Adjustment My Задникa

So I got an email from a lovely girl named Jez who happens to be one of our volunteer representatives for big, fancy Peace Corps meetings asking if anyone would like to write some articles for the upcoming Peace Corps Bulgaria Newsletter. Of course I did. So I wrote back, explaining my interest and she sent me a list of topics. I chose "Impact." I then forgot all about it for a couple weeks and when I decided to start writing the article I'd somehow gotten it into my head that the topic was "adjustment." Don't ask me why. I even thought, "I should probably check that email again and make sure this is right before I start typing." But, yeah, I didn't. I started typing. Not only did I start typing, I starting interviewing people so I could include it in my article. I'd nearly finished the thing (it only needs two more paragraphs that I no longer have the heart to write) when I finally referred back to the email and realized, yet again, that I'm a huge idiot. Sigh.

Anyway, I thought I'd share the article here anyway so that it doesn't go to total waste. I was pretty excited about it actually but now I've got to purge myself of this mistake and start writing about our impact.

Adjustment My Задникa

Television a little fuzzy? Twist those rabbit ears to left and, viola! Clear picture. Underwire feeling a bit too restrictive? A subtle yank is all you need. Comfort restored. Little brother needs to have his attitude adjusted? Backhand him. Problem solved.

But adjusting to a new country, language, and culture? Not so easy. Not that we haven’t tried. Oh, we’ve tried. Immediate and complete integration has been grilled into our heads throughout PST and failure is not an option (oh, PC staff, you know I tease). However, not everyone goes about their adjustments the same way. There are different approaches, each with varying levels of difficulty and success.

The first, when I’m feeling optimistic, I like to call “Diving in Head First” but usually in the morning before I’ve had my coffee, I call it simply “Ouch.” This involves ones’ head popping off of one’s pillow and a happy voice devoid of all morning grogginess declaring, “I will meet at least 10 new people today and we will become good friends, na gosti’s are in my immediate future!” Whistling as they go throughout their day, “dober dening” everyone they see, and stopping to help every baba they can find cross the perilous streets of Bulgaria, these eager volunteers know their way around a Bulgarian village and a Turkish toilet. Often, this degree of enthusiasm works well with Bulgarians, they love a cheerful and ambitious American. Bravo. But it can be exhausting and if the morning’s lofty goals are not met, detriment for the zealous volunteer whose day ends with a bowl full of tarator and tears.

(This is where the two missing paragraphs would go)

And though adjustment isn’t always simple, in some ways it is comparatively easier here in Bulgaria than other countries where Peace Corps serves. We remark on the fact that we are not living in mud huts like some of us may have originally assumed upon applying, and when referencing PC Bulgaria we often jokingly refer to it as the Posh Corps. There is even a deliciously funny bit of quote-collecting floating around the internet started by our own Megan Lindstrom. She decided to ask fellow volunteers what makes their Posh Corps experience difficult and here are some of the richly sarcastic answers:

'I was given too much free fruit to eat at once.'

'I forgot to plug-in my air conditioner, so I had to get up from the couch to plug it in before the remote would work.'

'I've only gotten 7 care packages in 4 months.'

'I have to turn two different knobs and a faucet in order to take a hot shower.'

'My new washing machine has too many options.'

Getting more serious about the topic at hand, I asked several volunteers about their approaches towards adjustment and the answers varied from bringing baskets full of apples to neighbors and getting to know colleagues to starting an adult English course in hopes of meeting people within the community and “updating” their wardrobe. It would seem that people associate the idea of adjustment with integration. It makes sense. As Tyler Wolfgang put it, 'Feeling comfortable in a new place could depend a great deal on how accepted you feel in your community. The more integrated you are, the less you would have to adjust.'

So, it would seem, the goal here is simply to continue what you’re doing. Live your life. Go to work. Get to know people. Ask questions. Give answers. And, using any one of the above-mentioned approaches, find that happy-medium where you feel that you fit in here in Bulgaria. I now know to bring tissues with me everywhere because toilet paper is never a guarantee. I now know that I put myself at great risk of eating random chicken parts with each na gosti invite I accept. I now know how to spakoyno. There are still many adjustments that need to be had and many more lessons to learn and mistakes to make along the path of integration but I’m not worried. After using my first outdoor, Turkish toilet in the middle of the night during a lightning storm with chickens, pigs, and donkeys making end-of-the-world noises, I can adjust to just about anything. And since every volunteer I know has a similar hilarious and horrifying story to tell, I know we can all make the adjustments needed to learn, grow, and leave an impression that lasts."

So. Yeah.

-Age

Compassion By Any Other Name Would Smell As Sweet. Empathy, For Example.

There is a movement going on out there, a movement about the world we live in. A movement that discusses and debates the things we have that we do not need and the things we lack that are desperately needed. I recently watched a video made by RSA that addresses the fact that we have made progress since the Enlightenment but that progress has slowed, it’s even beginning to reverse in ways because we’ve never truly been able to define what makes us happy, what we really do need. We think we know and we pursue it, with gusto, in that general direction though happiness often eludes us and we’re left wondering why. I’m oversimplifying what is truly an amazing and insightful dive into the needs of our floundering modern global society – I suggest you take a look for yourself.

The RSA suggests that what’s missing is empathy. It seems simple and obvious enough but empathy isn’t something that’s being addressed in politics or education. Not as anything important anyway. We buy and sell without stopping to consider whether we should. We create rules that bind us, rules that become more important than end results. We do what we think we should, what a progressive society is supposed to do without taking a minute to ask whether or not it’s right.

I hardly ever stop myself before a decision and ask if it’s right. I just do what I’ve always done. I let habit and social norms guide my decisions and, unless I see an insightful and challenging video on youtube, I don’t question my choice or any of its influencing factors. But this world is ever-changing, constantly progressing and we need to be aware of, even in charge of, that change, guiding it in the right directions as opposed to being unknowably influenced and effected by its inevitability. We need to think about our choices and decisions and factor in more, promote empathy.

We each have a part to play in the promotion of empathy. We each have the responsibility to encourage questioning. Now that I write that I realize it isn’t true. Everyone does not have a part to play, not everyone has a responsibility. But everyone does have the opportunity. I have the opportunity to not simply teach my students English and help them improve their lives on an economic basis, I have the opportunity to shape how they interact socially, how they treat the world they live in, I have an opportunity to help shape their choices in a way that is positive and progressive. I will stop and ask what is right, I will seek the answers, collaborating with others, and I will share what I find.

I’m writing this as a simple rambling session. Writing and sharing to put my mind at ease, gather my thoughts that were running wild through my brain after watching this video and making me feel an uncomfortable pressure.  It’s a simple ramble about what’s going on inside my head, what’s always going on inside my head: the impact I’m making. I get so overwhelmed by the responsibilities involved with what this world needs. I don’t really even have the authority, resources, or brain-power to do all that much. I’m not starting a movement, I’m just going, “Hey! This sounds great, tell me what to do!” But no one tells me what to do, I have to figure that out myself.

I didn’t do much today in regards to the furthering of progress. I didn’t show or encourage empathy really and I didn’t stop to think whether or not the choices I was making were the right ones. Tomorrow. Tomorrow I’ll be more conscious of who I am and what I’m doing. Tomorrow.

I will be one of the few.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead

-Age