ENJOY

Today has been my happiest day in Madagascar so far. Why? Well, I have to say it has been a very ordinary day: I have woken up at 6, studied a little French, written a letter to my friend Blanca, started classes at 8, had a break at 10, gone back to a bar to use the internet, then done some shopping for my trip tomorrow, after that eaten something on the way back to the uni, then two more hours of class and finally I’m here now back at the bar while the storm is starting outside.

I don’t know, but it was while I was writing to Blanca that I realized how stupid I had been the last couple of days. Indeed, this last couple of ways I had just been complaining all the time, like: “people here don’t work as they should”, “everybody is nice to me because they want something from me” or “if these people don’t start working now they are always going to be poor” or “my work here doesn’t mean anything” and blah blah blah. Worse than that, I had been thinking too much about what I’m going to do after my stay here and concentrating on the future had made it impossible for me to enjoy the present!!

So today I was writing to Blanca this beautiful letter and as I was starting to complain again, I told myself What the f*** are you doing????? And then all of the sudden all the nice words from so many people came to my mind,  the constant support of my family, the deep and sincere words of Edu and Sebastian, Maria’s and Blanca’s letters,  full of joy, positiveness and kindness and so many messages of support from so many people, so I told myself, “Pablo, today you’re going to work hard, you’re going to work your ass off for the students, but  you are also going to ENJOY it”. And boy I DID!!!!

I went to the uni with my biggest smile and gave class to 2 different classes (2 h each, 4 h in total). Some of the students presented a topic, which they had been preparing for the last 2 weeks, then we read a text about “what makes a good school” and the students gave me their opinions on how a good school should be or what it should have. They came with some pretty amazing ideas, but the best part was the part when I asked them what I could improve in order to become a better teacher. If never seen so many people laughing about me and it felt GREAT! Some of them told me that I was very strict but I also knew how to laugh, others told me that I TALKED TOO LOUD, a couple of them told me that I was always moving very fast and talking too fast, others (girls) told me that I was very BEAUTIFUL and finally 3 or 4 told me that my classes were perfect and that I was the best teacher that they had ever had, and the best part of it is that they meant it. Finally, I gave them the lyrics of “Without you-David Guetta” and we sang and danced to the song, see the results!!!

So the moral of this story is:

 Study hard, work even harder, try to always give the best of you to your family, to friends or at work, but NEVER EVER FORGET TO ENJOY IT AS WELL!!!! Because what’s the point if you don’t enjoy it?