Dragon's Print

Although it may not seem like it, we’ve been in quarantine for around 6 months already! By this time, hopefully, everyone has already adjusted to this new normal of just waking up, attending online classes, eating our meals, and going back to sleep. But because we are so used to this new normal, we decided to bring a little ‘spice’ to our lives… Through documenting the day of some students!

We have compiled a list of highlights that may brighten up your day and show that online learning can sometimes be fun. Hope you enjoy!

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6:50:

Lea: The second I wake up, I jump out of bed (something which is quite rare) to say happy birthday to my sister. I then take a cold shower to prepare myself for another busy school morning. Before school starts, my brother video calls to say happy birthday to my sister and updates us on what he’s been doing in university.

7:30:

Dana: During this time, I have already arrived at my sister’s house and I start to prepare the things that I will need to do for today’s class.

8:00:

Jodi: I enter the English video call by 8 am. By now I feel like I’ve gotten used to video calls and all that with the amount we have to do almost every day, but I still feel scared to enter the call first. So, I usually wait for at least 1 or 2 people to enter the call first. Do I know why I do this? Not really… If someone knows how to articulate the reason(s) why, please tell me…

Sean: I finally manage to complete the work for Drama early! (For once.) Now I have time to celebrate by watching YouTube….  (Do not follow this man as this is NOT what you should be doing during remote learning.)

9:00:

Bella: I had another call for Art but due to some technical difficulties, I was not able to join. So, I decide to continue working on my math assignment instead since I know this will take the most time for me to complete. 

Sean: 9 am approaches, meaning it’s time for Bio. I click the meet link, and for some reason… Google just isn’t working?! How could this be? Google always works, how is it not working? Well… at least it gives me a break.

Lea: Since Google isn’t working, I’m working on some of the Bio homework that was sent ahead of time. Just when I finish my work, Google starts to work again! Does this mean that we still have to join Google Meets call… hooray?

10:00:

Sean: 3rd call of the day but today is the day that keeps on giving, as I only have a 2 minute Math call that I kind of missed because I was using the bathroom… (Sorry Mr. Clements.) At this rate, I’ve kind of given up trying to understand math as my brain is fried. However, I manage to answer almost the whole assignment, which isn’t that bad? (Trust me, the day gets better eventually…) 

11:00:

Jodi: I am forever thankful for the invention of study blocks, as they give me time to breathe every other day. When I need to, I use these study blocks properly, but today I just need to de-stress from the summatives I had to take today. For me, de-stressing usually means anything that can allow me to momentarily escape from any form of responsibilities, so right now de-stressing consists of YouTube, Instagram, a bit of Reddit, and A LOT OF TIK TOK… I plan on just de-stressing until I finally get some motivation to do any form of work or if I have a planned schedule.  

12:00:

Dana: After Math class ends, I go over to my mom’s house where lunch is waiting. My mom has prepared peanut soup and home-made meat buns. After, my brother talks about the movies he wants to watch on the weekend. Logan? Enola Holmes? Kingsman? He can’t decide.

Bella: At 12:40, I finally finish my math homework and I turn it in to my math teacher. After that, I continue working on my art assignment, which consists of putting the 5 objects I’ve found into 4 types of compositions and taking a photo of said compositions. We’ve studied different types of composition earlier in the unit so this will be easy for me to complete. 

1:00:

Sean: And I’m back! I may have taken an extra 10 minutes during my break, but we don’t talk about that. Anyway, I’m back in zen mode and ready to work so I begin finishing my Biology homework.

2:00:

Lea: Since I have to help prepare for my sister’s party, I don’t have much time to focus on school work. However,  I now have some spare time so I’m using this time to finish up the Biology homework due today.

3:00:

Jodi: I enter this video call presentation by a current Harvard student, Lanz Tan, who essentially explains Harvard admissions and life. It’s at this point that I realize Harvard is ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE for me; a miracle needs to take place if I want to be accepted. Before, I had a dream: a dream that I could possibly make it to Harvard because one can dream, right? But after hearing his college application and his extra-curricular activities, my dream is crushed. I then think about my future for the rest of the presentation, and when it ends I head over to my club for the day.  

Sean: Well, I guess you’re starting to see a trend where my breaks are taking longer than anticipated… well that doesn’t matter, because my breaks aren’t really breaks! And do you know why? It’s all because my SISTER keeps playing “It’s a Hard Knock Life” from Annie since it’s the upcoming school production, and she has to “practice”. To be completely honest with you… it’s driving me crazy. But I guess I just have to keep moving. (This is such a great day.)

4:00:

Jodi: While looking through my non-school email for a document which I need for my CAS project, I notice that I received an email notifying me that someone private messaged me… ON WATTPAD OF ALL PLACES. (We don’t really talk about Wattpad, that place has some ‘interesting’ books.) I look at the username and realize it’s from someone I don’t know. Since I’m very curious, I open the message to read what it says. 

5:00:

Bella: At this time, I’m feeling super tired so even though I’m not finished with English, I decide to call it a day and give myself a well-deserved break. I figure I’ll do my other work over the weekend, so I’ll be using this time to watch Youtube, Netflix, and just relax overall. 

7:00:

Dana: After we have dinner, I spend some time on my phone and decide that I have to write my Chemistry notes today. Before that, I need a snack. I go to the fridge and grab a mango. 

8:00:

Lea:  The kids somehow still want to swim. (Do they ever get tired?!) I’m just tired of babysitting all the small ones, so I’m currently floating around in the pool…

10:00:

Dana: By around 10:20, I go to my sister’s house and stay on my phone until it’s 11:00. By then, my sister, brother and I decide to watch Enola Holmes. We only finish it half-way since it’s already past 12 and my parents are strict about sleeping after 12. On the way home, my brother and I find that the moon is unusually big and yellow today; it looks like a giant cheese. My brother then decides to search it up on the internet and there, we find that from September 23-25, Jupiter and Saturn will be close to the moon. So, we hypothesized that the yellow cheese color probably comes from Jupiter’s reflection or something similar. Haha. 

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Throughout the day, you may have noticed that we all had our ups and downs, but thanks to the help and support from classmates and teachers, we were able to persevere through the school year online. It should be recognized that face-to-face learning and human interaction do seem to be more preferable than this remote learning set-up, but we should put everyone’s safety and health first by staying indoors.

In summation, we may not enjoy the current circumstances we are in right now, but we can survive this school year together!

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Written by Bella F. (Grade 9), Lea F. and Sean K. (Grade 10), Jodi G. (Grade 11), and Dana T. (Grade 12); Feature image by Karen Y. (Grade 10)

The views expressed in this article represent the personal views of the author and should not be taken to represent the views of Dragon’s Print and Cebu International School.