Perspective

In the past few weeks I feel like I’ve gone from being excited and overwhelmed when I first arrived, to being frustrated and homesick, and now I think I’m adjusting and getting a little bit of perspective.  It’s easy to get frustrated here if I only remember the good things about home.  So, when I wake up sweating even though it’s almost October, I remember that in a few short months I’ll be shoveling.  When I find a trail of hundreds of tiny ants extending across my room or a spider under my pillow I think of the mouse that lived in my apartment.  When the auto driver says he needs to stop at a shop and it’ll only take five minutes and starts turning in the opposite direction of where I’m staying (he eventually turned around when I looked about ready to hop out of his moving vehicle) I remember that cabs at home will take shortcuts that aren’t so short.  Or, when I walk by the beautiful homes of government officials and a family living in a lean-to on the same road, I remember that where I go to school is sandwiched between the South End and Roxbury. 

And no, I won’t pretend that I’m always levelheaded and don’t get frustrated anymore.  But I am learning to appreciate things for what they are.  For all of the times that I get irritated, there are more times that I am impressed or awed by something here, from the elaborate religious traditions to the ease with which women sit sidesaddle on the two-wheelers without holding onto anything (and somehow manage to keep their saris perfect) it really is impressive!   I think I’m also writing this entry for my own benefit, so that in the coming weeks and months I can come back to it and think okay, go back to that way of thinking – we’ll see if it works!