October, Revisited

If September was the month of relaxation and change, October was definitely the month for throwing myself full speed into the action packed life of a teacher.  My students finally seemed to be getting into the routine of things, but things seemed to keep being added to my never ending list of things to do. A teacher's work is really never done *sigh*

Nevertheless, I managed to squeeze in some r&r thanks to a long weekend for the Islamic New Year.

Just Do It

 Even though I don't typically like to go to the same place twice, the price was right to go back to Sri Lanka and give another part of the island a try. This time I stayed away from locals on mopeds and men who like to hold hands in vans ;)

I spent most of my time by the pool fighting off naps reading and relaxing. That's actually the only thing I did and it was amazing...right up until some bug made a feast of my ankles and I had an allergic reaction. I've never been so itchy or swollen in my life! But thanks to the liberal pharmaceutical practices of the GCC, I was able to buy some meds in the airport on my way home.

I'll spare you the pictures of my swollen toes and ankles, just trust that it was bad.
I did manage to take this beautiful picture of the sky just before a thunderstorm (yay!) on the day that I left.

On to other adventures.

Did you know that NYU had a campus in Abu Dhabi? Neither did I up until about a month ago, but they do! They have a pretty active arts center and I was able to attend a performance of the Nile Project at the end of the month.

The Nile Project consists of several musicians from the Nile region that perform using different instruments from their countries. The show was a beautiful mix of sounds, you could just feel the energy in the air the whole night. What I loved about it was the way that it brought together people from different places, not just from the African continent, but also a variety of people from all over the world in the audience.

I'm not really a dancer but it was definitely hard not to twerk in public that day. Dave Chapelle was right, black people really can't resist the sound of drums.

On a more serious note, one thing about me that I've noticed has changed since moving abroad is that I've developed more of an interest in learning about Africa, the countries, the people, the culture, the history, and more specifically, my own history and roots.  

After getting over the initial culture shock of moving abroad, you'll notice the immense sense of pride people from other countries feel and how that ties into their culture and interactions with others. It really is interesting to see. Like, I'm an American, and yes, to some degree I'm proud to be American, but I don't go around claiming it or wearing it on my sleeve so to speak. For me, growing up in America, I feel like "American" is only part of my identity, I wasn't given the opportunity to really learn about my history and the culture that goes along with it and have it be an ongoing part of my life. There are, obviously, several reasons for that, and not really very much I can do about it now other than to start educating myself. What makes me sad is that there are and probably will continue to be millions of children and young adults in the same situation for years to come. 

I'm only one  person but I guess every journey first begins with a single step.