Trying Out My Wings

Oh yeah…and I almost forgot…as a continuation of yesterday’s entry…a horn honk at me (which I get numerous of when I’m walking to and from work) says, “Hey!  You’re white so I know you want a ride.  I’m coming.”  To which I signal to the driver that, no, I really want to be walking, thanks = )

As for today…I was in the office by myself…so that was exciting = )  It was cool to see how much I’ve learned and to know what was going on.  It also felt so good to finally feel like I’m really contributing!  Everyone here has been taking such good care of me, sometimes I feel like a parasite mooching off of them, and not contributing enough.  Like, if I were filling a paid position for free…that’d be something.  But I’m just there, and so I often feel like I’m not doing enough for them to feel like me being here is contributing.  Today, though, the fact that me being there meant that Melinda could run her errands and Marian could work from home, it made me really…fulfilled, I guess (can’t really find the right word).  And luckily there were no big issues = )

It also felt good to kinda do things my own way.  Like, the office is often not a very warm place.  Kids will come in timidly, worried that they’ll be scolded for asking for this or that, even though they’re usually just the messenger.  Parents are usually not greeted with a smile, and sometimes not even greeted (which is understandable, because they’re usually there to complain, so it must get tiring - but it was amazing how positively they responded today when I took the time to smile, greet them, and ask their name before we began business).  And when teachers and staff come in needing keys or the giant abacus or whatever, there’s like this “fend for yourself” attitude a lot of times.  So running things with more “thank you”s and “how are you”s, etc. made the place much more pleasant = )  It’s funny, too, because after reading my scriptures this morning, I had the impression that I need to do a better of job of really loving and caring about the people I interact with.  Like I say “hi” to everyone and “how are you?”…but how much do I really mean it?  I’ve been introduced to so many people, and yet I don’t remember so many of their names, which I think I would if I put more thought and effort in.  So it was a perfect chance to put that into action, and so neat to see such instant, positive results!  And then I’ve been trying to put more things onto the computer because a lot of the stuff is written in different notebooks and on different papers, and it’s hard to find where you wrote something (the office is very cluttered).  Plus changes can’t be made easily.  So that was nice, too, to finally feel like I’m getting some systems going that I think will help them, and that helped me to finish a couple of projects, including the lunch name business! = )

And yeah, nothing really interesting from today.  Oh yeah!  The missionaries stopped by because I called and asked if I could get a copy of the Book of Mormon…so I’m excited to give that away = )  On the first day a guy named Isaac came in to register his nephew…and we talked for a bit.  Anyways…he came back later that week to check on his nephew (he’s a boarder) and got my contact info.  We talked for a bit on Sunday, and found out that we had both just returned from church.  He said he would give me a book from his church, and I told him I would give him one from mine!  He came by Tuesday to drop it off…and I hadn’t gotten a Book of Mormon, yet…shucks!  But I have it for next time I see him = )  I’m hoping to be able to go to some of the churches while I’m here.  There’re so many…so it’s a perfect place to learn about some other religions = )