Wasting Time ... your's and mine :)

Now I remember what it feels like to be in school.

About a month ago (yikes, has it been THAT long?), I enrolled in an online TEFL certification course. My particular course is composed of like, 12 or 13 different modules (units), plus endorsements in Grammar, Business English, and Young Learners. So far? I've completed one unit. It's not that it's difficult - quite the opposite in fact. It's pretty much common sense stuff. For each unit, I have to read a bunch of material (not a lot, though), then there's a quiz worth 30 points, and then 2 short essays worth 70 points. Why haven't I finished this yet? One word - procrastination.

Which is why I am now sitting at "Coffine Gurunaru", taking advantage of their wireless internet ... well, okay, I'll be honest - I ended up here because Starbucks was CRAZY busy. (However, that didn't stop me from getting a chai latte for the road - hey, I walked all that way ... I needed SOME kind of reward). Why am I currently blogging? Hey, hey, I finished one of the "papers" ... and I needed a break. So sue me.

Plus, I like people watching. Since I've been here, maybe half of the patrons in here have left, and new ones have taken their place. Directly across from me is a girl who has been studying quite hard since before I sat down - on one of her books is the word "PHARMACY" written carefully in blue Sharpie. Definitely don't envy her - pharmaceutical-related subjects are HARD. There's a family sitting diagonally and to the right - mother, father, and two sons. The younger of the two is watching TV on his cell phone. Earlier, there was a guy sitting to my left, plugged into his laptop and iPod and whatever other gadgets he had with him (much like myself - laptop+iPod+cell phone). Directly in front of me is the counter, where the same three employees have been working for at least the past two hours. Wonder if they'll have a shift change, or if they're stuck here 'til closing. That would be hard - I think they close at 2 AM? Oh, three employees (2 guys and a girl) plus the owner. He's really nice.

What else has been going on? Well, it's Chuseok this week. Chuseok is the Korean thanksgiving holiday. It's celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar every year - that means that it changes yearly. This year, Chuseok Day was a Wednesday. That meant that Tuesday and Thursday were also "red days" (no work) on the calendar, since Chuseok is a 3-day holiday. Many academies ALSO gave their employees Friday off, which made for a six day weekend. I only had to work Monday morning - I was done by 1.

What do people do for Chuseok? Well, it's a huge family holiday. So, you go and brave the overly congested roads, and spend time with your family. What do foreigners in Korea do for Chuseok? Well, for the most part, we travel. Unless you're me ... and then you merely go and stay in other people's apartments while they're traveling. :) Promise I'll go somewhere during the winter holiday.

Last week was good - really good. I spent a few hours picking topics and typing short background blurbs for each one. Then I broke my classes into groups, and they each picked a piece of paper. Each group then had to talk about the topic, answer some questions, and then present at the end of class. They did really well - I was quite impressed. I think I was more impressed by the questions students asked each other AFTERWARDS, specifically my 2-2 class. Really great stuff ... I can't wait to do it again with them. Next week, I am putting them through my first round of testing - but it's nothing to break a sweat over. I'm simply going to have them talk to me. Easy, right?

There's really nothing else going on. Yes, I just wrote all of this to tell you all that there's really nothing happening. Sorry. Oh, there's been some torrential downpours in Korea lately ... wicked crazy thunderstorm on Tuesday. ALL day on Tuesday. I couldn't believe it. The sky was ORANGE. ORANGE! It was a little unsettling, to be honest with you. Then, it just turned black. It was kinda crazy.

And that's my breaktime. Guess I'll go write that other paper now. :) Enjoy the rest of your week!

Oh, and new song of the moment. I think it's kinda dumb ... but it's Se7en's newest dingle - "Digital Bounce"