Wrapping it up

I know everyone says this, but there is no other way to say it; I am shocked at how quickly time has gone by. And now we are getting down to the last WEEKS of my service here, hours go by like days and then suddenly a month has passed. This week is “language week,” which began at my school on Tuesday with a huge culture competition. About 12 different classes chose and presented on a different nationality, which included singing songs, presenting baked goods, and dancing. And during this huge (3-hour-long) pageant I suddenly realized that I would really miss all of this. Yes, working here is frustrating, yes, some people are very impatient and upsetting, yes, I dream about America (inaccurately, as my mind has turned it into this magical land where problems don't exist) almost every day. But there are traditions and people here that I will miss. All of this sentimental feeling was balanced out Wednesday when I had to teach a doubled-up class on my own for a while. The class sat, some sharing seats because there weren't enough chairs, one student complained that he didn't feel like learning today. The rest of the class agreed and proceeded to ask me questions about American cell-phone services, my close, personal friends Britney Spears and 50 Cent, and translations to some Pit Bull lyrics until my counterpart finally came into the room and whipped them into shape.

America! Land of burritos! Home of convenience! Free Wi-Fi with purchase of coffee! It's going to be so familiar and strange all at once. I'm going back to an America with a new president, an America recovering (? They say it's “over”) from a recession, an America without Scrubs or T.R. Knight on Grey's. An America that is obsessed with Vampires all of a sudden (I just got another load of magazines in the mail and am astonished at the amount of Vampire stuff that's come out. What's with all the Vampires guys?) America! Where something like Lady Gaga is possible! ANYTHING is possible!

I'm excited.



Prediction Post - November 30, 2009

Job-hunting sucks. America is loud, I'm sick from eating burritos three times a day for the past three weeks, and I have a nervous twitch in my left eye from drinking too much coffee.