I woke up feeling really joyful yesterday. Then I had a series of unfortunate events and came home feeling not so joyful.
1. I found out that my hotel in Singapore is full, so I have to spend 15 hours in the airport instead. I could pay $10/hour for the airport hotel, but that means that just to sleep for 6 hours, I'd have to pay $60! Ugh... I have better things to do with my money. Like buy American candy.
2. I'm thinking the Blackberry thing might be a stretch. Aswan is researching it more today, but based on what we were told by a variety of BB owners yesterday, if you buy one here, you can't use it in America unless you pay $200-300 extra to get it unlocked. I can't afford to buy one in America unless I buy it WITH an AT&T plan, in which case I could get a refurbished one for free. But I'd have to sign a 2 year contract, and it costs $325 to cancel the contract early. And there's no guarantee I'd be able to use the phone when I got back to Indonesia. Soooo... Yeah, researching more.
3. You know how there's always that one person in your life that you have to live with or work with and you KNOW your life would be so much easier if you just didn't have to deal with that ONE person every day? Yeah, I've got one of those. It's a student. He's in 9th grade. He's living here with a host family (his family lives in America). He is absolutely and totally ADD. Can't stop talking. Can't sit still. Has to argue everything I say. IN CLASS. He cannot read social cues, and he goes out of his way to annoy me because he knows it pushes my buttons. Other students rejoice when this student is absent, and though I'd never show it on the outside, so do I. Guess who I found out yesterday is on the exact same flight with me all the way from Solo, through the 15 hour Singapore layover, to Tokyo, and on to Detroit? Just guess.... And while you're at it, guess who told his mom that we're on the same flight? And guess whose mom emailed me yesterday to ask me to accompany him home? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!! He already told me he hopes he can sit next to me so that he can talk to me "THE WHOLE WAY HOME!"
4. I lost a point on my TESOL score. Only one point. Out of 250. But still, it's not 100%. I was hoping for another 100. I was confused as to why until I realized that I had misread some directions and not posted something that I was supposed to post like 2 weeks ago, so it's totally my fault. Grrrr.
5. After those 4 main discouraging things, I trudged home last night to find muddy footprints everywhere, grass, leaves and silver paint on my bathroom floor, and half the electricity in my house not working. I was able to fix that once I realized that someone had come into my house and unplugged EVERYTHING except the fridge. Lights and chargers work better when you plug them in. But the icing on the cake was when I stepped on shards of plastic scattered across the floor. With bare feet. Apparently, somebody had ripped a wall outlet out of the wall instead of just unscrewing it, because there were pieces of it all over my living room floor. Pretty sure I found most of them with my feet. And whoever was there didn't even replace the outlet... I really have no clue what is going on in my house this week, but I REALLY hope they are done soon. Because I am really tired of coming home from work and having to sweep and mop my whole house before it is safe to occupy.
But God always mixes some good in with the bad. Such as...
1. Yesterday was our last chapel of the year, so we had a great time praying over those who are leaving - seniors, teachers who are moving on and students who are moving to other islands or back to their home countries. But then we had a time of rejoicing as we also prayed over all those who are STAYING.
2. The whole high school broke into Taylor Swift's "Love Story" during lunch because one kid had brought a guitar. It was amusing. Just like in High School Musical. Or not...
3. After lunch, one senior walked up to me and said, "You remind me of Taylor Swift! You're so skinny and tall and pretty! And you have big eyes and curly hair!" She's Korean, so that's why I seem so tall. And I'm assuming that all white people look the same to her, because I look nothing like Taylor Swift. But still, it's nice to hear those compliments. Especially on days like yesterday.
4. Yearbook is off to the printer and class had nothing to do yesterday. So we definitely did NOT have a class party. DEFINITELY NOT. Because the principal said we are not allowed because it is not a good use of school time. So we DID NOT do that. I don't even know where all those two liters, bags of chips, ice cream bars and rolls of kimbab (Korean food) came from!
5. Got my last final finished, so basically, I am done for the rest of the year, with the exception of grading. Today, every class has their final chapter test of the year. Tomorrow, I have some final review things planned with them. Then next week, it's finals time! I. AM. DONE.
6. TWO students brought American candy to school yesterday and shared with me. I got Skittles, Nerds and Laffy Taffy. Oh, so good!
7. I got to have noodles and dumplings for dinner with three of my best friends in one of my favorite holes in the wall. Seriously, there are cockroaches and rats and the guy who runs the whole operation looks like he's the head of the Indonesian mafia. But it's just so delicious.
7. Also, I have an awesome boyfriend who is meeting with the owner of the biggest cell phone store in town today to discuss the BB issue, who is going to pay my internet bill for me, who is going to buy gifts for my grandmother and sister (he already bought stuff for everyone else in my family because he is just that thoughtful), and who is running a few other errands for me. Last night, he asked me to make a list of what he has to do today on a sticky note for him because he knows I love making lists on sticky notes. He's catching on.
Now, with all those good things God gave me, why is it easier to focus on the frustration of the bad things? I don't want to be like that, but it seems like as the year gets more stressful and I get more tired, the bad things take priority in my mind. Sometimes it's hard not to dwell on them. So I'm praying that I won't be like that.
Two more weeks until I leave Indonesia. We got this.
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