There’s an episode of Friends in which Monica has a light switch and doesn’t know what it turns on/off. Monica destroys the walls of the apartment trying to figure out what it connects to only to never discover that it turns the TV on/off at the next apartment over, which Phoebe believes she controls telekinetically.
I have such a switch. My classroom has four light switches and three of them correspond to the three lighting sectors in the room. But there’s a fourth switch that does nothing, at least nothing I have been able to pinpoint. After my co-teacher asked me if it was okay to turn off some of the lights in my classrooms, I saw it as the perfect opportunity to ask about that fourth switch. Turns out it used to correspond to an older ceiling fan that used to be in the room, which is now replaced by my ceiling A/C unit.
Well this whole week has been about turning on lights for me. After celebrating my birthday here is Songtan with fellow abroad teachers, neighbors, and new friends I have, I used some of the time after that to reflect. A part of me could not believe I wasn’t spending that day with my friends and family back home in LA. I must admit that I got homesick at one point after my festivities were over. Many saw it coming telling me that I would feel “the slump” especially hard on my birthday because it was my first one here and it is parallel to the time of the third month.
After letting that soak in and being grateful for the wishes and the fact that I actually did have fun on my birthday I then reflected more on the things that used to ease my stress. I used to do a lot of things back to vent out any frustrations I had that made me who I am. Well this week I’ve started tapping into that person again.
It’s like when you stop going to gym and hate the idea of going back, but when you do, you remind yourself of why you did it in the first place. With that said, I’ve started running again, did it three times this week (aren’t you just proud?). I had let myself forget how freeing running can be and how putting on a good jam on in the iPod can make a run go from good to great. I seriously can’t wait for nighttime to get to go run, and plus it helps me discover parts of Songtan I’ve overlooked before.
I’ve also gotten into writing. I don’t mean just writing for this blog, but writing in other forms. I actually used to write into MS Word documents like crazy all the time. I’m back to that habit. Especially as I’m currently reading Timbuktu by Paul Auster, which tells the story of a now-homeless man who is on the brink of death but ever since he was a teenager he was infatuated with writing and literature. As I’m currently working through this book, I’m glad to say that I could relate to the outlet that is writing and the power it can have.
I guess those are the lights that went off in my head; the switch definitely took some time to find.
P.S. Happy Birthday Week to Nick and Pati! Go Team Virgo!
P.S. Hope you were able to see the metaphor in the last sentence of the second paragraph.
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