Week 20

This turned into a very short week. The boys had off for MLK Jr. day.  We had a rousing game of What do you Meme? Family style at dinner.

The following day they went into to school but I had to pick them up for appointments in the middle of the school day. I did manage to get them back in time for John’s cello class and Thomas’s Chess club.

Wednesday was a big day.  Our final shipment from Fiji arrived.  All of the important things that we placed in our air shipment are back.  All of the kitchen accoutrements, our projector, my piano, and most importantly, the LEGOs are home.

Even at this moment, despite having gotten all of the moving boxes broken down and out of the house, we still have to shuffle and find the right homes for everything.  That said, we are almost feeling settled. We might need to get one or two more furniture things but at least we know where all of our stuff is.

Thursday was supposed to bring another snow storm.  Since the school district already used up all of the snow days, the boys had a virtual school day.  The storm left us with nothing more than a bit of rain.

I took John and Thomas to PA to spend the weekend with Grandma Carol and Grandpa Ron.  This gave Andrew and I some time to get at these piles.  We still have some piles in the kitchen and the “playroom” area. Oh well.

Despite all of that, it is really nice to finally cook with our nice pots and pans after the past 6+ months.

Week 19

Everything returned to some sort of normal routine this week.  The boys had a full week of school. That left us all feeling a bit tired but we worked through it.  The government put out guidance that everyone should be teleworking for the next few weeks.  So, Andrew joined me at home for the week.  We had a few medical appointments, so it seems like we are catching up on 3 years of minimal medical screenings from Fiji.  No major concerns to report just working things through the system.  I did finally get a new pair of contact lenses so I am seeing the world a lot better now.

We did receive a bit of sad news this week.  Our housekeeper in Fiji, Niria, passed away on 13 Jan.  This was a bit shocking but we believe it was due to breast cancer that did not properly diagnosed.  I spent some time trying to find a picture of her but I suppose that is the sign of a wonderful housekeeper.  She was an amazing lady, loyal and trustworthy.  She loved the boys like they were one of her own. 

The good news for the week is that our air shipment from Fiji will finally be delivered next week.  Finally, we will have LEGOs, kitchen tools, the piano, and the projector.  The items that should have been here the fastest are the last to arrive.  I hope that its arrival will put our general unsettled feeling to rest. We can really feel at home now for the next 2.5 ish years.

We are gearing up for another yucky winter storm system to come through the area.  We spent Saturday clearing the downed branches from the previous snow storm. We got out our new fire pit and enjoyed the warmth of some of the burning wood while being outside for most of the day.

We also had a big adult Christmas present arrive.  Andrew and I decided to purchase a Peloton Tread.  Fiji sort of broke me.  I have been having a difficult time running outside.  Surprisingly, I got quite attached to having a treadmill in the house.  I am excited to try the bad boy out and get more runs in.

I’m sure as spring rolls around I will get outside more frequently.  But I like that this will give us a bit more flexibility to get exercise in.

I leave you with my fortune cookie words of wisdom for this week:

June

We have been keeping very busy as time shortens here in Fiji. The boys have been working hard on their distance learning while I have been packing and wrapping up things with the school board.

Andrew received an award for his work during this tour.

We also said goodbye to our two fish, seeing as they do not fly well.

Anniversary

Today, we celebrated our 13 year wedding anniversary. This is the first time while in Fiji that we could celebrate together. In fact, the last time we were in the same place together, it was five years ago. We went to the Taj Gateway in Conoor, India.  This time we get to enjoy dinner in out house as the containment zone in Suva still stands. So I made some chocolate cupcakes to mark the occasion.

Oops

Well, it seems I have missed a bit. We got through week 4, which landed us in another 4 day lockdown here in Suva. We did manage a bit of outside time as the weather was sunny.

We got through week 5 of school. it included a fun little interlude of storytime with and astronaut, which I managed to get up on the projector screen.

I experimented with fresh okra that I saw for produce delivery.

In just the past day or so our compound has become home to a pack of cats. Unlike the cats at Clarke Street, these holler a lot. They sound like crying babies and persist on doing this right underneath the windowsills.

We also had a lovely time this weekend catching up on Skype with our wonderful friends from the staff college in India. It was like we had not skipped a beat these 5 years.

On to next week, which will consist of a lot of packing, like so...

Another Lockdown

 Well, there have been a few more developments with regards to our COVID situation here in Fiji. Several cases have now cropped up of significant concern. These happen to be individuals who work at the local supermarkets and markets. I guess I agree with the known information about the B.1.617 variant that is seems to transmit very quickly. In light of this, Suva and Nausori will be on lockdown again from Friday evening at 11 pm to Tuesday morning at 4 am. We hope this is enough for them to find all possible spread and get people into quarantine.

Week 3

We continue to move forward with our virtual learning and keeping our family bubble at home. The weather helped us by being rather rainy and kept us home. We did get a few pockets of sunshine.

Thomas did some awesome work with multiplication this week.

I got to enjoy a yummy Mother's Day breakfast on Sunday.

Thomas also wrote a story about a character, Tomcat, that he has created.

We just continue to wait and hope the situation here in Fiji will improve.

Week 2

We wrapped up the month go April and the second week of virtual schooling for term 2. In some respects, our routine seemed to get settled. In other respects, there were some habits started that we needed to nip in the butt. The boys had to overcome their own sadness at having to redo some assignments - reading the instructions are really important. Following and fulfilling these instructions are important. There were a few loud dust ups with regards to these incidents. These involved what exactly does it mean to write a paragraph to explain something. Others, overcoming that writing is a difficult experience and requires many steps that we sometimes do not want to do. Others involved using our devices not for school activities during the school day. This has led to a removal of devices for the weekend. But we did have a bit of fun as well.

John’s Design and Technology class had to make a usual dessert recipe healthier with the addition of some fruit or vegetable. We had to split the recipe and add the secret ingredients. Someone else in the family had to see if they could taste what we added.

We added applesauce to one batch of brownies and shredded carrot to the other. The boys thought the applesauce batch was best. I preferred the shredded carrot. 

John also had to wrap up his unit of inquiry which focused on body systems. He needed to research and come up with a presentation on how an illness affects one or more body systems. He decided (after a teacher redirect) to look up Ovarian Cancer and have an online interview with Grandma Dee about her experiences.

We spent the rest of the week trying to keep to ourselves and minimize our movement. Unfortunately, the cases in the area and the massive contact-tracing effort that is underway was not moving along as smoothly as the government would like. Thus, the capital city was placed on a lockdown for the weekend. Fortuitously, I ordered dinner for delivery early in the afternoon and received it before the official lockdown was announced.

I did one better and ordered a bit more than our usual Friday evening pizza so that I could have another easy dinner meal. Then we got the official news:

It is now Sunday. We all anticipate an announcement as to whether or not this lockdown will be extended. Here is to hoping for some good news.

Week 1

We managed to complete the first week of Term 2 virtually. I will not deny that we had a few arguments about assignments and some were caught watching non-school related videos or playing Minecraft. There were some Zoom headaches as well. We did get everything completed that needed to get turned in. I am looking forward to Week 2 having a more solidified schedule. We celebrated the end of the week by making some home made pizza!

We even enjoyed some pool time during a period of non-essential movement.

But the Covid situation has gotten a bit worse here. As of today, there are over 20 active cases. The most concerning is a patient who showed at a fever clinic, tested positive, but has no clear link to any of the other cases (that is, the super spreader funeral event). With this news, our area of Viti Levu is now being placed in a containment zone.

I hope that over the next few days, the containment zones will become a bit more concentrated to certain areas. The next 14 days will be deja vu. We are reverting to the practices we had in place when we were in the US last year. We are staying at home as much as possible, only have one adult out at a time, masking up, and sanitizing everything.

Term 2 Start

Well, we have had an unexpected start to Term 2. On Monday morning, we were preparing our bags and uniforms for face to face instruction. By the afternoon we put everything away. The government of Fiji announced a possible case of local transmission. Parts of the country were placed under lockdown. In a quick decision, the international school decided to open up on Tuesday with virtual learning as the local schools moved their holiday up, effectively keeping students out of school for the next three weeks.

So, we started Term 2 virtually. This was the scene as we practiced logging in.

We are trying to get back in to the routine of screen work.

Tuesday afternoon the community transmission of Covid was confirmed. Even more concerning, the person in question attended a 500 person funeral and travelled in a large part of the containment area.

Wednesday (today) we decided to up our virtual learning game. We cleared a space for the boys to work.

Lucky kids get an office with a view. After we wrapped up the assignments for the day, we watched another government press conference. Not great news. A case, an attendee of the funeral, was found in Suva. This has effectively put the entire island of Viti Levu under a bunch of restrictions for at least the next 14 days.

We will try to make the most of it. We will keep to our bubble, practice mask wearing if we need to go out for some reason (hopefully not too frequently), and work hard on our school work.

Term Break

We are all still here surviving a quiet term break. In about five days, the second term fo the school year will begin. We have been doing some BrainQuest work, some left over homework, building legos, swimming in the pool, and trying to gather things for a garage sale.

We went for breakfast after getting Tdap shots

An edible island - Thomas’ SMART homework

Other than that, I am wrapping up the last few school board meetings, waiting to hear back from some job applications, and generally being stressed about moving.

End of Term Assembly

 I just thought I would share the song that Thomas’ year level performed at the end of term assembly last week. It should hopefully start at the 9:36 mark. This is when they began singing their song.

Term 1 Assembly

Trying to spend the term break relaxing.

April 1

This marked the final day of Term 1 of the school year. The Year 2s and Year 10s got to lead the whole school assembly for the day. The topic focus was on climate change. The two year groups collaborated on a song about climate change based off on One Direction's song History. I did not take video (though I hope the school will post a link to the recording soon). I did get a few snapshots of Thomas and the whole group.

Wrapping Up

Wow! March is over and done with. I am surprised. It felt so jam-packed. But with March done, it seems we only have a couple of months left to go. But was has been happening since I last wrote. Well, we cleaned up after our big party, and got deep into the final week or so of school. 

Term 1 of the school year is over tomorrow. The boys and I enjoyed participating in the annual Primary School Swim Carnival. The boys got to swim in a few events and I did a bit of time keeping for the day. I also got sun burned on the back of my knees. Super painful. I was really proud of Thomas because while he has become more comfortable swimming in the pool, swimming for time does not excite him. So I was glad he finished the couple of races that he was in.

Do you see my braid and my pink hat?

Andrew was busy as well. There was a memorial dedication in NZ but a virtual event was held here in Fiji. So, he got to hang out with some important people like the Prime Minister, and the President.

Even with these fun events, I have been working hard trying to secure and get a plan set for our return home. Pieces are beginning to fall into place but there still is a lot of work to be done. Maybe I will have more posts in April....