Covid-19 meant many international teachers were unable to fly back to their home countries for the long summer break because quarantine would have made the trips pointless.

This was a big loss with time at home being a great chance to immerse yourself in home culture and comforts: heading to the supermarket where you can read all the labels, empty the shelves of Yorkshire tea and buying ALL the clothes.

Of course, most of that list is concerned with “stuff”; things we don’t need but which help us survive the academic year. Luckily, many of us can get family members to ship it all over - even if it does cost a fortune in postage.

What we can’t ship, though, are the same things everyone across the world missed during lockdown; the hugs, the endless cups of tea, the being together, the in-jokes and laughs...

It’s upsetting to think of all this being lost for a year, but at the same time there have been positives that I think are worth reflecting on and appreciating,

Coronavirus: Missing time back home

The lockdown in Thailand is over, and has been for a while - since the end of May to be precise.

This means we are allowed to gather in groups large enough to accommodate more than enough friends (well for me anyway, I’m not a huge party kind of person) to make events and life special again. 

Forced to stay, this year we spent time travelling the length and breadth of Thailand. We explored places, grew friendships, spent time alone as a small family and with large groups.

We had quiet days and adventurous days, we had sleepy days and energetic days.

Making the most of our host country

Fortieth birthdays were marked with friends with pina coladas on the beach while our children watched a mesmerising fire show, long lunches in the sunshine and multiple ice creams, and hour upon hour in the warm Andaman Sea.

All of it was a mile away from the frenetic and hectic pace of trying to visit every single friend and family member in a month, which is our usual norm in the UK.

So while we missed the hugs and the tea bags and the shopping, we gained time with each other and much time with our international families.

We gave each other the gift of family and company at a time when we all needed it, creating new routines and in-jokes, sleepovers which lasted for days and endless conversations, while sharing spaces, cars and childcare.

A positive effect in our international school

And the impact at school is positive - an even friendlier atmosphere due to shared summer experiences.

We all have a little more empathy for each other, we are looking out for one another knowing that it most likely won’t be feasible to travel at Christmas time either.

Our staff body has always been a good one (it’s why people stay so long at Shrewsbury Riverside) but now it’s even better.

In conversation with a friend (also a brilliant colleague) on Friday, we were discussing future ambitions. “You’re my family,” she said, “I want to share my plans with you.” How good did that make me feel?

It even made up for not having my usual supply of Yorkshire Tea to unpack.

Vicki Rotheram is an assistant principal at Shrewsbury International School Bangkok Riverside. She leads the newly established Shrewsbury Institute and has taught internationally for six years