The Flip Side of Teaching

The flip side of teaching is learning. Throughout the past month, I have gotten an opportunity to be the learner....and I've rather enjoyed it.

Way back in the day, I was in a couple of junior high plays. I never had a large part, mind you. In fact, they were exceptionally small parts. But I had fun with it, and that's all that really matters. In high school, I tried out for a couple of plays but never got a part. I never knew if it was because I was a lousy actor or because I was involved in another activity that would force me to miss play rehearsal once a week. Large high school, not much flexibility or patience for exceptions, who knows. If you attended a larger high school, you understand. I did the typical church Christmas play each year and had quite a bit of experience speaking in front of others through church and through a local cable TV show I worked on, but I never gained much experience with acting.

Imagine my surprise to sign a contract for a teaching job right out of college and be asked to take on the role of director for the high school's plays as well. I somewhat hesitantly agreed and learned a lot during the past four years as a director, each play a little better than the one before it.

This spring I got my chance to be *in* a play -- community theater. I had a blast at rehearsals for the past 5 weeks, I picked up some good ideas and great techniques that I plan to use as a director in the future, and now the first of three performances is already over. Over and over I've had people surprised that I'd never done much acting before. Guess I'm good at fooling people.

But mostly I've enjoyed the chance to "be taught" this past month, to be "the learner" instead of "the teacher," to be told what to do as opposed to telling others what to do. The mission statement of many school districts relates to teaching students to become "lifelong learners." And I'm not just saying this to sound cliche, but I hope I never cease to be a lifelong learner.

The cast of Over the River and Through the Woods by Joe Pietro
Photo is from the Times Citizen

Creature of Comfort

I am a creature of comfort. I love my house, my bed, my American food, my air conditioning, and so on. Tanzania will be a time to get away from this dependency, and while I know I will go right back to my comfort items when I return, it's also a reminder of how happy one can be without such things.

When I went to Africa four years ago, we camped our way through Namibia for two weeks. Never one to enjoy "roughing it," I was pretty nervous about the experience. Turned out to be an amazing way to experience the country. Then there was the opportunity to see how happy the people were in general, despite having so little compared to our "comfortable" American standards.

I'm looking forward to repeating the experience of enjoying life for the purpose of life itself. You know, gaining insight and knowledge and memories to last forever. Not worrying about the little things or the material things. Just savoring the moment, the people, and the learning. Amen!

PS: Did you know that the word "amen" means "may it be so"? I learned that at camp a few years ago. Maybe you learned something today, too!

Happiness: Children dancing in the street in one of the Cape Town, South Africa, townships

After a Long Hiatus...

Thank you, Mrs. Timmins, for teaching me the word "hiatus" so that I can sound smart! I just wanted to update that I will be traveling to Tanzania this summer with the organization Global Volunteers.

My primary duty, I believe, will be to teach English at a school in the village of Pommern. Of course, as anyone who has traveled to Africa can attest, one can never plan too far ahead because the next thing you know, the plans will change. I could end up teaching some other subject, building something with my amazing carpentry skills, or who knows what other kinds of tasks I might find.

Any way you slice it, I am very excited, albeit nervous, for my adventure!