Listen,
I don't think I'm being too unreasonable. For one, someone earlier said that his school paid him overtime for going on his orientation. Maybe yours would do the same if you asked them. Maybe mine would, too.
I'm all for protecting the rights that we deserve, but in addition to paying for our working hours during the trip, GEPIK is also supplying meals, transportation, and accommodation. They don't have the right to tell us not to drink, but they have the right to restrict us from drinking in what are, legally, their rooms. I don't want to get into the whole thing about not letting us leave (especially since it was a total non-issue for me; my orientation was out in the middle of nowhere), but if they pay for the rooms and for our stay at the resort/hotel, I'm pretty sure they have a say in what we do there. I'm not a lawyer, though, so maybe I'm wrong.
Enough of this, though. Let's stop arguing about drinking and actually do it. It's Friday.
this thread is probably worn-out but i think this has to be said as the following has not really been expressed, but [i feel] is really important to understand.
see this is the thing.... when we look at things in terms of "rights," we're still looking at things in a "western" point of view (and understandably so, since we ARE westerners.) i'm going to try to explain this from a "korean" point of view, and i may be butchering a few things but nonetheless, here i go: when you talk about "defending rights," you are essentially choosing to uphold some abstract idea rather than respecting the preexisting structure of relationships. abstract ideas to many traditional/contemporary koreans are COLD AND LIFELESS, as may value the structure and warmth of human relationships. this is precisely the reason there are a lot of rulings/decisions which may not make logical sense but are made instead to preserve relationships we may have amongst each other (waegook/native, teacher/co-teacher, etc. whatever.)
think about when you were young and when you fought with your siblings (if you don't have any just try to imagine.) when you and your siblings fought, no matter who was wrong/right sometimes, BOTH of you got in trouble for bickering even tho clearly one was being a bigger jerk than the other; your parents probably made you get along and accept their decision on shutting you both up and forcing you to apologize to each other because they felt that the relationship between you two was more important than some abstract/individualistic idea of who was right and who was wrong. maybe even some of you saw the value in this when you got older and grew closer as a result of accepting the discipline that contradicted your individual sense of justice. this is typically how korean authority works, and why "rulings" often defy/threaten our sense of "rights" and logic. it's RELATIONSHIPS that matter, NOT ABSTRACT RIGHTS.
to me this makes perfect sense. take the united states for instance in which "rights" or upheld for the smallest disputes. you go through some taxing, high-cost, legal/bureaucratic process and essentially sever whatever sort of organic relationship/means of dispute you may have with the accused through the heated discussions/analysis of these abstract "rights," often even involving third parties who had nothing to do with the dispute to begin with. yes your rights are upheld but people are not necessarily told to play nice, nor does the ruling necessarily enforce such actions. one can even argue you grow further apart from your fellow man in this whole mess.
i know many of you think "well.... i'm not Korean." imo, this is laziness, ignorance, or flat out defiance, but do what you want. i'm sorry if you think i'm a "nationalist" for trying to play by their "rules" but i honestly think a lot of us have forgot that this is THEIR country, and the Korean citizen is our employer as it is THEIR tax payer money that lines our pockets. their decision for this particular affair may contradict logic our whatever western ideals we may possess, but in the end, authorities are trying to uphold the organic/"real" relationships amongst korea's inhabitants rather than cave to cold abstract ideals, in a KOREAN way. if you can understand that, try not to take things so personal while your out here and put the individuality thing aside every once in a while. it's just liquor, there are bigger things to worry about.
You must remember that "Democracy" is less than 30 years old here. They (the Koreans) are used to be told what to do.
Adam
i'm not sure what you're implying by this. i know of no country that practices pure democracy. most "western" countries exercise a form of representative democracy, but none are ever pure democracies. lastly, EVERYONE does what they are told to do. even the notion of individuality and democracy is something you were "told to do." what? do you think Koreans are robots without impulses, private thoughts or feelings?
