One of the main reasons why I've bought a laptop this year is to earn an Honor Code Certificate from edX. My friend introduced me to edX last year and I just didn't have the time to complete an online course due to gadget limitation since the speed of our desktop computer back then was comparable to that of a turtle. Finally, last night my most awaited moment has come.

edX is an MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) provider. edX was founded in 2012 by two of the most reputable universities in the world, Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The best thing about this is you can get access to free quality online education. There are a hundred courses you can choose in their website. Whether you like engineering, psychology, history, writing, you name it. You can find it in edX.

How do the online classes work? In each course, there are different time frame, kinds of quizzes and homework. One thing in common in all courses is that watching videos is an essential part of our learning in edX since that's the only way the facilitators could "communicate" with us. You can also communicate with the facilitators thru the Discussion panel or thru Facebook and Twitter. 

         Screenshot of the instructional video with transcripts at the side.

Audio exams. You will listen to the audio and you input the correct Pinyin or Traditional or Simplified characters.  For this particular course, the correct answer doesn't show but you can re submit your answers for a limited count.



What do you get after you have completed a course? You get to have an Honor Code Certificate or a Verified Certificate. At the end of the course, you get an Honor Code Certificate that is for FREE but if you want to have the institute's logo and facilitator's signature on your certificate, you have the option to upgrade to a Verified Certificate for $49 or Php 2,200.00. Verified Certificates also verify your identity. These certificates are also a GREAT way to make your resume interesting when you apply for a job.

I enrolled to a Basic Mandarin Course. I have a Mandarin background since I went to a Chinese school in my elementary and high school years but sadly my knowledge in Mandarin got rusty because I don't speak Chinese (I don't live with Chinese speaking people) at home so I don't get to practice my conversational skills. I had plans of taking Mandarin classes that costs Php 6,000.00 for 10 sessions but it was too expensive for me and time was also an issue. I can't say it brought back all my knowledge before but at least it was refreshed. At least this is a start. 

My most awaited moment...

I can't wait to print this certificate! =)

I don't know if the facilitators could read this but I just want to say thanks.

Wo de lao shi, Estella, thank you for your hard work in spreading and teaching the beautiful Mandarin language to the world. I hope to personally meet you or even Skype-ing will do (I hope you'd choose me for the Tutoring thru Skype) someday and stay as sweet as chocolate. *hearts*

To Boan, thank you for constantly replying to our posts, comments and private message on Facebook.

To Xintong, thank you for grading my peer assessment videos. I still have two peer assessment videos to complete, Lessons 5 and 6. =)

I have a suggestion though. Please let us construct sentences but don't let this be a part of our grades. It's like the same with the peer assessment videos. =) I can't wait for the next MandarinX course on edX next year and I hope you won't stop offering Mandarin courses in edX.Org.


Lovelots,
Jen

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12/02/2015 11:54:00 PM
Some promises are really made to be broken. If you have read my previous post, I promised until the end of the year I will NOT buy any coloring books. Yes, you guessed it right.

Our annual physical exam was due today. I had to bring my lacking specimen to the laboratory early in the morning. While waiting for the optometrist which was my last physical exam, I decided to go to Robinson's to kill the time. I was planning to buy a black ball pen since I needed it for my online Mandarin classes. Yeah, I don't have any decent black ball pen at home that I really needed to buy a new one. I went inside Expressions (a school supplies store) and looked for a good ballpoint pen for writing Chinese characters. Beside the ball pen section, I saw some adult coloring books.....and it was the Filipino adult coloring book series OBRA!! I was like...



And then this happened....


         Inside OBRA: Botanica

I also bought Disney princesses coloring sheets. Hahaha! I felt like I went back to grade 1 when I bought this. 😂😂 Inside are 24 Disney princesses colouring sheets with stencils (which I don't how to use ). 
      Only for Php 99.75! You get to colour your favourite Disney Princess. 

    Disney princesses colouring sheets.


I can't wait to colour these! This is soooo hard! I really should stay away from any stores that sells school supplies especially BOOKS!!!

Black ball pen?? This is your fault! =D

This will be the LAST!! This MUST BE! Waaaaa!!!

Does this experience sound familiar to you too? =D


Lovelots,
Jen
11/30/2015 07:10:00 PM
Hello everyone! After almost two years I'm back in the blogging community! I hope I could update this blog regularly now since finally I already have my own laptop! Yey!

So my blog entry today is about adult coloring. Have you ever heard of it? Adult coloring is a hobby mostly done by young adults where we color pages with different adult designs like flowers, nature scapes, patterns of nature, abstract and many more. Some say it is just a fad that will die down in a couple of months. I started coloring August 2015 and here I am still passionate about this new found hobby. Like any other hobbies, I also had to shell out money since art materials ain't cheap!

My favorite coloring books are the Creative Haven coloring books by Dover Publications. I love their designs, the quality of paper they used, the detachable pages and most of all the affordability of these coloring books. You guys might ask why I love this childish hobby. Haha! Coloring gives me that calmness or zen like feeling. Whenever I'm stressed at work or bothered and worried about things, I just think about my WIP at home (work in progress - the coloring work that is still in progress and is left at home for me to finish) and positivity just comes through in. The good thing about coloring is you focus your attention on the image, colors you use and the coloring inside the lines makes you forget things that has bothered your life at the moment. It serves as a temporary escape or some may view it as therapy. I feel so accomplished whenever I finish colouring a piece especially if I coloured it well. Another positive thing coloring has brought me is I do the household chores early on the weekend so I can have much time to color new pages! Haha!

To date, I have ten coloring books. Yeah, ten. Adult coloring is kind of addictive. Lol! You just buy and buy coloring books even if you haven't finished coloring your other books yet. Since I started to colour, I always visit National Bookstore and Fullybooked whenever I go to the malls. By just looking at the colouring books on display makes me happy. As of the moment, I promised myself not to buy coloring books ----- until the end of the year. =D


These are my Creative Haven coloring books. It costs PHP 219.00 in National Bookstore.

Here are some of my colouring works from  Creative Haven coloring books:
         Creative Haven: In Full Bloom
              Chrysanthemum flower


        Creative Haven: NatureScapes    Eastern Bluebirds with Hibiscus flowers



       Creative Haven: Midnight Garden

Another line of colouring books are the Design Originals series. 


These costs Php 315.00 in National Bookstore. I love the variety of designs in these books and the different techniques the authors used in drawing the designs.

My colouring works from Design Originals books:



     These are from the book Inspirations by Valentina Harper.


          From Groovy Abstract by Thaneeya McArdle. I was thrilled because Thaneeya liked this Instagram post. =D Follow me @darlingsanity on Instagram.

At the back of each page in the Design Originals CBs are inspiring words that you can reflect on while you colour or even after you colour. The pages from the book Inspirations are also great gift ideas.  Personalized gifts requires hard work and much time to put out a presentable colouring work so make sure the receiver appreciates it. 😄

My latest colouring book ---( hopefully my last until the year ends) given by a friend as an advanced Christmas gift is Chef Ink volume 1 by Ivan Buñag a Filipino adult coloring book artist.
There yah go my very first entry for the year 2015. I will try my best to update my  blog from now on. I also encourage you to try colouring and tell me about your first  colouring experience in the comments section. Happy colouring! ❤️

Follow me on Instagram @darlingsanity I usually post most of my colouring works in my Instagram account. 😊

I also created a group on Facebook Coloring Book For Adults Cebu. We are a small group with a hundred plus members. This group is not exclusive to Cebuanos only. All are welcome. 

Lovelots,
Jen
11/27/2015 10:51:00 PM
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