Return to the Land of the Living

It's strange to reflect how easy it was to isolate last week when we were first aware that we had COVID.  I did go to the grocery store each morning; I went early and wore an N95 mask and did self checkout, so I'm hopeful that I didn't spread the disease.  But I did my teaching online and took my seminary classes online, and it was fairly easy to isolate.  

I am grateful that I have a good internet connection.  That was one of my worries about moving to the mountains.  The antenna for the TV doesn't bring us much in the way of options, and I worried it might be the same for internet.  I'm guessing that living close to Asheville helps in terms of technology.  I know that there are nearby parts of Appalachia that have much less in the way of services (phone, TV, internet).

If I had to choose between good TV reception and good internet reception, I'd choose internet every time.

Yesterday I made the trek back down the mountains to teach my in person classes.  My 102 class was missing half the members; they had a paper due, but that's no reason to miss class, since they can have an extension.  Both classes went well, but my voice is still not back to normal.  I didn't feel quite as energized as I did pre-COVID, but that might have nothing to do with recovering from COVID.

I am looking forward to next term, when I won't be creating so much curriculum as I go along.  I like the idea of teaching without a literature text book, but I underestimated the amount of time I would spend deciding which literary works we'll read.  I also know that at some point, I'll miss this part of the teaching life, finding literary works that go together for a class session, a process which is both energizing and draining at the same time.

Next term, I am scheduled to teach only 101 classes, which is fine with me.  In some ways, it's a more straight forward class, which makes it easier.  

Let me shift gears and head to the laundromat.  Hopefully we'll get the laundry room at the house finished in the next few weeks, but between travel and COVID, our home repairs/renovations are a bit behind.  Luckily, the laundromat is close and easy and so far, I've been having luck getting laundry to dry in the sunshine.