I
grew up with Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the gang. Philip and I would go to
Costco with Dad when the new books came out and were already racing through it
on the way home (benefit of living 30 miles away from town). I laughed when Aunt
Marge bloated up and the Weasly twins made their grand escape on brooms. I
cried when Dobby and Sirius died, held my breath for the quiddich games and
tried to figure out what was going to happen next. On long car rides to
Spokane, we would remain silent as Jim Dale read the books on tape being unique
with individual character’s voices. One year Philip had a Harry Potter themed
birthday party with a mobile of quiddich match that stayed up longer than the
party. Although I was often questioned why I was reading it, as it “wasn’t
Christian,” I was thankful my
parents agreed that it is just a good really good story. Most of the spells
have Latin or hidden meanings, which were fun to figure out along the way.
My
friend, Kelsey, has a similar obsession.
Although Kelsey and I now live 60ish
kilometers (37.2 miles) away from each other when we couldn’t decide what to do
on a free Saturday night in our own sites, we decided to start a Harry Potter Movie
Marathon. We’d push “play” on our own computers and text each other throughout.
Soon we realized that many of our comments related to where we were now. As it
took days to get through all the movies (we do have jobs), so also this blog
took days. It’s a “brief” collection of some of our thoughts and conversations.
(Please take into consideration that there are 7 books, but 8 movies worth of
quotes so “brief” is completely relative.)
“Now, if you two don’t mind, I’m
going to bed before either of you come up with another clever idea to get us
killed, or worse, expelled.”
“She needs to sort out her priorities.”
-----
“Lucky we
didn’t panic.”
“Lucky
Hermione pays attention in herbology.”
--Hermione/Ron
and Harry, The Sorcerer’s Stone
Hermione values education. So much so that Ron thinks her
putting death as lesser evil to expulsion is “mental.” However, as Ron and
Harry realize in the dungeon’s labyrinth, it is very lucky she is smart,
educated, informed, and dedicated to her studies. Throughout the entire series
Hermione’s brains prevent them from being killed.
If you have the chance, look up the documentary entitled “Girl
Rising.” Although it is a couple years old, it goes into the grim facts that
very few females are educated world-wide and the causes which prevents them
from attending classes. I won’t put the statistics in here, but I do want to
make the point that Hermione is a symbol for equality in education, strength of
the female mind, and that girls
young and old should be given the opportunity to take extra classes, research
in a library and hopefully be appreciated.
As I have gotten to know my female students more and more
throughout this school year, I wonder how many will get caught in culture’s
trap of forced marriages, early child bearing, and other obstacles that will
prevent them from attending education. How many of my bright-eyed, eager to
learn females will not find themselves at school next year or the year after? I
am blessed that half of my students are female, but know that other schools
tend to have substantially more males enrolled. Some of my top students are
female, but majorities are male as they have time to get homework done. I cannot
create the change over night, but I do try daily to remind my students to
pursue their education, to be the Hermione Granger role model in their own
classrooms.
“I’m
telling you, it’s spooky! She knows more about you than you do!”
“Who doesn’t?”
---Ron and
Harry, The Sorcerer’s Stone
Everywhere
I go kids ask me to twirl them. Adults laugh and wave. I’m used to the hundreds
of looks. What I am not used to is why. This past week I’ve had about a dozen
people come up to tell me they saw me somewhere in town. Why are they telling
me this? Do they think that I don’t know where I was? They just think it
relevant that I know that they saw me. They tell me I haven’t been to the pool
hall in “x” days. They tell me I go to the post office too often. They ask why
I leave for school early. Some days it seems they know more about what I am
doing and where I am than my daydreaming brain can pinpoint. Unlike Harry whose
scar identifies him, my light skin is the beacon of awe.
“It does not do to dwell on dreams,
Harry, and forget to live.”
--Professor Dumbledore, The
Sorcerer’s Stone
My
whole life I’ve dreamed about boarding a plane, traveling half way around the
world and teaching. I was going to finish high school, graduate in four years with
a degree from a university, and head out to Africa to teach. I’m a long-term
planner. So now, for once in my life, I really have no idea what the next 4-10
years is going to look like. That’s a little unnerving.
Kelsey knows what she is doing after Peace Corps. She is going
to take her GRE this summer, head to grad school in the fall of 2016 and get a
master’s in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESOL). I could go back to
Spokane, apply for Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) programs
around the world, do Teach for America, or hundreds of other doors that could opened
for me with my degree and experience. I have no idea where God will lead me.
One
thing I have learned about being in this new place with unknown future goals,
is how important living daily really is. I can dwell on the dreams of clubs,
murals, grad school, traveling back to the states, but that prevents my mind
from focusing on what is ultimately important: the here and now.
“Me?
Books and cleverness. There are more important things:
friendship
and bravery, and Harry, just be careful.”
---Hermione, The Sorcerer’s Stone
Packed away somewhere is my official transcript and diploma from
Whitworth University and my teaching certificate for the state of Washington.
The culmination of four years of long nights, countless due dates, standardized
tests, and internshps in three documents. What did your college years give you?
When
I think of college, I don’t think about the note taking or research done for a
paper. I don’t think about hassle of balancing classes, homework, and work. I
think of randomly color coordinating with my freshmen roommate first day of
college and the memories we made in those four years together. I think of the
nights I got kicked out of the HUB at 2 in the morning talking to a friend just
to continue the discussion in one of Arend’s lounges. I think of the basketball
game a girl told Philip to be quiet in the middle of the cheering section so I
yelled louder behind her. When she gave me a horrified look, Philip responded,
“That’s my sister.” I think of going to grandparents’ house with friends for
tater tot casserole, Thursday nights for watching “Mysteries at the Museum”
with Grandpa, and meeting Grandma at water aerobics. I think of eating Nutella
off a spoon, singing at Hosanna with friends, “prison tat” prime times, running
through sprinklers, cheering on the basketball and football teams, smiles from
students, and sipping tea with professors. I think of the friendships.
Peace
Corps is the same way. While the material I teach my students is important, the
relationships I establish with them are much more so. Being invited to play
volleyball with them or eating a meal for a holiday makes me remember that
these are the things that are going to last longer than the lesson I taught
them.
Some
people have called me brave for moving around the world to find these
friendships. I am still coming to my own definition of brave (maybe will write
a different blog about it someday), but I do know that bravery is partially
just overcoming one’s introverted fears and uncertainties to do what God has
called one to do. It’s going to buna ceremonies and it’s starting a
conversation that you know will end in someone laughing at your Tigrigna. I’m not
brave, but God is here so why should I worry? Especially when I have Isaiah
54:4 and Psalm 46:5 on the door reminding me before I go anywhere.
“What
happened down in the dungeon between you and
Professor
Quirl is a complete secret, so, naturally the whole
school
knows.”
---Dumbledore, The Sorcerer’s
Stone
Maybe
it has something to do with the fact our phones only have so many contacts or
we crave speaking in English with native English speakers, but news flies fast
in the Peace Corps. Between groups and regions, it doesn’t take long for
something that seemed secret to become common knowledge. However, just like in
high school and college, I always get the news two weeks after the fact.
Sometimes the news is complete rumors, other times it has more details than DVinci’s
masterpieces. It’s a mark of true friendship for those who stay quiet or divert
the rumors from circulating.
“What
exactly is the function of a rubber duck?”
----Mr. Weasley The Chamber of
Secrets
The main significance of this question is Harry’s complete
bewilderment as he sits at the Weasley’s dining room table for the first time.
He’s spent the whole night escaping in a flying car flown by two minors and has
just sat down when this question is thrown his way.
This is me every day someone asks me to clarify something in
English or to comment about what life in America is like. Often the comment is
thrown from left field and not at all what is expected. “What’s the main
difference of V2 and V3?” “There are dirt roads in America? No you lie.” “You
like it here? But you are from America?” “What is the difference in probably
and possibility?” “What does gastroenteritis mean?” I know there are answers to
these questions, but often times I just pause and give a “huh?” look.
It’s also the same whenever I’m walking with students and I
think they forget that I am foreign. They start rambling quickly in Tigrigna,
assuming I am getting all the meanings. Sometimes I translate pieces that don’t
make sense...like rubber ducks have purposes.
“Why
spiders? Why couldn’t it be 'follow
the butterflies'?”
----Ron Weasley The Chamber of
Secrets
I love Ron. He’s completely honest and blunt in his disgust
about the task ahead. However, he doesn’t allow that fear to keep him at
Hagrid’s hut and let Harry go into the Forbidden Forest alone. No. He goes in.
Into his fear---which turns out to be massive, mammoth, and multiplied by
hundreds of 8-legged beasts.
Some
days I don’t want to leave my house. I question why I couldn’t be following
butterflies for work. Instead of having language barriers, few supplies, spotty
cellphone service, no water, I wish I was in the States where things are
substantially easier. It’s still work to follow butterflies, but you aren’t
facing fear along with it.
Peace Corps has taught me that I can’t let that fear keep me in.
Instead, I battle the language barriers to get approval for new mural projects
and English Club. Instead, I adapt the few supplies to be reusable for all
classes this year and maybe next. Instead, I write letters and go visit people.
Instead, I ration water and am thankful for electricity. Instead, I learn to
love spiders.
“Yeah,
take it away Ernie. It’s going to be a bumpy ride!”
---Head
Hanging in the Night Bus, The Prisoner of
Azkaban
While there are many fascinating things about the purple double
decker bus Harry gets on to escape Privet Drive, Kelsey’s and my first
reactions were: “WOW! Room on the bus!” “Beds!” “No animals.” Proof that living
in Ethiopia for nine months is plenty of enough time realize the luxury of
these things.
I may have ridden the bus twice in Spokane, once in Portland,
the subways in New York and London, and a double decker a couple of times in my
life. I’ve been cramped between my brothers (they insisted I have good
shoulders to sleep on) for car rides around the world, but nothing really like
it is here.
Mini buses are the primary form of transportation. Like the
Night Bus, one has to stick out an arm to flag them down. Then you pile,
squeeze, scrunch, twist on. Often times the windows don’t open, and if they do
there is an odd superstition that fast air will kill you. The more people in
means more money made so, although there are laws about how many people can be
in a minibus, many people are packed in.
My friend Natanya has a working theory that if a bus has to
swerve 95% of the time it’s a donkey’s fault. It’s true. Sheep, camels, goats,
cows, and people, however, also get in the way. Although most of the road is nicely
paved, there are giant pot-holes, quick turns and random things in the road
that make the way unpleasant.
We did
realize though that Ernie, the Night Bus Driver’s driving isn’t much different
than the majority of drivers around here. However, unlike the magical world of
wizards, things don’t jump out of the way or the bus can’t suck itself in.
Instead one often wonders if they are going to make a corner, hit something, or
get to the destination in one piece.
“Happiness
can be found even in the darkest of times,
when one only remembers to turn on
the light.”
---Prof.
Dumbledore, The Prisoner of Azkaban
The
dark is discouraging. It takes out the safety of walking at twilight. It plays
nasty tricks on one’s mind. Dark times aren’t much better.
My
definition of a “bad day” has changed dramatically since embarking on this
adventure. What starts off as a small thing can become a bigger deal when one
realize it’s the tenth or forty-seventh time that day it’s happened. Familiar,
standard coping mechanisms are no longer available. In the States I would drive
on the back roads with the windows down and music blaring or curl up in the
library and forget about whatever. Here, that isn’t an option.
It’s
hard to find happiness when the darkness drags on for days. When you just want
to hear your mom’s, dad’s, brothers’, friends’ voice to tell you it’s going to
be okay…eventually. But you know, that no one really understands what your
day-to-day struggles are. You feel alone when you are surrounded by others rapidly
speaking and laughing at punch lines you can’t understand.
But
there is always a candle to light or a window to open to let in the light. There
is a little thing that can relieve the pressure if just for a moment. It’s
embroidering on the front steps of your house as the sunsets. It’s the smiles
of kids running towards you with arms wide yelling your name. It’s rereading
letters for the hundredth time. One just has to remember where the switch is to
turn something negative positive.
“How
’m I doing me first day?”
“Brilliant, Professor.”
---Prof.
Hagrid & Harry, The Prisoner of
Azkaban
Although
we love Hagrid since he delivered Harry his invitation to Hogwarts on his
completely miserable 11th birthday, in the third book he is given his dream
job—“care of magical creatures.” True to his larger than life personality, he
starts off the first day with hippogriffs, giant half-horse half-bird animals.
He has just had Harry bow, touch, and fly one when he asks Harry this question.
Up until this point, Harry’s remark is completely adequate. The
lesson is interesting and brilliant. However, within seconds of Harry
acknowledging this, Draco Malfoy opens up his taunting, drawling mouth causing
the prideful beast to attack. Hagrid’s lesson goes from 7th heaven to the
depths of despair. A discouraging conflict remains throughout the book.
Teaching in the Peace Corps is like this. There are days when
one class is amazing and the next is absolutely horrible. It’s the same lesson,
but some thing happened somewhere that causes it to backfire. Sometimes it happens in the same class.
First 22 minutes are wonderful and the last 20 are torture. Often one focuses
on that horrible, but that is counterproductive.
I journal every night. One way that I fight the urge to dwell
too long on the negative is keeping my journal chronological. This is something
Peace Corps service has taught me. It helps me remember the remarkable things
that happened in the day and put the negative back into perspective. It’s to
remember the brilliant times to try to find ways to turn the negative that way
too.
“Dad,
where are we going?”
“Haven’t
the foggiest. Keep up.”
---Weasley Twin & Mr. Weasley, The Goblet of Fire
Peace Corps volunteers laugh about the lack of organization and
abundance of spontaneity one often feels. The term “flexible” is used thousands
of times in training. Often one doesn’t know what a training is for or what the
ultimate goal is of something. However, we are told to keep coming and going.
And we do.
The Weasley children, Harry, and Hermione are heading to find a
port key to take them to the Quiddich World Cup, but don’t know where they
are
going or what, exactly they are even looking for. Here, we are not sure when the mid exams are or what material is
going to be tested. What I do know is that I have to keep up with the other
English teachers and prepare my students as best I can.
“Keep
your friends close.”
---Sirius Black, The Goblet
of Fire
What
does close mean? Is it a matter of proximity in location or the strong
emotional affection two people exert on each other? Is it a combination there
of?
If
the dementors or death eaters wanted to torture anyone to find information out
about me, Kelsey would need a very protective charm put around her. She knows
details about my horrible days and the sunshine ones. She knows the details of
things that letters or phone calls can’t do justice to. She’s a text, phone
call, bus ride away. She is close.
But there are friends thousands of miles and hours of flight
time away that are very close to me. Those that I send letters to and get the
best encouragement on facebook from. Those that know more than blogs and Facebook
status, and check to see how I am doing. Those that ask questions and those
that send chocolate and seeds.
Sirius
knows Harry would rather not have others put in danger because of him.
Throughout the series Hermione and Ron have to remind Harry that he is not
alone in his battles. They will go through the trap door under the mammoth
three-headed dog, help find solution to the tasks of the tournament, go to the
Department of Ministry for some secret door and will skip their 7th year of
Hogwarts to fight Voldemort with him.
Keeping
friends close means being honest, open, real and fair with them. It means
answering, “I’m having a bad day” instead of keeping the “I’m fine” mask in
place. It’s asking them questions and genuinely caring about the response. It’s
acknowledging that some things are hard to translate through cultural
differences, but trying anyways. It means not allowing the physical distance to
impact your relational distance.
“Curiosity
is not a sin, Harry, but you should
exercise
caution.”
---Prof. Dumbledore, The
Goblet of Fire
While
I am not dunking my head in a swirling basin in Professor Dumbledore’s
office,
curiosity presents itself daily to me. Recently that has been in the form of
edible dishes.
My
parents had an outstanding law when I was growing up that you had to at least
try something once before you weren’t going to eat it. If you didn’t like what
Mom had made you had to make your own meal. I like pretty much everything
because of this.
I try new food and there is plenty of that around here. However,
last month I couldn’t eat anything without excessive chest pain. It felt like a
knife was digging into my chest whenever I ate or drank anything (even water).
My throat would constrict with pain. It would happen even when I wasn’t eating.
It made sleeping, teaching, and just functioning difficult.
When I called the Peace Corps’ Medical Officers (PCMOs) and
explained what was happening. I was told to exercise caution on trying
different people’s coffee, dishes that were excessively spicy, and tea. In
their view I was having a gas problem with too much acid, and my malaria
medicine was reacting. Change of malaria meds, healing medicine, and limiting
coffee for a couple weeks got me feeling better. However, I still exercise
caution whenever I eat other’s food so that this doesn’t happen again.
Peace Corps has also taught me to exercise great caution in
concerns to the water I drink. Kelsey’s water in Adwa is safe to drink at
restaurants. Water at my site may cause diarrhea if not filtered. Wherever I am
and a glass of water is placed in front of me from an unknown source my mind
battles the curiosity that this is good, but I have to exercise caution to not
drink it.
“While
we might come from different places and speak
in
different tongues, our hearts beat as one…The bonds
of
friendship we made this year will be more important
than
ever. Remember that.”
----Professor
Dumbledore, The Goblet of Fire
The
friends at site I’ve only known for 6 months. My Peace Corps friends have only
been in my life for 9 months. We are all different. Different religions,
accents, languages, cultures and backgrounds. Some of my friends are only
children and others one of 13. Some friends live in Tigray and others in the
far south of Ethiopia. Some have fair white skin and others deep dark brown.
We’re all different.
This week I also watched Disney’s “Tarzan.” When young boy
Tarzan is feeling different and an outcast, his gorilla mom has him feel his
heart beat and then hers. To his astonishment they are the same. Differences
can often divide, but deep, down people are people with the same heartbeat.
My
Peace Corps friends and I continue to function on a pumping heart for making an
impact, no matter how small, at our sites that our Peace Corps Oath of Service
started. The teachers at my school
continue to show me how to coexist despite differences. All my new friends are
vitally important to making sure I continue to pursue a pumping heart towards
the oath I took.
This
year has been hard. The next 18 months are going to be hard. It is important
for me to remember these new friendships are established to help me succeed and
thrive through these times.
“Dark
and difficult times lie ahead, soon we must
all
face the choice between what is right and what is
easy.”
------Prof. Dumbledore, The Goblet of
Fire
At
the end of the first semester, we tallied our students’ scores and turned them
in to our respected schools. Most all PCVs used the same grading sheet that
their school uses. However, directors around the country started debating and
questioning the PCVs work. Instead of looking at the progress students did
make, directors hampered, condemned, and degraded volunteers for their students
having low scores. Many were asked to change the scores to improve school
report.
It
would be easy to change a student’s grade. It wouldn’t take that much work to
add extra points in to push them above passing. Many teachers do this. However,
that’s not right. It’s the reason why so many of our students can’t recognize
the ABC’s or read at Grade 1 levels. It’s why students become furious at us
when we don’t change their grades when they ask or bribe us. It’s why directors
ask us why our students’ are below other teachers.
This is one difficult time we will have to face three more times
before escaping back to the States. It’s not the only hardship we will have to
do. It is easier to stay in one’s house to watch movies than start new
projects. It is easier to just speak English than to battle the language
barrier. It is easier, but that doesn’t make it right.
What
is right is trying to integrate into the culture by learning the language. What
is right is trying to fulfill our program’s goals of educating teachers,
students and improving libraries. What is right is doing what we took an oath
to fulfill.
“Everything’s
going to change now, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
---Hermione
and Harry, The Goblet of Fire
In
a recent letter from a friend back home, she voiced the fear that everything
was going to change. That I would change and come back completely different and
foreign. In a conversation with a fellow PCV a couple weeks ago, we talked
about how everything is going to change and be different than when we left. In
the last 9 months away, my youngest brother Thomas has started university and
gotten a girlfriend, my dad got a new job in Oregon, my parents house-sat in
Spokane, WA, then bought a new house in Hermiston, OR. Philip will graduate in
May and head off somewhere afterwards for a new chapter of his life. Mom will
move down officially to Oregon in June. That’s just the changes in my immediate
family. Weddings, birthdays, kids, moves, grad school are all happening to
friends and extended family that I have or will miss. The dock at my
grandparents’ were I lived during my college summers is currently in pieces and
going to be redone soon. Stateside is changing.
But
I’m changing too. I’ve been told that I need to speak up more. My thoughts and
ideas are shifting with the new experiences. My level of “dirt” tolerance on my
skin and clothes has shifted drastically. Peace Corps is changing the way I
think about foreign aid, sustainability and utilizing resources.
Unlike
the impending doom of Lord Voldemort, not everything
is going to change. For me, I still need chocolate chips when I cry during a book.
My love for God is only deepening, teaching is my passion, and standing in the
rain is completely refreshing. Stateside, my grandparents’ blue carpet is still
going to be there to lay out on with brothers for movies, fro-yo outings with
friends are going to be exciting and fun, Charlotte (our family dog) is still
wanting to go for a run after circling around my ankles 54 times, my dad and
brothers are going to have the best hugs, I will be able to paint nails with
mom, Colbert Presbyterian Church will still have sun streaming in on the right
side of the congregation and Mill City Presbyterian Church will have it coming
through the stain glass windows.
Change
is inevitable. But God is in control of that change. Since He is pretty
remarkable and keeper of my trust, change doesn’t seem like a bad thing.
“It
is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge
will be sufficient to get you through your examinations
which, after all, is what school is all about.”
---Professor
Umbridge, The Order of the Phoenix
When
Professor Umbridge (does any one else cringe when you hear this name?) makes
this announcement in the first Defense Against the Dark Arts class, she is
reminding them of the control that the government is inflicting at Hogwarts.
Her and the Ministry’s purpose is to attempt to dissuade individuals that
Voldemort is back by convincing them there is nothing to fear, nothing to
prepare to fight against. They do not need to practice defensive spells if
there is no one going to attack them.
When teaching a new concept or reviewing prior knowledge,
students always want to know the formula. For example the formula for Simple
Past is: Subject+V2+Object+Punctuation (I+ate+injera+.). They want to
know that you always change a “y” to an “i” before adding a suffix like “-ly”
for adverbs. Everything is very rule oriented. Why?
In
Ethiopia students have to take a National Exam their 10th and 12th grade years.
This exam dictates their future. If they fail 10th they cannot go on to 11th
grade. Their 12th grade scores directly result in which universities and
colleges they are eligible for. These tests are entirely multiple choice.
Students
have access to previous test packets. Many students come up to ask me for
answers and/or clarification on these. Some of the questions have multiple
right answers. They do not need to write or speak English to pass the test.
They need the theoretical knowledge of the language to find the best answer and
fill in a bubble on their tests.
While
there are no wizards intent on killing students here, there is the testing
practice that discourages authentic creation and use of the English Language.
In both schools theoretical knowledge is often deemed acceptable.
“Working
hard is important, but there is something
that
matters even more: believing in yourself.”
---Harry, The Order of the
Phoenix
Harry
is training up Dumbledore’s Army, a mixed group of students protesting
Umbridge’s many educational degrees. They use the Room of Requirement in order
to practice skills to defend against dark arts. Harry is teaching them the many
spells he has used and found important in defending and defeating his enemies.
However, he realizes that there is something more important than just the
effort put into the task. One has to believe deep down that he/she can do the
task if it is going to be powerfully effective.
Teaching
in the Peace Corps is tough. Teaching anywhere has its struggles. Working hard
in order to achieve goals is key. Here, working hard entails rearranging the
textbook material, learning key phrases in Tigrigna, creating manipulative that
might last, adapting for changes in daily, weekly, semester schedules,
correctly assessing 210 students formally and informally, and walking 30
minutes to school in any type of weather.
There
are days when I leave the house confused about my lesson. When I’ve done all
the planning and get into the classroom and realize it’s not going to work.
There are days when all my hard work is underappreciated and non-productive.
But it’s on those days that I make sure to walk, to erase the board, to remind
myself about something that I can do. I can speak English. I can adapt and be
flexible. I can believe that God can do anything through me if I let Him.
“How
can someone feel all that? They’d explode.”
“Just because you’ve got the emotional range of a teaspoon.”
---Ron and
Hermione, The Order of the Phoenix
In
the Ethiopian context, emotions are closely monitored and are a very personal
affair. They have mastered the art of always being okay and fine. The exception
is when someone dies. Then there is great bereavement through loud wailings and
moanings.
This can make is very hard for them to understand when I get
frustrated, flustered or down. When I did share feeling discouraged once with a
friend, he told me to not be sad, don’t worry and be happy. I don’t need to
feel all the feelings of being thousands of miles from home, teaching 70 students
on a rough day, and all the other things that Ron claims would make me explode.
It’s been a learning experience to be in a society where
emotions are closely monitored or not expressed. In the states, when a child
falls down he or she would cry loudly till an adult comforts him/her. I have
seen kids fall hard, yet they pop back up without a sound. It’s all a matter of
habit.
“You’re
not a bad person. You’re a good person who has
had bad
things happen to you…The world isn’t split into
good and bad
people. We’ve both got light and dark inside
us. What matters is
the part we choose to act on. That’s
who we really are.”
---Sirius
Black, The Order of the Phoenix
Recently
I’ve rereading some of my blogs. I’m shocked at how much darkness I put in
there without really realizing. I talk about harassment happening frequently.
I’ve shared what teachers and director have called others. I’ve expressed the feeling of being in
a mud puddle of junk trying to find silver linings. There is darkness here.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t light too. The same
individuals are also texting me encouragement. They are there for a smile when
I want to cry. They translate a joke so I can laugh too. The director lets me
go to trainings and repaint murals. There is light here.
Individuals are like places too. There is good and bad in each
of us at least I know there is in me. However, as Sirius points out to his
godson, it’s our actions that speak for which side others view us as.
I’d like to think Sirius is also warning Harry to not quickly
judge himself. The same goes for others and their actions. There is good and
bad. In that one moment they chose to show the dark instead of the light. Does
that one moment define a person or is an accumulation of actions that determine
a true character?
“What?
We can’t do that. We have to plan. We have to
figure
it out.”
“Hermione when do any of our plans every actually worked?
We
plan, we get there, and all hell breaks loose.”
---Hermione
and Harry, The Deathly Hallows
Harry
and Ron want to be spontaneous, quick, and just get on with their horcrux
search. They recognize that there is very little time left now that Voldemort
is onto them and has the Elder Wand. Hermione, true to her punctual and
practical nature, wants to set out a plan first. Harry gives her back the
reality of their situation that could also summarize the entire series. They
never really plan out what is going to happen, but adapt to when troubles break
out.
Kelsey and I are both trained teachers. We’ve done the years,
practicums, lesson plans to be certified in our respective states. What we both
realize through our Peace Corps experience is that lesson plans are, to borrow
a line from Elizabeth Swan, “more like guidelines anyway.” We both plan. We
figure out what is necessary for students. But often times when we get into the
classroom, chaos ensues.
Instead of
backing down though, we adapt, change, and flex. One of my favorite professors
at Whitworth constantly asked us “What is your purpose?” and encouraged us to
ask that of ourselves throughout the lesson. As long as we are pursuing the
purpose, learning objective, it doesn’t really matter the means by which we end
up at the outcome. Students need the material in one way or another.
Although
JK Rowling never joined the Peace Corps and her characters are fictional, many ties
can be made. Her magical world offers light to the real, muggle-inhabited one.
From food to classroom to relationships, Peace Corps is teaching me lessons
with the same themes.
