Some days I am very aware of my surroundings, and on others, not so much. The past few days have been a constant reminder of living life in a world that isn't my own. Today I had a private tutor in the morning. As some drilling was going on in the building, we decided to take class to a coffee shop up the street.
During class, this older lady stops by the window of the coffee shop and starts banging her umbrella madly on the window. She is yelling and I am desperately trying to understand, but, of course, I can't make anything out. She was probably speaking Taiwanese.
I could see she was trying to express her anger towards me and it was only moments later before she entered the coffee shop and caused a bit of an ado. The only thing I could really understand was the waiter saying strange ... something ... go ... something ... strange. I'm sure she was there to express her dismay with me.
It was at that moment that I had to wonder why some are dealt better cards than others. I know she would never come to realize on her own that I've worked my tail off to get where I am today. That I have made sacrifices. Perhaps my idea of the definitions of working my tail off and sacrifice might not compare to hers.
I've come across this not too often, but often enough to realize what it's all about. It's unnerving sometimes. One never really knows what the other has the ability to do.
As always ... things in daily life remind me that I am in a world foreign to my own. Amazing things happen all the time. Today, for example, was the first time I wrote in Chinese on the whiteboard. I kind of did it to see how the kids would react. We were talking about Monarch butterflies and how they migrate during the cold season. We were talking of direction and one of my students didn't really get the whole North, East, South, West thing. I know how to write the characters for East and West so I gave it a go on the board. They were amazed!
As was I. And I continue to be ... everyday. I guess that's what keeps me here. Amazement and the beauty of it.
As we all know ... everyday always brings a bit of good with a bit of bad. My hope is that the angry lady found her bit of good somewhere along the way.
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