My *NEW* Morning Routine

Now that we are quarantined at home and teaching virtually, my morning routine has certainly changed.

6:30- Alarm goes off. Hit snooze.

6:39- Alarm goes off again. Debate hitting snooze a second time, but decide I have to be an adult.

6:40- Get up. Begrudgingly.

6:41- Bathroom. Wash hands. Wash face. Apply eye patches to the puffy, dark circles under my eyes. Brush teeth. Brush hair. Get dressed.

6:55- Head into the office (AKA my living room/dining room/kitchen).

My new office/classroom

6:56- Make a cup of tea.

6:58- Fire up the laptop and open MS Teams just in time for my meeting.

7:00- Video conference call with the Academic Leadership Team.

7:01- “Good morning! How’s everyone today?” my boss asks, in his chipper, I’m-a-morning-person voice. Great! I’m good! Excellent! Fantastic!, my colleagues reply, as they, too, are morning people. “I’m here,” I say, still wearing my eye patches and clutching my cup of tea. I don’t pretend to be a morning person.

7:02-7:29- Continue the meeting, addressing any concerns, issues, etc. that have arisen the day before. Discuss what needs to go into our daily updates to parents and staff. Talk about other ‘admin-y’ things. Finish my first cup of tea.

What meetings are now like…

7:30- Log into Seesaw and release my Daily Learning Overview (the document that outlines my students’ day of learning with a schedule, learning objectives, and assignments) and my Morning Message (a video where I outline the day, give reminders, etc.)

7:31- Start receiving messages from students on MS Teams chat, as they check in for the day. Respond to their messages to see how they are doing, if they understand the goals for today, and remind them to reach out if they need anything.

7:35- Release all of the lessons (videos, links, notes, instructions, etc.) for the day on Seesaw.

7:40-8:00- Respond to the barrage of Teams messages and Seesaw notifications that come in, as quickly as possible.

8:00- Run back to my room, remove my eye patches, and apply make-up so I don’t scare the kids.

8:10- Make my second cup of tea and respond to the messages I’ve missed.

8:14- Send a good morning text to the Primary teacher WhatsApp chat with a morale-boosting message.

8:15- Call my Teaching Assistant to check in and chat about the plan for the day. He will reach out to students I’ve identified as needing more support, keep track of who turned in what on Seesaw, and help approve Seesaw posts throughout the day.

8:25- Quickly eat some breakfast. Typically a bowl of fruit or cereal does the trick.

8:30- Have my first 1-on-1 meeting of the day with a student, where I’ll check in with them about how it’s going, what progress they’ve made on Exhibition, give suggestions for various aspects (their action, their art or math components, etc.), ask how their research is going, see how I can help them, discuss next steps, etc.

8:52- Catch up on missed notifications and emails, respond to questions, check on the Primary teacher WhatsApp chat to see if there are any questions I need to address.

9:00- Second 1-on-1 student meeting begins.

My mornings sure are busy, but I’m getting into a routine. Some mornings are more hectic than others, but each day it gets a little bit easier to manage.

Not a Good Start

Feeling exhausted and sluggish this morning, and snoozing for as long as I possibly could in order to still have time to shower before work, it already wasn’t the best start to the day. Looking at the clock, I didn’t have much time before I needed to leave. I ordered a Go-Jek, but instead of the normal message saying someone would arrive in 1-2 minutes, I was met with a 10-minute wait. Noooo! I’m probably gonna be late now!

Grumbling to myself, I decided I might as well wait in the living room, since waiting outside in the humid stickiness that comes with living on the equator leaves me sweaty and makes my glasses fog up. As I aimlessly looked out the windows to the lush greenery, I did a double-take. What in the… No way!

One of my windows was completely shattered! And due to the wind outside, a large hole had begun to form near the top, as shards of glass had fallen down on the floor. Bewildered and wondering how this could have happened, I felt my heart beating faster, going into a bit of a panic. Right about this time, a light rain started. Fearing that another downpour would kick up any minute like it did yesterday (and the day before), I worried about my house getting water damage, as undoubtedly the hole would continue to get bigger, as the wind and rain pushed its way in.

I immediately called my boss, telling him I would be late, and cancelled my Go-Jek. I then called and called the property manager, but he didn’t pick up. Ringing security was an adventure in miscommunication, as I was passed from person to person, before someone said they would come. My level of Bahasa Indonesia does not include vocabulary such as broken, window, glass, shattered, or emergency. So heaven only knows what they thought was wrong with me or my house!

Once the security guard arrived and assessed the situation, he smiled and let out what I felt like was a laugh. In my not-so-nice voice, I told him that I don’t appreciate him laughing nor do I think this is a funny situation. This only made him do it more! Calling Veronica, my friend and neighbor who is Indonesian, I asked her to speak with him and ask him why he was laughing. She explained that it was more of a nervous laughter due to his inability to communicate in English and that all of the security guards basically drew straws to see who would have to come and deal with the bule who doesn’t speak Bahasa Indonesia. Calming down a bit, I understood his situation, having dealt with similar ones in China before. However, it infuriates me when someone laughs at me when I’m upset and dealing with an unpleasant situation, and I have a hard time understanding this cultural behavior. But I’m trying to accept it.

A few minutes later, a few more people were called in to assist. Soon my house looked like a tornado had hit it, as furniture was shoved to the other side of the room, carpets were rolled up, and the area was cleared to make way for the plastic sheeting that was laid on the floor. Conscious of the time and my 8:40 lesson observation, I called another Go-Jek. Although it was a bit unsettling to leave not knowing what was going to happen and what I would find when I came home tonight, and the fact that I had to leave my house unlocked with several strangers in it, I finally left for school.

For reference, this is what my living room normally looks like:

I received a message later this afternoon from the property manager with a photo of the wood that replaced the broken window. Apparently the glass takes about a week to come in, so for the time being, my lovely view is obstructed by this beautiful plywood. It was definitely not a good start to the day, but luckily it got better as it went on.

One of Those Mornings- SOL #15

You ever have one of those mornings where things don’t always go as planned? Of course you have! Everyone has them from time to time. Well today was one of those mornings for me! I couldn’t bring myself to get out of bed, despite the fact that I went to bed early. I was soooo tired! I finally peeled myself out of the bed at the last possible second that I knew would give me just enough time to get ready for work.

All was going ok, and I got to work just before 7:45, but when I reached into my bag to swipe my card into the building, I realized I didn’t have my lanyard, the one with my badge and keys! With the warmer weather today, I switched to a lighter jacket, forgetting that I put my lanyard in my coat pocket yesterday when I left school. Ugh! Now I can’t get into my office. My office that contains my computer and notebook and everything I need to function at work today. Scrambling around, I tried to find someone with an extra key. Since this being a new building that we just moved into last week, the systems and people to go to aren’t all ironed out yet. Frazzled, I cancelled my 8 o’clock and headed out the gate to run home and grab my lanyard. Just when I got outside, someone told me that the guards have a key. Whew!

The guard, shaking his head, turned around to head upstairs to sift through his keys and find the one that would open room 304A. While I don’t have my badge, I am happy I was able to get into my room. 🙂 Hoping the rest of the day is better!