Thoughts on UKISS ♥︎

Many of you may have already read the recent news involving UKISS. I don't know where to start of if this post will be coherent but anyway it'll just be mostly my thoughts on UKISS and what they've been through.

First of all, I guess it's difficult being a celebrity in Korea. It's not uncommon to read that members are leaving a group, being added to a group, etc. And that's exactly what happened to UKISS.

Member Change

When I first got to know about UKISS, it was already during the Man Man Ha Ni stage when Kiseop was already added into the group in 2009. Before that, they made their debut in 2008 with six members - Soohyun, Kevin, Eli, Alexander, Dongho and Kibum.

In 2011, Alexander and Kibum left the group. There were many rumours regarding their departure. Some even were claiming that they were kicked out of the group and didn't leave voluntarily. Shortly after, AJ and Hoon were added in. People were wondering if the company wanted a different image for UKISS.

Honestly I was a little upset about this member change as Alexander was one of my favourite members. You would think that this was the end of the member change but soon after, Dongho leaves, AJ goes on hiatus and another new member Jun is added to the group.

That's really a lot of changes isn't it? I'm not sure if this is a case of bad management or just simply indecisiveness. Then again, NH Media have only been managing UKISS as their only group for some time.

Music Awards

Although I'd like to think UKISS's song were good, for one reason or another, they never made it to the top of weekend music show charts. There could be many reasons behind this. Then again it could be the result in bad management?

The company decides when a group would have their comeback and practically the whole album is decided by the company. So if UKISS's comeback period is alongside a really popular group, it would reduce their chances of getting noticed. I'm sure that there's actually a way or a method to make a group popular but maybe NH Media isn't that good with analysing the competition.

Another reason could also be that they planned their comeback purposefully with more popular groups so that if their song does well and manages to overtake the other songs, they'll be noticed. But it's really taking a risk.

For their latest comeback, I think they did quite well as they were nominated once on a music show. Comparing to previous years, I think that's quite an achievement. Maybe with their next comeback more people will take notice of them.

Recent Headlines 

UKISS have been in the headlines recently as well. Although Dongho left the group sometime ago, his marriage news was all over the news. I thought he left because he wanted to stay out of the media. Then again, there could have been other reasons why and how the news became publicised.

(Photo credit: Soompi)

Not much negativity resulted from this news since he isn't a part of UKISS anymore but I think people were mostly commenting on his age and why did he decide to get married so young. Dongho was born in 1994 making him only 22 in Korean years.

Anyway, moving on to the juicier news that caused quite a lot of shock - Eli's announcement.

(Photo Credit: Koreaboo)

Apparently Eli's married and his wife is pregnant. Eli secretly got married last year and he made the announcement that his wife is pregnant on his Instagram. He promised fans that this news would not affect his activities in UKISS.

I guess if we see it from Eli's point of view, he wanted to be open about his relationship so that he wouldn't have to hide when the baby is born. Also, he's already been married a year so eventually it'll be found out anyway. He probably didn't expect the negative response and if I'm not wrong he deleted all his SNS accounts. I don't blame him though, it's hard to be famous.

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This is just a short post on some of my lingering thoughts on recent UKISS related news. On the whole, I think they're a talented group that maybe doesn't have such good management and that can affect everything. People would have heard of UKISS but there's just this missing factor that's making them strike out. Hopefully they'll make it big one day.

Do note that everything written in this post are just my own opinions and thoughts. Feel free to share your thoughts and comments as well.

Increasing Awareness of Preschool Teachers ♥︎

Hello friends! This time I'm writing a somewhat different kind of post but since my blog started out as a personal reflection blog, I thought I shouldn't stop writing content just like before. So, occasionally, I will write some posts like that. Just random reflections and thoughts of mine that may or may not interest readers.

For this post, as the title states, it'll be about preschool teachers. I think it's an industry that people don't really pay much attention to locally and it just doesn't have a lot of recognition even amongst the general public. I'm not asking that everyone should think highly of preschool teachers but maybe if there was more awareness of what we go through. Then it could prevent a lot of issues.

What is the first thought that comes to your mind when someone tells you they're working as a preschool teacher? I would think the thoughts would vary from some positive ones like, "Wow, you have a lot of patience," to some negative ones like, "Oh, it must be easy! You just play with children all day." 

Photo Credits: Google

Well, I wouldn't say that those aren't true. We do have to have a lot of patience and yes, we do play with children too but that's really on the surface. There are so many more things we do. It's probably difficult for an outsider to understand what goes on in a preschool. Even for parents who send their kids to preschool, they might not fully understand the extent of the job of a preschool teacher. 

There are some parents who express their gratitude to their children's teachers, however I feel that it's because of the lack of understanding of what we do, most parents often don't show appreciation as they take that it's only right that we do all these things because they are paying school fees. But really, just a word of thanks can go a long way. I think it's really lacking as ECDA came up with a campaign to remind people to thank teachers. 

Photo Credits: ECDA

Why do I think that increasing awareness for preschool teachers is important? Ultimately it affects the children who we care about and lives are so important. You might think how does not feeling appreciated affect the children?

This is an industry with a high turnover rate.

It actually does affect children when their teachers change all the time. Many people think that children are too young to understand or realise that their teacher changed but in fact they are able to realise and it affects them especially in forming secure attachments. It is a common practice to source out teachers from the younger age groups for that exact reason stated above. It's the younger ones that need consistency in their classrooms.

What causes this high turnover rate? 

I feel that lack of recognition leading to low pay and also the heavy workload often leads to burnout. I'm probably not very good at explaining the points but they are actually quite interrelated. 

I think most people out there may not know that preschool teachers have quite a lot of work to do aside from looking after the children there will be quite a lot of paperwork to complete. This often leads to burnout and burnout is when a teacher just becomes too tired and loses interest or becomes numb to the job. Most of the time it's also due to the fact that the pay is low and there are other jobs out there that has a higher pay and aren't so tiring. 

Many feels that lack of recognition results in unable to have higher pay. With more people understanding that a preschool teacher's job is actually just as important as a primary or secondary school teacher, maybe the pay would increase as well. Since preschool education isn't mandatory, most parents would then overlook it's importance.

A few quick reasons why preschool is important. 

Most overlook preschool years thinking that there's nothing much for them to learn during those few years. In fact, there are many essential skills that are picked up during these young years. A few of the more overlooked ones would be self-help skills and social skills. 

It's often thought that children are too young to do things for themselves but in fact they're never too young to learn how to do things on their own. The more the adults help them with things, they'll be too reliant and never want to do things. Children like being independent and given opportunities to do things themselves. Of course, there are certain things that they would still require some assistance in but before offering help, show them how to do a task and then let them try to do it themselves. 

For some children, parents are worried that they aren't talking when they're of talking age. That's because everything they need is given to them so there's no need for them to use their words. So usually the practice would be to give the child what he wants after letting him try to say the name of the item. As the child grows older, the child gradually would be able to repeat more words. 

Social skills are also acquired during these early years as well. I'm quite surprised that paediatricians will recommend young patients to attend school so that they can make friends. It's important that they go to school to experience a social setting. They'll learn how to be caring towards others, how to share and how to interact with other people. Nowadays, parents are more informed so I think more people are aware about the importance of social skills. 

In conclusion, there's really a lot more to preschool than just what most people think it is. We don't just look after the kids and the kids don't just play. They do play and have fun but there's many other processes going on behind that. 

Haha anyway, this is just a random reflection and thoughts post. I haven't written one in ages. Maybe there'll be more of such posts in future. We'll see. 

Expectations VS Reality ♥︎

I've been thinking... I've been reflecting on a lot things...

Things never seem to go as planned or they don't turn out the way I expected it to. But does this mean I should stop trying? Does it mean I should stop and not continue?

Most of the time, I'll stop and think. It's not that difficult to...

...even if I fall at least I'll land amongst the clouds right?

There are a few areas where I felt that I've raised my expectations too high that I need to stop for a reality check.

Work Expectations.

So far, I think there were a couple of times I've been discouraged while working. Although I've encouraging and supportive colleagues, there were times I just felt like there was nothing I could do despite being a graduate. Countless times, I've wished I was still studying so I could use that as my excuse when I meet difficult situations. I felt that everything at that point in time didn't go as well as expected.

But I guess I've learned to deal with my expectations. As much as I want to excel at work and maybe aim for some sort of promotion, I should take little steps first and celebrate every achievement. I shouldn't ignore the littlest of achievements and just go ahead to aim for higher goals without first telling myself, 'good job' or 'well done'. I feel that it would just make one lose focus if they don't stop to reflect.

Makeup Expectations.

This is a funny one. Sometimes I watch makeup tutorials or come across a makeup look that I really like, I would try it out the next day. I would expect it to look nice like in the video or in the photo. Does it turn out the way I expected it to? Of course not!

I think when it comes to makeup, it's pretty individualised. You've to be very familiar with your own face shape and face type. I've come to realise that not everything looks good on me even though it looks super good in the video or the photo.

I'm not especially good with my eyeliner. I actually have uneven eyes, right eye with double eyelids and left eye with half of a double eyelid. So drawing eyeliner can be such a hassle sometimes! I've to make sure it looks even and must make sure it's visible on the left eye because that eyelid tends to fold in hiding whatever line drawn. It makes it quite impossible to draw a cat eye!

Thankfully, I've somewhat come up with a routine on how to draw my eyeliner and apply my makeup so I think I'm quite exceptional to be able to apply my makeup within half an hour *applause*

Blog Expectations.

As much as I try my best to blog a few posts every week, it obviously doesn't happen. I start writing on something but the post just sits in my draft folder for the longest time. I think when I was schooling I just had more time to write and take photos and whatever. Now with work and everything, by the time I get home, my energy level is almost close to zero.

That's why I came up with a weekly schedule to ensure that at least once a week there'll be something being posted. So, every weekend there'll be a song recommendation post! I try to be regular in updating that unless I'm on holiday or on medical leave. Heh.

After changing my URL to this one, viewership has decreased quite a bit. Going to take some time for it to pick up again? Not to worry! It won't affect whatever I'm blogging since I blog regardless of how many readers I have. Hahaha so thick skin.

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In conclusion, the most important thing about dealing with expectations would also be able to remind myself that everything comes from God. I shouldn't worry too much or expect too much or even be disappointed when I don't achieve something because everything comes from God. Also, if I achieve something, I must remember to thank God as I definitely wouldn't be able to get there without God's guidance and planning ^^

Decided to write this post in hopes of encouraging others and also as a reminder to myself! Hope it was useful to some!

Work Talk #2

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:" Ecclesiastes 3:1

Haven't blogged about work recently. It's slowly starting to get busier so I've like not had time to sit down and reflect on whatever that's going at work. I think recently I've had a lot on my mind and I'm still trying to figure things out.

Work life balance.

I think that's something I'm still trying to figure out. Sometimes, I've the urge to do work at home and my colleague told me I shouldn't bring work home to do. I've been trying to like get out of the student mindset where I had to do homework or do some work at home every other day. So in order to keep myself busy, I've been blogging and watching Korean dramas. But as the important deadlines draw nearer, I still can't help but want to do work at home. There's just not enough time to do work while working. If only I could cut myself into two.

Also, everyday after work, I'm like so drained. How can I meet up with friends? So far the only solution I've found is meeting up on Fridays or the weekends. But anyhow I usually mostly just meet Mich or Vaneh. So that's like all the socialising I do. Better than nothing right? But I think my body has gotten used to the sleeping and waking up times :>

I've to constantly remind myself to divide my time up so that not everything I do is just related to work only.

Enthusiastic VS Willingness to learn.

I think there's like a thin line between these two terms. I don't think I'm like super enthusiastic but I'm willing to learn. I mean being overly enthusiastic is usually viewed as a bad thing as someone who is enthusiastic or overly enthusiastic may not be willing to learn.

I'm still like trying to get the hang of things and learn as much as I can. I'm not afraid of trying but I still wouldn't take up tasks or do things I've no confidence in or unsure of. The consequences of my actions can be quite serious at times, if you know what I mean. But nonetheless, I've to remember that I'm no longer working part time and I've to slowly get used to being a full timer. There are many things that I'll get better in as the time goes by.

There are times that I also forget that I'm still considered a newbie. I have high expectations for myself and when I'm not able to meet them, I'll get a little discouraged. But then I'll remind myself that I still have a lot to learn! I'm thankful for the colleagues working in the same level, I've learnt a lot from them!

As the busy time comes, I hope that I will get enough rest and won't fall sick easily. There's an important purpose for me to go to work. There are these little people I've to think about even before I can think of myself. But it's ME TIME once I leave work!

xoxo, Fid♥