Nhemskie's Haven

A ring on the phone woke me up in the middle of my late sleeping. It was a call from the Philippines asking how we have been doing lately. It's a lazy Sunday morning in Bangkok- Cloudy skies, drizzling all morning, Tommy still on the bed and Chloe playing with her "Lucy" doll in the living room. The conversation was swift and brief. I thought of actually sleeping right after the call when suddenly thick raidrops fell outside. Below our condominium lies a university ground that is clearly visible from our condominium terrace. I felt as snug as a bug. It was like feeling home again, for the first time in years. I kept my eyes open, looking at the falling rain and seeing my little princess pretending to be a mom to her Lucy. It will be a great day, I believe.

I found myself posting again in my blog after a long period of idleness. Strange might it seem but there came a point in mylife that I felt not wanting to write anything. I suck at words, honestly for I think I wasn't born to be a writer of words. I even suck at my own language, so how could I possibly be good at writing in my second language anyway? And for my third language? I'm still struggling with it. Oh, well. I guess in a person's life, specially when one's not getting any younger, times like these would come. A time when you feel like you've said too much and all you just have to do is to shut up. A time also that when you felt you were too fancy and amusingly conceited of the things you see. There would also an occassion or two when you felt you were the smartest of all beings but felt stupid and humiliated by others at the end. I wonder if this is the start of my mid-life crisis? Tonight, when I feel sick the most because of my useless vocal cords for a we...

by Thess Manangan (Busan, South Korea) ---------------------------------- This aticle was shared with us by Ate Thess last Saturday at the FEESK meeting. It was published as a featured article in KOTESOL's English Connection ten years ago. We were very thankful and fortunate to have her as a guest speaker this month. Thanks ate Thess~! --------------------------------- Are native speaking English teachers better qualified to teach English than non-native speaking English teachers? Since living in Korea for more than six years, I have asked myself this question countless times. Non-native speakers of English, especially non-white Asians, face a difficult task finding quality teaching positions. Being Filipino, I have faced many closed doors when looking for teaching posts. It is not easy because Koreans hold certain perceptions of what foreign English teachers should look and sound like. If you don’t fit their perception, then you are simply “not qualified” to teach English. I came ...

Yup. I have a new phone and this is because of Chloe. She knocked out my phone so hard on the bathroom floor that made the monitor useless for two whole days! I went to a near Anycall service center and actually planned to repair it but they said that I had to pay for around 25,000won for a part replacement, I just thought of buying a new one since there are a lot of free phones nowadays and I had used my phone for more than two years. To pay 25k for an old, really full of scratches phone (because of Chloe) is too much for me since sooner or later I also need to replace it. In the end, it turned out not to be a free phone(850,000 won / $690). Tommy bought this phone for me saying that I need a "much, much better phone" because of his daughter...hahaha! and because I've been always using free phones since I came here in Korea (which are NOT really FREE PHONES because of the additional services included in the phone bill for the first few months). So, I resulted picking thi...

Have you ever experienced walking on the right side of a sidewalk when suddenly a rushing Korean run into your direction, literally? If you won't give way, you'll just hear that someone muttering something under his breath. Or have you ever had these cases like you were doing " patintero "(pah-tin-teh-roh) with the other person when you are walking? I find this behavior very bothering (sometimes odd and funny) especially when I use the stairways in the subway. Some subway stations have escalors going up installed at the left (e.g. Deokcheon Station). What is surprising is that they even have this sign: I told this to Tommy a few days ago and I just found out from him that they learn walking at the left side of the road in their elementary days. They even have this song that goes lilke this: "People keep to the left and cars to the right. Let's cross the street after looking right and left." So, it must be because of an old convention of walking on the le...

My students prized possessions: Syringe mechanical pencil M&M style calculator Burger set erasers Ice cream mechanical pencil Pizza ballpen

Daddy Bear Tommy. Spiky-sports cut (this is how he says it).I believe this has been his hair-style for more than 12 years. Mommy Bear Nemie. I actually hesitated between having a perm or a short cut. I guess you know what I chose. I feel, I got "chubbier" with this cut. What do you think? Baby Bear Chloe. Chloe's grandma brought her to a nearby hair salon in the neighborhood and had her bangs cut. She really looks like a baby boy here! hihihi.