I am typing this at 6:10 A.M. EST from the top bunk of a dorm in a Washington D.C. hostel on 11th Ave NW between N St. and O St.
I just spent the day here to attend the demonstration outside the White House calling on President Obama to nix plans for the Keystone XL Pipeline.
Inspiring Site: a collection of possibly 10,000 people, mostly 2008 Obama voters, calling on Obama to actually listen to them. The tone was definitely confrontational, though maybe not quite adversarial, because Obama has not cast his lot with Pipeline proponents yet, even though his State Department has, and he did hire a Keystone XL lobbyist to operate on his campaign. It was certainly much-needed pressure.
A little more on-topic for this blog: I was lucky enough to meet people in my short time here who offered some insight that is at least tangentially related to my study abroad.
The lady operating the hostel when I arrived was from Lithuania. She was older, I'd put her in her mid-50's. She struck as me as someone who probably looks older than she is, hard to say why. She said she moved to the United States about 10 years ago. I asked her how she felt it compared to her life in Lithuania, she didn't offer a particularly ringing endorsement of American life. She said she did have more opportunity for education as an older person here, implying that Lithuanian and perhaps European education is more strictly for the young. Otherwise: she seemed to sum up her complaints about American life with a statement of distaste for "the rat race" here.
One bit of culture shock she had to endure was that Americans will ask "how are you doing?" when they're not actually curious. She had to learn that whatever the true answer is, you are supposed to say "you're fine." I swear this is something about our culture that has always struck me as curious. I think it might be fair enough to chalk it up to a quirky formality. It is definitely tempting, though, interpret it as a negative indictment on our culture: we make the show of sincere concern for others, but it is important to understand that it is a show only, and it is a cultural violation to take the expression literally and actually use it as an opportunity to air any unpleasant feelings.
I also met Lemuel, a 27-year-old, African-American, grew-up-a-Navy-brat, ex(?)-Marine (he served for 6 years and is actually not sure of his official status now, he might technically be "on reserve" but in practice he declares himself no longer active, done with the service). He is a fellow hostel-patron. In what I would call unusual fashion for myself, and in somewhat ironic fashion considering what I just discussed about superficial American pleasantries, he and I exchanged a few pleasantries that wound up launching a 2-hour conversation.
I've been struggling a little bit with school this year: I have one paper I didn't hand in, and I've missed more than a few classes. This is amidst a 12-credit semester, and for Spring in Istanbul I'm required to enroll in at least 15 credits. It is naturally fueling anxiety about whether the program is a good idea, one more thing to worry about. I discussed this with Lemuel and he offered pretty simple but profound insight: the thing about school is, it is always there. You just have to keep going back. Really no one should know this better than me but for my proclivity to worry. Lemuel had fairly authoritative credentials: he's finishing up his master's degree at George Washington University. This is on top of beginning employment with a school for flight instruction (from which he's been taking flying lessons), and, of course, on top of being a Marine. Oh, he's also fluent in Spanish and Portugese. So maybe he's anything but the authority I from whom I, Mr. Slacker, should be taking life advice- of course it's easy advice coming from a Type A overachiever. He swore to me, though, that he was diagnosed ADD at a young age, and he swore to me that he's had to drop more than his share of classes.
Meeting and talking with Lemuel and the Lithuanian hostel-keeper were reinforcing experiences. Lemuel's advice has me in a particular mindset right now, and hopefully it is an enduring mindset: what's the worst that could happen in Istanbul? What if I take 15 credits and get an F in 6 of them? Well, is that really money wasted? In exchange for a semester in Istanbul? OK, writing it out like that, admittedly is scary, and... hmm... well, actually it sounds pretty darn shitty. I can imagine extreme disappointment and discouragement. But 15 credits are the requirement. Hmm, honestly as I ponder it now, I do not feel reassured. So much for enduring courage. I still want to go through with it all, though. I suppose one trick will be figuring out how to keep my anxious nature from making obstacles bigger than they are.
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