YOUTHFUL VOICES
SHELTER-AT-HOME
REFLECTIONS BY AIDAN TABA
Doing school at home is tough. We get
homework that is very important. Sometimes my teachers assign 5 things at a
time. When that happens, I need to work hard to do it. The 1 thing I miss from
not going to school is not seeing my friends. Every now and then we have WebEx
meetings, the school equivalent of Zoom, for school. I usually join, just to
see my friends' faces so that I don't forget. The meetings keep my spirits up.
Staying at home is tough because I have to
stay with my sister, Amy. I find her annoying and she finds me annoying. We
have somehow managed to not beat each other up, even though I'm sure she wants
to and I want to as well. We manage to not by staying in different rooms in the
house and most of the time it works. With my family we have movie nights and
game nights. On game nights we play Trump, Life, Clue, do puzzles, Disney
Trivia Pursuit, and my favorite game, "Not Parent Approved", a middle
school version of Apples to Apples. Much of the time they're fun, but
occasionally I get bent out of shape and that's when I know that I have to go
to sleep.
Without anyone able to come, we must clean
the house many times. We split the jobs between bathrooms, mirrors, vacuuming,
and mopping all hard surface floors. This is tough and not my definition of
fun. We never leave the house unless we are going to my grandma's house. I have
not gone anywhere except for my nana's house once (when we sat 12 feet away and
yelled at each other through masks) and my 90-year-old grandma's house. We have
baked some things since this stay at home order has happened. We baked a
chocolate cake, oat bars, and another chocolate cake. Baking is fun and many
times I do it just so I can eat it. Aunty Ku'ulei keeps on sending us baked
goods. So far, she has sent energy bars, cookies, more cookies, bread, bread,
and bread. I gained 10 pounds and that's impressive because I hardly ever
gained weight. I lost the weight almost immediately but just the fact I gained
weight is impressive, her stuff is SO good.
Staying at home is challenging, but fun.
The best parts are family time and playing games. The hardest part is not
seeing my friends and having to deal with Amy.
 |
| GAME NIGHT AT THE TABAS |
“A Fun Card Game for Kids,
Tweens, Teens, Families and Mischief Makers”
Hmmmm. Sounds like the
perfect game for Aidan and his family.
THE DOO—VAN RAFELGHEM
FAMILY
Editor’s note: When I began
this newsletter right after our Sunday services were suspended in March, my only concern
was to immediately set up effective communications to keep the congregation connected despite sheltering
at home. The format evolved quickly. I began asking for reflections from our youth
to give the adults a better understanding of the difficulties that they face,
especially not being able to attend school and extra-curricular
activities. I then began asking for
reflections from adults who I thought might have a particular experience that
the rest of us would find interesting.
When I thought to ask Luke and Erin to write their reflections, it
occurred to me that their parents (Michelle and Francis #2) had to sharply
pivot in their usual way of doing business as realtors. So, I sent one email request to the entire
family. Their contributions have been
providing me with entertainment and chuckles for over a week as they were
submitted to me. Rather than separating
the youth and adult voices, I present them all here for your entertainment and
chuckles!
Pastor Frances, Editor.
FROM ERIN:
Dear CCH,
For
the past month it’s been a little stressful for me because of all the homework,
but I like the long breaks between classes. I wish that I still had gymnastics
and could play with my friends. I don’t really like school but the classes are
shorter so I can rest and do my homework. Since I end school early on Monday
and Wednesday, I ride my bike which I learned to do during this time. Usually I
have gymnastics on Saturday but not anymore, instead I work out with my mom,
sometimes I walk, and bike. My family and I always zoom on Sunday with my
relatives on the mainland. My dad wanted us to watch Austin Powers so we
watched all three. I get to spend more time with my family so that’s a good
thing.
From, Erin
FROM LUKE:
Honestly it doesn't really
feel much different to be out of school (other than obviously not being able to
see my teachers and friends like normal and overall staying home the whole
day). We also get to wake up later, which is nice. Online school is actually
great. We do have a modified schedule each cycle, but other than that it's
completely reasonable. We get around 15 minutes that we have to go online for
each period and, until the next online period starts, we have time to do any
homework that was previously assigned. Despite this, however, I tend to procrastinate
a lot more since I have much more time; I'm improving though.
Addressing
extracurricular activities, the only activity that I had during the normal
school year was tennis two days a week. My dad and I have found a court to play
on, so we make up for my regular tennis classes by going to the court and
playing every Tuesday and Thursday. I do miss my friends; however, I still have
enough contact with them to stay in touch with most of them. There are still
some other of my friends that I only see at school that I haven't contacted in
a while, which has been an effect of lockdown. Lockdown for the next 30 days
honestly doesn't sound that bad at all, because currently we've already been in
isolation for a month and it hasn't been all that bad. In fact, I kind of enjoy
not having to go anywhere (most of the time).
Videos and photos from
this family.
In case you are wondering,
yes, Erin and Michelle were dancing to the same hip-hop instruction video.
FROM THE PARENTS:
So even though we work out of
our house anyway, our lives have certainly been impacted. The current situation
has obviously affected our day -to-day activities but not all negatively. Being
with our kids 24/7 has not been bad at all! We all awake more relaxed and more
rested. Everyone has to fend for themselves for the first two meals of the day
and clean up after themselves. Amazingly, despite our close quarters, we seem
to be getting along fine.
Even though our work hasn’t
been as busy, we still find ourselves with lots to do. We’ve had to learn new
skills, like video production, LIVE Facebook Open houses, 360 videography for
virtual tours and how to safely care for our clients who still need our
services during this time.
We find ourselves reaching
out more to everyone just to “check in” with them. It’s nice not to use so much gas. It’s nice
to be able to cook dinner without rushing around like crazy. It’s nice to spend time as a family. We connect more with people via video
conferencing than we did face to face and who live a few minutes away. I think
I’ve used, WebEx, Google Hangouts, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Facetime Group Chat.
What else is there?
It’s really caused us to
reconsider what is necessary, what is “just in case” and what is frivolous.
But we are lucky we live in
Hawaii.
Michelle & Francis Van
Rafelghem
Their Lucky We Live in Hawaii
video.
https://youtu.be/Dp49mR30Bgw
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