Corona update from Korea
To all my students past and present, hope you are doing well!
I am fine and have been teaching classes online from my apartment for the last two weeks. I see this as a positive experience and a chance to learn something new! I have to say, it is nice to be home already when I hit "end session"! On the other hand, I feel like a swimmer in deep water when I am teaching through a computer camera and mic, off a satellite in space and then back down to students nowhere near me and in some cases, in completely different countries! I appreciate my students' manners and consideration in this situation and hope they see it as a unique learning experience too!
A negative part of teaching at home is sitting down so much. I need to get more exercise and have been taking the stairs rather than elevator as much as possible. I live on the second floor. (Just kidding, it is the 12th.)
People panic, point fingers, worry and this is all reflected through the internet like a giant mirror. All we can do is be clean and safe ourselves and try to cheer other people up.
Now the cherry blossoms are blooming outside my apartment. When I first saw this three days ago, I thought, "How could they bloom at a time like this!" However, they kept blooming in spite of everything, and now the trees are heavy with them. They are as lovely now as they are every year, and like every year, they will be gone too soon. Life goes on.