ETA Humor
It's come to my attention that my last post might've been a bit dark. Maybe it was. But it was not a reflection on a general depression. If you're actually depressed, you can't really make jokes about the situation, dark or otherwise. It's not exactly gallows humor, since you get to die pretty soon after that. It might be something more like POW camp humor. Or prison humor. So I will now dub it ETA humor. It doesn't mean you're in great pain, it means that the bad parts of the situation have grown to be so ridiculous that they demand mockery. another way to sum it up might be: "so bad, it's good." So just to assure people again, I'm not unhappy here, it's just really funny how unhappy I could be.
However, it is disconcerting how it never occurred to me that people might be worried because of the dark nature of the last post. This makes me wonder how my thinking might have changed while being here. Yesterday Sarah and I were watching Grey's Anatomy and one of the characters was wearing a tank top. Sarah's first thought? "Oh, she can't wear that." I just haven't begun to understand how I might be different now than when I left. What will it be like when English is no longer a secret language? When breakfast costs more than $1? When cars switch to the other side of the road? When *sniff* I no longer have a moto? I have 25 days left in this country and I now understand that it is actually possible to leave.
I think it's like when you're young, you think you're invincible, but as you get older you realize it's actually possible to get hurt and to die. When I got here 6 months ago, I understood that I would leave in August, which was one day before forever. Now that it's less than 4 weeks to go, I realize that it's possible to leave Malaysia. I won't be here forever. I write these words with much less joy than I expected. I'm going to miss a lot of things here, some because they were actually good, and some because they're so familiar now I don't know how to live without them. The process of leaving is much more bittersweet than I ever would've imagined.
I'll shelve the doomsday talk for a little bit. Part of the reason I realized it would be sad to leave was because I got a little sad at the end of the ETA's English Camp that we had over the weekend. There were 150 kids from six schools and just seven ETAs plus Len to keep 'em in line for three days and two nights. It was exhausting, but the kids were incredible and they did a great job speaking English the whole time.
The concept behind the camp was that there were six different cultures from six different planets that were meeting up to work out a trade agreement. My people were the Slackonians from Slackon. They are a very peaceful, very easy-going people. Here are some lines from the national anthem, to the tune of "O Canada:"
"O Slackonians
We are a lazy bunch.
We are the most happy
When we have some food to munch.
O Slackonians
We won't work after lunch.
And we have found a meal
Between breakfast and brunch."
The Slackonians were great. They made a flag (an island on the back of a turtle) and created a myth about their great hero, Wolf Man, who killed a dragon. When asked what that had to do with slacking off, they answered "well, we didn't kill it." Slack on, Slackonians, slack on.
The camp was pretty much what I had hoped my time here would be. Crazy exhausting, but really fulfilling. Instead it's been sometimes wearying and sometimes enjoyably ridiculous.
But I think I'll look back on my time in Malaysia as one looks back on any failed relationship: flawed, aggravating, and bewildering, but with surprising tenderness, affection for what it taught you, and nostalgia for the parts of yourself you liked when you were together. That being said, I part of me can't wait to break up with Malaysia in 25 days.
"Dear Malaysia,
It's not me, it's you.
-Ezra"
However, it is disconcerting how it never occurred to me that people might be worried because of the dark nature of the last post. This makes me wonder how my thinking might have changed while being here. Yesterday Sarah and I were watching Grey's Anatomy and one of the characters was wearing a tank top. Sarah's first thought? "Oh, she can't wear that." I just haven't begun to understand how I might be different now than when I left. What will it be like when English is no longer a secret language? When breakfast costs more than $1? When cars switch to the other side of the road? When *sniff* I no longer have a moto? I have 25 days left in this country and I now understand that it is actually possible to leave.
I think it's like when you're young, you think you're invincible, but as you get older you realize it's actually possible to get hurt and to die. When I got here 6 months ago, I understood that I would leave in August, which was one day before forever. Now that it's less than 4 weeks to go, I realize that it's possible to leave Malaysia. I won't be here forever. I write these words with much less joy than I expected. I'm going to miss a lot of things here, some because they were actually good, and some because they're so familiar now I don't know how to live without them. The process of leaving is much more bittersweet than I ever would've imagined.
I'll shelve the doomsday talk for a little bit. Part of the reason I realized it would be sad to leave was because I got a little sad at the end of the ETA's English Camp that we had over the weekend. There were 150 kids from six schools and just seven ETAs plus Len to keep 'em in line for three days and two nights. It was exhausting, but the kids were incredible and they did a great job speaking English the whole time.
The concept behind the camp was that there were six different cultures from six different planets that were meeting up to work out a trade agreement. My people were the Slackonians from Slackon. They are a very peaceful, very easy-going people. Here are some lines from the national anthem, to the tune of "O Canada:"
"O Slackonians
We are a lazy bunch.
We are the most happy
When we have some food to munch.
O Slackonians
We won't work after lunch.
And we have found a meal
Between breakfast and brunch."
The Slackonians were great. They made a flag (an island on the back of a turtle) and created a myth about their great hero, Wolf Man, who killed a dragon. When asked what that had to do with slacking off, they answered "well, we didn't kill it." Slack on, Slackonians, slack on.
The camp was pretty much what I had hoped my time here would be. Crazy exhausting, but really fulfilling. Instead it's been sometimes wearying and sometimes enjoyably ridiculous.
But I think I'll look back on my time in Malaysia as one looks back on any failed relationship: flawed, aggravating, and bewildering, but with surprising tenderness, affection for what it taught you, and nostalgia for the parts of yourself you liked when you were together. That being said, I part of me can't wait to break up with Malaysia in 25 days.
"Dear Malaysia,
It's not me, it's you.
-Ezra"
Comments
I think the patron vegetable of Slackon should be the Slack-Onion
I enjoyed the dark humor
-andrea's cat Cricket
Anyway, I loved the description of the camp... got any pix?
And, on a more serious note... (Fminor) I appreciate your anology of the failed relationship that you still have affection for because of what you learned... There's a pony in here somewhere, right, Ez?