It’s safe to say that no one saw this one coming. This post was originally planned as “The Summer of Covid” but now that we are wrapping up 2020, I figured it may as well be the year in review. Covid-19 hit every country and each one reacted differently. Since Asia was hit first, we were the first to scramble and try to figure out how to move forward with daily life which included school. Our school was already on break for Chinese New Year at the very end of January when the news of Covid’s impact hit China. Our holiday was then extended for a week so the government could come up with a plan. Once the decision was made to start online teaching indefinitely, many teachers left for North America and Thailand thinking other countries were safer. When the casinos in Macau shut down, we went to Taiwan for nine days to buy some time and to explore our options. Eventually we realized that things were stable and just safer in Macau.

Our online teaching format evolved to include live online lessons. Each time we became comfortable with the format, things would change and the number of live lessons increased. We were all on Zoom well before this fully hit the U.S. and Canada. Spring break trips were cancelled, students’ experience week in various countries were cancelled, and we soon discovered that we were not allowed to leave Macau; well, if we did, we couldn’t return. If you were a permanent resident of Macau and you could manage the quarantines on either end of your trip, then you could travel. We were stuck in Macau for the hottest and most humid months of the year.

My weekly calls to my parents became Zoom calls. While everyone here is upset they can’t travel, it’s the inability to see family that is the most devastating.

During the year we explored more of Macau, celebrated Maeve’s high school graduation, went on hikes, enjoyed the views, celebrated birthdays and anniversaries, went to festivals, ate at great restaurants and swilled drinks at lovely bars, went to the horse races, visited an art exhibit, weathered a storm and enjoyed a couple of ‘staycations’ in some lavish hotels. We are well aware that we were able to do more than many others, and we were grateful while we made the most of it. We are proud of the accomplishments achieved as we finished 2020. Maeve completed her first term of university online with amazing success. Michael finished a passion project as he edited and published his father’s memoirs. Liam and I successfully completed another term at the international school and we are happy that we can still safely attend in person.

These are the highlights of 2020. There was certainly a lot of down time and l didn’t include pictures of teaching in pajamas online…mainly because there are none.

Here’s hoping 2021 brings health and the reunions of family and friends. Cheers.