Laowai

I took our car in yesterday morning – we had a scheduled oil change etc. that was planned weeks ago and the car place was open so I took it in. It’s the first time I’ve been out for a few days. It felt strange. I returned home on an eerily empty train. We’ve had a string of sunny warm days so it felt nice out but with social distancing in effect people don’t seem as friendly as usual. Nobody says grüetzi like they usually do. I only saw a few people but everyone sort of gives each other the side eye.

When I walked into our apartment (as I washed my hands for a really long time) I could hear voices. It was the first day of remote learning for the girls. It made me a little emotional to hear our sweet teachers, they have been working so hard to try to reassure and help their students. We are lucky to have all the resources that we do. They are trying to work together with the kids to learn software where the kids can hear and see their teachers and vice versa. I could hear the voices of kids responding that yes they can see the screen or some pop up and say I don’t know how to do this or that. And the teachers are being patient and encouraging and making sure to check in with each kid and outline what to expect. I’m just impressed and heartened. And Brian’s voice is there too – he’s talking on the phone. I had to clean off my perennially messy sewing table so he could make it his office. 

Claire made a post about her last day at school and she showed her home classroom setup. You can read her post here.

So it seems this is our new routine. Who knows how long it will go on…