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2020-05-05
Professional Seafarers are Covid Essential Workers
My covid-19 story started at the end of January, 2020. I was working as a Marine Operations Manager for Holland America Group, which is comprised of four cruise companies: Holland America Line, Seabourn, Princess Cruises, and P&O Australia. As covid-19 spread across Asia in January, we stood up our Emergency Response Center, which involved taking 12-hour shifts to support the ms Westerdam, which had been denied docking in multiple ports in Asia as a result of the covid outbreak on the Diamond Princess. Though there were no covid cases onboard the ms Westerdam, she was denied docking in Japan, China, Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, Vietnam, Guam, Philippines, and Taiwan. Our job was to ensure that our full complement of guest and crew had enough fuel and provisions, with toilet paper being of critical importance (seriously!), to make it until we could find a port that would allow the ship to dock. Eventually, the Cambodian government allowed the ship to dock in Sihanoukville to disembark guests, which became a political photo op of good will for Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen who attended the ship himself when it docked. But this story was just the beginning of the nightmare for cruise companies, and other maritime organizations. After working to disembark guests, the next hurdle was to repatriate crew, which was next to impossible with the extreme disruption to global travel, some crew members had spent months longer on the ships than anyone could have ever envisioned. Using our ships like ferries, we made plans to transport crew to their homes, but to compound the problem, local governments like South Africa and Mauritius were unwilling to accept their own nationals back when the ships arrived, which meant they had to keep sailing and further plans had to be made to get the crew home. What you see in the object attached is the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and that of its member companies making a humanitarian appeal in their interactions with local port authorities who were blocking their own citizens from returning home during this crisis. We were working long days, 7 days a week to get our colleagues home - but there is only so much you can do when local authorities will not cooperate. The object speaks to a desperate time in the maritime industry during the covid-19 pandemic. (Arizona State University, HST 580) -
2020-08-27
The Good Stuff
The COVID-19 pandemic has rocked our world. We face new and unprecedented challenges daily. Amidst the chaos, I am doing my best to remind myself to lean into little moments of joy. I am a teacher with 2 elementary school aged children and a baby. Teaching my own classes, while facilitating remote learning for my children, and caring for a baby is difficult to say the least. Did I mentioned that I'm in graduate school? This past week, just when I felt that it was all more than I could handle, I captured the sweetest moment between sisters. While I can't wait to get back to life and school in actual classrooms, I know there are parts of this experience that I will miss. Moments like this are definitely one of them. -
0020-04-19
During the Covid-19 quarantine I was living alone with my dog and cat in a 3 bedroom town house after losing two of my roommates to a financial crisis.
during the stay at home order i could not take my dog on our daily walks in the beach. She has a huge personality so she got mad at me and would poop on my carpet in my dressing room. The bissell green machine is important to me because it helped me save a-lot of money of a real carpet cleaner and it helped keep my house sanitary when thats all I had to stay. -
2020-07-03
Another Day, Another Puzzle - Day 112
With calendars cleared as a result of shelter-in-place orders we have had more time to enjoy some of our family's favorite past-times. Cards and board games that were collecting dust have made their way out of cabinets. But what we've spent more time on than anything is puzzling. While each member of our family will puzzle here and there, our 5 year old son is a constant at the puzzle board. His attention and focus to puzzling is way beyond his years. Puzzling has given us the gifts of togetherness, joy, and consistency during these uncertain times. Another puzzle complete on Day 2 of our get away. A puzzle to match his shirt! -
2020-07-02
Another Day, Another Puzzle - Day 111
With calendars cleared as a result of shelter-in-place orders we have had more time to enjoy some of our family's favorite past-times. Cards and board games that were collecting dust have made their way out of cabinets. But what we've spent more time on than anything is puzzling. While each member of our family will puzzle here and there, our 5 year old son is a constant at the puzzle board. His attention and focus to puzzling is way beyond his years. Puzzling has given us the gifts of togetherness, joy, and consistency during these uncertain times. A family member that lives nearby was out of town so we decided to pack up for a little get away. The change of scenery was incredible on so many levels. We also scored access to a new collection of puzzles. We started with a small 200 piece puzzle within 30 minutes of arriving! -
2020-07-05
Staycation
After over 100 days since the initial quarantine orders were created in the US, myself and others are going a bit stir crazy having been stuck inside. Summer, which is usually a time for vacation and travel, seems to have transformed into a staycation at home. This item was added TAGS v6.1.9.1. I originally searched under the hashtag #thisyearmysummervacation. Within that search, I have chosen to add the following tweet because it showcases some of the humour that individuals are using to make light of the quarantine situation. -
2020-06-23
Another Day, Another Puzzle - Day 102
With calendars cleared as a result of shelter-in-place orders we have had more time to enjoy some of our family's favorite past-times. Cards and board games that were collecting dust have made their way out of cabinets. But what we've spent more time on than anything is puzzling. While each member of our family will puzzle here and there, our 5 year old son is a constant at the puzzle board. His attention and focus to puzzling is way beyond his years. Puzzling has given us the gifts of togetherness, joy, and consistency during these uncertain times. We've officially crossed over the 100 day mark! And still no hair cut for our son. We did venture out to a local toy store as we had officially ran out of puzzles. It was our first outing and we actually went into the toy store as a family. We all wore masks and did not touch anything during our time there. We were the only family in the store. It was definitely eerie but felt wonderful to be out and doing something normal. It also felt nice to support a local business owner that has undoubtedly struggled during this pandemic due to loss of business. We picked out two dinosaur puzzles. I'm certain we will be back for more puzzles soon. -
2020-06-20
Another Day, Another Puzzle - Day 99
With calendars cleared as a result of shelter-in-place orders we have had more time to enjoy some of our family's favorite past-times. Cards and board games that were collecting dust have made their way out of cabinets. But what we've spent more time on than anything is puzzling. While each member of our family will puzzle here and there, our 5 year old son is a constant at the puzzle board. His attention and focus to puzzling is way beyond his years. Puzzling has given us the gifts of togetherness, joy, and consistency during these uncertain times. It was dad's turn for a photo with the completed puzzle! These two had a lot of fun completing this puzzle together and did this in just one afternoon. Dad recently got his "summer cut" from his sister, a former hair stylist, that we live with. Our son continues to refuse to allow us to cut his hair. It is getting so long! Tomorrow we will have sheltered-in-place for 100 days. 100 DAYS. This was supposed to last 14 days. How much longer will this be our reality? -
2020-04-22
Another Day, Another Puzzle - Day 40
With calendars cleared as a result of shelter-in-place orders we have had more time to enjoy some of our family's favorite past-times. Cards and board games that were collecting dust have made their way out of cabinets. But what we've spent more time on than anything is puzzling. While each member of our family will puzzle here and there, our 5 year old son is a constant at the puzzle board. His attention and focus to puzzling is way beyond his years. Puzzling has given us the gifts of togetherness, joy, and consistency during these uncertain times. In this image, a glimpse of our family remote learning schedule and some school work are seen in the background. The presence of his "lovey" in hand is also a reminder to remember how young he is to be living during something as big as a pandemic. -
2020-06-22
M&M Taste Test!!!
As a parent of young kids I find myself feeling very guilty that my kids are missing their friends and all the activities they were supposed to be doing. We seem to be compensating a bit with extra desserts! However we try to make more of a fun game of it and enjoy the time together as a family. We bought 5 different types of m&m’s for Father’s Day and we did a fun taste test to see what we liked best and worst. The kids enjoyed it and it will remind me of the creative sugar fun we had while we spend so much time at home!! -
2020-04-06
Living through Covid-19: 05/12/2020
This is a journal entry that specifically focuses on the transition to online learning and the practice of social distancing. *anonymous *This was intentionally a journal/diary entry therefore it was done through a word doc.