Wish I Could Just Conk Out Day

My leg was cramping when I woke up. Sweetie rushed to me and sprayed my leg with medicated spray. I did some stretching to stop the cramp, it eased a little and I fell back to sleep. Forced myself to get up 15 minutes later because I had errands to run before starting work. I had to go to our new place to file our request to move and then I rushed to the hospital to pick up some of my medication. The meds took awhile to get, but luckily I made it back home in time for my first meeting. 

It is the worst time to move, but we have to. 

Today I had to choose between prioritizing my external stakeholders or my internal stakeholders. I prioritized my external stakeholders even though some of my internal stakeholders seemed to want to bite me (sorry guys). I'm happy to help although I feel I've been working at breakneck speed for 2 whole months now. I am looking forward to the long weekend, but we will be working on packing up the house for our move on Monday. 

Sweetie having lunch with his colleagues.

I had to finish something after dinner and the started packing some more items. My energy ran out an hour ago. I ready to conk out because I had to step out again at around 4 to settle the deposit for the move. I hope Sweetie doesn't leave me in the living room if I fall asleep on the couch. 

Zzzzz.

CB#1 WFH#17 Stay Home #WithMe

Call with Mom and Miggy

Circuit Breaker Day 1

Work from Home Day 17

Stay home with me

Woke up my usual time today and went through my usual busy day. It's been unsettling for us all day since we've been in parallel working on moving out of our apartment. My colleagues and friends said it's the worst time to move. It is, but the situation in our current place is getting worse and we're scared that another pipe may burst and cause another waterfall. We had reported the issues multiple times, but the issue is behind the wall and will require a lot of work to fix. Our patience has run out and since our lease is almost up we decided to move as soon as we can. 

In between meetings we were making arrangements for our move. Mover arrived while we were both in meetings and good thing they were patient enough to wait. Luckily one of my meetings got cancelled and I had a bit of time to finalize the move arrangements. 

Utilities - electricity/water/gas: check

Internet: check, installation middle of next week

Mover: check

Boxes: check

Packing: started

PMO arrangements: finalize tomorrow -- praying they allow us to move on Monday

New place cleaning: Saturday

After the move we still need to turn down the old place - cleaning, cut utilities and give back the place. Ahhh and we need to figure out also how to find new owners for some of our furniture. And in between all this we need to stop and observe Holy Week. I'm going to really miss going to church, doing the Stations of the Cross and do all the things we do during Holy Week. I especially miss Mom and Dad, my SVMM family sigh. And most of all I miss my Miggy. This is probably one of the longest periods in his entire life we haven't been together. 

In the Philippines, the president announced that the ECQ is extended until April 30. I think it's the right decision. We had been observing social distancing in Singapore for many, many weeks now, but the coronavirus is really one nasty bug. I took additional precautions and cancelled PT for the meantime so I don't have to go out. We're carefully planning our move so I don't get exposed to the movers. Sweetie will take care of the new home cleaning with our cleaner this weekend. 

I've adjusted quite well to working from home. It is still super busy and I'm praying I could hold up to the pressure. This will all be over soon enough. :)

Thank You Teachers!

This is my fourth week working from home. Things have been crazier compared to when I was coming in the office. I've been working 10-12 hours a day and usually 14 hours on Fridays! Family and friends would probably scold me once they read this post. It is tiring, but this is usually the case when there is a crisis situation. Despite longer hours I still feel I'm not working as fast as I could. I'm not doing this for myself. I'm doing this for my stakeholders -- teachers and students. 

Taiwan GEGs (with Shin Yee imported from GEG Malaysia)

The Malaysia force

Kanpai to Japan GEGs, Innovators, Trainers and Partners

With some of our amazing Filipino GEG leaders

#SEA19 <3 <3 <3

With Pepita and Steven in Indonesia <3

GEG leaders in Korea :D

Team QSR with Ros & Rowie <3

*I have a gazillion other photos with more amazing teachers, these are just from August to October last year. Super miss being with all of you!

Everything started when I came back from my extended leave. It's been two months since I started working on our COVID19 edu response projects. The work I do is only possible because of all the amazing teachers, trainers and partners who have been exerting a lot of effort to provide ways for teachers to learn how to do distance learning. 

From the bottom of my heart thank you so much for helping other educators learn how to do distance learning. I appreciate each one of across Asia Pacific and across the globe. <3 <3 <3

Here are some of the distance resources the Google Educator Groups, partners, Certified Innovators and Certified Trainers have created in local language -

GEG Program Playlist

Malaysia webinars

Philippine webinars

Indonesia webinars

Australia webinars

And, of course, a gazillion resources available here.

Working from Home in Singapore - Week 3

I'm so envious of my friends who are at home right now and enjoying the time off. I've been working from home for three weeks now and things have gotten busier and busier. I normally end work much later especially on Fridays. Crazy noh? But that's my mission for now and I'm back to doing what I really like to do. 

I thought it would be great to make a diary of our WFH adventures - well more like what happens when we have our breaks. If I were to put a camera up to record what I do all day, majority of the footage would just show me attending meeting after meeting after meeting. The only interesting thing about it would be the different accents you'd hear every 30 minutes. Ahh and the way I speak kinda changes also to help the person I'm meeting to understand me better. 

I shot this video Thursday last week since Sweetie was scheduled to go to their office on Friday. Next week everyone in Singapore who could work from home will follow the updated policies. They termed it the "circuit breaker" to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. It's a bit scary to see that the number of unlinked cases has been steadily growing. This is happening because there are people who don't show any symptoms, but are infected and infect others. The advise also is to wear a mask whenever you go out. 

We are due to also move to a new apartment since our lease is up. We finally found a new place and we signed the contract yesterday. We're still waiting for the mover to confirm when we can move, so as you'd see in the video the house is really messy since we're trying to pack and reduce our stuff. 

Oh and happy Palm Sunday everyone! (Is it appropriate to say Happy Palm Sunday? I'm not sure...). 

Please stay safe :)

Pink Perspective

Have you ever looked at things through rose-tinted glasses? The last few days I've seen a lot of differing opinions about promoting positivity. I saw one post about a Filipina who recovered after getting infected with COVID19 who said that thinking positively helped her get well. Someone argued that the patient only managed to think positively because she was in a country with better health care system. I know it could be very challenging to think positively if you are not confident that you will get the proper healthcare. I know, I've been there. I didn't even get the proper diagnosis. It was willpower, positive thinking and prayers that always get me through illnesses. 

Does it mean that when you think positively you only see things through rose-tinted glasses? I think one can have a very good understanding of what reality is, but you can still have a positive mindset. 

I went to see my neuro today. He wanted to check if the two cavernomas in my brain were stable. He was happy to tell me that things were stable and we just needed to check annually. I breathed a sigh of relief because during our last appointment he brought up the idea of a procedure. My Kuya advised me back then not to dwell on it and to meditate. I got a better handle of things after the break I took last Christmas. 

On the way home from my appointment I realized that the two tiny things in my brain have been there since I was a child. It affects balance and I always thought I was lampa because I have flat feet. I actually had a hard time when my PT asked me to try the treadmill the other day. From since I could remember I've always been like this and it's been part and parcel of me. If I didn't have those two tiny things then I would probably be a different person. 

Positive thinking benefits your overall wellbeing a lot. I struggled for a long time after I had PE and I fought my way out of the hole by building my happiness well. And the best way to do that is to be grateful and to think positively. My cardiologist told me two years after my heart surgery that they almost lost me, but I survived because I put my mind to it. 

Reality bites, but you can manage the pain by focusing on how you can make thing better :)

Adjustments for the Next Few Weeks

PM Lee made an announcement today about additional guidelines for work places and schools. Here's the video -

This means we have continue to work from home. I probably have to re-think whether I should re-schedule my PT sessions for the meantime. I have to follow closely the list of exercises my PT made. I'm sad though because it's my PT's birthday on Monday! It's going to be tough to miss my sessions since I've been progressing well, but the fact that there are more unlinked new cases now is really concerning. 

Ending the week really spent. I didn't bother counting my meetings (haha) coz that's just gonna make me feel more tired. Super look forward to the weekend, but I have an eye check-up tomorrow. I can't move it anymore since I already delayed it by a month. My two appointments called me up today to check on my current condition and they advised me to come a bit earlier since they have to check your temp upon arrival. After my hospital run I'll immediately go home. 

Signing off with just that for today. Need to rest early ;)

How to Make Our Country's Situation Better

I'm seriously going to sound like my Dad on this post. I've been thinking about this for a long time now (years!) and the answer came to me finally last night. I posted a screenshot of the Twitter trending topics in my previous post. I felt really anxious and I told myself that there had to be a way each one of us could help improve our country's situation. I then had the idea to put on work hat and analyzed the situation as if it's a project I'm doing. This is what I wrote around one in the morning today -

Pilipinas kong Mahal

First time ko makita na ang trending sa Twitter sa Philippines panay anti government topics. It is not enough that we tweet our anger. I think there are steps we need to take to really have change happen:

1. We have to educate those that are not on Twitter why the current leadership is a huge failure to the Filipino people. Talk to those in your immediate circle and have them in turn talk to their circle. Make the effect ripple.

2. The approach has to be bottom up. Di pwedeng top lang. It will not solve the problem in the long run. Start in your own barangay. These people got there because they have supporters down to your barangay. Ask, what is your barangay captain doing for your immediate community? Is there any hocus pocus happening there?

3. Your mayor. You probably realize now in this ECQ that the mayor is key in running your city properly. Case in point - QC and Pasig. Is your mayor really providing the right guidance for your city officials? Kasama dyan councillors, barangay captains and kagawads. Don't forget the SK. Sino kaalyado ng mayor mo?

4. What bills is your congressman working on? Pro Filipino ba yan o hindi? Ano pinagkakaabalahan ng kongresista mo?

5. Senators. Similar sa congressmen. What are the senators you voted for busy with? What are the bills they are supporting? Gumagana ba coconut nila?

Don't be argumentative when you approach people. Ask them first how they feel about the situation. Keep asking questions and let them draw their own conclusions. Arguing will defeat the purpose of making them understand what needs to happen.

Remember, you need to use this fire to push for change. Even if the president is removed, all the cronies and the galamays will still be there. We need to make it clear to them that what they are doing is unacceptable.

Of course, after all these we need to elect better leaders. And also ask the question, "What is a good leader?"