Love in the Time of Cholera (Spanish: El Amor En Los Tiempos Del Cólera) is a novel by Colombian Nobel prize winning author Gabriel García Márquez; it was first published in Spanish in 1985. The title reminds me of you.

 

This piece of music is haunting and beautiful. I thank each of you for being “eternal source[s] of light divine”.

Alison Balsom | Sound The Trumpet | Eternal Source of Light Divine

 What we are doing now as a school has gotten me occupied and has changed my attitude (outlook)

It is good to wake up and have something meaningful to do. 

 

 

Instead of us thinking that these past few days has been wasted, let us cherish these days. We are being highly productive in our jobs in a different way. We should live today and all the days ahead with encouragement and enthusiasm. I know that all things will work out for the good in our lives despite all the negativity. We need to stay positive and work together as a Nation and as a Cedar House family to overcome this pandemic. 

 

 Let us all stay positive and take care.

 A strong element in my lessons on campus is that I strive, in every lesson, to incorporate “praattyd” at the start - to touch base, to connect individually with every student, to hear them using the language, and for them to hear themselves using the language.

With the students that I have known for a long time and with who I have longer and perhaps more ‘informed' connections - it proves to be more challenging for me on line; almost like I am struggling to break through the “barrier” that we are not sitting opposite each other in the same room on campus and talking more directly. Often we also refer to some of their written work that is then open in front of me that I can easily comment on during the process.

However, with my new students it feels quite the opposite - and that is a huge positive for me: it gives me a strong opportunity to get to know them better, faster and their is less “room” for them to be at the back of the classroom and to almost “hide behind" the students that are more verbal/used to the exercise. It seems to also make them feel less threatened/heared by others -  the so called “barrier” I refered to earlier, now almost becomes a more encouraging factor - and I am able to hear my newer students that I might not have heard enough, to my liking, under more “normal” conditions, a little better a little more frequently.

A very big positive for me in general: i receive way more, and much better completed work accross the board from all my students after every almost 2hr session. A very rewarding and gratifying aspect for me. Something I would like to follow up on once back on campus in more conventional circumstances.

And I am surprised how much I am actually missing the personal contact :) 

Hope that all makes sense?

Thanks, kind regards

Dries

And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed. - Kitty O'Meara
Simone's Comment.
My contribution is this prose poem written by Kitty O’Meara, inspired by the Covid-19 pandemic. I know it has gone viral and chances are many of us have already come across this poem on some form of social media. It is just a reminder of hope, a silver lining perspective and something I aspire to in making each and every day of this lockdown count! 

 

At first, the idea of a lockdown made me feel panicked, it seemed so surreal – the extrovert in me wondered how I would  manage, but one can adapt to any situation, right ? J After I accepted our fate, I realised that this is an opportunity to go back to basics and realise what is really important in life, things like family and unity in spite of us all being apart and in different spaces. It gave me time to meditate, work on my own personal development and get around to things that I always push aside for later.

 

I am immensely proud of how our country has managed this crisis, we have definitely set an example for the world. It was frustrating to see people not adhering to the regulations at first, but I commend the police and our community on managing this and cracking down on offenders. Hopefully our efforts will reap rewards in the end.

 

In terms of work, I feel as if the Afrikaans department has grown stronger in this time and we have really pulled together. I am proud of the work that we have created and how we have presented it. I must commend our learners, they are really special people! Everyone has done their bit and they have been so wonderful, flexible and committed to the learning process, in spite of the challenges we face. We really have an amazing student body and I feel privileged to work with them during this time. 

 

Good luck for the last stretch, everyone. And remember, this too shall pass! 

 

Lots of love

Daleen

 

 

 

Image 2: Wednesday morning Mentor Session… mentees had to post a pic of their foot as ‘proof of life’ !!! Slippers and socks now considered ‘business formal attire’ J

I also recently got sent this Churchill quote which I thought I'd share: "Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is our courage to continue that matters." 

Sending you all lots of love and courage to continue and fail better every day. x

I commend you all for the amazing work that you do and continue to do even in our lockdown period. You are all my heroes and I believe that the same goes for our wonderful students.

 

So what do we do now?

"Better to be busy than to be busy worrying," actress Angela Lansbury is quoted to have said. Because, author Vivian Greene explained, "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning how to dance in the rain." Or as Sting sings, "When the world is running down, you make the best of what's still around."

 

We need to make the best with what we have now, especially if the grocery store shelves are empty. "You can't always get what you want. But if you try sometime, you'll find, you get what you need," sang the Rolling Stones.

 

And what you need are the bare necessities, "The simple bare necessities. Forget about your worries and your strife ... The bare necessities of life will come to you," promises Baloo the bear in Disney's "The Jungle Book."

 

Two hundred years before coronavirus, the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe had some poignant metaphorical advice to do your part in this pandemic, when he wrote, "Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean."

Embrace that this time could have a positive impact on you. "That which does not kill us, makes us stronger," the aphoristic philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche famously said. And spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle added that "Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness."

 

That evolution will likely lead you to look out for others in this critical time. "I shall pass this way but once; any good that I can do or any kindness I can show to any human being; let me do it now," wrote the Quaker missionary Etienne de Grellet.

 

And whatever happens, we just need to endure. "If you're going through hell, keep going," said the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Because as the days rack up, or the situation intensifies, more things may fall apart and further call on our resolve to power through. In other words, "You just gotta keep livin' man, L-I-V-I-N," Matthew McConaughey's Wooderson reminds us in the film "Dazed and Confused."

 

Tom Hanks' character in Robert Zemeckis' hope-fueled film "Cast Away” says, "I know what I have to do now, I've got to keep breathing because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring?"

 

Finally, I'm going to give the last word to John Lennon. If you only remember one of these aphorisms, this is the one that most succinctly captures endurance, perspective and hope: "Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end."

 

 

What a challenging time we have been thrust into. How fortunate we are as adults to be able to regulate and manage our emotions through such a turbulent state of affairs. I struggle to comprehend how our children must be feeling, how uncertain their futures are looking.

 

The above quote struck me because we have the power and ability to ease their worries and mend their hearts through our behaviour. We need to remain positive, upbeat and strong, despite our own negative feelings we may be experiencing.

 

From one of my favourite films, good old Richard Gere in Chicago says, “Give them the old razzle dazzle, razzle dazzle them”. 

 

Keep shining friends and put on a show for the sake of others. 

At the time it filled me with warmth and hope – and brought tears to my eyes.

"Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead

(1901-1978) was asked by a student what she

considered to be the first sign of civilization in

a culture. The student expected Mead to talk

about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones.
 
 But no. Mead said that the first sign of civilization 

in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone)

that had been broken and then healed. Mead

explained that in the animal kingdom, if you

break your leg, you die. You cannot run from

danger, get to the river for a drink, or hunt for

food. You are meat for prowling beasts.

No animal survives a broken leg long enough

for the bone to heal.
 
 A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety, and has tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts, Mead said."

I have reflected on this service of others so many times in the last week or so. I am blown away by how people are finding ways to be strong together, even in isolation. How from our homes, so many of us manage to stay connected to the whole and to work with each other for each other. Whether this togetherness is on the frontlines of fighting virus, the online delivery drivers who risk themselves, supporting small businesses and the needy, spending hours reworking curriculum or banging a pot a 8pm to show our gratitude and to tell our neighbours that they are not alone. 

 

We are at our best when we serve others. 

This is a link to a discussion between Angela Davis and Naomi Klein discussing the importance of and possibility of creating movements and growing movements within this time:

This image sums up the discussion. I particularly like the quote, "What is our new ceiling? We must reach for each other". 
https://www.pscp.tv/w/1YqKDEwwZnaGV?t=12m28s

God bless

With love

Dee