Reading through one of my favorite books, A Cherokee Feast of Days, today, I realized that I haven't written on here for a WHILE. It's not because I don't have time. In reality, I have a lot of free time. Unfortunately, as the selection for October 2 reads, "One elusive goal after another makes us hurry by some beautiful times." For the last two weeks or so, I haven't given myself any time to just sit down and be. My nature is to keep going until I'm so tired I physically can't go anymore. For a while now, I haven't gotten more than 5 or 6 hours of sleep, which is not enough for me. Most of the time, I don't even cook my own food because I can't stand the thought of taking time out and using energy to cook on just myself, without the company of others. I realized today that if I continue on this path, I'll burn out by next week.
Part of the problem, aside from the lack of sleep, is that my apartment is in shambles. We don't have a washing machine, as in it doesn't exist in our apartment. Several weeks ago, we notified the school that our washing machine was broken, and, to our great surprise, it was actually removed from our apartment. Still, we haven't seen a new one yet. Last week (yes, over a week ago), I was sitting on my bed at about 6 o'clock in the morning and all of a sudden, heard a luminous sound coming from my bathroom. I walked in, only to find a waterfall coming from my ceiling. The way things go here, I knew there wasn't anything anyone would do for me. Nothing is considered an emergency. It's all Insha'allah, which literally means "if God wills it," but in practical terms means, "I can take as much time as I want to get this done." And so, a week later, my broken water heater has drained all of its water and left me with a shower that doesn't work. And has anyone done anything about it? Oh no.....not at MKS. That would mean actually treating people the way they're supposed to be treated. I could go on, but I've said my part.
Like I was saying, however, I feel like my life is just go, go, go, and this whole apartment deal has gotten me way too hot under the collar. Part of me says I should make their lives a living hell until something gets done and another part of me just wants to say it's not worth the stress of waking up every morning with a pit in my stomach. And at this point, all I want is a little less stress in my life, so at this moment, ignoring the issue it is!
Onto "the intricacies of life," the things that make life worth living, like the most amazing cheese ever: halloumi. Or my wall of pictures, cards, and letters from home. Or maybe even just the cup of chai tea I'm having right now. I am really lucky to have what I have, despite all of the negatives things I could focus on. Oh and how could I forget about my students? Truly, I have the most amazing kids. For 6th and 7th graders, they really are spectacular. I know when I'm gone I'll miss them. As a teacher, you grow to love your students like your own, and if it came down to it you'd do just about anything for them.
Ah, and one more intricacy of life: being in the freaking Middle East. I'm always adjusting my perceptions of this world over here, as opposed to the West. Today, we had a bit of excitement at the school. Apparently, some protesters were burning tires next to the school, so the oh- so- brilliant police decided to set off some tear gas to disperse the protesters. Unfortunately, there were children who were outside and others who were inside but were affected because the windows were open. Luckily, my room is about as far away from where the tear gas was set off, so my class perceived nothing until we were all told we couldn't go to break (lunch). All in all, a little excitement never hurt anyone, but it would be nice if the police considered small children when they decided to set off tear gas.
Overall, life has been less exciting and more labor-some in the last few weeks, and I'm beginning to truly see what being a first year teacher is all about. Still, I wouldn't change it for the world. I just have to learn how to see the intricacies of life and not let beauty pass me by.
Part of the problem, aside from the lack of sleep, is that my apartment is in shambles. We don't have a washing machine, as in it doesn't exist in our apartment. Several weeks ago, we notified the school that our washing machine was broken, and, to our great surprise, it was actually removed from our apartment. Still, we haven't seen a new one yet. Last week (yes, over a week ago), I was sitting on my bed at about 6 o'clock in the morning and all of a sudden, heard a luminous sound coming from my bathroom. I walked in, only to find a waterfall coming from my ceiling. The way things go here, I knew there wasn't anything anyone would do for me. Nothing is considered an emergency. It's all Insha'allah, which literally means "if God wills it," but in practical terms means, "I can take as much time as I want to get this done." And so, a week later, my broken water heater has drained all of its water and left me with a shower that doesn't work. And has anyone done anything about it? Oh no.....not at MKS. That would mean actually treating people the way they're supposed to be treated. I could go on, but I've said my part.
Like I was saying, however, I feel like my life is just go, go, go, and this whole apartment deal has gotten me way too hot under the collar. Part of me says I should make their lives a living hell until something gets done and another part of me just wants to say it's not worth the stress of waking up every morning with a pit in my stomach. And at this point, all I want is a little less stress in my life, so at this moment, ignoring the issue it is!
Onto "the intricacies of life," the things that make life worth living, like the most amazing cheese ever: halloumi. Or my wall of pictures, cards, and letters from home. Or maybe even just the cup of chai tea I'm having right now. I am really lucky to have what I have, despite all of the negatives things I could focus on. Oh and how could I forget about my students? Truly, I have the most amazing kids. For 6th and 7th graders, they really are spectacular. I know when I'm gone I'll miss them. As a teacher, you grow to love your students like your own, and if it came down to it you'd do just about anything for them.
Ah, and one more intricacy of life: being in the freaking Middle East. I'm always adjusting my perceptions of this world over here, as opposed to the West. Today, we had a bit of excitement at the school. Apparently, some protesters were burning tires next to the school, so the oh- so- brilliant police decided to set off some tear gas to disperse the protesters. Unfortunately, there were children who were outside and others who were inside but were affected because the windows were open. Luckily, my room is about as far away from where the tear gas was set off, so my class perceived nothing until we were all told we couldn't go to break (lunch). All in all, a little excitement never hurt anyone, but it would be nice if the police considered small children when they decided to set off tear gas.
Overall, life has been less exciting and more labor-some in the last few weeks, and I'm beginning to truly see what being a first year teacher is all about. Still, I wouldn't change it for the world. I just have to learn how to see the intricacies of life and not let beauty pass me by.
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