One unexpected and positive side effect of our university’s transitioning from face-to-face to remote instruction in the face of the rapidly spreading COVID-19 is the fact that I’ve been spending more time with my eight-years-old daughter over the past week. Sure, changing the pace and the mode of delivering two courses on a short notice has generated quite a bit of extra work, but that has been partially offset, at least in my case, by being able to do this work on a more flexible schedule, i.e. without having to be present at a certain place at a particular time. And even as I’ve been working from home, every time I see my daughter, I cannot help but notice how glad I am to see her. This is not because of the heightened sense of fragility of human life in the face of a pandemic or something like that. It’s just as she is growing so fast that in a few short years she’ll most probably be physically away (that is, unless all universities will be doing remote teaching on a permanent basis by then). For now, though, we are enjoying each other’s company daily, even if it is, ironically, a condition forced by circumstances.
Our puppy, Bruno, is also getting more of our attention, because we simply cannot ignore the beautiful weather and not to take him on longer walks (leaving socializing for later, of course).
Oh, and another unexpected outcome of being cooked up at home is that I am rediscovering the Gundam anime for myself (we’ve been watching the Mobile Suit series with my daughter). Incidentally, I learned that the anime series inspired some academics in Japan to form the virtual Gundam Academy, focussing on futuristic urban planning and technical advances in the real world. How’s that for remote education?!
