I returned to study on Monday, so I've suddenly gone from full-time mum (doing a bit of writing) to full-time student + mum. I'm finding it a bit hectic!
My campus is in the city, and the times of day I go and return mean I have to park a long way from the train station and never get an express - more like "all stops to the city", so it takes me about an hour and a half commute door to door (so three hours a day travel total). The walk from car to station and station to campus means I'm getting nearly 10,000 exercise steps on the three days I go in, so that is an up-side to the travel! And I read on the train.
I'm doing five subjects face-to-face, whichever ones were being held within my kids' school hours, and four subjects at home online (plus homework of course). I've done a bit of each so far and enjoyed it all. My classes are mostly all the same people (about fifteen of us) with a bit of variation as some like me don't go to every class, or go to a different class at a time that suits them better. Mostly women, mostly aged in 30s or 40s with a previous career and maybe child-rearing behind them. I'm pretty standard for the group though at the older end of the spectrum.
Obviously with the full-time workload something's got to give. I still collapse in front of the TV for my favourite shows in the evening but no computer games for me, a lot less playing with my phone or iPad, and I haven't done any writing. Not sure when I'm going to fit that in. So far I've been too tired after dinner for any study or creative work. I have done some study with the kids home in the afternoon, I told them I was going to work for an hour so they'd need to entertain themselves, so five seconds later they were chatting to me and showing me a new YouTube video or something. In any case, most afternoons I am driving them back and forth to dance lessons, gymnastics, youth group, dentist appointments etc. I'll be doing as much study as possible within school hours on the days I don't go in to campus.
I get half an hour lunch break on one of my campus days and none at all on the others so it's a matter of inhaling an apple or piece of cheese when we're given a bathroom break. My sister-in-law was saying I'd be able to go out and have lunch at Chinatown - ha! I barely get to leave the building. I take a series of healthy snacks to scoff between classes or on the train.
Sorry I'm going to complain about the heat again, Monday was ridiculously hot and my official student card photo looks like a sweaty tomato with glasses. Tuesday we had storms and heavy rain so that the tunnels under the city were running with water and I was wading through puddles in wet shoes (I still prefer that to the heat) then a couple of bearable days (31 today) but from tomorrow it's going up over 40 degrees for three days. I'll be staying home inside as much as possible; but I worry about Aiden playing tennis outside in that kind of heat, or going to my sister-in-law's for dinner when her parents disapprove of using the air conditioner.
We've had some progress with the pool and more work over the next few days, I'll post photos after this stage is done. Not everyone comes when they say they will, common complaint about tradesman I know. Our poor front and side lawn were just starting to recover a bit from the previous depredations, now they have been completely destroyed again by more heavy machinery driving over it during the wet stormy day. We don't have grass, we have mud with tyre tracks in it. Drying into interesting ridges and holes full of weeds. Well we can't worry about that bit now, we'll fix it when the backyard is all done.
I am really enjoying the study and I don't mind being busy, it gives me purpose in life.
Oh, and I forgot to mention on Monday, I lost 1.3 kg last week after getting back on the
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