Hi everyone,
I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy during this difficult time!
Here is my self-reflection.
1.) What is something you did for your body?
One thing that I have been doing for my body is workouts. I used to go to the school gym every morning during block one because I had block one and two off. Since school closed, I started to do more exercises with the dumbbells I have at home. I have been doing bicep curls, shoulder raises, etc. Nonetheless, I have also been experimenting with other exercises such as the two-arm dumbbell deadlift. It’s different from using the bar, but it works. Furthermore, I’ve also been experimenting with YouTube video workouts. They have a timer for each exercise, and they keep me on track. Sometimes, I even FaceTime one of my friends to do these exercises which makes fitness more enjoyable.
I’ve also been going on daily walks. I live around a park with beautiful trails, so I used to walk on these trails. However, the park has started to get crowded with people driving down to enjoy the sunshine. As a result, I’ve started to alternatively take walks around my neighborhood. I don’t like to walk the same path regularly, so it’s nice to spend more time exploring where I live.
2.) What is something you did for your mind?
Lately, I’ve been listening to French music to help maintain my ability to speak the language. Because I am no longer at school listening to my French-speaking teachers, my skills have been getting rusty. As a result, I’ve been browsing popular French songs from Spotify and iTunes. When I took Communications 9, my class listened did a whole unit on “la musique francophone”, so I recognized some song titles. Some artists I’ve been listening to are Angèle, Swing and Marc Dupré. I’ve also started to enjoy Fauve’s music which was one of my French teacher’s recommendations. Two of my favorite songs are Les Matins and S’en Aller. Even so, Papaoutai is always a classic (for my French Immersion friends out there)! 😊
Moreover, I’ve also been reading more books. Unfortunately, all city libraries have closed due to the pandemic, so getting access to hardcopies have been difficult. However, I have some books on loan from both our school library and the public library that I haven’t read yet. In addition, I have many other books that I own. Borrowing eBooks from the public library have also helped me to continue reading. Even so, I prefer hardcopies over eBooks. It’s just not the same when you’re reading a novel from your phone! I’m currently reading “Souvenir”, which is one of my friend’s recommendation.
3.) What is something you did for your happiness?
For my happiness, I’ve been spending more time with my family. For one, I’ve been teaching my family how to play some card games. One of the games we’ve been consistently playing is Macau. I learned this game back in grade 7 from my friends. Using a regular deck of cards, it’s similar game play to Uno. To play, everyone is dealt 5 cards each. The rest of deck gets put to the side, and the cut card becomes the first card in the discard pile. The goal is to get rid of all your cards. To play a card, the card must be the same suit or the same value as the top card in the discard pile. Thus, if a person played 5 spades, the next player has to play either a 5 or a spade card. Furthermore, there are multiple action cards. For example, when a player plays a two, the next player must pick up two cards. The complexity of these action cards is what makes it fun. For my family, it was initially difficult to get the hang of it, but now, we’re having a good time.
Furthermore, I’ve also been trying to maintain my social connections with my friends. At school, I lead a club called Le Social Club. It’s a club that focuses on wellbeing. During the club meetings, we do different activities, ranging from group discussions in French to boardgames. At the end of Spring Break, I emailed our teacher sponsor to help us set up a “Teams” for the club. So far, it’s been difficult managing the site; however, I’ve figured out how to start polls and virtual meetings! I think I may have accidentally spammed multiple notifications during the process of setting it up. Nonetheless, I’m getting better at it. Not all of my classmates have the FaceTime app, so I hope Teams proves to be an efficient way we can all consistently keep in touch.
Another thing I’ve been doing for my happiness is making desserts. Lately, I’ve been experimenting with making crepes! I normally don’t make food from scratch or bake, and there was a learning curve. However, the crepes turned out to be tasty, and I’m definitely going to be making them again.
4.) What is something you did for someone else?
Arguably, staying at home has allowed me to more involved with housework. Thus, I’ve been helping around the house a lot more. From sweeping the floors, to washing to plates, these are the chores I’ve been doing. It helps out my family and takes away another stress.
I’ve also been helping some of my classmates with trying to navigate the new system of online school. For example, I’m planning on taking two AP Exams this year. Students were initially supposed to take them at school, and test was 3 hours long. However, due to these unforeseen circumstances, the test is now 45 minutes long, so every mark counted more! They are also online. In addition, a lot of content was getting cut, and the updates were coming through slowly. One of my classmates was struggling to figure out what was going to be on the Chemistry Exam. Admittedly, the College Board website is very hard to navigate. A lot of the information is spread out, and not all on a single web link. Thus, I shared with her some links and helped her out. I found out that we will be only getting tested on Units 1-7, and that there are some units which we had to learn by ourselves.
Thanks for reading,
Alison