Hello everyone! I’m Jaslyn, a 9 year old fourth grader who lives in Hong Kong. My aunt in Taiwan reccommended Grow With Melody to me and my sister last Chrismas. As a result, we’ve been using it to learn different things, from Spanish and English, to Mathematics and even Life Training! I really enjoy learning more things and all the teachers are passionate and enthusiastic. It’s a very fun and interesting experience because I get to learn new things, connect with old friends and meet some new friends too!

It has been three years since the pandemic started. Schools closing, shops shutting down, people losing their jobs… What a horrible time! Most of my second year in primary school was conducted online. The sudden lockdown was such a jolt for us that we hadn’t had time to adapt. As a result, school was almost shut down. We did have some “homework” which was basically watching a few online videos and doing some exercises from established educational websites. Thankfully, the third grade was better since we weren’t in the dark anymore. We were prepared and could use technology more efficiently. The start of the fourth grade in September 2021 was going along smoothly and the virus status in Hong Kong dropped enough for us to celebrate Christmas with friends and family. However, when 2022 drew closer, we underwent lockdown once again and unfortunately was unable to celebrate New Year with relatives like the previous years. I know that this whole situation seems very down-falling; thankfully I learnt to make the most of everything and gained some fun experiences as well!

Since shopping was hard because we tried to minimize the risk of contracting the “dreadful” disease, more often than not Mom came back from once-in-a-month shopping trips with a huge pile of food. As a result, we would try to buy as much food possible online. Not everything could be bought online, though. So my mother decided to improvise. She bakes and cooks regularly according to YouTube videos. We would often have homemade muffins or bread for breakfast. Mom would teach us to whisk eggs or roll the dough, and me and my sister would love to help out because it was fun and we could spend precious time together!

Due to the pandemic, it was unsafe for my parents to go to work; therefore, they worked at home instead - using computers and phones. While they usually came home late just in time to check our homework and tuck us in for bed, rarely coming home for dinner, now we had lovely family meals every day. I really treasure the precious times we chatted together during meals. Even if we didn’t say much, I’m very grateful for these happy memories.

Another nice change: we developed Family Game Night. My parents had this idea we should play board games together every night or at least once a week “like the old times”. At first I rolled my eyes to this, thinking that there was no way on Earth possible to force me to play “good old” board games. Soon, though, I started to warm up to the idea after a few nights, and really “got my head in the game”. I especially enjoyed the brain games like Rummikub. We once sat for almost half an hour, tiring our brains out to find a solution to the puzzle. Once upon a time we were totally uninterested in board games- now when we saw one it was like a rabbit glimpsing a carrot; meaning that we would launch into the game and savour the experience. This “family game night” built a healthy and interactive relationship with me and my family. If you’re looking for something fun to do with your family, I highly recommend this!

Another new change due to the virus is the amount of technology. Before I nor my sister knew how to or rarely used the computer. I had taken some online courses but most of them with the help of my mother or father, so the world of technology was as new to me as another planet. Fortunately, as education continued online, I became more and more familiar to this whole new world. I began to use technology to develop new projects, like Word to create stories, different websites to write down notes for studying, PowerPoint slideshows to create new and fun projects… It was a whole new experience for me and I relished every bit of it.

My parents enrolled me in more and more online courses to make up for the lost tutoring or sports that had been postponed or canceled due to the pandemic. I learned designing, simple coding, science and more. After my aunt recommended Grow With Melody to me, I have been using this web portal to learn new things. One of my favourite lessons are Melody’s life training lessons. Not only that I could improve my English, I learnt lots of things as well! I met new friends (like Una and Felix) and connected with old friends whom I haven’t seen for three years because of the pandemic (miss you guys Brayden, Justin, Ivan, Beth!). Widening my area of education made me more open to learning new things. I felt like I had been a Cyclops (one-eyed beasts) my whole life and suddenly woke up with two eyes (paraphrase from Percy Jackson)!

Even though the pandemic is dreadful and terrible and lots of people are suffering because of it, I think everything is multifaced. I like to look on the postitive side of everything and make the most of something. Never give up hope; things will turn around someday! Don’t dwell on the negative and horrible side of things, but instead focus on the happy memories. In the future, if I look back on this grim virus, I’ll remember the good times I spent with my family instead of the suffering memories. I’m grateful for everything I have and the experiences and memories of the hopeful and positive things. Be as happy as you can be; I guarantee you won’t regret it!

Thanks for reading.🙏🏻 I hope you like it!🥰