We all know the little rhyme we tell
children (and each other) “Patience is a virtue”. Although that might be true,
it is one that is almost impossible to practice and can be even more difficult
when all you want to do is cry. My service so far has taught me a lot, but I
think more than anything I am learning the true meaning of patience and how to
be patient.
Patience is…
Waiting for a waitress to come to the
table to give you the check after eating
Knowing that meetings will be scheduled
and canceled on a moments notice, without communication to all the parties
involved
Being called “firenji” by kids when you
tell the same ones your name every day and having to continue to introduce
yourself 4 months in
Walking by teen and 20-year old boys
and having them laugh when one of them says, “Hello, how are you?” and being
able to ignore them
Assigning homework and knowing full
well that only about 8 kids out of 200 students will do it
Being reprimanded about your students’
grades and how low they are, and not being able to honestly say why they are
lower than the other teachers
Waiting for a bus to fill up to go to
your destination, when the sitting there is longer than the bus ride itself
Speeding through mountains, crammed in
a bus, with the windows all closed, and the bus driver on his phone or
adjusting the music to crank it louder
Having the same person call you 4 times
in a row because they call you when they need something, not because they
actually want to have a conversation
Knowing that there are only about 6
restaurants with the same food and deciding every day which one sounds the most
appealing
Running into people on the street who
ask you their name, but you can’t remember names and yet they still ask you
every time they see you
Having a lot of ideas for programs to
start, but having no means to start them
Attending a meeting all in another
language and having no one translate for you
Having to ask a teacher what signs in
the teachers lounge say because they are all written in Fidel and there is not
a single sign in English
Crossing your fingers and hoping the Internet
connects to talk to people back home
Having a hard time trusting people
after you hear stories about situations and other volunteers
Dealing with over powering people,
especially when you have no choice because they are a part of your work life
Waiting for the power to come back on
(even after a few hours) and finding something to occupy your time instead
Dialing and calling a person 10 times
to hope it connects once
Loading phone birr and having to
reenter the code on the card more than a few times for it to load
Having your computer shut down every
time the power goes out, and having to reopen your programs every time that
happens
Having to duct tape your socket to the
wall to keep it in place for power to run through it
Texting a fellow PCV to call you in a
certain amount of time to give you an opportunity to get out of a situation or talking
to someone
Going to the post office and not having
mail, or having mail for your site mate instead
Trying to communicate that your room is
in fact your room and you have privacy and are a grown up
Twirling one kid and then having to
twirl all the kids in the neighborhood once word got around
Having a bunch of Kindle books, but not
being able to get them to sync to your device (I’m a little technology inept)
Hearing music blasting at 10pm and 6am,
and finding something to distract yourself to sleep instead
Having flies land on you constantly
while sitting at buna or eating
Being expected to act a certain way because
you are an American woman and ignoring the stereotypes to act yourself
Being reprimanded for not doing
something, when it was never communicated to you in the first place and not
blowing up
Being charged more- “firenji price”-
just because you look different, even though you know the correct price and
speak the language
Having to buy phone birr so often
because all you want to do is talk to your friends around the country, but
there is no unlimited talking or texting
Having a letter from one town over take
2 weeks to get to the post office, and just hoping it will eventually get there
Waiting for water to boil when you are
hungry and just want to eat
Waiting for the network to come back
after a few minutes, hours, or days
Letting your classes know that they
have 45 class days to get through 5 chapters and every minute they talk is one
less minute they are learning English
Being told you can’t eat or drink
anymore because you have other houses to stop at on a holiday, and being
willing to just say “ishi”
Holding your friends hands through some
difficult moments in their lives, while trying to keep a cool and calm head
about the situation
Being told to do things on the Internet
for your job when the access is sporadic at best
Waiting for the “emergency” or “no
service” to change back to “ethio tel” on your phone
Having to call a friend or family back
10 times on FaceTime for it to connect for a blurry and delayed call
Not getting annoyed when other firenji
treat locals who you admire and like with bad attitudes
Sitting at a buna ceremony 2 cups into
a 3 round ceremony and you realize it’s 10 at night
Trusting that the next hour, day, and
week will hold something better than the present
Being patient is something I always
struggled with back in the States. In America we are so used to the “we need it
now”, instant gratification culture. Not to say that they don’t have that here,
but it’s a much slower society in terms of how they do things. There are
definite benefits to that, and sometimes the 3 cups of buna is just what I need
to remind myself to slow down. However, with the good comes the difficult and
it can be extremely difficult to fit into a culture where you don’t always
belong or fit into. That encompasses most everything in my case, but patience
and learning how to handle those differences is something I am learning
everyday.
