It may be peaceful in the main spaces, but the back of the house is a regular drip zone.
The bathroom leaks so much that the ceiling is rotting away and the walls are streaked with dirty drips from the rooftop.
And the back bedroom? It's used only for storage now because of the water that courses down the walls with every heavy rain.The walls are buckled; the ceiling is moldy. Hopefully there will be a solution - and that's what the
(handyman) is here to check. He tells W that he has several big jobs to finish before he can tackle ours.
There's a terrible smell one day - the electrical outlet on the back wall has become wet. Though the power is still going (ungrounded as usual), the plastic on the outlet itself has burned to a crisp. Good thing it's a concrete rather than a wooden wall! W plugs the fridge and freezer into an extension cord to another outlet until he can replace the damaged one. We're glad power didn't go out: no food has spoiled.
The breadmaker overflows on the final bake cycle. We're tweaking settings for white and whole wheat loaves. Sometimes the bread is wonderful. Sometimes it's an experiment that tastes good. We scrape bread dough off the lid and cool the loaf on a rack.
Wednesday
What a rotten night: I wake up every hour or two. Finally, I click into
YouVersion and listen to scripture. The reader gets through the whole book of Numbers and the first 10 chapters of Deuteronomy - and I'm not even sleepy. Then I listen to
Pray as You Go, the Jesuit daily devotional and have a nap before giving up.
In the half-wakefulness, I think of exercises to engage the students. Sometimes when the mind is open at night, creativity drifts in and out. I jot everything into my bedside notebook. Otherwise, the ideas have flown by morning light.
My challenge (on top of classroom management and teaching) is to figure out how to teach from a PC tablet when I'm used to Apple products. At the beginning of a course, we also have to gauge the pace and capacity of students. This round has master and bachelor students learning together, in one classroom.
I spend the day revising planned activities that aren't possible when I'm not using my own Zoom account. The class uses the institution's account; many features are not available to me. It feels like a bit of a train wreck, shifting expectations and resources on the go.
It's a learning experience for the guy running the online classroom, too. I'm asking him to do things he didn't know about. My smart/er friends (Kim and Waldemar) have used many business upgrades that he's never heard of. He's figuring it out with the help of Jenny, a smiling and helpful admin. Thanks, you two!
By the end of the day, I have no capacity to think about supper. I put off everything that is not an emergency. Friends have to wait for replies. Coworkers know I'm tied up and will only respond to emergencies.
W and I walk out our neighborhood and up the street to #KalpaTree. It's a gorgeous setting.
The food hits the spot. The short walk is refreshing as night falls.
I sleep for a few hours before getting up to grade student assignments. When teaching Study Skills and Academic Writing, I grade every submission the night it's turned in. Students receive professional edits back and can revise and resubmit as many times times as they want until the deadline. The improvement in writing skills is amazing within a few weeks.
Thursday/Friday
The dogs can't wait for us to come onto the porch. They know what's coming.
We walk rain or shine.
For the first time, I wear a snakeskin-look raincoat from Mom. She loves prints! It's long enough to ward off the droplets as we walk.
Recyclers go through the city streets to retrieve glass, paper, and plastic from where people toss them. They are paid per load at recycling centers. This may not be a glamorous job but it is a helpful and important one.
Whew. When teaching online for 4 hours in a row, a lecturer is pacing their brain and resources with student interactions. The first days are the most difficult. This week, the biggest challenge has been figuring out how to engage my students without the quick polls in my curriculum. Breakout rooms to the rescue.
The bread baked by IbuS goes perfectly with soft cheese. I'm too tired on Thursday to think of going out.
Friday, I'm up for the first meeting at 6:00. The second at 7:00 is postponed until next week. We walk and I revamp class notes and PowerPoints.
The last day flies by. Today, I warn students that after this week, all assignments have a hard deadline. No exceptions. Students are wiley at flexing faculty schedules for their own convenience, begging for more time to submit their work = for a wide variety of reasons.
With the amount of grading this course requires, they're tied to my schedule instead. Handing assignments in on time is part of the discipline of academic writing. Few publishers of academic books and journals will postpone publication for a late submission.
Each night as the lights sparkle around the house, I thank God for rest ... until I wake up to grade the day's intake.
We are grateful for food, shelter, meaningful work ... and a warm bed. Sleep well, everyone.
Read more:
*Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that I need. Proverbs 30:8
*Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.” Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. Isaiah 49:13-16
*Nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Isaiah 60:3
*We brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it, but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. 1 Timothy 6:7-8
*The city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb The nations will walk by its light. Revelation 21:23-24
Moravian Prayer: Why, O God, do we do what we know we should not? We eat food that does not satisfy. We buy things we don’t need and accumulate wealth we can’t keep. Remind us to seek what is our true treasure, which is you and your love.
Guiding Light, shine into the dark places in our lives and in our world. Help us to see your grace, mercy, and love. Help us to follow and to walk in your Light. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
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