It is our third day (I think?) in lockdown, although time melts together when you don’t leave your couch, so honestly, I’m not really sure how long it has been. My new routine now consists of checking Facebook, Instagram, Worldometers.info for updated coronavirus cases, and Google News to see if there have been any important news updates while I was asleep about coronavirus. Today’s number of cases around the world is at 146,008 which is up 21,085 cases from the last time I posted 3 days ago, which is just mind-boggling. Talk about an exponential increase. Europe has really blown up, and I’m pretty certain the United States is about to as well, as soon as they start actually testing. The number of deaths has also gone up by about 1,000 cases. It has now grown to more than 5,000 cases worldwide, with Italy being hit especially hard due to their elderly population and overwhelmed hospital systems. 

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However, not all is dark! I’ve joined a new Facebook group called “Educator Temporary School for Online Learning,” which has recently been started as schools around the world begin to turn to virtual learning to mitigate the spread of the virus. I’m just scrolling through the hundreds of posts, and see a familiar name pop up: Dale Ethridge. Turns out Mr. Ethridge’s wife, Tara, posted a link to his music website to help other music educators as well as anyone who wanted to spend their time in self-quarantine learning new music! I haven’t been in contact with Mr. Ethridge at all, but he was my 8th grade English teacher back when I attended Shanghai American School 16 years ago! I commented on her post saying just that, and what happens after that? Ms. Newcomb, my high school biology teacher, replies to my comment! It became a little blast from the past SAS reunion that really made my day. Here we are, quarantined to our own homes around the world, but making connections through a Facebook page that has 63,000 members, from Prague to Kuwait to Qatar. Truly, I LOVE how small the international school community is! 

Another thing that stood out to me is just how multi-talented educators are. Mr. Ethridge often played the guitar for us, but he taught us 8th grade English. Now it seems that he is teaching music and various types of instruments in Prague! I know many people who have taught a variety of learners and subjects of different ages, and I think it is awesome that they are so knowledgeable in so many different areas.

I did break my self-quarantine today and went to Lulu’s to stock up on groceries again. It’s the first time I’ve really been out since public places have been closed, so I was curious to see what the difference would be. I heard yesterday that police have been patrolling diligently, telling everyone to go home and not gather in parks or be outside in general unless they are running essential errands. I did notice that there are a lot fewer people outside, and the groups of Indian workers that I can usually see from my window playing soccer on the sand fields are no longer there. 

I chose to go in the morning, as Lulu’s is often pretty empty in the morning because people here wake late. I want to come into contact with as little people as I can! Surprisingly, or maybe not, everything was very normal at Lulu’s. All the shelves were fully stocked, and it was business as usual, to my relief. I don’t know what I was expecting. I guess from all the social media posts online, I thought that all the food, pasta, canned goods and toilet paper would be gone due to all the panic buying. I am happy to announce that there is a lot of toilet paper available at Lulu’s. I know because I bought some, not because I want to hoard it, but because I really only have one roll left.