expectancy is also longer than in the USA and increasing, while the USA’s is decreasing, something that tends to only occur during national catastrophes like invasions, civil wars, plagues, etc.

• Korean food tends to be delicious, cheap, and healthy. No tipping culture at restaurants also means better service. Your servers aren’t constantly bugging you either because you just press a button on your table to summon them!

• Excellent public transportation. Cheap, fast, clean, efficient sub

There're lots of sons.

Something really hilarious (am I even allow to call it hilarious😭) to me today. So, we have a assignments about the role of embassy in a country and what does their participation is important to the country where they implanted and the initial country. My task was first for Kenyan embassy but a classmate of mine who is from Kenya want to do it so they exchange the country with me which is South Korea.

I went there prepared with questions and a hand written letter to the ambassador which will allow me to meet one of the diplomats for the matter. As I'm waiting, there were two other girls (they look like they're under 17 tho I'm not sure) sitting opposite of me also waiting and being angry. They call the security guard after few minutes and ask him to let them meet the ambassador. I thought that they want to have a scholarship for them in a university in South Korea. So I asked of this were the case (for information) and replied no and they "want to see the ambassador to sent a important matter to South Korea". I didn't search to know more as to respect their privancy. Then some minutes passed and the Secretary called them in. I think they went there for at least 10min before the girls came out crying and the secretary telling the guard to show let them go. Turn out their letter is to ask the embassy to tell YG to let Blackpink have a comeback.

Once they're out the secretary look at the guard and said "We have more important things to handle than telling a company to let some Blackpink release a song for their fans. Maybe if the company pay me I'll do it." Both of them laughed. The French version is much more funny and aggressive 😭. I think aside from me, the people present there were confused.

I left the embassy at around 2pm and the girls were still outside waiting for maybe try to enter again. I just passed them on my way without even being curious about tf they wrote.

How people are not embarrassed? I'll dig a grave before going to an embassy and ask for such things. 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Edit: it's not a fake story, it indeed happened to me. I would have take a video as a form of evidence but I didn't take one.