Last Thursday, November 26th, I shared with my students that it was my 40th day of teaching in Virtual School and shared the word “Quarantine” and its origins to commemorate my milestone. If it had been in real life, I would have definitely done something more upbeat!
Acknowledging the completion of 40 days was a way for me to celebrate my survival in Virtual School. Each day I want to quit and wish desperately for the pandemic to end. Each morning I wake up and read the “rants” of various teachers on Twitter and realize that I am not alone. I have rants in double quotation marks because that is what it may seem like for others who are not in the teaching profession and who are not in Virtual School. However, this is some teachers' reality and they are honestly talking about their professional lives as they have no time left for their personal lives!
This was the academic year I was going to support Hans with anything and everything. However, the boy is flying solo. And the sweetest part is that we seem to have switched roles - he keeps checking on me. I have lost count of the many times he has asked me, “How are you doing mom?” OR “Are you OK mom?”. Some nights, he has hugged me to give me strength as I sat, looking lost, in front of my laptop (that my mom financed). Those are the days and nights I told/tell myself that this situation is temporary and there will be an end.
Our lives are temporary too and I am glad mine is filled with the love and support of my family and friends and recently, neighbours and even perfect strangers. So, I have decided to celebrate the 45th day, the 50th and so on and so forth.
