Post from Rinconada
Written March 25, 2009
Dear Constant Readers,
Out my screened windows I see the green mountain across the way on the far side of the river. On a clear day I can see the town perched on its face, but right now everything is covered in clouds over there.
I miss the blue sky and pretty sunsets. I’ve joked with myself that when I go home I’m going to move to a desert so I never have to see rain again, but that’s not true. I like rain fine, but I looking at clouds all the time can get rather dreary.
I should point out something, mostly to myself than to anyone else: I just finished reading a book called “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle, in which he discusses humanity’s collective need to simply accept what is, whatever that may be, and not worry about the past, which is sealed in the past and does not define who we truly are, nor worry about the future, where setting goals to fulfill us is like walking towards a mirage. And already I have failed in the latter part of that by saying I want blue skies. Oh well. Consciousness is part of what he teaches, and at least I’m aware of trying to learn.
Actually, I predict his book will be pivotal in my life. I read it at the advice of a very trusted friend, so whenever I started to think some of his advice was “out there” I was patient to keep reading. In all reality, I don’t think the book is original at all, but it was never intended to be. Tolle bases his “teachings,” if you want to call them that, on the teachings of other more well-known figures, ranging from Buddha to Jesus, never choosing favorites. It’s had an impact on how I view things that have happened to me in the past, and the flaws I’ve had in my character, and has given me some insights on who I believe I am versus how am I perceived through my ego. Anyway, I’m aware that while I write this, it can sound rather strange, but the book is really far more down to earth than I am making it seem. I’m going to have to re-read it though because a lot of it I haven’t understood yet.
I think my work will pick up here now that school has started. The director of the secondary school has expressed some interest that I do some talks on hand-washing with the health post, and one of the students has asked me on a couple of occasions if he can swing by and ask me for advice on English, which of course he and anyone else can. The director asked me to be an English teacher in the school, which I was afraid of, and I had to say no. I don’t know if I’m not cut out to be a teacher, not cut out to be a teacher for young people, or just not having luck with my English class with my host brothers, but I know that if I’m the one creating a lesson plan for teaching English, I’m not going to be happy, which means my students wouldn’t be happy, either. This is kind of surprising because I really thought I would enjoy teaching English. I was actually looking forward to it. But then I realized that the way I learn languages is different from many other people, and I don’t know for sure how to get to them.
It’s a little disconcerting because what I am interested in maybe doing professionally likely involves teaching, however at an academic level.
I feel a little bit like a linguist named Kenneth Hale who said that in school he didn’t do very well as a student. The only thing he cared about was languages and he let everything else slide. In college I had some of that in me, although I was too studious to really let my studies slide. I tried to do languages but ultimately it was too much for me to juggle at the time. In high school I certainly felt that way, though. Dad once remarked when he saw me reading a German workbook on the way to church that if I cared as much about math as I did about languages I wouldn’t be struggling in math. He was probably right.
In my village here I do care about helping out here. I feel a little constricted by the rainy season as far as getting materials up here, and frankly overwhelmed by the logistics of everything, but I’ve learned that it doesn’t pay to worry. Things will work out, and I plan on working hard to achieve what I can up here. But I cannot deny that in my free time, which has been plenty so far, I’m probably studying French by reading “L’Étranger,” or writing glosses for stories written in Kaqchikel or Jiwarli, reading chapters of the Old Testament in Esperanto, reading about ergative grammar structure or Navajo phonetics, not to mention everyday using my Spanish. Sometimes it can be exhausting and I wonder if this is what I want to do for the rest of my life, but ultimately I always come back to it because indeed I find pleasure and adventure in these words. I don’t know how to realize my dream of working with endangered languages, documenting them before they die out, or just collect data from exotic languages about which little is known. Sometimes I don’t even know if that is what I want to do with my life. Maybe it isn’t. But it doesn’t matter right now. If something else comes along, than it will come along in good time. Right now my job is to focus on the present, at what I have at hand, work here in this town and soak up the knowledge of the resources I have at hand. And then we’ll see what happens later.
Hope all is well.
Tristan
Dear Constant Readers,
Out my screened windows I see the green mountain across the way on the far side of the river. On a clear day I can see the town perched on its face, but right now everything is covered in clouds over there.
I miss the blue sky and pretty sunsets. I’ve joked with myself that when I go home I’m going to move to a desert so I never have to see rain again, but that’s not true. I like rain fine, but I looking at clouds all the time can get rather dreary.
I should point out something, mostly to myself than to anyone else: I just finished reading a book called “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle, in which he discusses humanity’s collective need to simply accept what is, whatever that may be, and not worry about the past, which is sealed in the past and does not define who we truly are, nor worry about the future, where setting goals to fulfill us is like walking towards a mirage. And already I have failed in the latter part of that by saying I want blue skies. Oh well. Consciousness is part of what he teaches, and at least I’m aware of trying to learn.
Actually, I predict his book will be pivotal in my life. I read it at the advice of a very trusted friend, so whenever I started to think some of his advice was “out there” I was patient to keep reading. In all reality, I don’t think the book is original at all, but it was never intended to be. Tolle bases his “teachings,” if you want to call them that, on the teachings of other more well-known figures, ranging from Buddha to Jesus, never choosing favorites. It’s had an impact on how I view things that have happened to me in the past, and the flaws I’ve had in my character, and has given me some insights on who I believe I am versus how am I perceived through my ego. Anyway, I’m aware that while I write this, it can sound rather strange, but the book is really far more down to earth than I am making it seem. I’m going to have to re-read it though because a lot of it I haven’t understood yet.
I think my work will pick up here now that school has started. The director of the secondary school has expressed some interest that I do some talks on hand-washing with the health post, and one of the students has asked me on a couple of occasions if he can swing by and ask me for advice on English, which of course he and anyone else can. The director asked me to be an English teacher in the school, which I was afraid of, and I had to say no. I don’t know if I’m not cut out to be a teacher, not cut out to be a teacher for young people, or just not having luck with my English class with my host brothers, but I know that if I’m the one creating a lesson plan for teaching English, I’m not going to be happy, which means my students wouldn’t be happy, either. This is kind of surprising because I really thought I would enjoy teaching English. I was actually looking forward to it. But then I realized that the way I learn languages is different from many other people, and I don’t know for sure how to get to them.
It’s a little disconcerting because what I am interested in maybe doing professionally likely involves teaching, however at an academic level.
I feel a little bit like a linguist named Kenneth Hale who said that in school he didn’t do very well as a student. The only thing he cared about was languages and he let everything else slide. In college I had some of that in me, although I was too studious to really let my studies slide. I tried to do languages but ultimately it was too much for me to juggle at the time. In high school I certainly felt that way, though. Dad once remarked when he saw me reading a German workbook on the way to church that if I cared as much about math as I did about languages I wouldn’t be struggling in math. He was probably right.
In my village here I do care about helping out here. I feel a little constricted by the rainy season as far as getting materials up here, and frankly overwhelmed by the logistics of everything, but I’ve learned that it doesn’t pay to worry. Things will work out, and I plan on working hard to achieve what I can up here. But I cannot deny that in my free time, which has been plenty so far, I’m probably studying French by reading “L’Étranger,” or writing glosses for stories written in Kaqchikel or Jiwarli, reading chapters of the Old Testament in Esperanto, reading about ergative grammar structure or Navajo phonetics, not to mention everyday using my Spanish. Sometimes it can be exhausting and I wonder if this is what I want to do for the rest of my life, but ultimately I always come back to it because indeed I find pleasure and adventure in these words. I don’t know how to realize my dream of working with endangered languages, documenting them before they die out, or just collect data from exotic languages about which little is known. Sometimes I don’t even know if that is what I want to do with my life. Maybe it isn’t. But it doesn’t matter right now. If something else comes along, than it will come along in good time. Right now my job is to focus on the present, at what I have at hand, work here in this town and soak up the knowledge of the resources I have at hand. And then we’ll see what happens later.
Hope all is well.
Tristan
posted by Tristan | 10:45 AM
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