Hazels secret blog

I've always loved creating. I believe humans are born with an urge to create, whether it's through art creation to nurturing their offspring. That's why I want to maintain a weekly writing habit—it is the best way to sort through the constant stream of thoughts in my mind. However, life always keeps me busy, and my plate is inevitably full. My hope is that as my English writing skills improve, I will spend less time struggling with sentence structure and more time expressing myself effectively. My mind has been racing since last month. First, I left Asia for the very first time on a trip to Australia, a place I had always wanted to visit. Just before that, I took my debut solo trip to Japan. Now, I've recently recruited a new student and resumed my career as a private tutor. These experiences have collectively given me a sharp sense of just how unequal our world is. English—a language whose origin is Great Britain—has conquered the world; almost every person on the plan...

I love writing my thoughts and sharing them with people. Yet, it has been a year since I wrote my last blog post, even though I thought I could maintain a habit of writing monthly when I started. I guess I was just too naive back then. Clicking open my blog today, my mind flew back to writing that very first entry. It was not long after I started mentoring that I began writing here. It saddens me that the mentoring program ended long ago. It has been a month since it ended, and I left the school over seven weeks ago. The fact that today is the 1st of September — the day the new school year begins, is painful. It is a stark reminder that I have to officially say goodbye to that chapter of my life, and that my path will likely never cross with my previous students again.  Why did I join Teach Unlimited Foundation, a non-profit education organization, at the beginning? It was because I was desperate to make a change. I wanted to make things better and cultivate a sense of happiness in...

Times flies! I can't believe it has been 3 months since my last attempt to update this blog. It takes hours to reflect and write something. Moreover, writing in a second language takes work. Therefore, I barely update this blog.  My latest blog post draft was the first thing I saw when I logged in to this blogger account. I am quite surprised that I actually tried to write a blog entry during the last few months. I kind of wish I could go back in time to when I drafted that post as I no longer remember what I was thinking at that time. Starting the year 2 journey makes me feel so grown up. Firstly, Linda, who I consider a sage in this organization and one of my main sources of security, is leaving us. Secondly, during this year's induction training month, we went to an event, where we had a chance to meet other youth workers and build connections with them. There, I exchanged my business cards with others like the real adults do and it was the first time I have ever done so. I...

Before writing this post, I came across a YouTube video that summarizes the storyline of a TV show, Maid. The show is based on a novel and tells the writer's own story.  Being a parent is not easy, especially in today's world where people often juggle work and childcare due to the high living cost. The story of Maid makes me think of my childhood. Just like the single mom in that story, my parent worked a low-paid job. My dad worked a night shift job at the airport which was undoubtedly exhausting. Meanwhile, my mom was a beautician who worked 6 days a week from 12:00pm to 9:00pm. To be honest, I hated that there wasn't much time I could see my parent when I was a kid. I don't know if my brother shares the same feeling.  As I grew up, I worked hard with the hope of finding a decent job that would allow me to spend more time with my family. As a kid, I always thought the other kids got to see their parents much often than my brother and I did. However, now that I have wo...

It has been almost a week since the second semester started. Returning to school and seeing the students is nice, but the workload left behind is overwhelming. Time flies, and it's hard to believe that I have been on my mentoring journey for 5 months now. Working as a mentor at school is not easy. Managing multiple programs, handling school academic work that is not part of TUF's initiative, meeting different students, and fulfilling the school's expectations can be exhausting. Sometimes, I don't feel like the mentor I should be, providing emotional support and personal growth advice to students, because I am overwhelmed by the programs and academic workload. However, being around students and building connections with them is the best part of the job. It makes me feel alive. Honestly, I push myself to be better because of them. Just yesterday, my partner noticed a student who seemed unhappy. I ended up talking to him for over an hour and a half. He felt much better aft...

Since graduating from university, I have worked with teenagers as my target service group. My older colleagues on the previous team often advised me to project a more mature image in front of the teens. They emphasized that I should avoid showing any indication of liking toys, children's stories, or other items typically associated with youth. Honestly, I find it exhausting to pretend I don't enjoy those types of things that many adults still appreciate. It has led me to ponder why certain simple pleasures become linked with being immature as one ages. Yesterday, I visited a bookshop and grabbed a few Little Miss books. I'm at a loss for words to describe the sheer joy I experienced while reading those children's books. The stories may be simple, but they overflow with imagination and entertainment. How can anyone not appreciate these books? We all crave inspiration that pushes us to think outside the box, don't we? Moreover, the characters are exceptionally well-cr...