1.4.2016 Time to make a Post... or Is It?

To all,

It's been ages, I get it. I suck at posting. I quite enjoy talking to myself, let's get real about it, since that's what I've mostly been doing anyways.

Now, let's get down to the nitty gritty of updates. I haven't been paying attention, because at this point it's unnecessary.
Since my last post: I traveled a bit, the Kanchanaburi, to Chiang Mai, to Pattaya, and a lot of Bangkok. Reasons? I jumped into the dating pool last year, and at the beginning, pulled on a rope to get out.

About personal life, I share it enough, and I find no reason not to follow routine, but I'll make it short an sweet, because who has time for that? It was a decent thing going on, lasted a total of 6 months, was goo for the first 3 months, but crumbled more with each month following. Compatibility wasn't there, we wanted different things, and neither of us were willing to bend for the other, as much as our words said it. We tried talking it out, multiple times, (every month, in fact), but by the end of the year, there really was nothing left to build up on. I realized how much anger and resentment I was holding on to, which lasted for maybe 2 and a half months. The thought of them gave me anxiety, stress, anger, and talking about them made me flustered and ruffled. Around this moment, I have less of those feelings, and maybe that's a sign of me moving on.

Now, onto other personal stuff! Lately, I've been trying to improve my life, health, emotion, business, and such. I started working out regularly, improving my eating habits, picking up more private work, as well as working in the development of my educational program for where I work, as I've had another renewal of my contract, and it's gone through!.

On the topic of working out, there was one problem looming over my head: my schedule. my normal work day runs 8AM-8PM, including my private work, so imagine how that affectd my capability to work out! Well, lo and behold, a solution: wake up at 5AM, start exercise around 5:30, come back and shower, and peace off to work. Difficult to start? ABSOLUTELY. But it soon became manageable. It became moreso once I started seeing result: less exhaustion throughout the day, better mood, less waking up throughout the night.... the list could go on. Am I going to give it up? Not any time soon. It's still tough, especially if I have a long night, but it's working for me. Plus, I get to eat more fun stuff, and see some nice muscle tone. I don't know about you, but I'm looking towards some legs, stomach, arms, and butt. In the lyrics of that Meghan Trainor song, "I'm all about that bass!"

On the topic of diet, well, I started getting on the breakfast train. Since I was waking up early enough to exercise, that also gave me more time to start preparing my own breakfast. One of the things I was looking at was how to make a good meal that would sustain me until noon, or 4-5PM when I had enough time to eat the next meal. Well, turns out that the answer was chia seed! You know, those tiny things that almost look like poppy seeds? And then you water them, and they expand, and are kind of crunchy and jelly-ish? Yeah, those. Let's just say, they work as well for yoghurt as they do for most other liquids. Chia seeds, probiotic yogurt, flax seed/meal, and the guest fruit whenever I have some fresh fruit (from my private students, they love to feed me ;D ). There's one hearty meal! That, or a using oatmeal instead of yogurt, when I'm feeling for a hot breakfast. Both kept me full for a good amount of the day, and helped with my digestion. (Who can object to having good digestion?) I used to be quite bloated and uncomfortable throughout the day, but now that's settled out. The only thing is that consistency is KEY; if I forget to make this breakfast for two days, maybe even one, it's a noticeable change to how I feel, not to mention my mood. Now, about the yogurt, that's a tricky thing, as a lot of food in thailand has wayyyyyy too much sugar. Thankfully, there is a yogurt product called "Butterfly" Probiotic Yogurt.

(pulled from Supermarketthai)

And let's say, it's an interesting thing. It's a lot thicker than many drinkable yogurts I've had, and not very sweet. Not only is it not too sweet, there are a few otions (Original, low fat, low fat/lowsugar, Vanilla, Chocolate) for a price of 38THB, which is about $1.05 USD. not entirely a shabby price when we're talking about benefits! Whenever I see it in stock at one of the markets (FamilyMart, one of the only locations in Rayong, if I don't want to travel to Bangkok just for my specialty shopping).

On to the next topic: work. That's had its high and lows. but you've just got to roll with the punches. New concept: trial groups, each group has a set of students that must be... consistent, so that success can be measured. More materials will be made for students, workbooks, mini pocketbooks. The downside is that they would only get about 13 hours of lessons, not my personal preference, but again, work with what you get. We'll see how it works!

And... on to my last topic, I finally got a motorbike, (well, it's a loaner for now), and it's been interesting. After more than 2 years of living in a place that has poor public transportation, I fiiiiinally got this bike. Should I mention that it's a manual gear shift contraption? Yeah, and I've been learning how to drive it. It's an interesting thing, because the first step is trying to get over my fear of being on a motorbike (well, driving one, a scarring memory of when I was 8 and learning how to drive a minibike), and that of the drivers in Thailand. They are super crazy... no consideration of ow driving works, or traffic laws. So far, so good.. and safe-ish. For now. The snazzy thing? I have a helmet to match with the color of the bike. Not too shabby. can't say I don't know how to accessorize. This isn't the firt time, as I have a pair of shoes that match my phone.... unintentional, of course, as was the helmet, bike combo.

As for the social life, I had been going to Bangkok more frequently, met a bunch of new friends, been spending more time with older ones, and really getting more into my old groove of being a social butterfly. I haven't realized how much I've missed it until lately, when I've met a lot of amazing people. And my schedule has turned from a clean slate to a little open space. Cool stuff. Of course, it does take a little bit of a toll on my bank account, so I need to get back onto the budgeteering. Good thing for private classes, and putting a nicer price on my work.

Now, back to the thing I call life. It's Friday, and I've got nothing planned, for once... except relaxation, learning how to drive, preaparing for my first test group, which starts on Monday! 

I think, soon, I will start posting progress about my exercise and health progress, in addition to work. Who needs to know about my social life? It's already awesome.

Until next time,

K.

17.6.2014- Make Time for Others, but Don't Forget that Self-Love

Hello, you lovely person who just happened to stumble upon this page,
Today, I would like to indulge in the title of this post. As a part of many professions, it is an essential detail of the job to dedicate time for the purpose of 1) assisting a customer, 2) assisting a coworker 3) assisting our bosses, or 4) helping our workplace overall. With that in mind, we must learn how to manage our time. Yes, "Time Management", as if we can not get enough education or reiteration about the need to learn it. But really, we can't. In high school, we needed to learn time management so that we could accomplish studying for exams, playing on our school athletics teams, taking lessons to learn how to play a musical instrument, and maybe working a part-time job. That, of course, was majorly dedicated to Monday through Friday. Then comes college, and what a joy! You now have some freedom, right? Of course.....NOT. Here, your time management skills must evolve into not only studying and (maybe) a part-time job, but also paying taxes (if you hadn't already started paying them with that initial part-time job), finding an internship (or four), participating in the recreational sports team, joining a club, paying rent, and the most important part, having a social life!
After successfully achieving your undergraduate degree, it's time to run with 'big dogs,' and try to obtain your first "real-world" job, aka the one that you are supposed to take seriously, as it could move you on up the professional ladder in the work world. You've have some training from your college years, in trying to keep up with paying your living expenses and managing your time to turn in papers and projects while working, now you must try to put all of that hard-earned (and somewhat expensive) education to good use. The catch is, now you must be doing it without the training wheels that your parents had provided. For many of the American readers, that means, the people reminding us when our rent is due, asking how much it is for the month, and providing a check; or reminding us about when our taxes are due and helping us calculate and file our taxes. For the first few years in this so-called "real world," we still have the assistance provided from our parents with learning how to file taxes, because only a few fine people in the States really understand how that works. For the other aspects of life, we learn the statement, "I gave you the essentials, now you're on your own, kid."
Now, in the world of so-called adults, we must learn how to balance our professional life with our social life. Humans are naturally social creatures. We need to bond with somebody in order to be content with the life we have. We also need to work in order to support ourselves and try to survive (with dignity or pride). Sometimes the professional workplace acts as a social environment as well, satiating that need to communicate and connect with another. Other times, it doesn't. This is where the time management skills are necessary. One must learn to balance working with meeting new people, participating in a club, going out with friends, or going on a date with your possible life partner. Not only does your social life include the meeting people, but also exercising. As you get older, exercise becomes more important to maintain your desired body shape and health. Of course, you can always get two birds with one stone and combine exercising with going out with friends.
Now, for me, my purpose of traveling was to gain life experiences and possibly add more skills to my resume. When I first came to Thailand, the only people I knew were my aunt, uncle, and cousin. So, I had a very small social circle. Not only did I have a small network, but, when it came to the socialization with other people, they did not expand much. This was safe and it was something I knew. At first, it was okay, but as time went on, and there was no progression in expanding my network (partially my fault), I went out on my own to start meeting people and not staying in a bubble. Luckily, my efforts were met with success, as I starting exchanging contact information and making plans with new people. More people means more socialization. I also received more work (private tutoring), which is definitely a plus. Now, with pleasure of making friends and being able to go out comes responsibility of needing to know when to say "no" to an invitation. For the very social people, it is quite difficult to say no to joining someone for an outing, but as part of growing up and time management, when you have a major project that is important to your income, you must place that higher in your list of priorities over hanging out with a person with whom  you can see after you finish. Of course, this can become more difficult if said person is moving, or has a limited time in which they will also be available. Decision-making in life isn't always easy, no matter how old you are.
On to my final point, I really want to talk about making time for yourself. My current work involves a lot of socialization and a lot of talking, both are things that I love and happen to be pretty decent at doing. I have the joy to do this every day, Monday through Sunday, with all age groups, skill levels, and multiple cultures (Thai and Russian). It's wonderful. Now, while it is great, and I love the talking, and I get to socialize at work and with friends outside of work, I also need to reserve time to being by myself, hence the title, including "Self-Love." As people, we must find a little bit of time to be by ourselves and "reboot." Being out with people is great, especially when you are not working, but when we spend a lot of time giving it to others, we aren't able meditate on our personal self. I know it sounds weird and maybe doesn't make sense but think about this situation:

You are writing a message, essay, or just something, and you are simultaneously talking to a friend. After a few minutes of talking, you look down at what you wrote and realize that some of the conversation you had with your friend (or what your friend said) has been written in the message. Your brain had been too busy receiving information, that it couldn't correctly put out what you intended.

 That's what I mean by needing some alone time. If you need a better explanation, consider Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

You start with the very bottom, the most basic of needs (Physiological). As you accomplish the bottom tier, you move on up to achieve and satiate the next tier of needs (Safety), you continue completing each tier until you can achieve the highest (Self-Actualization), which is where you need that alone time. Spending a lot of time with others can wear you out because you are exerting some energy into this exchange. We need this Self-Actualization time for self-development. If you look, you can see in the topmost level of needs: creativity, spontaneity, problem, lack of prejudice, and acceptance of facts. If you ask many of my friends or close family members, they will tell you that I am creative and spontaneous. This comes from my alone time. This alone time gives me no influence of others, just me.
This is especially important in the contribution to my third level of needs: Love/Belonging. Part of my contributions to friendship is my creativity in cooking. I love cooking, and I love developing the new dishes, or experimenting.
Check these out!

 

What is it? Mango cheesecake with a mango curd. Where did I get the idea? Well, one of my friends had many mangoes, so I used the mangoes to make a mango curd (Top Right image), and I convinced another friend (Zamoza) that we should make a cheesecake. So, I made my creative idea into a social event. It was successful. I gave three cheesecakes away, and each person loved them. This cooking time was both my solo (my meditation in cooking) and social (with friends) time.
Going back to time management, it can be quite difficult to make time for myself because I am fairly busy making time for other OR making preparations for the time I am making for others. If you haven't picked it up from this post, a lot of my time, whether is is at work, or outside of work, is dedicated to others. Even with this schedule, I would like to add more events in, like running a marathon or volunteering, and learning how to manage that time, is extremely important, because I still need to reserve time for myself. So, don't forget, it is important to remember to make time for yourself, not only for others. You're not selfish if you do, you're self-saving.

Until next time,
K.

19-1-2014(2557) Sunday Blues

Welcome to the end of the weekend!
For some of you, it actually is just another work day, or maybe it's the beginning of your weekend. For most of us, it's back to the 9 to 5 job Monday through Friday.
For me, it is a busy week that I can't wait to get a good start on.
Let's update on what has happened in the past week.

First, I observed the department of Emergency services, meeting ER nurses, doctors, and practical nurses. It was so much fun. There was much energy and, although at first everybody was shy, by the end of each day, I was surrounded by nurses asking me questions. I practiced speaking some of my Thai, and they practiced speaking their English, trying to absorb as much as they could then and there.

Then Friday came, and it was time to celebrate. We were celebrating for four people: one girl recently was promoted, one girl recently became engaged, one girl has her birthday today, and then me and having a job...so far. I will have to admit, that I was not accustomed to the "going out" scene, since I had been removed from it after graduation. Well, that seemed obvious after I happened to forget the how I arrived home. BUT, we met some nice young Swedish men who came to Thailand on holiday. My friends noticed them at dinner, and could not stop talking about them, and by the time we entered the adjoining club, the boys were already inside. Again, my friend oggled them and giggled, chatting about how badly they wanted them to join. So, I used my charm to bring them over and join us. Just a note, in Sweden, English is a second-language taught very strongly in the country, so for the most part, everybody is fluent. So the end of the story, I woke up at 7:30 in the morning, hoarse and hurting. It's an adventure that I plan to not repeat soon.

Back to work, now; I was recently asked to explain what I do, and my method. In the stage, I am currently observing what is known as the "Front Line." This group of people are key to the interaction with patients and customers, with duties ranging from simple greetings and giving directions to a ward, to setting appointments on the phone, to talking to international health insurance representatives, to evaluating vital signs, to giving medication to a patient, to informing the patient of the costs of the services and treatments they received.
Now, the point of observing these different departments is to better understand exactly what each department needs to learn based on their interaction with a patient. In addition to observing and understanding what kind of communication is necessary for the staff with a customer, the observation also allows me to understand the proficiency of each person, via simple conversation, and so on.
After observing each week, with notes taken, I create planning boards which help me visualize the duties, needs, lessons, and incorporated activities to use for each lesson. I'm kin of like a ten year old with these kind of planning projects, where I really need to have something big and in my face, that I can touch, and sift through. They include table, pictures, drawing, questions, phrases, and so on. In a way, these act as part of a work portfolio, for the planning process.
I have been using different resources for each lesson idea: vocabulary (to be incorporated every lesson), games, activities, testing material, images, teaching methods, grammar, reading and writing. The need for different sources is that there is more than one way to skin a cat, and there is more than one way to teach effectively. In fact, if the current activity I have planned isn't working, then that means we change the approach.

So, that's really it for right now. I also document every individual meeting, as well as every class, so that I have proof, and can use for future adventures. As I progress more and more into it, I will also have more and more details, and tactics, methods, hints, experiences, and what I've been learning.

Until next time,
K.