sea of japan vs. the east sea...are you kidding me?

It's been a while since I last posted. I've had quite a ride in the past seven months. A condensed version of the events would be as follows: crazzzzzzzzzy co-teacher with control issues; inundated with work; falling in love; going to southeast asia and getting robbed there; going home and visiting with family before embarking on another year in korea...Are you caught up yet?

My second year started rather strangely with a quarantine for the swine flu (I luckily didn't have it) and working full-time at one school. It's rather curious how the Koreans have been taking all of this H1N1 fever...no pun intended. At first they blamed "foreigners" for carrying the flu to Korea. The irony was that it wasn't our fault. It was a Korean nun who had traveled to Mexico that introduced this rather "sterile" country to the "cheeson plu". And the subsequent infections can be directly attributed to the lack of hygiene of Korean people; spitting all over the place (even inside nice buildings); coughing and sneezing without covering their mouths; and the best offense of all, eating too much kimchi as a means to ward themselves from the flu. We can only hope for some sensible reasoning to be graced upon these people.

I've grown more annoyed with time at the "Korean" way of life. I understand that I came here on my own volition, but I'm still constantly befudled by their odd way of thinking and their constant reluctance to accept anything other than their perspective. The distended, Korean ego has even affected their way of looking at a globe. Today in the office while I was taking inventory of the books that I donated, I came across this Time magazine world atlas. Inside the atlas, the map of East Asia included the Korean peninsula and of course their archnemesis, Japan. Much to the dismay of my fervently proud principal, the sea east of the Korean peninsula was recognized as "The Sea of Japan" in the book. He chided me for purchasing a book that didn't name the sea "The East Sea". According to many Koreans, the "East Sea" is THEIR property...so don't forget that you fool!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_of_Japan_naming_dispute

So what is the lesson learned? Never buy and donate atlases to a Korean school for you will come off as an impertinent, insensitive reprobate that has no clue that Korea is the CENTER of the world and that the "East Sea" is Korean property and NOT Japan's.