Nobody: A Sensation in the Philippines

The wondergirls, a group of singers from South Korea is now conquering the world with their single, Nobody. Here in the Philippines, you would be surprised if you won't hear the song in every fm radio station every 30 minutes or so. Here they are.

It Was Just A Dream

I was excited to go to my web designing training class today and glad that I was not the only one who doesn't have any background knowledge about web designing. It was funny that my dream last night about dreamweaver was really true. I have heard about Dreamweaver before but I didn't know that it is a software for web designing. Last night I had a dream that I was going to see and use dreamweaver with my class today. I thought it was weird since I had imagined that dreamweaver has something to do with mystical beings or some magic. I haven't seen or heard from friends about its functions. After using a notepad and doing some basic html coding our trainer introduced a software called Dreamweaver. Perhaps I was just too excited for my first day of class that's why I had a dream about this software which we are going to use for our entire training period. Hello Dreamweaver, I hope we can get along pretty well :)

Mistaken for a Japanese?

Do I look like this? :-)

A close friend recommended a teaching job to a student in Seoul, Korea. I was excited since it means additional income and since it's done online, I won't have to travel and be in Seoul every time we're having class. The first meeting went fine. As usual, we had introduction, agreed on time and set our expectations. She wanted to use a book which I don't have, so my friend suggested that I should buy one in a Korean shop called, Koreana. I went there immediately and looking the people inside I could tell that they were Koreans including the cashier. I saw the book that I needed, New Interchange 1, but because I was not blessed with height I couldn't reach for it. I was looking for a chair or something which could make me taller, but I unfortunately I didn't find one. So I needed someone's help from the store. I turned to the other shelves and saw a Korean looking man, so I asked him politely.
"Excuse me, could you get me one New Interchange book please?" I pointed the shelf where it was displayed.
He didn't say anything and just followed. He easily reached the book because he is tall. He got the wrong book, so I told him to change it. He asked me which color I like, I said I wanted the blue one. He handed the book and thinking that he was the owner, I asked him again,
"How much is this book?" He just smiled and said, "I'm sorry I don't know" then added,
"Well, I'm also a customer here".
I was a little embarrassed because I thought he was the owner of the store, so I immediately thanked him and went to the cashier.
While at the cashier, I asked the Korean looking woman for the price. I handed her the payment which is P500. She asked if I had a smaller bill, in our Cebuano dialect. I thought she was a Korean woman, but she spoke Cebuano perfectly. So that's alright, my mistake number two. I gave her some smaller bills then when I turned around I saw the man, and smiling he said in our dialect.
"Oh my god! you gave me a hard time speaking English earlier, I thought you're a Japanese so I answered in English!" "What is this book for? are you going to study Korean?" he inquired.
He still had other questions but I said I must go ahead since I still have a class, which was a lie. He and his other friends were laughing when I left the store..this is my Korean shop blooper.

A Teach and Holidays

It's so great to be back home after 10 months of staying in China. I anticipated this moment so much where I can be with my family and friends and most of all go where I want to go. Teaching is such a great job when you're considering about the number of holidays you will get in one year. In China, I started working at the end of Sept. 2008, yet I was paid for the whole month of November. Then came October where they celebrated the Chinese Communist Foundation Day. It's  10-day holiday for most schools in China. So another 2 weeks work and get paid for the entire month. Next, big holiday is the Spring Festival Celebration or Chinese New Year. This is the biggest celebration in China and it seems that the entire 1.3 billion people are moving around China. That was more than a month holiday. Then another holidays for some less special occasions like Qing Ming and Dragon Boat Festival. Then here comes summer where I have to enjoy more than 2 months vacation. Wow, so many holidays for teachers in China. Yes it's great to enjoy these times. I love these moments though I have to admit that sometimes I feel so bored and life is just too dragging when I'm not working. I feel that work is not work at all but it's like part of me. I can go to the class let the students do something, make some interactive activities and no matter how many times I said the word I still get a different experience in every class. Being a teacher is such a wonderful job.