Oxymoron, I know. But I have to do something! I can’t just sit around doing nothing for months on end. I know that’s what I’m supposed to do, but it’s just so boring!
As my state is shutting down and forcing everyone to (mostly) isolate because we couldn’t be trusted to do it voluntarily (I’m looking at you St Patrick’s Day drinkers), I’m trying to find something to do inside that can also satisfy my travel itch. I’m starting to climb the walls wanting to go outside and do something! I was supposed to be enjoying the warm, but maybe not always sunny, weather in southern China right now. Not, stuck suffering through more winter. I saw snow again today! It’s March; the snow needs to stop!
Luckily, I’m not the only one going stir crazy at home. I’ve seen some interesting articles online for how to “enjoy” your time trapped inside. I’m trying out the idea of visiting an art museum using Google Arts & Culture. I, as former professional artist, love a good art museum! And, I make it a point to see any I can when I travel. So far, I’ve only made it about half way through the Guggenheim in New York with Google, but I have a couple more tabs open for other museums I’d like to visit/revisit.
It’s definitely not my favorite way to visit a museum. It’s like trying to see art via Google’s Street View. Street View works great for trying to figure out where a new store/restaurant is before you go find it in person, but not so good for looking at weird 3D sculptures. It’s often hard to control and, for some pieces, it’s impossible to get a good angle on the art to actually see it. There was one piece that I couldn’t figure out how to see straight on as it was in a weird corner and there was a rug on the floor and the camera wouldn’t go over the little rug. I was forced to view it sideways and it wasn’t a view I’d have chosen in an actual museum. Luckily, the Guggenheim seems to be just a big circular ramp with art all along it, so there’s no tiny rooms to get in and out of. Also, for some of the art, the title and artist will pop up, but for many, especially, the ones I actually like, they don’t. And I can’t for the life of me find the magical place to “stand” where they’ll appear. Overall, it’s better than nothing, but I’m not planning to stop visiting museums in person any time soon, at least when I’m allowed to go outside again.
The other common suggestion, was to take online classes. As so many schools, or other online learning platforms, are advertising courses for free, there are so many things you can learn. However, after looking through a couple articles and lists of classes to take, about 75-90% are on either Coursera or edX, so, it’s not really anything new, just what’s always available. The rest were on iTunes U (which I can’t get – iPad/iPhone only), YouTube video, or a University’s website.
While I love learning new things, I tend to start one of their online classes, watch the videos for a day, maybe two if I’m really committed, then forget all about it, if I don’t have something else to do. I made it through several classes by watching the videos at my former day job, when I was by myself, usually doing something on a computer. Sitting at home, taking a lot of the classes, just doesn’t work for me. But, who knows?, I may get bored enough, that I’ll try again. I mean, I can only watch so much TV or plan so many trips…
At least all this ‘nothing to do’ has left more time for one thing – teaching! So many classes, so much free time! This week, I had a kid build a pillow fort with, I think, couch cushions, a new (to me) student not show for our first 2 classes (we have another one tomorrow; 3rd times the charm?), and I got to see my, currently, least favorite student. (We all have one.. Mine likes to do other things in class and participates on, if I’m very, very lucky, half the slides but only after I’ve repeated myself 4 times.)
But, between all the good students, bad students, and tech issues, my favorite student this week was learning about ‘Stranger Danger’ and read a short story about a girl that told a stranger to “go away” and didn’t open the door. The student said the girl made a bad decision, now, in my head, I’m going “I’m pretty sure that’s not the answer they’re looking for”, but, you never know what a kid is thinking, so, I asked, “Why?”. My student said that the girl shouldn’t have said anything to the stranger and should have just ignored them. I just stood there a little dumbfounded and went “Huh, I never thought of it that way…”. That kid is going places, just, you know, not outside with all the Stranger Danger…
Tomorrow, I get to go outside! I feel like I’m getting paroled or something. Granted, I’m just going to the grocery store. And, under normal circumstances, that’s not all that exciting or interesting, but, nowadays, it can be, depending on your circumstances, life threatening. Wish me luck and stocked shelves…
My TEFL Adventure 