One hundred eighty days seems more like 5 years. Plucking myself out of the safe, easy and familiar and dropping down in Indonesia; the Wild West of the East is probably the most challenging and radical adventure that I have ever been on. My alert level has been code red for a long time. Finally I am starting to see patterns, am developing routines, friendships, favorite places, realizing success teaching 6th grade. Emerging gradually from night to day. I am sure that the neuron connections in my brain must have doubled. So much learning going on simultaneously. And of course, you must know, that I love it.
One of the best parts is being
alone after busy days with 40 of the most endearing sixth graders. After a 10 hour day at school, I can't wait to sprint up the 10 flights of stairs (preparing for NH and NC hills) to my 2 bedroom apartment. Expansive views. Comfortably furnished. Free of clutter. Immaculately clean. Simply decorated, (finally by me), with treasures found in my wanderings. Best of all. Quiet.... or dancing! I've had so many opportunities in the stillness to pray, ponder, study Christian Science, weep with joy and sadness, dance to tunes much beloved and new and sassy. For the first time in my life, I am actually fulfilling New Year Resolutions: taking stock, breaking bad habits, going to bed early, waking up early, eating the unorthodox meals that I want to eat without .....anyone ......commenting......
The
other best part, of course, is being connected to friends and family in the States, and visits from Elizabeth and Alyson...and some of their college friends! Such a lifeline for me. Thank you everyone for sharing in this adventure by keeping in touch. It keeps me tethered and makes me realize how blessed I am.
Well, and what is with "Billy Joel"? I listen to his albums a lot, here. Growing up on Long Island, thirty miles from Manhattan, I always felt that there was something missing there.. I left the area in 1972 and never looked back; trying hard ever since to disguise my NY accent. Inevitably someone would notice a slip-up. Saying"wooawk and tooawk in New Yooawk" instead of walk and talk and New York. Usually another New Yorker. Well, Billy Joel, and his music makes me realize how much of a New Yorker I actually am and how much I miss the people there. His song entitled, "A New York State of Mind" gets me every time. The accents, wild gestulation, ethnic neighborhoods, argumentativeness, the frankness, loud laughter, Kosher and Italian food, the storytelling and a unique sense of humor that I rarely meet up with anywhere else. And I have also missed the ocean.
Finally, it is OK for me to say, "I am a New Yorker."
And my next breakthrough? To be able to say, understandingly, "I am love."
