before i came to korea i had heard of this strange word and although it was explained to me, i was sure i would never use it because it just sounded so silly. deskwarming? what? kind of like benchwarming… but at a desk.  but hey what do you know?  i’ve gone and made it the title of my blog.

deskwarming is when you come into school and sit at your desk (all day!) even though you don’t have any classes (all day!). just like benchwarming, where your team is playing a match but you spend the entire time on the sidelines, on a bench (in case any of you south african readers back home don’t get the american sports terminology). this could be because the students are writing exams, they’ve gone on a camp or a field trip, or it’s something like sports day.   as lesson planning really doesn’t take up that much time, the foreign teacher is left with hours to fill.

i’ve been deskwarming all week because of  exams. it’s been mostly boring but so far i’ve managed quite well. although i don’t think i would have survived without the internet. at all.  i had very noble intentions of working on learning korean, making flashcards and working through my book with the audio cd. but i am a serious procrastinator so i haven’t gotten around to that yet. instead i’ve spent a lot of time reading blogs, stumbling (yay for StumbleUpon), facebooking and reading “tender is the night” by f scott fitzgerald as an e-book. oh and listening to music on jangofm (internet streaming radio).

there are basically 2 types of blogs that i read. blogs by foreigners in korea and fashion blogs. www.koreanbloglist.com is a great source for the first type. i have found some really funny and helpful blogs on there. it’s great to read about other people having similar experiences to you in a country that at times can feel so foreign and lonely. it also gives you great ideas, whether they be about teaching or travelling or just day to day life. i’ve found some great blogs on there that i’m following regularly. fashion blogs or any sites related to fashion are great for me because that is one of my passions. i just love clothes and style and people being witty and creative with it, it’s so inspiring. and something i would actually like to get involved in in the future. of course i read other blogs too…

one of the best boredom killers is www.stumbleupon.com. if you haven’t heard of  it, check it out. you go to the website list your interests, insert it in your tool bar and whenever the internet (or your workday) is being particularly dull you click on stumble and it will take you to a sight it thinks you might like. if you like it you click “i like it” and it will store it for you as well as know to show you similar sights in the future. my interests are reading, history, cooking, travel, photography, art, film. music, humour and astronomy.  from this i get some pretty cool websites and learn some nifty things. i even get links to humourous astronomy : )

so the internet helps with the soul crushing boredom that is deskwarming. but it can be unhealthy,  it sucks you in a bit and after a couple of hours you start feeling like you’re wasting your life, did you come a thousand miles away from home to develop a headache from staring at a computer screen for hours on end? you feel quite exhausted as it saps your energy. it’s moments like these that you wish you could have classes again and try and teach english to your sweet, cute and naughty girls. that you could feel a sense of purpose and creativity. and then the bell rings for lunch. or you get up for a glass of water and a chat with your co-teacher and it becomes almost bearable again. but when i really can’t take it anymore, i turn to lolcatz.

for all the other people out there with too much time on their hands, and in need of a laugh here are 2 links.

http://icanhascheezburger.com/

http://www.lamebook.com/

and with that i’ll leave you… it’s almost lunch time : )