Thursday, October 23, 2008

The Little Things That Matter

In training and staging we talk a lot about “coping mechanisms.” Just how are you going to deal with things when everything isn’t going your way? I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately, and I think the best thing to do is notice the little things that go right. They aren’t going to be huge WOW moments the majority of the time, but little things, that maybe you might even ignore under normal circumstances, but here thousands of miles from friends, family, and home, it is these little things that make all the difference. Now, I also think that it’s important to be able to laugh about the little things that go wrong as well, so those things don’t start to add up to something greater and harder to handle.

Little things that made me smile this week:
  • Three days ago someone said hello to me on the bus, two days ago someone said good morning and another person had a conversation with me, yesterday about three people said hello or smiled, and today people said hello, some smiled, others even said goodbye…. I’m starting to be stared at less on the bus and talked to more like I’m a regular human being…not just a strange “mrikan”.

  • The other day while walking to the beach two dogs started to follow me. I turned around and said “Churay” (which means go away in Yapese) and flicked my wrist and they both instantly listened.

  • I got my first phone call from home.. Yay!

  • I told my nina (mom here), “Ngu gu wan ko maluk” (I’m going to take a shower in Yapese) this afternoon… and then I did just that… and I can count in Yapese too!

  • For my first visit to my school I’ll be teaching at, my soon to be students brought me Nunu’s (leis) that they made, a woven fan, a woven ball, and a bag of fresh oranges (marmar), bananas (P’ow), passion fruit (tomatis), and coconut (u’chub).

  • I have not yet hit anyone or been hit by a bamboo stick during dance practice… dance warrior Verina is kickin butt : )

    Little things I have to laugh at this week:

  • My purse is somehow starting to grow mold…. It was hanging on my door and today I looked at it and said, “hmm, that looks a funny color” Upon further examination I realized that is because it’s covered in fuzzy white mold… yum

  • I’ve got this strange reddish mark on my stomach.. which I thought was a bug bite, but it’s been there for almost three weeks now and when showing a friend she said… well maybe it’s ringworms… but it’s probably just fungus…. “just fungus?”…Lovely

  • The puppies have conspired against me. This afternoon I stepped inside for a few minutes and left my flip flops on the steps. When I came back out they were gone. So, I took down my other pair of flip flops so that I could go look for the first pair, but I needed something inside, so I went inside for about 40 seconds. When I came back out, one of the new flip flops was missing. So, with one flipflop on, one off, I hobbled through the mud to another part of the yard where I found the puppies had started creating a neat pile of “Verina’ flip flops.” Smart little things they are!

  • It’s been raining like crazy typhoon crazy rain storm all week. If this were in the U.S. there would surely be a weatherman out in the rain gripping a microphone, holding onto a coconut tree, with the camera man focusing on the bending palm branches and the slanting rain, but here… no one seems worried.

    So, that’s the story morning glory. I’m noticing the little things, and trying to smile as often as possible. And in order to make everyone else smile.. I’ll share with you all:
    Verina’s Yapese Special Soup Surprise Recipe
    (that I made tonight for dinner with guidance from my Nina)
    2 packets of ramen with seasoning
    ½ an onion
    2 carrots sliced
    3 sliced hot dogs
    1 can beef stew
    1 handful of greens from the garden
    some creole seasoning
    hot pepper from the garden
    water

    Mix together… cook… serve with boiled unripe bananas… and don’t forget to laugh.. dang this soup is great! (compared to leftover turkey tail.. it’s the best thing ever!) YUM!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love your description of things at YAP. you mentioned getting a call?
What would be a good time to call you in our Atlantic or eastern time zone time and if one could what would be the number where we could reach you.Also on what days should we call to couse the least confusion? DAD

Anonymous said...

Hey I sent ya a letter today :) I don't know how long it takes ot get there but I'm assuming a while lol!

Anonymous said...

Verina, I lvoe resading your posts. YOur comign to grips ith the niotion of "Little things" is so true and wonderful. It is the way to true joy and compassion, to find the essence of our lives in the small moments that can change our lives, or at least, bring a smile to our face.

You have great courage and an intrepid spirit. It is nice to read and see you all getting to know each other.

Peace to all way out there.

Larry

Anonymous said...

Sorry for the messed up words in that first line!

Larry

Dreamer said...

Thanks... (Renae I'm looking forward to the letter..hope it gets here soon) Larry, you're such an awesome support to so many, thanks, your words mean alot to me.