Last Tuesday Adrian made a remark to me: “So far, Indonesia has no report of the H1N1 cases.” “Yeah.” I replied. It was with this in mind, my in-laws decided to go Bintan for a short break and also Anthea joined them.
On Wednesday, I received a call from Anthea’s form teacher checking on our travel history as we declared that we were travelling to Sydney, 8 – 12 June 2009. She asked about Anthea’s well-being and said she was ok to return to school on Monday.
On the same day, the ministries decided to issue LOA (Leave of Absence) to school going children who returned from holiday from the list of affected countries. Adrian told me that Indonesia was added to the list, together with Hong Kong.
I had a real shock and on Thursday, I called Anthea’s school to check if BINTAN is considered as affected countries. The administrator confirmed my worst fear – she said Bintan is in Indonesia and it’s considered affected country. I declared Anthea’s travel to Indonesia and the administrator said she would mail the LOA to our home.
With this LOA, Anthea would need to stay away from school for 7 days and by the calculation, she can only step into the school on Friday, 3 July. This meant she had another 4 days of extended “off days”.
On Thursday, after fetching my in-laws and Anthea from the ferry, I shared with them the “BAD News” and my in-laws was equally surprised about the new addition of Indonesia and Hong Kong to the list. Also Bintan is so near to Singapore and they didn’t even go on a flight…haha.
So we had to make new logistic arrangement for the extended leave for Anthea’s home care. To make it more challenging, my parents had left for their one month China holiday on Sunday, 28 June. So this means I cannot care her off to my mom.
After discussion with my in-laws, my FIL volunteered to take care of her for the morning half from Monday to Thursday. Also my 2nd SIL had kindly offered to prepare her lunches for Monday & Tuesday.
In the meantime, I had been in contact with Anthea’s form teacher to check with her the home-based learning material as I could not find them on the school portal. She called me on Tuesday and mentioned that she would mail them to me as well. I told her I could pick them up from the school, which is just a street away.
During the day while Anthea is with my FIL, he would guide her to do her home based studies and also other learning things. My FIL was a teacher before he retired.
Situations like these make me feel very Thankful to have supporting family’s members and all these extra hands really make it possible for me to cont’d working.
Today is the last day of her LOA and she will be back to school tomorrow. I am really glad that we will be going back to our old routine.
Let's hope this H1N1 virus will blow over soon and life can be back to normal again !!!
6 comments:
Indeed in cases like this, support from families really makes one feel appreciated. "Actions speaks louder than words" - lucky babe you are Astee...so envious of you
Yes, it's always a blessing when we have family support in situation like this...
I'm sure Anthea is excited about returning to school tomorrow! :)
Ya...really hope this flu thingy will go past soon. Really hate wearing the mask during work:(
Worst of all, all holiday plan will have to postphone!
Glad that you have supportive family to help in the time of need.
Nice to read your ILs are helping you, I can understand the stress of working parents with no help when the kids can'r attend school or daycare. :) Me also hope this virus would subside soon!
Hi Vivien,
Yeah, action is def better than words.
Hi BB,
Yup, family support is a Bliss.
Hi Beaglesg,
My guess is you are working in the Health care industry.
Yes, hldy program nd to take a rest during this time. Sigh.
hey BS,
We are all in the same shoes,so u can understd the situation..: P
cheers,
astee
whenever I think of you, Astee... I'd think of your wonderful family bonding, so close and supportive of each other :)
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