The last time I wrote, we were basking in a false sense of security. The coronavirus had yet to come to Sri Lanka. That didn't last long. It is clear the global pandemic will touch the four corners of the globe before it is all said and done, in the process, likely irrevocably changing the world as we know it.
Since then, 70 Sri Lankan have fallen ill, and we are on an island-wide curfew which began Friday evening at 6:00 p.m. and extends until 6:00 a.m. Monday morning. Before this weekend's curfew, we were already on a week-long holiday and before that, the kids' school closed for six weeks, until April 20 or right after spring break.
They are now all enrolled in the Distance Learning Program through their school which is entirely online. Peter and Clementine wake up in the morning (at their leisure. No 5:30 wake up calls during home school), have breakfast, get dressed, brush teeth, and sit down in front of the computer to complete their lessons for the day. Sam's curriculum is more structured. His classes meet on more or less the same schedule he kept when he was going to the campus (they start later and so then the school day ends a little later, too). His teacher hosts a Google chat room where the students log in and hear the lecture before spitting up into groups in separate, smaller chat rooms to work together on various projects. It's actually really well organized and having a set time he is expecting online helps hold all the students accountable for their work and attendance.
Of course, the finest-tuned homeschooling machine still has one significant drawback...it's at home. Which thrusts Elise into the role of -- not only mother -- but now also teacher, counselor, school nurse, janitor, and lunch lady. The only thing she doesn't have to do is drive the school bus. I hope to help more when my own telework schedule kicks in, but the last week was spent preparing evacuation orders for families who decided to leave Sri Lanka because they were more vulnerable to potential complications should they contract the virus.
It became evident to me very early on, in the first meeting at work regarding the spread of the virus, this was going to be as much a fight against panic and misinformation as it was going to be a fight against the virus. At the end of the day, I don't know what to think.
Elise and I have decided to stay put for the time being. Being locked inside the house for three days straight is not much fun but we also feel relatively safe. For now, the virus seems to be among a small group of Sri Lankans who returned to the island from Italy, Poland, and other points in Europe, most or all of whom are currently under quarantine, and not spread among the wider community. If that remains the case, we may have made the right decision to stay, rather than negotiate the airport. We'll see.
The kids are taking it mostly well. Of course laxed restrictions related to screen time and video games definitely helps. Though Sam had a minor meltdown earlier this afternoon when Clem would not leave him alone. I get it. I spent an hour playing the board game Life with her only to have her ask me what she can do 30 seconds after we both reached retirement and the end of the game.
I got all three of them on the treadmill this afternoon. Hopefully a little exercise will help fraying nerves. I taped a piece of typing paper to the wall next to the treadmill which is now our "fitness tracker". Elise and I made a conscious decision to buy a cycling trainer when we were in Arlington, before coming to Sri Lanka, and to bring the treadmill out of storage. Both decisions seem oddly prescient at the moment. I ran today, too, and if today is the only day I run on the treadmill, I'll still be glad I brought it despite how much it weighs and how much it counts against our total shipping allowance.
The entire city has been absolutely silent for the last two days. The roads are deserted. No one ventures out. Likely, the entire island nation is the same. We opened the garage door yesterday so Pete, Clem, and I could wash the car (Elise flat out told me she'd never seen me wash a car before). A policeman rode by on his motorcycle and waved. It was the only other person we have seen except the cleaning woman who works in the house across the street when she came out to the road to pull the trash cans in. The crows seem more aggressive. There are no scraps of food in the streets.
A small black and white bird we've never seen before is making a nest in the tree in our small back yard. I noticed it picking blades of grass from our yard and flying them up into the branches of the tree. The quiet is already encouraging nature to make new homes in places it may have only just recently deserted. It kind of makes you wonder what the world could he like if it was always this quiet.
