Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener...
That is what I'd truly like to be-eee-eee... 'Cause if I were an Oscar Mayer wiener...I wouldn't have to sit through a week of excruciating meetings before I got my well-deserved holiday. And neither would anybody else here. Well, if they were also Oscar Mayer wieners. But alas, none of us are compressed tubes of meat-like substance. So far as I know, anyway.
Thus begins the last week of school. About a third or so of the students are actually here, and they're spending Monady and Tuesday playing various semi-organized games and being semi-supervised by various teachers. Monday and Tuesday are also curriculum and subject-specific meetings for middle and senior school teachers. Today, English meetings, which aren't bad because the English department is a lot of fun. Plus, we're pretty on top of things, so we're not scrambling. Tomorrow I'm in Humanities meetings, which also shouldn't be too bad since all of my stuff was expertly done last year by my predecessor, and I just basically have to organize the big binders she left, which I have since made complete messes of. Sharon Thompson, I never met you but I am eternally grateful for your 7th grade Humanities units! They're lovely and I may not have survived without them!
I am just taking a wee break from typing up my 11th grade National Program English yearly overview. I considered typing one sentence only, "Survive...or at least try to." But I suppose I should put a few things about grammar and whatnot. Looking back, actually, I'm rather pleased that I can type up a fairly comprehensive (or at least to my untrained, probably naive eye) list of what I did with those students over the year.
I do want this week to go quickly so I can have a respite from all of the meetings we here at SPH like to have. I also want it to go quickly because three of my most favorite people will arrive here next Saturday, all the way from the good ol' U.S. of A. I CANNOT WAIT. Oh what fabulous things lie in store.
There is a bittersweet side to the week ending, though-we have to say goodye to several people whom we have come to know as family over the last year. I guess this is one of the down sides to being an expatriate in a far-off land. You meet people from all over the world and develop relationships with those people. Eventually, though, everyone goes back to their own little corner of the planet or moves off to another little corner. Some are going home to readjust to whatever it was they left behind in coming here, some are relocating to other fabulous destinations where they'll get to have all sorts of new adventures and learn new languages. It will be sad to say goodbye to everyone, particularly since one never knows if one will see them again.
I never used to think this, but I believe now that moving home will be nearly as much of a culture shock than moving to Indonesia was. Travis and I are unsure of when we'll move home-one year from now we could be the ones scrambling to pack a giant Container full of fabulous teak furniture and trying to get everything in order to move back home. Or we could be where we are now, saying goodbye again and settling ourselves in for one more year of the Indonesian experience. Or we could be like some of our friends, packing to ship our belongings off to some other unknown destination. Who knows? All I know for sure is that I am not the girl who left Nebraska last July. I'm still me, of course-I'll always be me. But I think I've realized that you can't leave home and experience something like this without being changed. Like it or not, doing something like this changes a person forever.
This is why I think maybe there is a sort of culture shock moving back home. I'm not saying this is bad. I dearly love my country and my state and everything I left at home. I could never spend my life globe trekking because these things are far too dear to me. A few years here and there is fine, but when it comes time to really "settle down," I am and always will be a midwestern girl. That will never change. My view of the world, though, is forever altered. For this, I am grateful.
My feelings have varied from time to time, but at the end of year one, looking back on it all, I can say without a doubt that our decision to go on this grand, glorious adventure was the best decision Travis and I have ever made. I never would have described myself as brave, strong, adventurous or risk-taking. I'm still not much of those things compared to most people I know, but I am more of those things than I gave myself credit for. I surprised me, and this makes me happy. I messed up a lot this year, and I'm not entirely sure I'd be out of the running for "Most Clueless Teacher Ever" award, but I think there were a few good things sprinkled in here and there. Now, if I can just survive these darn meetings...
Thus begins the last week of school. About a third or so of the students are actually here, and they're spending Monady and Tuesday playing various semi-organized games and being semi-supervised by various teachers. Monday and Tuesday are also curriculum and subject-specific meetings for middle and senior school teachers. Today, English meetings, which aren't bad because the English department is a lot of fun. Plus, we're pretty on top of things, so we're not scrambling. Tomorrow I'm in Humanities meetings, which also shouldn't be too bad since all of my stuff was expertly done last year by my predecessor, and I just basically have to organize the big binders she left, which I have since made complete messes of. Sharon Thompson, I never met you but I am eternally grateful for your 7th grade Humanities units! They're lovely and I may not have survived without them!
I am just taking a wee break from typing up my 11th grade National Program English yearly overview. I considered typing one sentence only, "Survive...or at least try to." But I suppose I should put a few things about grammar and whatnot. Looking back, actually, I'm rather pleased that I can type up a fairly comprehensive (or at least to my untrained, probably naive eye) list of what I did with those students over the year.
I do want this week to go quickly so I can have a respite from all of the meetings we here at SPH like to have. I also want it to go quickly because three of my most favorite people will arrive here next Saturday, all the way from the good ol' U.S. of A. I CANNOT WAIT. Oh what fabulous things lie in store.
There is a bittersweet side to the week ending, though-we have to say goodye to several people whom we have come to know as family over the last year. I guess this is one of the down sides to being an expatriate in a far-off land. You meet people from all over the world and develop relationships with those people. Eventually, though, everyone goes back to their own little corner of the planet or moves off to another little corner. Some are going home to readjust to whatever it was they left behind in coming here, some are relocating to other fabulous destinations where they'll get to have all sorts of new adventures and learn new languages. It will be sad to say goodbye to everyone, particularly since one never knows if one will see them again.
I never used to think this, but I believe now that moving home will be nearly as much of a culture shock than moving to Indonesia was. Travis and I are unsure of when we'll move home-one year from now we could be the ones scrambling to pack a giant Container full of fabulous teak furniture and trying to get everything in order to move back home. Or we could be where we are now, saying goodbye again and settling ourselves in for one more year of the Indonesian experience. Or we could be like some of our friends, packing to ship our belongings off to some other unknown destination. Who knows? All I know for sure is that I am not the girl who left Nebraska last July. I'm still me, of course-I'll always be me. But I think I've realized that you can't leave home and experience something like this without being changed. Like it or not, doing something like this changes a person forever.
This is why I think maybe there is a sort of culture shock moving back home. I'm not saying this is bad. I dearly love my country and my state and everything I left at home. I could never spend my life globe trekking because these things are far too dear to me. A few years here and there is fine, but when it comes time to really "settle down," I am and always will be a midwestern girl. That will never change. My view of the world, though, is forever altered. For this, I am grateful.
My feelings have varied from time to time, but at the end of year one, looking back on it all, I can say without a doubt that our decision to go on this grand, glorious adventure was the best decision Travis and I have ever made. I never would have described myself as brave, strong, adventurous or risk-taking. I'm still not much of those things compared to most people I know, but I am more of those things than I gave myself credit for. I surprised me, and this makes me happy. I messed up a lot this year, and I'm not entirely sure I'd be out of the running for "Most Clueless Teacher Ever" award, but I think there were a few good things sprinkled in here and there. Now, if I can just survive these darn meetings...
posted by Erin @ 8:53 PM
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