Summer Musings – August 2009Posted by admin on August 31st, 2009
Some say the glass is half full, others say the glass is half empty; life is one of perspective. Nowhere else does this seem to apply more than international teaching. To use another cliché and literary reference: it was the worst of times; it was the best of times. This is how I would best describe my life as an international teacher. There is so much to gain from teaching abroad; experiencing new cultures, people and places. However, I have grown just as much, if not more from the difficulties inherent in my choice of lifestyle.
Changing jobs is stressful. So is moving apartments (or any living accommodations) and making new friends. Throw in foreign language, different food, and a move to a different continent into the mix, do it all at once and maybe you’ll get an idea of how stressful and overwhelming the life of international teaching can be. So why have I done this twice now, moving first to Frankfurt, Germany and Kampala, Uganda?
The answer lies in one word: “perspective”. The above lesson was one I learnt a lot earlier than my teaching career. During the end of my High School years, my mother became depressed. It was during the end of my first year at McGill University when it became serious.
As a sufferer of depression myself it is hard to explain to someone else how you feel. So many people have tried, but no matter how empathetic a person is, it is hard unless they have experienced the same or a similar feeling. After her death, our rabbi told me that I should be happy my mother was dead, as she no longer had to suffer. My first reaction was to shout, “I’m not happy, I want my mother back”, however with the passage of six years I have gained a different viewpoint, especially in relation to my career. I chose not to be a doctor; after being part of so much trauma I no longer wanted, or was capable of seeing death and disease with detachment. Instead I have become a teacher, a career that I love and look forward to every single day; I bring forth knowledge and open people to new choices and possibilities.I am a more empathetic and open person than I might have otherwise been. And last but not least, I know who my best and closest friends are and how to be a better friend to others!
This insight didn’t come overnight. I chose to leave Canada to run forward into other experiences, allowing me to get some perspective on the very tumultuous and stressful past six years of my life. How I elected to do this wasto travel the world in search of new experiences that could hopefully replace some of the old ones. Using these skills has made me a better person and a better teacher, and allowed me to live and enjoy each day to its fullest.
When I decided to go back to Canada on vacation, I wasn’t sure how I would feel. My entry into Canada wasn’t smooth; I collapsed on the flight from Amsterdam to Toronto with a fever and pain. The airline staff of KLM was wonderful, but trying to convince customs it wasn’t swine flu or malaria wasn’t fun. When asked where I was arriving from and answering Uganda, I could see the confusion and suspicion come into the eyes of the airport staff. One official even bluntly asked, “What am I doing there?” My answer of teaching didn’t seem to satisfy him, nor did the reason for coming back to see family and friends seem enough. I was sent to have my luggage searched, for a few brief moments I felt the struggle certain people are more likely subject to; for example; the general Muslim population in the wake of 9-11
Thanks to antibiotics I recovered within a week and was back to living my “regular” life in Canada while Africa seemed a far off dream as did the suffering I had undergone. What didn’t fade was my relief and appreciation of the full health coverage and access to doctors (both family members and public) to help me. Canada offers its population free healthcare. Although living outside the country, I still had no need to worry. Had this happened to me in Uganda where I picked up the harmful bacteria, I still have access to well trained doctors and full coverage care courtesy of my job. This relief was interposed with guilt that so many people, specifically Africans, constantly undergo this kind of suffering or greater but without the support I had enjoyed.
My Kampala apartment: outside balcony
People living just outside my apartment
People living just outside my apartment Once better, I was also struck by the amount of nice cars on the road. It took me a whole hour to remember I turn on the air conditioner instead of rolling down the windows. I laugh because it was one year before this, home for the summer from Germany, I couldn’t get over how ugly all the cars were after seeing a steady diet of Mercedes, Audi, BMW and Volkswagen on the roads. It was crazy how much my perspective and attitude had changed. Walking into a store in Canada I would ask myself: do I really need this? And the answer was usually no. Seeing people buy second hand clothes and living with no running water or electricity, it was impossible for me to spend lots of money on things I knew I didn’t need, even if it was new, shinny and pretty. As the weeks went by, though it was hard to hold on to this attitude with constant consumerism around me. Watching television, reading the newspaper and mostly just going through the tasks of everyday life, there was so much choice and availability around me that I began to regard this not only as normal, but as my given right. A hot shower and constant electricity was always there on demand; instead of realizing how much I relied on and enjoyed these resources, I took them completely for granted. Therefore, although sad to leave my friends and family behind, I was kind of happy to be heading back to Africa.Despite the ubiquitous Coke, and cell phone carrier advertising, there is little exposure to consumerism and few places to spend money; stores and items are limited and the availability of electricity irregular. Typical roadside in Ugand
Upon arriving in Kampala, I was curious as to how I would feel about being back in Africa. Turns out I felt great. Visiting my mechanic to get my car back, he had replaced the engine and wouldn’t let me pay the full cost because it was more than I said I had to spend. Driving my manual car on the otherside of the road with potholes and crazy drivers, I felt good: free. I could go to the bar in flip-flops, no makeup and feel great; it was still important to look good but you were not judged by the price and quality of the material items you wear. The Internet was painfully slow and the streets dirty but as my mother knew, and I know, and the malnourished but always smiling children all over Uganda know, it isn’t what you have in life that makes you happy. It is enjoying all the experiences and relationships that life has to offer, or at least, that’s my perspective on life. I couldn’t have asked for a better mother, I was privileged to have her in my life for twenty-two years and I certainly couldn’t find a better job than international teaching… at this stage of my life anyways. Such is my perspective on life, the universe and everything within.