The last 2+ years have been an unbelievable time to be alive. Lockdowns, mask mandates, limited movement, vaccines, work from home, variants, blah blah blah. In a moment of โmeditationโ to try to be positive and I decided to think about some things I have gotten better at during the pandemic. Check it out below and comment with your list or tweet me @Jamaipanese with your pandemic improvements.
Playing Volleyball
Volleyball is a sport I had never played before coming to Japan. I was introduced to it at my school and enjoyed plopping around with the kids during their lunch break. The pandemic turned it into one of my only ways to get some physical activity in and the result is me feeling good about my improved ability and understanding of the game. I won’t make any teams but I can now serve, dig, spike, set and toss better than at the beginning of the pandemic.
Baking banana bread
At a certain stage early in the pandemic, it seems many people in my friend circles were baking the stress away. My loaf of choice was the banana bread. Before the pandemic, I may have baked 5 โokayโ loaves at best in my life. Now I fancy myself as a banana bread connoisseur after baking dozens since mid-2020. Strangely out of all my pandemic improvements, this is the one I am most proud of.
Japanese
I used to beat myself up a lot for failing to pass the JLPT N4 after multiple attempts. Then, I stopped when I realised that although I haven’t passed that test my real-world Japanese has improved by leaps and bounds compared to before the pandemic. I still won’t be having any high-level conversations anytime soon but at least I can manage basic daily life things and don’t spaz out every time I have to go to the supermarket.
Making Honey BBQ Chicken
You canโt go wrong with a killer chicken dish in your cooking arsenal to bring to the potluck. After much experimentation Honey BBQ Chicken is now that dish for me. It’s easy to prepare, feeds multiple people or just myself for multiple days and is versatile enough to go with all kinds of other things from bread, to udon, to rice, to vegetables. I shared my recipe over at Nyam with Ny – check it out.
Plant parenthood
I am the person plant parents tell their children about to scare them into behaving. My list of plant victims pre-pandemic was long and varied. Though I had a close call with one of my plant babies after returning from my longest vacation in two years I think she will pull through. My succulent and my cactus are doing okay though. Now that the weather is getting warming I am hoping they now flourish.
Eating Healthy
An unexpected side effect of the pandemic was stomach cramps amplified by stress, lack of exercise and *cough* getting older *cough*. Not being able to eat out allowed me to make some well-needed changes to my diet. I managed to reduce my sugar intake, took a break from eating meat at different times and upped my water intake dramatically. I still packed on some pounds from lack of exercise but shedding like crazy now and feeling better physically than I did a few years ago. Pandemic improvements!
Teaching English
The pandemic has put so many of my plans on pause and extended my time as an English teacher. I must say though that I have gotten much better at teaching and more comfortable in the classroom. I have also been trusted with so much more by my colleagues. Thankfully my face-to-face classes were only minimally affected.