✏ Teacher chit chat #6: Teaching online

Being totally honest with you guys, I didn't think this situation could last this long but, I've been working from home for 3 months now and I'm not gonna lie, it's being hard.

As much as I enjoy doing what I do, teaching through online platforms has been a challenging experience, first of all, because it is not for everyone. And I don't mean people can't learn online but not everyone has access to online resourses and that is something we didn't take in consideration when we had to plan a new way to teach our students. It is true this whole situation brought out our most creative side, trying to find ways for our students to learn without becoming something flat and boring but all that effort couldn't reach all our the students for many different and personal situations.

Still, we are doing our best.

I don't think of myself as a super creative person, especially when I'm out of my comfort zone. When this thing started I strongly refused to teach stuff through videos and I hated the idea of doing online classes because I thought it'd be awkward, and yeah, it was awkward at the beginning but I ended up enjoying it because it was the only way to keep in touch with my students. Plus, there are so many online tools and resourses you can use to teach now, it's amazing! In the end I've learned a lot and also stepped out of my comfy zone.

It's funny how some people think I have more free time now that I work from home because, it is a lot more work! Especially paperwork. It's not like we didn't plan our lessons before but the amount of work increased. My coworkers agree with me.

The goverment took the decision to end the school year on June 05th. Not every school ended classes that day but our school decided to do it. It was super sudden and we had to rush everything. Sadly, we didn't have a closure ceremony or graduation celebrations. It was sad to say goodbye through a computer, knowing it could be the last time we meet some of our students. We shared happy memories and a couple of tears on our last day~ It couldn't be helped. I hope I get to see my graduates again to give them a big hug.

This pandemic doesn't seem to be getting any better here where I live, it's worrisome to see how some people don't take it seriously.
Working from home could go on for months and months and even tho my adult students seem to be coping with it just fine, I don't think it'll be the same case for children.

It's uncertain what will happen, I'm really keeping my fingers crossed, hoping we will be able to go back when it's planned.
Of course it won't be the same, and of course we will have to continue finding new ways to work but, I've realized that is just part of life, we need to adapt to whatever comes our way~

🎂 Quarantine birthday + pressies!

On June 3rd I celebrated another birthday, and even tho it was a very different one because of the lockdown situation we're in, it was a fun and special day.

Since it was a Wednesday, I had a lot of work to do. We were juggling between work and celebration, haha, but it was also really nice to recieve sweet messages from my students and coworkers.
At home I was very spoiled by my mom and sister from the moment I woke up with special food, pressies and everything sakura/princess themed.

Even the meat was flower shaped. I took the pic before
adding the other ingredients to my burger. 

I also recieved surprises delivered to my house from friends and I got to see one of my besties for a couple of minutes because she and her hubby stopped by real quick to congratulate me and leave a pressie. I was so happy to see her after all this time. We kept our distance and wore masks all the time, of course. But it makes such a big difference to see someone in person even for a little while.

Once again I want to thank everyone who took the time to send me a message, a pressie, a virtual hug and good wishes. You all made my day a special one despite the lockdown.

Let's move on to the pressies, shall we? They are in no particular order and I kinda separated them by types.

First one is of course, the cake. It was a gorgeous choco mint, sakura cake from Chez Moi Reposteria. As some of you know, choco mint is one of my favorite combinations ever.

It was way too pretty, I felt bad for having to eat it but,
can't say no to cake!

Next are the beauty related goodies.
The Elegant Touch nails are one of my favorites, the sakura & matcha hand cream  smells so good and, I'm really looking forward to try the Burt's Bees products since I've heard many great things about them. And those Physicians Formula eyedshadows are super pretty to look at!

UPDATE: I've been using the B.B chapstic and... I LOVE IT!

Then we have yummies! Because I could eat candy instead of real food if it wasn't bad for the health. Haha.

Stationery! Inside the HK notebook, there's a sweet letter from my friend. ♡

I also recieved some earrings. I actually wore the pink hearts on my birthday and they look so pretty!

The husbando! 😍

And, some clothes. The first outfit was the outfit of the birthday.

super wrinkled skirt. Oopsie!

So, that is that for this b-day post. Even tho I'm not the happiest about being a year older, I think I have my priotrities (a bit) more stright now, I'm more aware of the things I want and don't want, as well as the things I need to change. I also know that a nice glass of sake at the end of a long and tough day can always make me feel better. LOL.
A year older means... a little bit wiser. Haha.

Quarantine birthday will be a b-day to remember.

What I've been watching lately 2020: Lockdown edition

Hello sweets!
Since some of us are still on lockwdown and I haven't been able to share "monthly favorties" because I haven't tried new things lately, I thought this kind of post would be appropriate to say goodbye to May.
Shows reccomendations! You know what to expect: Kdrama and anime. No horror or true crime this time tho.
I'm still not done with some of these shows but I've been enjoying them a lot, that's why I wanted to incude them here.

As usual, most of my plots and descriptios come from other sites such s Netflix and wikipedia.

I'm going to start with Anime because we only have one on the list:

☆ Gal to Kyouryuu (Gal and Dino):

"One day, Kaede, a gyaru, picks up a dinosaur and begins living with it. The short comedy depicts their daily lives together as the dinosaur consumes human food, watches TV, and enjoys fashionable things. Thus begins the story of a gal and a dinosaur cohabiting that transcends time."
(Source: MAL News)

This one was a recommendation from the bestie. It is a super short ongoing anime with only 12 episodes. I'm on episode 7.  It shows the life of Kaede, a gyaru girl, and her new roommate, Dino. The style of this show reminds me of Pop team epic because of all the styles combined on each episode. Some people might find it weird but I really, really liked it. Hopefully they'll come up with new episodes soon.

Moving on to Kdrama, I've watched some of them with my mom. She's now into kdrama too. Hehe.

☆ All about my mom:

"Jin-ae (Eugene) works hard to make money only to end up spending it on her family, and her mother San-ok shows so much affection towards her first son only. Jin-ae then meets Kang Hoon-jae (Lee Sang-Woo), who coincidentally is the son of her boss who she admires, and marries him. While experiencing difficult times with her mother-in-law, Jin-ae begins to understand her own mother for the first time." (Source: Wikipedia)

You've read about this drama before. This is one of the longest dramas we've watched so far with 54 episodes. I was mostly excited to watch it because of Jo Bo Ah but we ended up loving most of the other characters too.

This drama is an emotional roller coaster with some comedy too. It made me want to cry a couple of times.

And after All about my mom we wanted to find another drama that would catch us as much so we started...

☆ Love and marriage:

"Cha Gi-young is a popular news anchorwoman who has a rivalry with Jo Eun-cha, an anchor at a competing station. After a tryst with a colleague, she falls pregnant and decides to raise the child as a single mother."

Even tho this one is not one of my all time favorite dramas, it was good and slightly different from what I usually choose. You can find it on Netflix.

This next 2 dramas are the ones I'm still currently watching:

☆ Fix you:

"Soul Mechanic" follows psychiatrists as they try to cure people of their emotional wounds.
Lee Shi-Joon (Shin Ha-Kyun) is a psychiatrist at a hospital. He is passionate about his work and helping his patients. Han Woo-Joo (Jung So-Min) is a rising star as a musical actress. She is honest and has integrity. She loves her work as a musical actress."

This drama, aka Soul mechanic, is still ongoing and of course, I'm watching it because of Jung So Min but I'm really liking it. I like how versatile she is playing completely different charaters on each drama she's in.

☆ Crashlandig on you:

"Crash Landing on You tells the story of two star crossed lovers, Yoon Se-ri (Son Ye-jin), a South Korean heiress, and Ri Jeong-hyeok (Hyun Bin), a member of the North Korean elite and a Captain in the North Korean Special Police Force. One day while Yoon Se-ri goes for a short paragliding ride in Seoul, South Korea, a sudden tornado knocks her out and blows her off course. She awakens to find her paraglider had crashed into a tree in a forest in the DMZ in North Korea (an area forbidden for South Koreans). She then meets Ri Jeong-hyeok and falls into his arms when descending from the tree. Ri Jeong-hyeok eventually gives Yoon Se-ri shelter, and develops plans to secretly help her return to South Korea. Over time, they fall in love, despite the divide and dispute between their respective countries." 

This drama has 16 episodes and aired earlier this year. I didn't think I'd love it this much but it has two things I love: Korean men + military. Jeong-Hyeok's relationship with Se-Ri kinda reminds me of Sousuke and Kaname (full metal panic) in an adult, korean version. I just love Jeong-Hyeok.

Next are non-asian shows. Hehe.

☆ Sweet Magnolias:

"Lifelong friends lift each other up as they juggle relationships, family and careers in the small Southern town of Serenity."

I rarely watch American shows lately. My mom suggested this one and we ended up loving it! It just recently premiered on May 19th and we already finished season 1. At first I thought it'd be the "typical" love story but, it is much more than that! It's the story of 3 life long best friends and their lives, families, struggles and how they face all that together. There's drama, comedy and some romance. But it's defo worth watching.
Can't wait for season 2.

And there you have some of the shows I've been watching this quarantine. Feel free t give me some show suggestions too and let me know if you end up watching some of these.
xx
♡

Quarantine: Expectations VS Reality

I'm sure most of you, if not all, can relate to this: When this whole quarantine & lockdown situation started, we all planned to have the most productive time at home in our lives. At least I know I did.  I wanted to re-decorate my room, start working out every day, read a book, film lots of videos, do some intense cleaning around the house and work. Yeah, I kinda did some of those things for the first 3 or 4 weeks but... now I'm not all that motivated all the time.

I've been talking with my one of my best friends about this a lot lately and, we all have this idea that we have to be productive all the time during this pandemic time which is... not always true. I read somewhere, we are living a situation tht changed our lives, not because we wanted to but, because we had to. And even tho yeah, we have to adjust to our new routines, it's ok if it's not perfectly productive all the time.

There are days where I feel like I want to do it all and feel inspired by seeing what others post on social media but, reality is my 2 teaching jobs are busier now more than ever because I no longer have an schedule, and the amount of paperwork increased. I have to be available all day and it is stressful. I'm exhausted at the end of the day and I just can't be bothered to work out because snacks and sake sound a lot better.
I'm not complaining, I am extremely lucky to be able to work from home and make money. Plus it keeps me busy enough to avoid negative thoughts.

My point is, it's ok! It's ok to have very busy and productive days (or part of them), but it's also ok to spend a day or 2 in bed, watching netflix. A clean house helps to feel better but, nothing will happen if you don't do the dishes once. Cuz I think, pushing ourselves to do things and always be the best version of ourselves during this time, can be more stressful than knowing it's fine to feel a little down every now and then (which I also think is perfectly normal). We're not used to live this way, speding all of our time home.
Of course it is a good time to spend some time with the fmily and stuff but its also healthy to have some me time if needed.

I've seen many people studing something new, cooking and focusing on things they were not able to do before the quarantine and it's great! I just feel like not all of us are able to do that or have the energy to. Don't get me wrong, it is a good time to try new hobbies or dedicate more time to the ones you already had and maybe didn't have enough time to but, take it easy.

There's always something good in the bad, or at least I like to think so, during this quarantine I've been able to practice my cooking, focus a little more on this blog, take better care of my pets, sleep more and appreciate the simple things I used to do a lot more.
I feel like some of us are also reconnecting with people and finding other ways to keep in touch with our loved ones. Before this quarantine, I used to hate the idea of having video calls because I felt awkward (yeah, but I don't feel awkward talking to a camera all by myself... I'm weird like that) and now, video calls are part of my everyday and, I really enjoy having video calls with my friends cuz, I miss them way too much.

I'm pretty sure our lives won't be the same after this experience and we'll have to adjust to the new "normal" once this thing is over but hopefully we'll learn from it and appreciate all the good things we have and that we probably took for granted before this.

Don't forget to always be kind to yourself. ♡ See you next time~!

A day in the life: Quarantine edition

It's crazy to think how much our lives have changed in a little over a month. I miss everything that used to be "normal" to me such as meeting friends and family, drinking coffee in a café and yeah, going to work. I'd never thought I'd say I actually miss going to work. But, you all know how this is~
Here we are, 7 weeks after this whole lockdown thing started. Two online teaching jobs and a pile of paperwork that seems endless!
Not long ago, I made a My week in photos post and I wanted to make something similar during this situation, to capture what my life looks like right now.
Some things may change depending on the day. There are days when I cook, days that are packed with work and others when I get to go out to get some groceries. But the rest is pretty much the same.

Wednesday May 06, 2020.

My alarm goes off at 8:30am. I need an alarm to wake up or I could sleep in until very late. I spend a couple of minutes in bed trying to fully wake up. I sometimes check my IG feed and some messages during this time.

Once I get out of bed it's coffee time! I can't start my day without a cup of coffee and of course, breakfast.

At 9:00am I kinda start working, even if I'm still in the middle of my breakfast, cuz it's when activities are sent to my students and we have to explain activities, answer doubts and questions. 

After breakfast I spend hours in front of the computer catching up with paperwork, lesson planning and other things my bosses ask us to do, while answering messages from students, washing up and getting ready in between. Multitasking!

Video calls and online classes schedules change depending on the day. Today, the spanish teacher & I had a video call with some of our students at 11am.

My chubby cheeks tho!

Since I finished most of my work yesterday, I was able to "finish" around 12:30pm. (cuz I recieve msgs all. day. long. No joke.)

I took some time to fold laundry while listening to my podcast: My Favorite Murder.

Once that was done, I went to the ATM and Walmart, to buy a few things we needed. Even tho it's scary to go out, I have to say I enjoy it because that's the only moment I get to leave the house!

I also stopped by the McD's drive thru to order some food. Mom's treat, and it came in perfect because I was craving McD's for a couple of days thanks to Emmy made in Japan and her Japanese McDonld's video.

Not McD's Japan but it always makes me happy

Whenever I go out, I change clothes as soon as I get home. I also took a shower and planned my classes for Thursday after lunch.

It rained today so I couldn't take Tinkerbell out for a walk. We usually take short walks right outside the house. I like to do it after 6pm, when no one else is around. Hehe

Around 7:30 / 8ish pm, it was time to relax watching a k-drama with my mom. We're currently watching "The greatest marriage" (aka Love and Marriage on netflix)
I also got caught up with messages and had dinner, while still watching the drama.

And well, around 10:30pm I started with my skin care routine and got ready for bed. I can tell my skin is enjoying this no-makeup season. I also have more time for facemasks so yeah, I think it looks and feels better.

I recently started using a gratitude journal that y sister gave me back in December. I thought it'd be good to always try to find something good in everyday, especially during this time. I try to dedicate 10 minutes to write something in there before bed.

There are nights where I fall asleep as soon as I lay in bed, and others where I spend hours watching random true crime shows, anime or The Simpsons, editing or working on blog posts. It depends on how tired I am.

This was a quiet day compared to others where I feel like work is endless, and I chose to share it because I didn't spend most of my day in front of the computer, working.

Ah! there's nothing too interesting but I still hope you enjoyed this post. Feel free to share a day in your life with me. 

🏡 Keeping myself busy at home

Hi guys!

It's scary what has been going on around the world this 2020 and I know, right now, it is a difficult time for everyone. 

We're supposed to be in lockdown here where I live, and I say "supposed to" because there's still a lot of people who have to go out for work and well... others who don't seem to take this virus situation seriously and decide to go on vacation and out & about despite what's going on.

I consider myself lucky to be able to work from home. Right now I'm on a break but I've been staying home for a little over 3 weeks now, only going out to buy groceries.

I know staying home 24/7 can be maddening! I'm used to meet my friends at least once a week, visit my family, go out for lunch, coffee and shopping but as much as I miss those things, I have to be smart and do the whole social distancing thing. I'm haven't cut my bangs yet so, it's all good. 

Since I didn't stop working, I feel like I haven't found this as bad as I thought. I kinda had an schedule and daily lesson planning to do. And even now that we're on a break, I still have online classes 3 times a week. 

Other than that, I have plenty of time to myself... I could spend the rest of my day sitting on the couch watching Netflix and eating snacks, which I have at times but, I'm trying to do productive things too.

I'm gonna share with you some of the thing I've been doing to keep myself entertained this quarantine aside from work.

Cleaning, organizing and decluttering. Decluttering is something I usually do when I'm on my break. I always go throught my clothes, shoes, bags, accessories and get rid of a bunch of things I no longer use. I organize my closet and all that fun stuff. 

I'm not a big cleaning fan, but now that I've had plenty of time, we've been doing some serious cleaning. It's exhausting but, satisfying~ hehe.

I usually like to listen to one of my favorite podcasts (My favorite murder and Ghost Magnet) while I do these things.

Fav podcasts

Blogging and Vlogging. This is not really out of my regular routine but now I have more time to work on blog posts. Sometimes life gets super busy and I just don't have enough time to prepare posts. I had a list of things that I wanted to blog about and I'm slowly putting everything together. Plus, to me, it is a relaxing hobby! As for my vlogging, I decided to do this kind of "Lockdown diaries" sharing what I'm up to during this quarantine. It's not super entertaining but, yeah.

♡ You can check out my YouTube channel here: MonStar's LittleVlog

Scrapbooking. Kinda. About 2 years ago, I bought this Sailor Moon notebook and I wanted to give it a good use but I didn't know what I wanted. I started this kind of photo album/scrapbook to keep my favorite memories. I started working on it at the end of 2019 so I'm still very behind on it, but I've been really enjoying it. Hopefully I'll be done with 2019 soon. I had so many stickers waiting to be used so, this was the perfect chance to use them. I'm still experimenting with the style I want tho but, I'm having a lot of fun with it.

Skincare. I always try to take good care of my skin but sometimes, when I'm too tired, I just do the basics. Now that I have more time, I've been taking better care of my skin, sticking to my routine a lot better. And since I'm not really wearing makeup that often and when I do is super minimal, my skin feels and looks a lot healthier. 

Cooking! Yup, I've been working on my cooking and trying to improve. Those who know me, know I'm not really a cooking person, my mom does most of the cooking at home but lately, I've been trying to do it at least once a week and I actually enjoy it. I'm not going to say I try super complicated recipes and I mostly choose food I like to eat. If I compare my previous attempts with these ones, I'd say I've improved! I'm so proud, hehe.

Chicken nuggets with Mac n cheese

French toasts for breakfast

Dry noodles with Tao sauce, fish, cheese and pepper patties and fried edamame.
I'm so proud of this one!

Like I mentioned earlier, I'm used to see my friends every week so, I can't help to miss them a LOT so, we try to do video calls every week to catch up and see our faces, haha. We do message everyday but, it's not the same. I wasn't a fan of video calls but, they have been very useful these days. And well, I've been trying to keep in touch with the ones I love in general. Not only through video calls, but also through messages and phone calls. 

And well yeah, I've been watchig shows, movies and youtube, eating lots of snacks and drinking sake because, why not? Haha. I barely have time to do that when I'm working. Not gonna lie, I love being lazy, it's just part of who I am. But I try to do that in the evenings or after having a productive morning/day.

Here are some of the shows and movies I've watched lately:

Rurouni Kenshin Kyoto Taika-hen & Rurouni Kenshin the Legend Ends. Both are live action movies that are very well made. There are actually 3 live action movies and I love them all plus, I love Kenshin and Takeru Sato. Hehehe.

All about my mom. It's a Korean drama that I'm sure I've mentioned before. Mom and I started watching a while ago but didn't had the chance to finish it until now. It's 54 episodes long and I admit the last 5 episodes made me want to cry badly! 

Detective Conan. I've been trying to catch up with this anime and even tho I'm not completely caught up, I'm getting there.

The Cat Returns. I randomly decided to watch this movie and it's such a... cute movie? I'm a cat lover so of course I enjoyed a movie about a cat world with talking cats. Netflix now has lots of Ghibli movies so I highly recommend them, including this one.

Japanese Style Originator. This show will teach you about Japan, its traditions, food and fun facts. It'll make you hungry too tho!

There are still a few things I thought I'd do during this lockdown that I haven't done: Working out and reading. My only exercise is to walk Tinkerbell outside the house and there's a book waiting for me to read it. I'll give you an update on that once I get to it.

And OMG longest post ever, I'm gonna end it here, hope you find this somewhat helpful, stay safe and feel free to share with me how you're spending your time during this quarantine.

Talk to you soon~!!