CV-19: Cruising

Leaving port aboard Carnival Spirit, Oct 2018

Today I was meant to disembark from a 9 night cruise aboard Ovation of the Seas. This is one of the cruise ships caught up in a COVID-19 scandal. ABC News has a report about it but it seems hard to fathom the true facts of the case, given the stories provided by news outlets vary so much.

Around three years ago a friend passed on a Facebook blurb reaching out for teachers who would be interested in running professional development (PD) on a cruise ship. I had recently completed full-time teaching and was taking some time to contemplate the ‘what next’ while I helped my son through his HSC year. One option under consideration was to set up a consultancy business to run PD in schools. I had already established a business name - Think Learn Act - and its logo but hadn’t taken it further when this prompt came along. Despite finding the idea of being trapped with 1000s of strangers on a boat unappealing, I thought ‘what the hell’, and approached Mike about becoming involved. Mike is a paramedic who loves cruises do combined his passions into his business, Cruise Seminars.

Through meeting with Mike, Cruise Mike, as he’s known by my friends and family, the idea of running PD became reality. I spent several days putting together the PD plan in the required format as part of the rigorous process of being endorsed by NESA (NSW Education Standards Authority). I actually really enjoy curriculum planning. At the NESA sessions all the other attendees were impressed with the idea of PD on a cruise. NESA was not. However, my application to be endorsed was about the program, not the location of it, so the cruise aspect didn't appear in the documentation and the approval occurred rather smoothly. Mike made all the logistical arrangements so all I had to do was show up for the cruise, attend the social events he organised, and run my PD sessions for 3-4 hours on each of the four days we were at sea. We called the course, Navigating Pedagogy

The first time we ran this course was in October 2018. I found it exhausting. I was really grateful to have a friend by my side, sharing my cabin. She knows me to a deep level, partly because she’s more of an introvert than I am, and partly because we’ve been close friends for many years. She basically protected me from being in presenter mode more than necessary. For instance, we didn’t go on group excursions at the port stops and we didn’t join the informal gatherings with our PD participants at show nights.

The PD workshops were a great success with just about everyone enjoying them and finding the course worthwhile. There were a few who would applaud enthusiastically at the end of each session, making me blush. However, one group of teachers felt like they already knew everything that was worth knowing. Their negative feedback hit me hard. Stabbed me in the heart. Still, Mike and I planned a second cruise for April 2020.

I asked one of the participants from the first PD cruise to co-present with me at the next one. Since Jennie is a primary school teacher who specialises in students with learning difficulties, I thought she’d give the course greater breadth and depth. She’s also an extrovert. I was so happy and relieved when Jennie responded with an enthusiastic yes. The more we met and prepared the PD, the more I knew our blend of skills and personalities were going to work well in the workshops.

Then COVID-19 arrived and cruise ships featured in the news as a consequence. In March, Royal Caribbean cancelled their cruises leaving from Australia up to but not including the day my PD cruise was meant to leave. There were many days of anxiety as I kept hitting refresh on their COVID-19 information page. Finally I received emails from both Royal Caribbean and Mike saying our cruise had been cancelled.  Phew!

However, it is a loss of income, particularly painful after significant expense and effort in preparing the material. Jennie lives a few hours away so there were also travel expenses for us. One time I met her in the Hunter, about half way between us, and I stayed the night in a hotel. We had also planned a weekend together in the Hunter a couple of weeks before the cruise.

Jennie was going to be bringing her partner on the cruise so my 20yo son was going to join me. He had contributed $1000 to the expense of the cruise and was really looking forward to the adventure. When it was cancelled, I was disappointed for him even though I was elated for me. The last cruise taught me that I don’t have the emotional energy for running PD regularly or for marketing myself constantly. Whenever I present, I put everything into it. This emotional toll was partly why I left full-time teaching, not just due to dealing with students but also dealing with staff in the various leadership roles I took on. I won’t ever be running PD on a cruise again (sorry Mike). As I said, I wasn’t a big fan of cruises in the first place, and now with all the poor press they’ve received as germ-ridden vessels, I am completely turned off. Thankfully, the ‘what next’ I was contemplating three years ago ended up being my PhD, not going full steam ahead with a PD business.

Just recently, I started consulting with a career psychologist to help me determine what I should do after I complete my PhD. I did some of the homework he set me and our second meeting occurred via Zoom. It had crossed my mind before this meeting that the shake-up in education due to COVID-19 could be a great opportunity for me to be part of a bridge between corporations and schools, perhaps with setting up micro-credential courses for school students. The psychologist started pushing me to put some plan together in this regard. However, part of the reason I started the process with the psychologist was so I could take a considerable amount of time to work out what I really wanted so I won't try to push into this field now. My work history consists of jumping around jobs and leaping at various opportunities as they arose. Before I became a teacher I never stayed at a job for more than three years. I stayed nine years in my first school and have since returned to the habit of a three years maximum. A few times I have resigned from jobs before having another and then quickly taking up the first reasonable job opportunity available. As for an example of leaping at other opportunities, I started writing in the education field because a university lecturer dropped by our class with an offer to contribute towards a Commerce textbook. I want my next move to be a really considered one. I am approaching a significant birthday later this year, increasing the pressure of deciding what I’m going to do when I grow up. I’ll ‘fess up. I’m turning 50 and am embarrassed that I haven’t ever found my dream job nor done anything significant enough to be considered a legacy in the world. It feels like time is running out.

Speaking of time, my blogging for COVID-19 has now caught up to the present. I have enjoyed writing out my experience of COVID-19. I suspect my next post with be about May the Fourth. Stay tuned!

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