On Vacation

I'm currently at Incheon International Airport waiting to board my flight to Hong Kong via a very short layover in Beijing. And, the best part was the short 45 minute subway ride directly to the airport for no more than a few dollars.

This airport is wonderful! Free computers and internet to use. It even has an SD card slot. WooHoo! Enjoy the pix.

Oki. Gotta find some food first. I'm hungry!

Mid January Update

For those who have asked if I am MIA, the answer is sorta yes and sorta no. It's been way too bitterly cold here for the past month and some for me to even entertain the thought of going out to explore and to shoot some pix. I mean, I absolutely LOATH, HATE, DESPISE, CANNOT STAND the cold. And, that's putting it mildly. This is a family friendly blog after all! Plus, only those who cannot communicate effectively with English resort to using expletives on a regular basis. And, there seem to be way too many of those around, too. Meh!

I also just finished a very intense two weeks of teaching WInter Camp. The students were all quite good in their English abilities. So, it felt like I actually taught something for the first time since being here. It was not all smooth sailing, but for the most part, it went well. If only all my students were this good all the time my job would be so much easier. One can dream!

In the meantime, I have this week, and the next month of February also, to sit in an empty school as my contract requires me to be there whether there are students to teach, or not. It'll be time well spent to update all my lessons to PowerPoint, though. I cannot believe how easy it is to use. And, there I was feeling all lost and overwhelmed to the point that I thought I would never be able to learn it fast enough to use when it was first mentioned to me that this is how most lessons should be done. At the time, being fresh off the plane and all, the additional burden of more things piled on top of what was already there clouded my judgement of my abilities. I mean, I learned enough 3ds Max to be able to create ultra-realistic 3D images that surpassed anything that anyone who took a 3-4 year College course could not even do after that. And, that took me three (3) days! Obviously, I only learned the specific skills I needed to do what I wanted to do, but without any instructors what-so-ever and with only a few google searches for specific information is not bad in my opinion. Anyways, PowerPoint it is.

I'm also off to Hong Kong this weekend for a week. My vacation is finally here. WooHoo! I plan to blog every day of my trip. So, plan on seeing more up to date content in a few days time. And, that's it for now.

Random Readup #5

Its officially the year 2010 and its back to school! Can you believe it? It was almost like as if yesterday was the first day of school in 2009 and look at where we are today! As today is the last day of the first week of school, I might as well fill you in about the wonderful HELL of a time I had there.

Lets start with day one. Everything is ready; books, check. Uniforms, check. Shoes, check, Socks, check, and so on... If you have been checking out by blog previously, I did mention that I wanted to walk to school this year. Unfortunately, mom decided that I didn't have to walk to school and I could go to the gym instead.

So, my new year's resolution to walk to school has been canceled but not the one where I had to lose weight. Hence, I shall be cycling to the gym everyday after school to excercise. Oh yeah! Back to the subject.

Well, the first day of school didn't go as smoothly as I'd hope to be.

It was a cold, windy day. Did I mention that it was also raining? Like any typical teen, I immediately went looking around for my friends to chat with. Because we've already finished our PMR stage, the first question that would pop out amongst us is not surprisingly, "So what did you get for your PMR?"

There were students swarming all around the notice board just to take a look at which class were they assigned to. As for me, I didn't even bother going to the notice board as it was too dark and too crowded there. The lights must've been spoiled that time. Suddenly, a friend of mine had seen which class we were assigned to and announced that I was in the science stream!

I was really excited as I wanted to go for the science class. The bell rang and everybody lined up to their classes at the assembly hall. When the teacher announced which class were each student placed in, my dreams were shattered! I have been placed into the Accounts stream! I was devastated and disappointed. Moreover, the rest of my friends were placed in different classes as well and I didn't have any close friends in my new class.

It was only when I got over the first day of school that I came to my senses; I have to change to science stream if I want to be a marine biologist! For the past few days, I have been talking to the teachers and asking if I could change my class while worrying the whole time if my request had been granted or not. Waiting wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. Strangely enough, I also found out that there were a lot of science students who wanted to go for my class as it was less strain for them.

At last, the teacher finally announced the final placement of our classes today. I swear during that time my heart was pounding so much that anybody could hear it! I find it rather strange that I didn't exactly feel this way when I was taking an important exam or collecting my PMR results. Weird...

But anyway, to my utmost joy, my wish is granted and I'm officialy studying in the science stream! Yay! I guess its another step closer towards becoming a marine biologist. I thank the Lord Jesus for listening to my prayers and I'm ever so grateful!

Have a great day today!