Patience Is...

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.