Day 45: Beautiful views from Wadestown

Took a long stroll today. Lots in my mind. I spent some time during my walk saying my prayers for special intentions for family, friends, and myself. I also spent some time musing about where I am now, the situation in New Zealand, the situation in the world. And with just a tiny bit of optimism, I also thought a bit about the future. I pray for a brighter future for all of us.

My walk was beautiful, I saw the huge moon as the sun was setting.


And at the edge of the view from the Wadestown, I saw the snow-capped hills.

Day 37: A busy day

Yesterday was a busy day. I conducted a two-hour online session on innovative methods for a research and evaluation methods course. I am also trying to coordinate a webinar for next week. Plus meetings in between.

I was a bit flustered throughout my working hours. The end-of-day walk around the neighbourhood really helped me clear my head.

I am very lucky to have a job and to be able to continue working from home. But with the daily mundane routine of my everyday life, it also makes me think about the bigger questions. What's next for me? What will the next few months be like? We did not imagine in January that life would be like this in April. What would life be like 3 months from now?

For now, I am taking things one step at a time. Do my work and hope for the best.

Day 20: Musings from my daily walk

Twentieth of March, my birthday, was the day we last (physically) interacted with someone outside our 3-person household. It's almost three weeks since we started isolating ourselves from the world outside our 'bubble'. In a way, stress levels are no longer as high as pre-lockdown. We have settled into this new normal. We are a little past half-way through the level-4 lockdown, in this lockdown reality we know what is expected out of us, and we manoeuvre around it.

One of my new routines is my daily walk. During my 45-minute stroll, I pray with special intentions regarding the COVID19 situation, I try to not use social media, and I reflect on what's happening around us. I ask questions that don't have any answers yet.

What will life be like after the lockdown?
Should I continue to work from home?
When will borders open again?
What is the situation in the Philippines?
How are my siblings, my parents, and Marion?
What's next for them in Cebu, Cotabato, and Manila?
When will I be able to visit the Philippines?
What's next for me if borders will become tighter?
What about the future, beyond the next few months?
... and so on ...

I have read many articles describing what post-level-4 lockdown life will be like. One thing is for sure, it won't be back to the way things were. As we leave lockdown, I anticipate that there will be some relief that we get to move about more freely. But I also expect a spike in stress and anxiety. For now, we can take some rest midway through this lockdown. Things will be still and constant for another two weeks. Then we go forward again into the unknown.

I wish everyone a restful and joyful Easter.

Stay safe and stay home!

Day 13: Up Te Ahumairangi Hill

Lazy day today, woke up late and spent most of it playing Switch and watching movies and TV shows. The highlight for me was my daily walk. Today I decided to go up the Te Ahumairangi Hill. The hill has always been so accessible from my place, but I just never took time to go there. It took more than a year and a lockdown for me to make this trek.

The hill is visible from our kitchen window:

The start of the trek from Sefton St.

View at midway point:

Strategically located bench:

The bay is always a beautiful sight:

On top of the hill:

View from the top:

Day 12: Workshop and 'switching off'

The workshop happened and it was a good experience! As a facilitator, I am quite happy with the session and I think it was a success. But the true outcome of the workshop won't be known until we have future engagements for the project. The workshop objective was to gather people that might be interested in our EEW project. A total of 28 people (including facilitators and project team members) participated in this virtual workshop.

The workshop happened in the morning, and I did a bit more work in the afternoon sending a few emails. I started to switch off from work with my daily stroll. I spent the rest of the night playing my Nintendo Switch. Playing the Switch has now become my past time off work!

Looking forward to the weekend. Not yet sure what I'll do, but will not spend the entire time playing video games. I'll have to do laundry at some point for sure.

Happy weekend everyone!

Oh... our article on coping with COVID19 got published with the Spinoff.

Day Nine: A Normal Day

I guess today is a sign that I am adjusting to the quarantine situation. Today felt really normal. I was able to sit down and work for a few hours (albeit still a bit distracted). But it no longer felt so weird.

I also went out for my daily stroll, I passed by a lookout over the Hutt Road. Saw our dojo from afar (the yellow building in the photo). One of the things I definitely miss is practising aikido. Hopefully, we all can get back on the mat after the lockdown.

Day eight: Stuffed bear hunt

Quite tired today, despite it not being so eventful nor productive. I think just the constant downpour of information and online socializing is a bit draining.

The highlight of my day was going for a walk. New Zealand decided to help kids and communities during the lockdown by displaying stuffed bears on their window sills, fences, or mailboxes! So cute and heartwarming! I took some photos during my walk. Spot the stuffed toys!

Day 5: New Normal

Not much interesting today. I guess it's really about adjusting to this new normal. I got to do a lot more work, I felt much more focused in the afternoon and was able to do a few hours of uninterrupted work! For my work, I'm spending most of my time preparing for our community EEW virtual workshop on the 3rd of April. I do have a list of tasks that I need to work on, but taking things one at a time.

Aside from that, I'm just establishing routines such as waking up normally, having breakfast, going for walks, taking breaks from work. Really mundane things, but feeling a lot more comfortable in this new setting.

We had a big downpour early in the morning, and we expect it will be rainy in the next few days. So I took advantage of the sunny break during midday and went out for my daily solitary walk. Here is a standard sight from my walks, a shadowy patch leading to a view of the bay and the city:



Skipped rice tonight, and I made some stir-fried noodles for dinner: