Guidelines

So here we are a week away from swearing in and I can’t wait for training to be over with. I am sure that when the time comes and it is coming quickly, the safety net of our language instructors and fellow volunteers will be sorely missed but for now the count down is on. I had imagined that as I got older it would get easier to deal with authority however, I know this will come as a surprise :P, I find my self twitching at every new “guideline” that we are presented with. It’s a funny thing but as soon as something that one wouldn’t want to do or even consider doing in the first place goes onto some formal “Don’t Do” list the compulsion to dissent takes on a life of it’s own. That’s not to say that it can’t be reined in, but it’s like waving a red flag in front of a bull and the language/culture facilitators are always in red. Maybe I can blame these compulsions on being a Sagittarius.
One would think living in another country would be feeding the need for freedom but sometimes it’s just the opposite. Ironically its students like myself that I dread having to deal with. I don’t know how I will ever be able to manage a classroom when I can perfectly well understand the pressing adolescent (and clearly later adult) urge to challenge authority. I wonder if the other teachers will appreciate when I encourage speaking out and debate. I mean really, how can anything ever transform or expand if one doesn’t dissent and disbelieve the supposed truths that are fed to constrain behavior. So it’s not the inconsistent running water, the swarming flys which find their way everywhere, the hoarding ants which seem to have no boundaries, the less than friendly treatment of animals, the visibility of absolutely everything we do which leads to the feeling of being in a traveling zoo, the packed schedule, the fear of requesting a condom rather than ice-cream (given the dangerously close pronunciation of the words) or the inability to understand the majority of what people are saying that is stressing me out; rather its the constant inner battle to keep my mouth shut, to do the assigned homework, to represent the US Gov’t and Americans in a way that puts our best foot forward, and to regard the seemingly endless list of rules as guidelines I would’ve set for myself anyways that is straining my nerves to their farthest point.
There’s lots of grumbling, mumbling, muttering and sputtering that thankfully offers some comic relief because without it I don’t know if we’d survive. As a former volunteer mentioned we will never forget training, I think forgive is more appropriate. Fortunately, I’ve landed myself on a committee of representatives from each sector, which meet with the administration to voice volunteer concerns and frustrations. Elected as the health-sector representative, I figure there’s no better place to try and practice some of those Conflict Resolution skills and to get a few things off my chest. While I know that I do unleash a few exasperations here, this is the time to mention that training has been extremely well organized and a lot of wonderful people have put in a tremendous amount of effort to support us. However, grouching along comes with the territory of not enough sleep, over stimulation and a packed schedule. On that note, the weeks are flying by and my Armenian is surprisingly speeding along with my greatest aptitude being counting to 10 and taking 3 deep breaths…. :)