Made it!
:)
After I finished unpacking at my new home (after wonderful reunions with friends and a delicious lunch up at a garden-restaurant lookout over a beautiful bay), I plopped down on my bed to journal. Wafting through the window I could faintly hear "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" (Lion King) from the direction of my nextdoor neighbor's house not 30 feet from my window, a concrete wall with class shards on top separating the courtyards between the two. A few hours later, as I was washing up for dinner, I heard the call to prayer coming from a nearby house. Welcome to my new normal.
This seems to me to somehow epitemize this country I am in; it is a blend of worlds in once sense and completely its own unique and glorious self on the other.
This time around intial culture shock was drastically less than my first time here last summer. (It helps that I can piece together most sinage drawing on my English and 2 years of Spanish.) Sights and sounds are both foreign and familar, exotic and homey all at the same time. The difference is that this time I am tackling this cross-cultural experience not within the cushon of a tight team schedule and a large group of 8 people, but with a friend or alone.
The classes I will be teaching do not start until Monday, so I have a few days to get over jet lag (last I counted I have had about 7 hours of intermitant sleep in the last 72 hours, but I have yet to really feel it....maybe too many finals weeks have trained me for something like this? ;) ).
On my personal to-do list for the next few days:
learn how to market
learn how to navigate public transportation
pepper a knowledgable source about the curriculum we will be using
Thank you for your prayers. I cannot tell you how much they have carried me thus far. I have felt a sense of peace since leaving that I can only attribute to God's goodness in answering your prayers. And, as always, there were a few travel mishaps my fellow intern and I encountered along the way which God clearly saved us from! (Note to self: always check your baggage id tag to make sure you didn't leave the airport with some man's luggage!)
Thank you, thank you, please keep the prayers coming for me and the team here!
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I'm glad you arrived safetly, and that's one of my favorite Disney songs (which I now have stuck in my head).
ReplyDeletehehe, I think I need to hear more about ur new skill of stealing! But I'm so glad u made it safely and have hopefully had a few days to rest...(?) Feel ready to start teaching?
ReplyDeletePraying for you Kading! Glad to hear all is well. :)
ReplyDeletethank you for your prayers and comments, y'all!
ReplyDeletenaom, i feel ready for teaching not in myself, but having to throw myself at His feet and trust He will supply everything I need internally with creativity and skill as I need it! I feel so inadequate and so excited to see what He will do! As it is, instead of school starting Monday as scheduled originally, it is starting a week from now actually. (Yay the trademarks of a high context culture, right?) So I will have this week to start slowly and get a lot of meetings in before the school year starts picking up speed. :)