This weeks Top Ten
July 3, 2006
I have been here un semana hoy, or one week today, and this is my top ten list of what I have learned. It will be obivious that mastery of the Spanish keyboard is not one of them.
#1. Nothing is Ever As Hard As It Seems
The whole time I was anticipating this trip, all I could think about was how difficult and scary-meido it would be. One week later, I have to ask myself, again, why I worry about these things. No doubt about it, this is a very different place and culture. The sidewalks are old and broken. Dogs roam, and poop, freely. The front doors of the houses are right off the sidewalk. Everything is really old and run down. And the traffic is one step short of mechanical insanity. And of course, everything is in another language. But none of this has been that difficult. People have much in common everywhere and are willing to help a stranger. If you open your eyes and pay attention, you can figure out most of what to do. the view of the surrounding mountains, emerald green and crowned with clouds, far outweighs the litter in the gutter. But still.........
#2. Growth Makes For Sore Muscles
I consider myself a fairly well spoken person and pride myself on understanding not only what people say, but what they mean. So it,s been humbling to try to talk to people and have them look at me with a pitying gaze. I know I{m saying the right words, but they still have a hard time understanding me. It would be as if I had said to you, Hay knee ahhh coque uh far ingging. If, by chance, you had understood my words, you would have heard me say that I needed a clock for ringing. Otherwise known as an alarm clock. Muy estupido. The five year old in whose house I am living, sounds like a Pulitzer Prize winning genius when she speaks. I was surprised to hear her mother have to explain something to her. I thought the kid knew everything.
Negotiating the simplest things, adjusting to very foreign sites and sounds, is an exercise in strengthening your nerves and resolve. Throw in some teenage kids to look out for while doing this, and you have a challenge. And...........
# 3. Teenagers Require Engergy
Despite having raised, in toto or in part, 3 wonderful people, I have to laugh at how quickly I had forgotten how much energy it takes to spend time with teenagers. They want to think of themselves as adults, but they aren{t quite. They still need the occasional input, observation and direction, especially in a foreign country. And McKee teenagers, well! Force multiplier. Of course, none of this do they like. And try learning something new and challenging when you are in a classroom with 3 smart, wiggly, attractive, distracted, gum popping, fingertapping, chair tipping, argumentative, adorable, exasperating teenagers. It,s exhuasting. Especially when the traffic apocolypse is taking place outside the open window on the street below. It,s exhausting. Good thing that..................
#4. Sleep Cures Everything, Everywhere
After 10 hours of sleep on the first morning, I woke up ready and able to take on becoming a world citizen. When the kids get enough sleep, everything is bueno. When we don,t it,s not so bueno. And when the kids stay up half the night talking like Foghorn Leghorn outside our hosteses bedroom, there is stress involved. There is a reason one of the first words I have learned is the word for embarrasing. So don,t mess with my sleep. Therefore.........
#5. Smog Control Is Not Just A Theory, It{s a Good Idea. So Vehicle Brake
Inspection.
I, m all for minimal local, state, and federal regulation, but after the experience of all the deisel belching busses, taxis, cars and for all I know, my own lungs. I{m really ok with some law and regulation. Especially outside my bedroom window. And I don{t think there is a war cry anywhere that could be anymore hair raising than the sound of a 2 ton bus screeching to a stop on unlined brake drums. And will someone thank the inventor of the pooper scooper for me. Some rules are good and some things, like clean air, are worth spending some money. Having said that..........
#6. We Don,t Need All of The Stuff We Have
The house where I,m staying is very simple. The kitchen is old, with a worn linoleum floor and open shelving made of plywood for the few dishes. The stove is a tiny, 20 year old, avocado green electric.
My room is a combination of wallpaper, pegboard partitions, various colors of paint. The shower curtain is clear plastic with the Costa Rican Barney on it. Only it{s puppies. It,s all a long way from grantie counters, stainless steel appliances, and 600 thread count.
But Maria cooks our delicious meals with loving, unhurried hands, in front of the open window , the lace valance blowing with the breeze. The wood floors gleam, and the children{s art work hangs on every wall. The rain sounds wonderful on the tin roof, and lulls the passing time into a slower, calmer pace. Because.........
#7. Time Is Relative
At home, I was feeling as if time was speeding by so fast. Everyday seemed so short. One thousand things may happen in a day, and in an environment where you are totally comfortable and familiar, you might not notice 10 per cent of what you do. It doesn{ñt take much thought to turn on the shower. You read a sign that says go left and you just go left . Your mind barely registers this action But when everthing is foreign and unknown, you have to stop, read, think, Va Izquierda, before you can go left, your{e very aware of what you have done. This makes for a longer, sometimes trying, sometimes frustrating, long, exhilarating day. And this makes you remember how much...............
8. Kindnesss Matters
The first night I arrived, jet lagged, culture shocked, I didn{t understand 3 words for every 20 my host mom spoke to me, but her patience , kindnesss and concern, showed in her gestures, and on her face. She put me instantly at ease. I didn{t know a single thing of her life story. Wathching the teenagers be kind to everyone in the group, despite very different backgrounds and personal views, is evidence of the power of kindness. The people willling to help this semi helpless American, the 2 brothers who run the tiny cafe across from the school whe loaned me a book )that took some doing to figure out what was going on, the dictionary definitely came out on tthat one) didn{t need to take any time to talk with me, but the gratitude I feel to each of these people is limitless.
Language isn{t the root of kindness. No matter how many compliments, thank yous, flowery speeches you might say, nothing replaces the genuine gesture of lovingkindness. The yogis sure got this one right.
So that ,s it for now. I know Itñs only 8 things, but hey, it{s enough for this week.
Oh yeah. #9 Losing your journal is muy, muy mal
I have been here un semana hoy, or one week today, and this is my top ten list of what I have learned. It will be obivious that mastery of the Spanish keyboard is not one of them.
#1. Nothing is Ever As Hard As It Seems
The whole time I was anticipating this trip, all I could think about was how difficult and scary-meido it would be. One week later, I have to ask myself, again, why I worry about these things. No doubt about it, this is a very different place and culture. The sidewalks are old and broken. Dogs roam, and poop, freely. The front doors of the houses are right off the sidewalk. Everything is really old and run down. And the traffic is one step short of mechanical insanity. And of course, everything is in another language. But none of this has been that difficult. People have much in common everywhere and are willing to help a stranger. If you open your eyes and pay attention, you can figure out most of what to do. the view of the surrounding mountains, emerald green and crowned with clouds, far outweighs the litter in the gutter. But still.........
#2. Growth Makes For Sore Muscles
I consider myself a fairly well spoken person and pride myself on understanding not only what people say, but what they mean. So it,s been humbling to try to talk to people and have them look at me with a pitying gaze. I know I{m saying the right words, but they still have a hard time understanding me. It would be as if I had said to you, Hay knee ahhh coque uh far ingging. If, by chance, you had understood my words, you would have heard me say that I needed a clock for ringing. Otherwise known as an alarm clock. Muy estupido. The five year old in whose house I am living, sounds like a Pulitzer Prize winning genius when she speaks. I was surprised to hear her mother have to explain something to her. I thought the kid knew everything.
Negotiating the simplest things, adjusting to very foreign sites and sounds, is an exercise in strengthening your nerves and resolve. Throw in some teenage kids to look out for while doing this, and you have a challenge. And...........
# 3. Teenagers Require Engergy
Despite having raised, in toto or in part, 3 wonderful people, I have to laugh at how quickly I had forgotten how much energy it takes to spend time with teenagers. They want to think of themselves as adults, but they aren{t quite. They still need the occasional input, observation and direction, especially in a foreign country. And McKee teenagers, well! Force multiplier. Of course, none of this do they like. And try learning something new and challenging when you are in a classroom with 3 smart, wiggly, attractive, distracted, gum popping, fingertapping, chair tipping, argumentative, adorable, exasperating teenagers. It,s exhuasting. Especially when the traffic apocolypse is taking place outside the open window on the street below. It,s exhausting. Good thing that..................
#4. Sleep Cures Everything, Everywhere
After 10 hours of sleep on the first morning, I woke up ready and able to take on becoming a world citizen. When the kids get enough sleep, everything is bueno. When we don,t it,s not so bueno. And when the kids stay up half the night talking like Foghorn Leghorn outside our hosteses bedroom, there is stress involved. There is a reason one of the first words I have learned is the word for embarrasing. So don,t mess with my sleep. Therefore.........
#5. Smog Control Is Not Just A Theory, It{s a Good Idea. So Vehicle Brake
Inspection.
I, m all for minimal local, state, and federal regulation, but after the experience of all the deisel belching busses, taxis, cars and for all I know, my own lungs. I{m really ok with some law and regulation. Especially outside my bedroom window. And I don{t think there is a war cry anywhere that could be anymore hair raising than the sound of a 2 ton bus screeching to a stop on unlined brake drums. And will someone thank the inventor of the pooper scooper for me. Some rules are good and some things, like clean air, are worth spending some money. Having said that..........
#6. We Don,t Need All of The Stuff We Have
The house where I,m staying is very simple. The kitchen is old, with a worn linoleum floor and open shelving made of plywood for the few dishes. The stove is a tiny, 20 year old, avocado green electric.
My room is a combination of wallpaper, pegboard partitions, various colors of paint. The shower curtain is clear plastic with the Costa Rican Barney on it. Only it{s puppies. It,s all a long way from grantie counters, stainless steel appliances, and 600 thread count.
But Maria cooks our delicious meals with loving, unhurried hands, in front of the open window , the lace valance blowing with the breeze. The wood floors gleam, and the children{s art work hangs on every wall. The rain sounds wonderful on the tin roof, and lulls the passing time into a slower, calmer pace. Because.........
#7. Time Is Relative
At home, I was feeling as if time was speeding by so fast. Everyday seemed so short. One thousand things may happen in a day, and in an environment where you are totally comfortable and familiar, you might not notice 10 per cent of what you do. It doesn{ñt take much thought to turn on the shower. You read a sign that says go left and you just go left . Your mind barely registers this action But when everthing is foreign and unknown, you have to stop, read, think, Va Izquierda, before you can go left, your{e very aware of what you have done. This makes for a longer, sometimes trying, sometimes frustrating, long, exhilarating day. And this makes you remember how much...............
8. Kindnesss Matters
The first night I arrived, jet lagged, culture shocked, I didn{t understand 3 words for every 20 my host mom spoke to me, but her patience , kindnesss and concern, showed in her gestures, and on her face. She put me instantly at ease. I didn{t know a single thing of her life story. Wathching the teenagers be kind to everyone in the group, despite very different backgrounds and personal views, is evidence of the power of kindness. The people willling to help this semi helpless American, the 2 brothers who run the tiny cafe across from the school whe loaned me a book )that took some doing to figure out what was going on, the dictionary definitely came out on tthat one) didn{t need to take any time to talk with me, but the gratitude I feel to each of these people is limitless.
Language isn{t the root of kindness. No matter how many compliments, thank yous, flowery speeches you might say, nothing replaces the genuine gesture of lovingkindness. The yogis sure got this one right.
So that ,s it for now. I know Itñs only 8 things, but hey, it{s enough for this week.
Oh yeah. #9 Losing your journal is muy, muy mal
posted by Karen | 2:41 PM
1 Comments:
I have to say that #6 (We Don,t Need All of The Stuff We Have) is always one of the biggest things that sticks out to me.
I do love my toys, but many do I really not NEED much. When we were in NYC our stuff was squeezed to nearly nothing. When we moved to CT it ballooned to fit our new found space in a matter of months. Crazy how that works.
Jake
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