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Sunday, October 26, 2014

A Grumble and Some Grace

“Transition:  the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another”

This sounds so innocuous, so easy.  Yet the truth of transition is that it stinks and it hurts and it affects both the heart and the mind.  I have been back in school for almost 2 months and have mostly felt like a fish out of water, going through the motions, but not really connecting or affecting a change in anyone or anything.  I had thought that this, being my third year teaching chemistry, my fourth year living in this little town in southwestern Germany, this year would be easy.  Hah!  I have struggled with negative thoughts and a rising distrust of those around me.  Yep, feeling a bit psycho.  Hmmm.  What’s up?  I’ve decided that I’m just not making a good transition this year.

Our office is different in the science department.  More people, more desks, more crowded.  My classes are filled with students and do not end until 4 PM each day.  Our friends from England have moved to California, a couple who have been here at BFA for years are moving to England, and the couple we have traveled with most the past three years are moving to Maryland.  And I still cannot speak good German.  I continue to have problems understanding German especially.  Someone recently said that if one is not fluent after three years, that person gets very discouraged and will leave the country.  Hmmm.  I refuse to be that person.  But my German is poor.  So misunderstandings continue.

Where does this leave me?  It leaves me recognizing that I am not perfect and I will not ever be perfect and I cannot change where I am, so I need to change how I perceive where I am.  And the first step was writing this blog, getting it all out in the open and calling this what it is:  a pity party.  Whew.  I DO feel much better. 


Now to get back to the process of living and being thankful, right where I am!

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