Unfortunately, not a good time for live music

 

We have been locked down for some months, when the situation was horrible and lots of people were infected with the coronavirus and many of them were in a critical situation or even died. Now, the situation is better and there are fewer people infected and fewer deaths. Because of this we can go out and meet other people or go to a restaurant. To do this and avoid being infected we have to wear a mask and respect social distance.

But some people aren't responsible and they are going everywhere without wearing a mask and respecting social distance. Because of this there are many outbreaks. Some of them are so big that people from that place have to stay at home again and restaurants and other places have to close!

Tourist know about these outbreaks and are also cancelling their holidays to Spain. These are bad news because tourism is essential here. If there are no tourists, many people who work in hotels will earn very little money or even not earn any money at all!

In my opinion we have to be responsible. We have to give a good image and make our cities safe places. If we aren't responsible there will be many outbreaks and we won't be able to go out or go to events like a football match or a concert.

Mask up the world!

Because of the measures agnaist the coronavirus we have been learning about different death rates depending on the country, but the one that has the USA is very high. They have already reached 4 million of people infected and more than 100 thousand deaths, and the number of people infected and deaths in 24 hours is increasing every day.

There are some reasons to explain why they have so many cases. The first one is that they didn't really became conscious of the real dangers of the Coronavirus. Another reason is that not all the states had the same measures, for example, only some of them told people to stay at home. In the USA you have to pay if you want to go to the doctor, but it is very expensive and many people can't pay for it, and many people died because the couldn't pay for the treatment. Finally, people aren't responsible and they don't follow the laws. They don't wear a mask and the don't respect social distance.

In Spain we also have a lot of cases but the death rate is not as high as it is in the USA. First, we weren't ready because the virus reached Spain very soon. We had a lot of cases in March because we have a lot of tourists and we didn't have enough tests to know who has the virus. Here we have had the same measures in all the country, and if we have to go to the doctor we don't have to pay, so people that have symphtoms can go to the doctor without paying.

I think that people must be responsible. They must wear as mask and respect social distance as they have been doing during the quarantine. We also have to avoid meeting too many people, and if we have been in contact with someone infected, we have to go to the doctor and have a test to know if we have it.

Netflix is stealing our time!

Nowadays there are a lot of websites where you can watch films and series. Netflix is one of them and probably the most famous of them. This platform allows you to watch a lot of films and series at a very low price and gives you 4 profiles using only one account so you can divide the price among four people.

During these latest months we have been at home. Because of this we have been waking up and going to bed later. But some people have been spending the whole night watching series in Netflix. If you do this one night when you can't sleep and you don't have anything to do it could be OK, but the problem comes when you don't sleep at night because you're always in Netflix.

Netflix can make you addict to watch series. When an episode finishes, you only have five seconds to close it before the next one starts. And when an episode starts, it is very difficult to close it. In the long run, spending the night can make you not arrive at school or work in time or not to sleep well. Some people even stop meeting their family and friends before they prefer staying at home watching series.

I think watching series can help you to spend your free time but you shouldn't spend the whole night watching series. You also have to do other things and find other ways to spend your free time. In my case, I have two profiles in Netflix (one from my cousin's account and the other from my aunt's one) and I can watch a serie while my parents are watching another one. But I usually spend thirty minutes or an hour, and not everyday. I also have other hobbies, like drawing, and I am taking advantage of the quarantine and the summer so I am learning new things, like lettering and cursive in cyrillic.

Virtual classes can never beat in person classes!

Lately we have been taking online classes because of the quarantine. The decision of taking them was so hasty and many students had problems to enter them. I also had problems to get into some of them, especially the earlier ones because my laptop does not work very well and it goes very slowly. Other students didn't have enough laptops so they missed some classes.

But, what if we could have prepared everything for online classes? It would have some advantages. For example, you can get up later because you don't have to go to school. We could also see each Sunday a list of the homework we had to do for the next week, so it would be easier to organize our time. It is true that you can't concentrate as well as you can at school and getting distracted is very easy. You can also see some 'fake students' who enter the classes and don't pay attention. These students also cheat in most of the exams, usually having the textbook near them or asking for the answers using apps like WhatsApp.

If we compare online classes to our ordinary classes we can find many differences. The main one is that in a ordinary class you have to get up early, get dressed, have breakfast and go to school. You don't need to have a laptop and you can't get distracted so it's easier to follow the classes. It is more complicated to organise our time because the teachers are giving us homework everyday. And the most important, you can't have fake students because you see what they are doing and they can't cheat in the exams.

In my opinion I prefer the usual classes because with them it's easier to follow the classes and we learn more. It is true that I love some things of the online classes, like the list each Sunday with the homework we had to do the next week because I find it very difficult to organise my time so I'd like to have them we we return to our in-person classes.

Do you want to start doing something new? Try to draw!

Drawing is quite good because it makes you able to express your feeling or what you think about things. It also stimulates your creativity and relaxes you when you are stressed.

During this quarantine many people are starting to draw in their free time. There are many techniques, like graphite, pastel colours or oil paint; and many styles, like manga or realism, so each one is drawing in the style they like the most!

I am also drawing more because now I have more free time. I started to draw when I was 8 years old and I have drawn many styles. I started drawing manga, and later I drew tribal drawings and pixel art. Now, I draw realism, but my style makes me edit the references. I usually use a lot of colours, so it's a kind of "fake realism".

To finish, I'd like to give some pieces of advice for those who are starting to draw.

1) You don't need expensive pencils to draw! I started with cheap ones.

2) Use grids to do sketches. It is easier to do them if you use a grid.

3) Be patient! A good drawing needs many hours to be finished.

4) Try many styles. If you try many styles and materials, you will find your own style using the materials you prefer and drawing what you like the most.

Teleworking and no sport: A fatal combination

Nowadays teleworking is very important to some businesses because it enables workers to work while they are at home. These people work at home, and have their own timetables. But it has advantages and disadvantages.

This way of working is more comfortable because you can work from home and you don't need to get dressed or go to work. Your office is your living room and in some cases you don't even have a timetable. This option is very good for people who have kids and can't work in the office. Lately, teleworking is also making people able to work because they can't get out of their homes.

But teleworking has also some disadvantages. You don't have to walk to the office so you don't talk to your partners. Some people don't do exercise and, as they don't walk to the office, they don't move at all. This lifestyle can make you have health problems if you don't do sport and have a well-balanced diet.

In my opinion, people who do teleworking must have a healthy lifestyle because if they don't have it, they will have health problems in the future. This way of working is really good if you know how to organise it and have time to do sport. In my case I don't go to school, so I am having video conferences with my teachers in the morning and I do the homework they send in the afternoon. I try not to finish very late so I can do exercise.

Is the coronavirus really the solution to climate change?

The coronavirus is a virus that expands very easily. If someone has the virus, he won't know that he has the virus until two weeks later, when he starts to have symptoms. So, if someone has the virus, this person won't know that he has the virus for two weeks. During this period of time this person will infect more people, and these people will infect more and more people.

Because of this many governments of different countries have told people that they have to stay home. In some countries they have to stay home for two weeks and in other countries they have to stay for four weeks, usuallu because these countries have more cases of coronavirus.

Now, there aren't people in the streets, so lately we have been finding animals walking in the streets, like bears or goats, and there is less pollution in the streets. In Venice the water is as clear as 60 years ago!

In my opinion pollution is reducing because many factories are closed and there is less traffic. I think we can learn something and change our lifestyle when this quarantine ends. I think that people will like to see their cities less polluted and the water so clear and they'll probably try to walk to different places and not to use the car.

Quarantine

I haven't gone out for a week because of the quarantine and I am starting to get tired of it. I haven't got a dog, so I can't walk it. And my parents only go out once a week to a shop near my house to buy food.

I'm trying to stay positive and I'm doing all the things I usually can't do because I don't have enough time. I'm still getting up early in the morning, but a bit later than when I have to go to school. In the morning I do the homework our teachers send us. Luckily I have the email of most of them and if I want, I can send them an email to ask them something I don't understand.

In the afternoon I do many things! My house is big compared to other houses, we have a little gym and two rooftops, so I can do exercise and go 'out' if I want. I also have a room where I study alone and we have two living rooms so I can watch series while my parents are watching TV.

But there's one thing that is making me crazy. My mum is really scared and she doesn't want anyone to go out. I'm washing my hands so many times: before I eat, after I eat, or before I study or draw. I think she's a bit obsessed! She also doesn't like the fact that I am doing sport almost every day.

I think the quarantine can be a bit boring, but I am trying to stay positive and I am doing all the things I can't usually do and also I am trying to do all the comments and writing exercises.