1. What do you do in your spare time?
It varies, I mean, it depends on the amount of free time I have. A few weeks ago, I would normally immerse myself in a light novel during lunch breaks or after dinner, but these days, I’m just too busy with my work that the only thing I crave is some sleep, so all my spare time would be devoted to taking a quick nap.
2. What do you do to relax?
These days, I’ve been suffering from severe stress and depression due to the excessive amount of workload I have, and the only time I can relax is during my 4 – 5 hours of sleep every night. So, it may sound a little bit weird, but the only thing I can do to relax is, sadly, sleep.
3. How do you usually spend your weekends?
I’m not a party animal, so during weekends, I always refuse all the party invitations from my friends. Instead, I would visit a café on my own and indulge myself with a nice cup of earl grey and some new book I’ve found on Amazon. That couldn’t be more perfect for a Sunday afternoon.
4. What do you usually do after work or classes?
I work evening shifts, so on a daily basis, I stop at around 9 p.m. and leave work 15 – 30 minutes later. At that time, most shops have already closed and there’re not many recreational activities left to do if you don’t want to hang around bars, so I often go straight home to take a hot shower and have a late dinner. Once in a while, my boyfriend would take me to the movies after work, but I would fall asleep half way through the film.
5. How much time do you have each week for doing these things?
If your asking for a specific number of hours, I guess I’d have to say just a couple of hours per day probably.
6.Why do you like doing these activities?
I don’t. I mean… who would like to go back home right after work just to have a late, cold, and sometimes leftover dinner? That’s just what I have to do since I have to work until late in the evening. I’m not allowed to choose, that’s the problem.
7. How did you start doing this activity at first?
Actually, my life didn’t used to revolve around work. A few years ago I used to lead quite a busy social life, back in university, so it took me a whole year to get used to my current lifestyle. So, I think everything has just become a routine to me now. Not in a natural way, but it has.
8. Is there some other hobby or sport you would like to try? Why?
I’m crazy about music and all kinds of musical instruments. It’s such a miracle how each instrument makes a different sound, but when they’re performed together, they can create perfect combinations of melodies. Perhaps, in the near future, I would learn about the mechanism behind this miracle. This is also a hobby, isn’t it?
9. How do you spend your time in the evening?
It’s the same every day. I just keep running around in circles: going to work, coming back home, working at home, then going back to work the next morning. That’s why the evening is, somehow, just another chance for me to satisfy my workaholic self. That’s it.
10. Do you prefer staying at home or going out during evenings?
It’s like an everyday dilemma. My heart always insists me to go out and have some fun, but my mind would say no to that seemingly irrational idea. Well, my deadlines are there, my work isn’t finished. So, most of the time, I would reluctantly stay home.
11. Do you do this every evening?
I hate to admit, but yes, every evening when I have work left unfinished. Sometimes, I’ve even done all my make-up and already gotten dressed. However, while waiting for my boyfriend to pick me up, I often change my mind and go back to my work instead.
12. What do you like to do on the weekends?
As I’ve mentioned earlier, I’m quite a loner and I really enjoy that part of myself. So, during weekends, I would usually find something to do on my own, like redecorating my room, going to a café all alone, or just find a quiet spot in my house to do some crosswords and quizzes. I just really love to enjoy time by myself.
13. Is there any difference in your life now from when you were a child?
This is an intriguing question, since I honestly don’t know what to tell you. But overall, my life has changed considerably compared to what it was throughout my childhood. Everything, from my feelings, my thoughts to my relationships or accommodation, is so different now that I nearly have no recollections about the past.
14. Do you think modern lifestyles give people enough time for leisure?
It’s hard to say. Nowadays, people can have access to more and more entertainment facilities, and these facilities can accommodate our demands for recreation at any time. That’s why it’s become harder to distinguish between working hours and leisure time, which means you can’t really tell whether the current lifestyles can give people an adequate amount of time for leisure.
15. Do you think people today have more time to relax compared to the past?
We do have more time to relax now compared with the amount we had in the past thanks to a great number of technological advances, which are gradually replacing people’s involvement in many fields. However, many people now are refusing to take a break, perhaps because they just don’t want to be made redundant in the modern society.
16. What do you think is the importance of leisure time in life?
Adequate and frequent leisure time keeps our lives balanced. What I mean is if we just stay focused on our work and study without proper relaxation, we would eventually find ourselves exhausted and may suffer from all kinds of mental conditions related to stress, like depression or bipolar disorder. So, I do believe that leisure time plays an integral part in people’s lives.
17. Do you think old and young people spend their leisure time in the same way?
Unfortunately, no. Family bonds would be strengthened significantly if this happened in real life. However, it’s no surprise that the youth and the elderly hardly ever share the same interests due to the huge generation gap, so there’s no chance they would do the same thing in their spare time. You’re most likely to find youngsters on their phones, and on the other hand, old people would often be found doing some conventional activities for leisure like playing chess or knitting.
18. Do you like to travel in holidays?
As long as it’s a long holiday, for example, Tet, or summer holiday. I just honestly don’t want to go away for just 2 – 3 days because that would leave me no time to enjoy myself.
19. If you had a child, what leisure places would you go with your child?
Well, I know children are often crazy about amusement parks and if I had children I suppose they would definitely beg me to take them there. Unfortunately, I can’t stand crowded and noisy places, so maybe instead of that, I would take my kids to some leafy area, like a national park or botanic gardens, where we could discover more about nature.
