Nana's Intro Blog

Introduction? Hmmm, how should I introduce myself? I'm not used to writing self-introduction blogs but one fun fact about me is I spend most of my free time writing in my journal about the boring things happening to me every day. Why do I write it down in my journal if it's just 'boring'? Well, no one listens to me as a kid so maybe that's why I tend to share everything on paper. It is ironic because I am not fond of people who keep asking questions of me now, yet I like to share everything in my journal. If someone asks me about my hobbies or any interesting things I do, I struggle to answer. I know how to play different sports like badminton, chess, and volleyball but I do not excel at these, I know how to play so I don't think there is something special about me. When I was in elementary I joined track and field, I did distance runs and sprints but my father beat me up for joining haha.

I live in the Philippines where a significant number of people, my father is one of them, are obsessed with fair skin. That's probably the reason why he beat me up (I just laugh when I think about it now). Training all day under the sun, burning my skin (I didn't know sunscreen existed back then), and my father thought I was 'ruining' my pale skin. Now, when I want to do something I don't tell it to my dad. I hide everything. Is it obvious that I'm already trauma-dumping on my introduction blog? Sorry I didn't mean to, I think it's just my muscle memory to expose myself when I write. Just to mention, I'm a senior college student majoring in Social Studies.

The reasons why I chose this major is because I'm fond of reading and I hated math but I didn't know Social Studies would be this complicated. I am very interested in knowing more about different places, their cultures, norms, and how different people can be in every corner of the world. I got more interested in geography and sociology when I worked as an ESL teacher, I encountered several students from different countries and I was able to ask them about the tiny bits of their culture and the landscape of their home country.

Guess what? My dream travel destination which is Japan has changed. I now dream to visit and explore Mongolia. How interesting to know that there's a beautiful country where the ocean doesn't exist. If they don't have beautiful beaches and islands, I bet there's something far more interesting to find out in Mongolia. It fascinates me because it's very opposite compared to the Philippines. Here, we have numerous islands and beaches which is why these tourist spots aren't something new to me. I only have a few hobbies but I'm interested in a lot of things. I got so much to share when I write but when I talk, I can't even know where to start and be comfortable. Going back to when I worked as an ESL, I didn't know I got to dream bigger. I only dreamed about moving out from my parent's house and traveling to Japan before but now? I want to explore the world and the thought of living with my parents until I die sounds amazing to me not because I get to depend on them but due to a realization that they are getting old and I missed the opportunities to have time with them. There is so much time in the world that I could use to discover everything including myself. For now, these are the things I can share with anyone who could read this short biography. There are still so many days moving forward and each day is a new self-discovery that we could share. One reason I joined Hive is the possibility I could have an outlet to share what I could share through writing. This will be a great opportunity, a great platform for my hobby of writing. This will not only give me an outlet but I'm hoping that this platform will also help me discover and know myself more. Here, I will be sharing my daily experiences, especially those interesting moments. I will probably include random facts about places in the Philippines I have already traveled.

This platform will not be known to me without the help of my friend @brandonwrites. He's my college friend and I have known him as a smart writer also. After he introduced me to this platform as an outlet for writers to express their work, I immediately asked him how to start on it, basically how the platform works. He gave me a brief information about the platform and an overview of how can I express various literary works on the platform. He then told me to attend an online orientation so I could have more detailed information and narrow my expectations. I attended the orientation headed by @jeannmazing on November 9, 2024. The orientation was very helpful for me to have a clear expectation about Hive. The orientation started with a brief explanation about what the platform is and afterward, the speakers delivered the do's and don'ts. I have also get know how can I make my blogs more accurate and authentic. By keeping my blogs original, not AI-generated, adding photos to my blogs, and interacting with other users by leaving meaningful comments on their blogs, I could increase my engagement on the platform. I am looking forward to expressing my works and extending my ideas to other writers on the platform. I am hoping that this platform will serve as an opportunity for me to grow and improve my skills in writing. For now, these are the only ones I can share in this introduction blog. Looking forward to creating more content, Godspeed!