The Little Things

This week, I have been asked by a student to no longer be his teacher, slept only five hours multiple nights in a row, battled a queazy stomach, gotten blisters and bruises, and been apart from my family for Christmas for the first time. This life is rough. But in the hectic, crazy, frustrating life, it's the little blessings that remind me of God's love for me, the love surrounding me in this community, and the peace that I am where God has led me.

On returning from trainings in Addis, I found out that no one had covered my classes for the week that I was gone. My students were now a week behind the rest of Grade Nine and needed to get through 4 units in four weeks before the final. Monday was spent with prepositions with the help of a nerf (American) football and a stuffed animal elephant. Day two was comparative and superlative adjectives where I went back to the unit's theme of food and brought in lemon (sour), chocolate (sweet), orange (juicy), sambusa (greasy) and popcorn (salty). Students were shocked when they tasted salty popcorn. Here, it is often served plain or with sugar. Never with salt! One student said "This is different. But I like it!" Differences don't have to be bad. Day 3 fell on Christmas Eve for some and Christmas Day for other classes. Present Passive and Punctuation were themed with Jesus and Saint Nicolas. After class a student asked if I was going to America for Christmas. When I said no, he was befuddled. Family is always together for holidays. He responded (in English) "Don't be sad. We are your family." Friday was a review with stations for the first time that I was worried wouldn't go over well. Students loved it. One student (the one who told me every day that week that I should go to a different class) referred to me as "my teacher," wished me a good weekend and said learning was actually fun today. I cannot predict what will happen in my classes. I sometimes feel it is a YL skit that I am doing in two languages, but It is little moments like these that make me smile and keep going. There's joy students get when we play football at break. The acceptance that different and bad are not synonyms. Christmas is celebrated differently, but family is still important.

Every past Christmas Eve I have folded bulletins, sang Christmas hymns, listened to my Dad's sermon, bundled up in thick coats, and snuck homemade caramels before bed. This year I taught in the morning, cleaned my room, sent late Christmas cards (sorry friends) and didn't listen to a single Christmas song. However, that night one of my friends called me after his shift teaching and asked to go grab tea. We ended up walking for an hour out under the stars talking about life, family, distance, and goals in our lives. We did drink tea, laugh, create more inside jokes before I headed home for bed. My friend is Muslim. Not only is Christmas not in the Ethiopian calendar, it is not in his. Yet he knew what it is like to be away from family on holidays and wanted to make sure I was doing okay. He encouraged me to be strong and not to be sad, even if I do miss my family and friends. He also made me promise him to call him if I didn't have any Christmas plans as he knew my two American site mates were out of town. It's in the little things of walking and sharing a cup of tea that make the biggest difference.

Christmas Day I was walking back from the post office where packages and letters still haven't arrived when some students called me over to a suk. One was hitting around a football. We ended up playing pass volleyball style with the ball which attracted more people. Soon we we're standing in a circle playing volleyball under the hot afternoon sun. The student from my class is one who is quiet, doesn't participate on topic often, rarely speaks in English, always whispers to friends in Tigrigna and is full of energy. We ended up playing for an hour and a half before I had to go somewhere. On Friday, the student was all smiles and on topic. He explained (in Tigrigna and English) that yesterday was the happiest he has ever been. He thanked me for playing and wants to do it again sometime. I told him would should play in English next time and he was fine with that. It is the little things of playing, joy, happiness and smiles that encourage me to keep on going even when I am discouraged by the post office or a lesson plan doesn't go like it was supposed to.

About once a week a small group of school people get together for coffee ceremonies. As I was going to be gone to Adwa this weekend, they changed it to Thursday, unaware that Thursday was Christmas. The host, an English teacher from the opposite shift, made Silsi, shiro, injera and halibet (a whipped, white bean spread with lots of garlic). We crowded around the plate and laughed and joked as we all dug in, bumping elbows. They looked for a Christmas movie on TV and made up Christmas songs to sing. We are all so different. There was a Muslim, couple of Orthodox Christians and a Protestant. Our language skills range dramatically. Christmas is celebrated in different ways at different times. Yet, they had made me a red and white delicious meal (with 6 rounds of coffee) for Christmas. Little things.

Bummers happen in this life. Nothing is ever smooth sailing without flaws. Frustrations come up. But God sent Jesus (time doesn't really matter as much as the fact that He DID send him) to our crazy lives to open up a relationship with him. He put me in a community where i am loved and reminded of my purpose everyday with the smiles and light bulb moments in the classroom. Differences of religions aren't barriers unless we make them separate us from an individual. It's the little things that are God's blessings.