Thailand were quick to bring in the Thai Navy Seals and professional cavers. Could Korea have organized that quickly? I think not!
Something tangentially fascinating about this story is that apparently few, if any, of these 12 boys know how to swim. How does that happen..
I cant say what the Korean response might be, but yeah, its a riveting story. Heres a nice interactive about the cave put out by the nytimes:https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/07/06/world/asia/thai-cave-rescue.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=HomepageSomething tangentially fascinating about this story is that apparently few, if any, of these 12 boys know how to swim. How does that happen..
Sure, that one kid cant swim is not at all shocking. That an entire soccer team cant swim is surprising to me. And I guess I have this image of rural Thailand being something of a bucolic paradise where kids, for want of hagwon, have to make their own fun and so go cannonballing at the local watering hole and chase snakes and whatever else. I dont blame them or anyone for their lack of swimming skills, just not what I would have expected. I cant think of anyone from my childhood who didnt know how to swim even a rudimentary doggy paddle (why does autocorrect insist on changing this to soggy paddle?) except for my best friend, but he had a good reason; he was deathly afraid of deep water.
Quote from: donovan on July 10, 2018, 06:36:47 amSure, that one kid cant swim is not at all shocking. That an entire soccer team cant swim is surprising to me. And I guess I have this image of rural Thailand being something of a bucolic paradise where kids, for want of hagwon, have to make their own fun and so go cannonballing at the local watering hole and chase snakes and whatever else. I dont blame them or anyone for their lack of swimming skills, just not what I would have expected. I cant think of anyone from my childhood who didnt know how to swim even a rudimentary doggy paddle (why does autocorrect insist on changing this to soggy paddle?) except for my best friend, but he had a good reason; he was deathly afraid of deep water.Most of my Korean co-workers/friends can't swim, so at this point, it doesn't really surprise me to hear, although it's interesting to me since, like you, I also can't think of anyone from my childhood who couldn't swim.
Quote from: Mezoti97 on July 10, 2018, 07:30:52 amQuote from: donovan on July 10, 2018, 06:36:47 amSure, that one kid cant swim is not at all shocking. That an entire soccer team cant swim is surprising to me. And I guess I have this image of rural Thailand being something of a bucolic paradise where kids, for want of hagwon, have to make their own fun and so go cannonballing at the local watering hole and chase snakes and whatever else. I dont blame them or anyone for their lack of swimming skills, just not what I would have expected. I cant think of anyone from my childhood who didnt know how to swim even a rudimentary doggy paddle (why does autocorrect insist on changing this to soggy paddle?) except for my best friend, but he had a good reason; he was deathly afraid of deep water.Most of my Korean co-workers/friends can't swim, so at this point, it doesn't really surprise me to hear, although it's interesting to me since, like you, I also can't think of anyone from my childhood who couldn't swim.That's not as surprising to me given the lack of swimmable freshwater along with the way they schedule free-play out of kids lives here, but perhaps the advent of swim hagwons will change all that. I hope it has a higher success rate than English hagwon; their lives depend on it!
I went to a beach this weekend (artificial, admittedly) where a lifeguard told me I had to wear a life jacket to swim in the tiny enclosed area of sea that they'd sealed off using buoys. I told him I could swim, he said it's a rule, and I said sorry but I'm just not going to wear one. He seemed to give up.Fifteen minutes later, after I'd stopped swimming, the guy came back and told me I must wear a life jacket to swim and they were freely available to borrow. I said never mind, I'll just find an island to swim off (there were many nearby).When I told my co-worker I was planning to go fishing this past weekend, she said it was a bad idea to fish from the shore because it's so dangerous. What?I think I'm done with this country.
Quote from: StillInKorea on July 10, 2018, 07:49:09 amI went to a beach this weekend (artificial, admittedly) where a lifeguard told me I had to wear a life jacket to swim in the tiny enclosed area of sea that they'd sealed off using buoys. I told him I could swim, he said it's a rule, and I said sorry but I'm just not going to wear one. He seemed to give up.Fifteen minutes later, after I'd stopped swimming, the guy came back and told me I must wear a life jacket to swim and they were freely available to borrow. I said never mind, I'll just find an island to swim off (there were many nearby).When I told my co-worker I was planning to go fishing this past weekend, she said it was a bad idea to fish from the shore because it's so dangerous. What?I think I'm done with this country. Have you tried fishing hagwon? It's completely supervised and far safer. And if you can't catch anything, they'll catch it for you.
When I told my co-worker I was planning to go fishing this past weekend, she said it was a bad idea to fish from the shore because it's so dangerous. What?I think I'm done with this country.
Quote from: StillInKorea on July 10, 2018, 07:49:09 amWhen I told my co-worker I was planning to go fishing this past weekend, she said it was a bad idea to fish from the shore because it's so dangerous. What?I think I'm done with this country.Maybe something to do with the heavy rains of the past couple weeks and the risk of flooding/mud?
Quote from: Mr.DeMartino on July 10, 2018, 07:59:40 amQuote from: StillInKorea on July 10, 2018, 07:49:09 amWhen I told my co-worker I was planning to go fishing this past weekend, she said it was a bad idea to fish from the shore because it's so dangerous. What?I think I'm done with this country.Maybe something to do with the heavy rains of the past couple weeks and the risk of flooding/mud?A kid drowned down South recently after getting too close to a flooded stream. That's probably what they were thinking of.
Quote from: robin_teacher on July 10, 2018, 08:06:20 amQuote from: Mr.DeMartino on July 10, 2018, 07:59:40 amQuote from: StillInKorea on July 10, 2018, 07:49:09 amWhen I told my co-worker I was planning to go fishing this past weekend, she said it was a bad idea to fish from the shore because it's so dangerous. What?I think I'm done with this country.Maybe something to do with the heavy rains of the past couple weeks and the risk of flooding/mud?A kid drowned down South recently after getting too close to a flooded stream. That's probably what they were thinking of.Still no reason to panic about an adult going fishing.
Quote from: donovan on July 10, 2018, 07:54:16 amQuote from: StillInKorea on July 10, 2018, 07:49:09 amI went to a beach this weekend (artificial, admittedly) where a lifeguard told me I had to wear a life jacket to swim in the tiny enclosed area of sea that they'd sealed off using buoys. I told him I could swim, he said it's a rule, and I said sorry but I'm just not going to wear one. He seemed to give up.Fifteen minutes later, after I'd stopped swimming, the guy came back and told me I must wear a life jacket to swim and they were freely available to borrow. I said never mind, I'll just find an island to swim off (there were many nearby).When I told my co-worker I was planning to go fishing this past weekend, she said it was a bad idea to fish from the shore because it's so dangerous. What?I think I'm done with this country. Have you tried fishing hagwon? It's completely supervised and far safer. And if you can't catch anything, they'll catch it for you.Will they also give me a 100% pass even if I don't catch any fish? I'll just say I had a bad day but I really am very good at fishing usually.
