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Apr. 7th, 2020 10:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stresskittenManaged to make contact with my Grandad today during my walk. He lives in the UK, where they're in the process of undergoing similar physical distancing requirements to us. We were chatting a bit about how people have gotten together to help out the vulnerable in the community. It was interesting to see that he doesn't consider himself one of the vulnerable. I think, in the end, it was a translation error (despite the fact that we both speak English). At 90, he is most definitely in the vulnerable category... Covid-19 definitely affects those over 70 more significantly than those under 70... but for him, vulnerable means people with poor health, mobility issues, or poverty. He and my Aunty Hazel are disgustingly healthy, happily living in their own home, and fully alert and engaged.
My Uncle Andrew is going to the shops for them, and they're staying safely at home. Grandad just didn't see themselves as needing any community supports... which is fair enough.
Talked to him a little about the similarities with how this is effecting the country and its similarities to World War 2... Grandad was 9 when it started, 14 when it ended, so he remembers enough of the war to draw parallels to the lack of selection and staples in the shops, and the sense of fear as well as the sense of people coming together to help each other out. Fascinating to think about.
I attempted to get in touch with my dad as well... no response at all, "customer not available"... so, either his phone is dead or he is blocking "unknown" numbers, since my phone is set to not show my number right now since I've been calling student families, and I don't want to be giving them my personal phone number.
My mum sent us some pictures of our old house. It's old.. considered a heritage home now as the set of row houses that belonged to the trolley-drivers who used to drive up and down Ridgeway. Used to be one of the major roads on the North Shore and a ferry across the water used to be stationed down the bottom of it. You also wouldn't be able to put a house of that size on the plot of land it is currently on if you tore it down, so instead, they're raising it. The basement of the house had a suite in it, but it was an old-house dug-out basement, and was really low ceilinged... probably 6 foot. They've removed it from its foundations right now and raised it up... No idea how much higher it will end up being in the end. So weird... from some angles, it looks like it's floating right now.
This is the first week where I'm working online with the kids in my class. We've had a couple of Video check-ins on Office 365... it is interesting, to say the least. Today, we went through everyone who was there and had them share something fun they've done, then I answered any questions they had about the assignments I'd given them. After we were done, Frazer came into the kitchen, looked at me, and told me that I was insane and he would never, EVER, be able to do my job. I hadn't even noticed it, really, but he was stunned at how many times I answered, essentially, the same question asked in infinitesimally different ways, by different kids. So, yeah... teachers always comment that it feels like we're repeating ourselves a lot. It turns out... it's because we are.
My Uncle Andrew is going to the shops for them, and they're staying safely at home. Grandad just didn't see themselves as needing any community supports... which is fair enough.
Talked to him a little about the similarities with how this is effecting the country and its similarities to World War 2... Grandad was 9 when it started, 14 when it ended, so he remembers enough of the war to draw parallels to the lack of selection and staples in the shops, and the sense of fear as well as the sense of people coming together to help each other out. Fascinating to think about.
I attempted to get in touch with my dad as well... no response at all, "customer not available"... so, either his phone is dead or he is blocking "unknown" numbers, since my phone is set to not show my number right now since I've been calling student families, and I don't want to be giving them my personal phone number.
My mum sent us some pictures of our old house. It's old.. considered a heritage home now as the set of row houses that belonged to the trolley-drivers who used to drive up and down Ridgeway. Used to be one of the major roads on the North Shore and a ferry across the water used to be stationed down the bottom of it. You also wouldn't be able to put a house of that size on the plot of land it is currently on if you tore it down, so instead, they're raising it. The basement of the house had a suite in it, but it was an old-house dug-out basement, and was really low ceilinged... probably 6 foot. They've removed it from its foundations right now and raised it up... No idea how much higher it will end up being in the end. So weird... from some angles, it looks like it's floating right now.
This is the first week where I'm working online with the kids in my class. We've had a couple of Video check-ins on Office 365... it is interesting, to say the least. Today, we went through everyone who was there and had them share something fun they've done, then I answered any questions they had about the assignments I'd given them. After we were done, Frazer came into the kitchen, looked at me, and told me that I was insane and he would never, EVER, be able to do my job. I hadn't even noticed it, really, but he was stunned at how many times I answered, essentially, the same question asked in infinitesimally different ways, by different kids. So, yeah... teachers always comment that it feels like we're repeating ourselves a lot. It turns out... it's because we are.