What you can do at home: 10 ways to stay positive during lockdown!

As we all know, we are not allowed to leave our houses at the moment, but this is not a time to despair! We thought it would be fun to introduce a few things every one of us can do at home, to develop, connect with others - even if online - and make the best out of this difficult situation. All of the suggestions below have been suggested by our amazing members.

1. Knit

You know we are big on knitting at ETKultur! Tamara, our amazing workshop leader, would like to remind everyone that it is still possible to knit at home - even if Farbige Wolle is temporarily cancelled. You don’t have knitting equipment at home? Not a problem! Tamara will show you know to knit using your fingers and an old t-shirt. Watch the video here and show us the results!

2. Read

A lot of platforms are now offering free access to their libraries to help people during these hard times. UNESCO opened up their world library. Use it wisely :)

3. Watch live streaming events

During these extraordinary times, a lot of organisations have decided to move their activities to the online sphere. You can now watch Opera Streams at The Metropolitan Opera in New York!

4. Cook

Maybe you have always wanted to make home-made sourdough bread but never had the time, or maybe you wanted to try out that authentic Mexican recipe for a while now? Well, now is a good time to try it out! Send us your favourite recipe and we will share it with everyone - maybe we could even use it at the next WeltTisch!

5. Learn something new

If there is any new skill that you want to improve, now would be a good time to do it! Skillshare (a platform offering a variety of online courses) is offering 2 months of free premium account, with access to all of their courses - whether it's business skills, editing, design, marketing, management, they have it! Check it out here.

6. Take a virtual tour to a world-known museum

A lot of museums now offer a free virtual tours: Louvre, Guggenheim, The British Museum, Natural History Museum in Washington, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and many more. Google Arts and Culture project also allows you to discover art online - something you would not have been able to do before!

7. Exercise

What a great time to find some time to work out! Try out some YouTube tutorials to exercise, e.g. Yoga or HIIT. You can also do some in German to exercise your mind and body at the same time!

8. Clear you mind and meditate

Meditation helps a lot of people to turn off, calm down and look at things from a different perspective. During this time, Headspace is offering people some free meditation sessions. Get them here.

9. Connect with people from the safety of your home!

A lot of new solutions have come up as an answer to the current situation. You can now download a party extension for Netflix to watch some films together - it will sync your accounts so you can watch at the same time, and adds a chat to exchange thoughts during the film. There are also online games (e.g. Monopoly) you can play with your friends online, or apps like Houseparty for having an online party with your loved ones. Get creative and stay connected to people :)

10. Improve your German - or another language.

Living in Switzerland, some of us struggle to master the local language - be it German or Swiss German. Now is the perfect time to improve your language skills! A lot of schools offer online classes or conversations. There are also apps you can use to talk to people from different countries for free, e.g., Tandem. Listen to podcasts, read articles and books. Arschke Courses offers free calls in German until 17th April! Check them out on Facebook. Use the time productively!

There are so many more things you can do., so stay home, stay healthy and stay connected!