Yesterday, March 23rd 2020, started at as a relatively normal day – I was on the bike at the gym for my RPM class at 6am then off to school to teach te reo Māori a couple of hours later. The kids and I did lots of hand washing before each class touched the poi and before they used cards needed for a game. After lunch, word came through on the intercom about an urgent staff meeting after school and upon checking online… we discover the prime minister had announced New Zealand was heading into full lock down come Wednesday night.
The principal came round to each class and told students that this was their last school day for a few weeks and they were to take their school books and belongings home with them. The young year 4 students I was with asked ‘will the teachers still get paid if they aren’t teaching?’ and ‘what about our learning??’ We reassured them we would be fine and they didn’t need to worry about us teachers… and that they could learn through playing games, baking & cooking, singing along with Māori songs on youtube and researching things they were interested in. Some were excited about the ‘holidays’, others were worried about their parents and what this would mean for their jobs too.
It was all a bit surreal – and still is!
This morning Antony and I headed to school to get lots of my things so I can do resource creation and lesson planning from home, then we went to the Warehouse to get toner for the printer and printing paper. We saw a friend there – a doctor- and had a quick chat observing the 2 metre distance rule! Next it was off to Kathmandu but they hadn’t opened yet so we went to the Frontrunner instead to get Antony some walking shoes and me some (kids) gym shoes.
Next up it was off to the Green Grocer in Tinwald – which I was relieved to hear will remain open during the 4 week lockdown (as food is an essential service). On the way we passed Cafe Time- which makes the rye bread we usually get at the Farmers Market. We got a couple of loaves for the freezer and after discovering that the yummy looking slices last a month we bought quite a few of them too! Can’t have them going to waste!! Felt good to be supporting the local businesses who will be closing after tomorrow and face a very uncertain future.
Community House was next – where we have the TimeBank office. It is closed to the public but I was able to get files etc that I might need when working from home the next few weeks. Antony picked up a new filter for our tap from plumbing world then it was on to our last stop… the sports store where we bought a practice net. It’s a 7 foot net that we can set up in the backyard and hit into when we need some golf practice!
It was rather surreal driving around town thinking, what else will we need in the next four+ weeks?? We think we got all we needed to keep us happy and active! We unloaded our goodies then it was time for a cuppa tea and some TV on demand (!) while I prepared resources for school (cut and pasted things to make flashcards).
Was great to talk to my parents for an hour after lunch – they are isolating in their little crib in Naseby. The local shop owner is dropping off food and even getting coal for them – much needed as they arrived there to snow on the ground last night! They have books and board games, puzzles and food to keep them content up there for the month which is good.
Antony spent the day working away in his office here at home then we got fish and chips for dinner… last chance for take aways for at least a month so we made the most of it!!
It was a day of last times… but also first times… as we did something I don’t think we’ve ever done before! We watched the 6pm news and then Seven Sharp. It was a bit of a novelty, not sure if it will ever become a regular thing for us but kind of nice to not have to rush off somewhere.
I did some TimeBank work tonight – scheduling posts for our Facebook page that will hopefully brighten peoples days and some brainstorming around things we could do during this period that would be useful. Talking more with Mari about this over a phone meeting tomorrow.
While on the phone to Mum and Dad they said I should write about what I get up to each day … so I thought why not do that on the blog! Not sure if I’ll manage daily blog posts… (seeing as I’m only up to November with my travel section!! I’m not great at keeping at it) but we will see.
Oh one last thing … we are trying really hard to reduce our waste and eliminate single use plastic. We buy most of our food in bulk from stores in Christchurch where we can fill up our own containers. We get a few select things (sultanas, coconut, and dates) from a supplier in 3kg zip lock bags – they are plastic but at least they are big and zip lock so we can reuse a lot. Antony was emptying the sultanas from the big bag into a jar today and he asked me how he should close up the bag. He’d cut the end off instead of cutting and opening the zip lock end.. so now the bag was not reusable… grrrr. The womble! He got a flabbergasted wife telling off but we also laughed about it…
The next 4 weeks are going to be interesting!! 🙂