International Pilates and a sense of loss

Getting into this whole lock down routine, possibly close to when it might end. We wait and see what dear old ED says on Sunday and in particular for me, what his plan for schools is. I've been tasked with looking into different online software options. Possibly Google Classroom but you have to buy a domain and use G Serve software which you have to pay for. Zol was promoting Minecraft (yes the game) educational tools but they are pre-set games for learning and don't give you the flexibility to create your own lessons. More of a teaching tool. I know my class would probably enjoy learning by gaming. We stumbled on Padlet today, and since it is free for the first 30 days looks like quite a good option. I just haven't figured out how to further edit a lesson plan I created. This is all if we are forced to do online learning only. Some say ED may say Grade 7's and form fours and upper sixes might be allowed into schools and everyone else at home. We just don't know, which is mightily frustrating and doesn't let you plan too far ahead. I guess it's a learning exercise.

I will miss being able to spend so much time in the garden with my dogs. I went on a nature scavenger hunt today and collected a bird's egg shell, pin oak leaves, Terminalia seed pods, a feather and then a fern. Got out my oil pastels and played with white charcoal pencil. Was nice to do a bit of creativity. This evening I did my sister's Pilates Zoom class. There was me in Zimbabwe, my cousin Jaimie in Cape Town, a friend of Beth's, Amy in Ireland and then one of Beth's clients, Stephen, in Swindon and Andrew, Beth's husband which was fun. Tomorrow night it's Zumba. Have been doing classes with Beth since the beginning of lock down as well as routines my personal trainer sent me for cardio and strength.

It has been a very sad week though, as we were told on Monday that my dear friend Heather's mum, Celia Toovey passed away after a very valiant fight with cancer. I have been Whatsapp calling Heather every week but could tell from what she said in our last chat that her mum was really struggling. It still is surreal and there is a big hole in the world where Mrs Toovey and her big, kind, generous heart should be. We got to know the Tooveys through ballroom dancing in grade 7 and Heather and I became firm friends. We had many a slumber party, picnic and Christmas together. Celia was forever cheerful, considerate and a home maker. She made the most delicious treats and a good glazed ham and we often had a good giggle. Her favourite thing was an evening of board games, with Trivial Pursuit being the game of choice. I think she and I trumped the others a couple of times. When they left Zim to join Heather in England I helped them with packing up and I then visited she and Mr Toovey in Nottingham a number of times with Heather, the last time being two Christmases ago. She is already deeply missed and I pray she is now at peace with no more suffering. My thoughts and prayers are with Heather, her dad and Celia's sisters.

Grief

Life lulled you into thinking of them always there,
in your mind they always are just upstairs.
Suffering came though and took its toll,
pain and discomfort was a two edged sword.
But still in my mind I see you as you were
and I will cling to that whilst all is astir
with grief and a sense of loss.
We did not want you to suffer thus.
Instead we believe you are now set free,
death holds no pain and is but gain.
We will miss your chuckles and kind kind heart,
another angel has from us departed.

Tomorrow I would have been in Germany

Even the best laid plans can capsize.
Thoughts of Germany are on my mind.
Reconnecting with friends and seeing European spring,
but the Corona virus has lead to other things.
Week four of lock down and uncertainty,
no one is sure what next week will bring.
Whether we start school or if it is online,
where the virus may hit and where is the frontline.

Lock Down

Suddenly everything shuts down and you are confined
There is stillness and your inner self comes to life.
Time is suddenly available to do what you normally can't
Walks in the garden, read, paint, all those things you neglect.
Step away from social media and the doom and gloom
and look around you and see life that is in bloom.
Quiet time to soul search and become more whole
To get to the root and renew with nothing to distract you.

Desde el primer día

Am finally beginning to feel more like myself after having tick bite fever. This is the second time I've had it but it didn't make me feel any less ghastly. It really is not pleasant with a fever, light headedness, aching joints and feeling zapped of energy. Today being the first day of quarantine/lock down nationally, didn't feel too different to other days of me being sick, except my mum was home all day. I had to unfortunately leave it to her to do all the preparation. She had to queue for fuel, groceries and medication but she did get to go to the front of the supermarket queue due to her age.

I sent off more work to my class this morning and then have been trying to do some tidying up. My mum is very protective over her stuff but trying to slowly get to it. Washed my hair and feel a hundred times better and then pottered in the garden a bit with my dogs. Need to set out things to do each day so I keep occupied. Have a whole lot of books to read, including La Peste in French. It so far isn't too hard to follow. We are in contact with family in the UK and in South Africa. I need to start thinking about next term. I did almost finish a term plan a couple of weeks ago when I thought we were still going to England so have at least almost done that but it will be a question of planning for online work if that is what we are forced to do. So far only one of my ten students has returned work done via email. It is quite hard to mark things online.

Virtual classroom here we go

I still wasn't feeling very strong this morning, so didn't go into school and ended up sleeping. Woke up to start sending out work assignments to my class via email. I think we should switch to Google Classroom but need to discuss with the head. Got an email saying Twinkl is now available free of charge, which is fantastic as they have some great resources for maths, English, phonics and science.

I also got messages to say the first person has died from COVID-19 at a hospital not far from here. According to someone who knows the family, Wilkins didn't have oxygen or a ventilator for the patient and were having to ferry oxygen across every hour in the night. There was also a power cut so the ventilator didn't actually work for a couple of hours. Cheering. My sister, after saying it's just a flu virus is now putting pressure on my mum to think about using her ticket on Ethiopian Airways so that if she gets sick she would be in the UK rather than Zim. I'm not so sure about that but Ethiopian Airways is one of the only airways still flying out of here.

Theoretically it is now school holidays but I will have to send work for the next week and start making a plan for next term if we are completely virtual. So much can change so quickly. For the moment I've got to hurry up and get over jolly tick bite fever.

Just like that

I am a bit perkier today and did some marking. I do get tired quite quickly though and feel a bit unsteady on my feet. Tomorrow is now the last day of term and I am supposed to go in and sort my class out for what may now be correspondence school. I am trying to psych myself up to do it as I still don't feel great. We are to have our staff meeting on Tuesday to plan from here on out.

Over the weekend, Zimbabwe finally announced its first case of positively testing Corona. I still do think they have been under reporting on this. As schools we are lucky in that we can operate online. Well, at least private schools can. I am not sure what government schools are going to do. Perhaps mobile phone apps can be developed. For people who rely on going into public places for employment, self isolating and social distancing is harder and here in Zimbabwe there are no social welfare safety nets. If you don't work, you don't earn and most people here don't really have savings. It remains to be seen what the coming weeks have in store for us.