Sometimes, you just borrow stress. Stress that hampers your delightful time in a whole new world. There are moments where I want to be home where it’s comfortable, warm, slower-paced, and familiar. Some of the time I dread the time when we must leave. Frankly, I try hard to enjoy the moments.
Our schedules are very rough. Inasmuch as I’d to complain of how hard it is, we have others who have it worse. I can’t even fathom of how they do it. Teaching is not for wimps. Teaching on any level of education is NOT for wimps. Your time is not your own and even here you do not get paid much or perhaps not at all. If you want to teach English abroad, I strongly advise you to take an ESL classes on how to teach. It will stand you, I believe, in better stead. Teach because you want to create a better life for the students, teach to know the culture, teach because you love them.
*This is general news it may or may not apply to me.
When you teach it doesn’t matter if you have barely 4-5 hours of sleep a night. You get up and you walk an hour each way to the classes- not to mention the metro rides. If you are sick and exhausted, you plaster on the smile and truly mean it. It doesn’t matter if there aren’t enough dishes at the apartment for four people- say one glass and two plates. It doesn’t matter that no how hard you try it isn’t good enough; there is something wrong with your teaching skills. It doesn’t matter if the students refuse to communicate with you and then complain to the director that the teacher isn’t doing what they want. Whether or not you have a white board or printing capabilities, you are expected to teach and teach well. It doesn’t matter, really, what you are going through. At the end of the day, despite a hungry and exhausted state of being, the purpose that was set out is being accomplished- to love others.
There are two days everyone has off. On those days teachers rally together after a long nap to encourage one another. The weekend is often our sight seeing days as well as our business days. They are cooking and baking days for the following week. These are the two days where we are allowed to be free as a bird (almost) and indulge in being lazy if we choose. Most of the time is split between sleeping, doing errands, and sightseeing.
*end general happenings to teachers
Saturday and Sundays are the only days we have chance really to talk with our parents. I barely have been able to FaceTime anyone else. Skype charges and unless you have What’sApp I can’t text you, although I can Skype text you.
With all that said. I love it here. True, there are difficulties. But I am here living life. I am living every day life here. Tourist destinations are not something I care about other than to see some of the famous places. I want to see how people live. To see what they are like despite what stereotypes say. Cooking, cleaning, and sleeping and living every day life is really the best way to be immersed in the culture. To photograph every day life. To live other cultures outside of my own boxed in life, living outside of me. I don’t need (it isn’t a bad thing) to live in a hut with no electricity and water to experience raw everyday life. For those who do choose to go to a third- world country, awesome!! We can learn so much about ourselves, about other cultures, no matter where we are. Just step outside the door and be willing to talk to your nextdoor neighbor or someone at the grocery store. There are challenges no matter where you go and the choice to love remains the same no matter the situation.
Now, on to the subject of love. I don’t mean the kind of love that fills the emotions. The love I talk of deals with the heart. It’s the kind of love that can say no and stand up. Too often we mistake love for gratifying another person’s emotional, physically, and spiritual needs. I am NOT talking about never encouraging with words and actions. It is needed. What I am referring to is making sure that you aren’t just saying or doing things to stay on their good side. Neither am I saying do not care about what they say; listening goes a long ways. Love encourages people to be the best they can be and sometimes that means a hard word or action because you care. Love simply takes it one day at a time seeing the best, seeing the worst, and knowing that walls aren’t meant to stay up. You can’t love very well through a wall ’cause walls are hard, thick, and filled with webs of emotions running high. Love: a word that can have so many meanings cannot only be spoken, but rather it is a spoken action.