Reflection

Reflections are the hot thing in education now.  Learn.  Now reflect on what you learned.  I didn’t like it as a student, but I make my students do it anyway.  Turns out they are better reflectors than I ever was and they’ve taught me a thing or two. 

So, here we go.

What I did

Traveled through Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam.

What I learned

Of the three countries, Laos has the best spring rolls.

Brad and I can spend 51 days together and get only mildly annoyed with each other.

How to say hello in three languages. 

And some other stuff.

What I did best

Planning.  Booking flights, finding places to stay, looking up bus times.  I live for that kind of thing. 

What I need to improve

Ok, this is where I actually wanted to do some serious reflection, because I’m feeling a little anxious and concerned about something.  I’ve been thinking about it a lot. 

All summer Brad and I eagerly sought out new cultures.  We ate the food, talked to the people, wandered the streets, and just really enjoyed ourselves.  We loved the places we went and fully embraced their uniqueness.  It was good. 

When I think about going back to India, I think: one year.  I have to get through one year and it will all be over.  And that’s bad. 

I know why, but don’t really know why I am so resistant to India. 

What I know is that we couldn’t explore India with the ease that we’ve explored Southeast Asia.  India is a little dangerous.  The food can get you, rats can bite you, the heat can make you dead, or at least very, very cranky.  Walking is nearly impossible with obstacles like holes in the ground, piles of human waste, motorcycles on the sidewalk, if there even is a sidewalk.  Sometimes the smells are overpowering and the noise is always intense.  We get sick a lot. 

It’s easy to find an excuse to stay in at night.  Lock the door, make a casserole, watch a sitcom and try to pretend I’m not in India at all.  But I know that I’ve got to do better than that. 

So, this coming school year I’m going to really try to enjoy India.  Other people have done it, so I know I can do it too.  My plan is four-fold:

 1. Don’t hang around people who complain about India
2. Don’t complain about India
 3. Read more about India
 4. See more of India

I told you, I’m good at making plans.  Let’s see if I can follow through.