10 Creative Activities For Desk Warming Season (Part 2)

Last week you saw the first five ideas about how the be creative during the very slow and boring desk warming season in South Korea. As promised, friends, here is part 2 of the 10 Creative Activities for Desk Warming Season. I hope you enjoyed the first list and find lots of goodies on this list as well!

6. Learn To Make Your Pictures Amazing

For newbies to photography, opening up Photoshop might seem like trying to read an entirely new language. Not only is it confusing and terrifying, but the price of purchasing Photoshop is practically the price of an entire day’s worth of travel.

Save yourself the cash and headaches by learning to use photo editing tools on a free and easier to use app like Gimp. While you still have to learn the different techniques and tools in the free app, the fact that it’s free and still high quality makes learning Gimp during your desk warming time a great idea.

7. Start Up An Online Business

Whether you’re an amazing artist, expert writer, or just have insight to share with the rest of the world, online companies like Fiverr, Etsy, and Amazon allow freelancers to open up small online shops to create and sell their personal talents to the world.

As far as what you can sell, the sky is the limit. I actually have a dating profile gig on Fiverr that allows buyers to get a custom About Me section written up by yours truly for their dating profiles like Match, EHarmony, or OkCupid – which is still up and running so pop over to my shop if you’re dating profile is looking a little sparse! The possibilities for what you can create and sell online are endless, so turn off that millionth episode of Family Guy that you’ve seen in the office this week, get our a paper and pen, and start brainstorming for things you can do online to keep busy, be creative, and possibly earn a little extra cash.

8. Share Your English Lessons With Other Teachers

If you’ve made it this far into teaching in Korea, then you’ve no doubt heard of Waygook.com The amazing website put together, run, and created for EPIK teachers is a godsend on those days when your lessons are failing and you have nothing else prepared. Often the lessons you can download on the site are uploaded by a particularly generous few who, despite gaining nothing in return such as pay or even thanks, upload their lessons faithfully if only to help out new teachers. Pay the favor forward by uploading your amazing lessons plans as well while you have all the free time during winter break. Not only will people now know that you are capable of creating awesome “Bomb Games,” but you’ll also have a few extra coins in the old karma bank for helping out future teachers.

9. Write A Letter To Yourself

A little cheesy I admit, but I like to write letters to myself often to remind myself of my goals, accomplishments, and to keep myself in check and focused. During the winter break, I got bored and started this (at the time secret) habit of writing letters to myself to open on special days and occasions. The first letter I wrote to myself was meant for the day I left Korea. I wanted to remind myself of a few good memories I had that maybe I’d forget. In the letter I congratulated myself for finishing out the year abroad and (I had hoped) with my sanity still intact. Reminding myself of the goals I want to eventually accomplish, I gave myself a little pep talk in the letter. I still carry that letter around to this day to reread and remind myself of where I’ve been and where I want to go.

10. Deskercise!

Fight off that dreadful winter weight by doing a few office friendly exercises at the office. Of course, my own personal advice would be to only do this if you happen to be alone in the office. There’s no telling what your co-workers might think of a crazy foreigner who starts busting out push-ups for no reason whatsoever at 2 pm daily. There are countless of website online that share inventive ideas on sneaking in little workouts at the office. My favorite article so far has been at Deskercise! (http://greatist.com/fitness/deskercise-33-ways-exercise-work) at greatest.com where the list in broken down into types of exercises. Even if the office was empty, I never had the guts to bust out floor crunches so instead I’d take a break every couple hours and go on a brisk walk around my campus for 15 minutes. It kept me awake, and got my creative juices flowing which allowed me to accomplish more in those two weeks of desk warming than in an entire month!

The options for keeping busy during this almost brain cell killing, boring time of year at the Korean school are endless. There’s no reason you can’t use the time wisely and find new, creative, and productive activities to do. Don’t forget to put a few rewards in place! Maybe save your favorite episode of Family Guy to watch after you’ve redecorated the classroom or started up your small online business. Happy desk warming season, friends!

If you’ve survived the long cold months sitting at a hard desk in a Korean school, what sort of activities did you do to keep sane? Share your answer with other expats in a comment below!