Eid has come. I think the actually day itself was this past Saturday, but I cannot be certain. My break lasts from last Thursday at about 3pm (mostly because none of the students showed up) until when I go to work on Sunday morning. It is a long break in which I feel nothing of any consequence will happen. But this is good for me, I do not want anything overly exciting to happen. I want to just take a day or two to relax without having to worry about people and being around them.
This of course is a disadvantage to living with two very social (and socially controlled) Lebanese. Does it matter that they are Lebanese? Normally I would want to say 'no', but the truth of it is 'YES!" Of course it matters! Much of what they do, they do because of their culture. They are constantly inviting the other Lebanese employees over for shisha, dinner, or just to hang out. They had a Lebanese BBQ two days ago which I helped with (and was the only nonLebanese there). I didn't really have much of a choice, but at least they told me the night before that they were planning to do it. That is an improvement over all the other times. They expect me to be alright with all of the visitors and have no problem with them coming over. I, however, get very tired from being around other people and need a break once in a while. This does not mean that I don't want them to come over; it just means that I need to be able to be prepared for it and to have a day or two to myself as well. This is apparently a foreign concept in this part of the world.
I didn't have the opportunity to celebrate Thanksgiving last Thursday, so a few of my coworkers and I are going to do so this Wednesday. I think it will be a nice chance to sit and relax and eat. And I will have enough time afterward to be able to recover from the experience. I am really looking forward to it because it means that I will get a chance to spend time with my coworkers 8 year old daughter. It is a great boost to my mental health to be able to interact with a child again. I miss being around children, and I don't have much of an opportunity to do that here.
I am still attempting to learn Turkish, though it is coming very slowly. I need to become more focused with just about everything I do, but especially this! I have been too long out of studying that I am no longer used to it. I need to change that as I would like to eventually go back and do some more studying. I want that PhD!
With so many changes, I am glad that this break has come though. The dean left and the new dean has come in. I am not sure what types of changes this will bring with it, but we shall see. I have also had to pick up more teaching hours as they appointed one of the new English Instructors as the Academic Coordinator (or something like that). She will take on a lot of administrative type duties and, therefore, had to lessen her teaching load. Now I will teach 28 hours a week. My Mondays will be the toughest because I will be working from 7:45am - 6:00pm and then have Turkish class until 8:30pm! Hopefully this will not be too much for me. This will continue until we leave for break on the 18th of December. This is not an overly long time, so I should be alright.
Next semester is anticipated to be worse. They are saying anything specific, but it is the whole "we have to go down before we come up" routine. We shall see what happens, I suppose. Wish me luck in everything; I am sure I will make it!!
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