TBK tries- Very Unusual times

Ready for work

I think there have been only three times in my life when I have had no work to do, and I really do not enjoy it. I wrote this blog in Bahrain in week 4 of the COV19 pandemic . In the first week we still ran our workshops, but from the second week onward they were cancelled. After 10 years here I had finally got on top of things and had prepared all the course materials last year. This year I just had to set up the room and check lunch was booked, decide who sat where, ensure the computer was working etc. Then for two days I would run the workshop and on the next day upload the photos from the workshop to Blackboard, and scan and copy the attendance and feedback forms and file everything. That left me one day a week for dealing with emails, helping delegates with assignments and so on. Then suddenly nothing.

Sorting the stuff for shredding and the stuff for recycling

At first, I had some marking of assignments to do (Internal Verification) but I soon cleared the backlog. Next I decided to shred all the old materials, assignments and attendance sheets that we no longer need . The delegates have their certificates, we have been audited, and we have soft copy of everything so it was time to dispose of all the hard copies clogging up our cupboards.  Once that was done and all the shredded paper was put on my compost at home, I decided it was time to start getting ready for my move to the Philippines!
 

I mean at that point there were only 318 days to go. Or so I thought!

               My printer at home in Awali - how I miss you!

So each day I took 10 lever arch files from home to work (they used to be at work but with 10 office moves and having less and less storage space each move I decided to leave them in a cupboard at home) . With the help of the Janitor and our “Nurse” we took all the papers out and either shredded them or put them in the recycling bin. 

March saw me have a massive clear out at home

Once you get into clear out mode it’s hard to stop so at night I shredded my old credit card records, letters and so on and filled two large bags with clothes that did not fit and books I did not want to take to the Philippines. All were given to friends or put in a huge bag for the charity shop when it reopens. As well as getting rid of things I did not want I went through piles of old newspapers to find all the things I did want- recipes, work related photos, complimentary emails etc. and stuck them all in my scrapbooks which I had sent to the Philippines to share with my grandchildren in the years ahead. 

I sorted and filed all the bills, useful local information and receipts

When I show my grandchildren my 135 scrapbooks they will be able to look at the souvenirs of Tatay’s exciting life in the Middle East. The A3 scrapbooks cover everything from the riots of 2011 to the Pandemic of 2020. There are pictures of  the sandy patch  that was my garden when I arrived in 2010 (back yard) to the beautiful garden I left behind in 2021. Before Corporate Services destroyed it! They show how we went from a small pile of grass cuttings to 2 rotating barrels and 5 drums and 10 massive wooden pens containing 2000 bin bags of composting materials rotting down. In the scrapbooks you can see pictures of my tomatoes, cabbages, herbs and 200 potted flowers. 

I did all my filing, washing, washing up and with all the restaurants closed started cooking again with food from India, Philippines, Mexico, Malaysia, China and Pakistan among others.

Preparing to update my scrapbooks

I caught up with all my friends and family online and even read some of the many books that I give to my delegates. I even started to replace some of the 500 blogs I lost when I had to destroy my "NeilinBahrain" blog.

By the end of 2020 I had 100 blogs ready in draft to publish once I left Bahrain! I even did a little work as well checking who was available for online learning. I had my old internet router updated by a colleague and of course I kept the Internal Verification up to date and answered queries from my 53 delegates online.

My new more secure faster router

My colleagues- they just sat around, slept, listened to Music, chatted to their friends and family online and shared jokes on WhatsApp and so on. They had long lunch breaks and outside meetings. More annoyingly Skype, Zoom and Teams online meetings were held with 20 people all talking at once in an office meant for 10. So, I still think I did more work than the rest of them put together which is scary. 

The funniest thing is that as I sat busily typing away, with my headphones on listening to music (much more interesting than Evan’s endless rabbiting in Spanish with Joe, two desks away) , they all thought I was working hard!

Up until then I had always kept work and home life separate with no mobile and no access to work internet or email at home. I had an 11 yr old router and paid 16 bd a month for 10 MB of internet, all I needed for my Gmail and Facebook accounts! 

The pandemic changed all that as we were asked to work at home so I had to buy a new router and printer and have my line upgraded to Fiber and 30 MB at a cost of 20 bd a month! They charged me immediately, promised to do the upgrade in 2 weeks and when I returned from 2 weeks vacation I found I had been cut off.

I reported it and they promised to fix it in 5 days but two weeks later I was still without internet, until I used my wasta with a former Batelco worker now working for Bapco, by which time it was Eid Vacation!

Delivering ILM online

I had to learn to look at the camera and smile and talk slower than in class

My hairy producer, Evan , was on hand to help me with the new technology!

By week 3 of the pandemic I was delivering online sessions to my delegates and by week 7 (after two weeks’ vacation and some more marking) I was delivering online sessions to our 18-year-old Diploma students as well. 

Can you believe it, the nearly 60-year-old technophobe using a webcam and microphone, slides and electronic white boards, to run interactive 90-minute online sessions for our ILM delegates?

Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks after all.

When the financial cutbacks hit and we did not renew the contract of our external assessor, Jim, I took on all his work as well and had to finally learn how to use our online grading system, Blackboard, and the Plagiarism checker, Safe Assign. 

Evan even taught me how to type the feedback online, instead of handwriting it, and Shaun showed me how to copy and paste the mark sheet and the delegates submission into one document inserting a page break between the Landscape mark sheet and the portrait assignment.

The Evan and Neil show, part two , post Eid

Week 9 was Eid and I had my second stay-cation in Juffair ( see separate blog)  and when I returned in June I ran another week of online sessions for my ILM delegates.

My mask rack, 7 masks, all different colors, one for each day of the week, hand washed every Friday by Corleen

Around week 6 ( so easy to loose track of time when one day blends into another) the Bahrain Government insisted we all wore masks so Corleen made me 7 masks all in different colors ( to match my shoes, shirts and lanyards), As we stayed at home and ate more I started walking every evening after work to keep my weight down and at 6 am on Saturday!

6 am Saturday walk

Looking back its amazing how, when faced with a crisis, you can adapt, change and grow. 

Change is good and we should all strive to step out of our comfort Zone.

Or to quote Susan Jeffers, “feel the fear and do it anyway!”

Until the next time …