25th March 2020
Dear Diary,
Wondering what a storyteller does during quarantine? Here is my list: a storyteller does the dishes, cooks, does the dishes, cooks, does the dishes, cooks, tells the kids which chapter of the Biology book to read for homework, blows her nose, washes her hands, does the washing, cooks, does the dishes, listens to the kids telling her the Biology homework, tells the kids the Grammar homework, teaches them the different word types, reads dictations, tells the kid the folk dance homework assignment, doesn’t show how to do it, tells the kids the Music homework, doesn’t show how to do it, cooks, does the washing, blows her nose, washes her hands, does the dishes, cooks, does the dishes, tells the kids the Math homework, but does not explain it because she does not understand a word, the older kids are waiting, the Math homework is waiting, after a while it becomes forgotten, she washes up, cooks, washes up, helps with the Arts&Craft homework, i.e.:, bakes pastry, – hmm, it tastes great! Bakes a portion with everyone, washes up, washes up, washes up, but at least, washing the clothes is not hat frequent, goes out to the store because the household ran out of bread, sour cream, toilet paper, comes home, washes hands, unpacks, hands out the drawing homework, it takes a while.
The storyteller also holds a storytelling tournament live on Facebook in the morning, she feels pretty lame, but somehow she has to stay awake, she starts getting the hang of it in a few days, and also has new plans. The to do list just grows, growsm grows, it never seems to end. Then she remembers: what kind of homework is still missing? She can no longer find it among the many Emails, even though each child has all the Emails separately, but still, there is chaos. Never mind, life is the greatest teacher. She sighs and sits down in front of skype, as she will have an English class. At least, the English teacher is good-natured, they lesson is funny. She thinks again: it would be so good, if she were as good a teacher with her children. She slowly gets used to just washing dishes, cooking, washing dishes, holding Hungarian lessons, storytelling, cooking, washing dishes, holding environmental classes, cooking, washing dishes, giving homework instructions for folkdancing, singing, drawing; this means a short breather for herself. It’s not enough though, to read a new tale or learn a few English words, but there’s silence, and that’s enough. This home-based learning is not such a bad thing, maybe it’s better not to go back to school, in this system it would be better to study at home – now she is thinking again. So she does have time? After all, it takes time to think! Then she comes to her senses. I should wash the dishes. And she goes to do the dishes. That’s enough for today, she thinks (she is thinking again!), Tomorrow is another day, exactly the same as today!