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Published: March 23rd 2009
I'm going to tell you about my day on Thursday, rarely here have I had such an awful day. It's all very sad because I know other people probabaly had great days, being on spring break and such. It started at 5:45 when my alarm went off and I dragged my tired ass out of bed.
After breakfast, as the sun was still just rising, we were herded onto a cramped bus for a 45 minute drive. I expected we were going some place awesome, but apparently not. When I got off, I realized we were at the beach - absolutely the last place I wanted to be. After we meet up with a local ecologist/professor, we took boats to a nearby island that certainly didn't have translucent, turquoise water, beautiful white beaches, flourishing coral reefs, or resemble a tropical paradise in any way.
My boat ride was especially unenjoyable: I rode in a small, four-person boat with a disproportionately powerful engine to the island. Quite a dangerous voyage, the boat seemed to have only two speeds: fast and stupid fast (otherwise known as beast mode). The whole ride, water splashed in my face, UV rays fried my skin, and the waves jerked our boat up and down. Any friend mine knows that I don't take pleasure in any of those things.
So we get to the island and what's the first thing we do? Have fun? Hah, no. Instead, we snorkeled. And worst of all, the ecologist made us do science while in the water. In small groups, we'd swim along a 50 meter transect in the reef and record all the different coral fishy species we saw on underwater tablets.
After two grueling hours of that, we finally had lunch and rabbit fish was served. We had only a few minutes to play in the ocean before the worst part of my day: the test. The ecologist had actually created questions based on what he had been teaching us, printed it out, and made each of us take it. Only one way to describe it: brutal. For serious, I failed, no joke. Last time I checked, a 44% equals a big ol' F. Sorry mama, sorry dad, seems I can't do nothing right.
In all honesty and with all sincerity, I'm still a little upset that I failed. I'm still trying to figure out why. Maybe it was because my attention seemed to wander when the professor would teach, maybe because I didn't study enough. My guess is that it was because I didn't have my shirt on (it improved certain test taking skills (sexiness) but diminished others (focus)). Other explanations include being distracted by the sounds of the water 30 feet away, the cool ocean breeze, or the physical and mental demands of an 18-question multiple-choice ordeal.
Although small, the only bright spot in all this was that he didn't require us to put our names on the test, it was only to measure how well he taught us, and had no impact on my already irrelevant grades abroad. Afterwards, I swam some more and then did a flip off a boat.
Once we got back to Dar and our hotel at 5pm, the rest of my day was just as dreadful and unpleasant, though I won't go into details. There's no point in depressing you even further. I just want you to know that I'm trying to stay positive through all this. It's not always easy here, but I'm coping with these hardships, with this lifestyle. I made this choice and it’s a choice that I'm going to have to live with, even if it means discomfort/emotional suffering/a really sweet tan.
I miss everybody like a salad misses dressing, like windows miss pains, like Eskimos miss polar bears, like the dodo bird misses living, like a Tyler misses friends/family/pets/yall. Please take care and give me an update on America if you get a chance. I have no idea what's going on in the world, that's maybe my leading problem these days. Salama!!
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Mom
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Hey T, We all have a bad day. You're lucky to have had so many good ones in a row. International travel and living is often about the best of bests and the worst of worsts; but ultimately, you'll look back on it all and say, wow, that was amazing! The news here in 'Merica is not making anyone happy. Every day the economy goes down by another measure and some irresponsible corporation (that contributed to the downfall) is rewarded with a bail out. Terribly cynical, I know. We're told and pretty much believe that we can't just stand around and do nothing or it will be worse for everyone; so we let the stuff go by and just pray that Obama and his 'best and the brightest" really know what they're doing. HBO broadcast Will Ferrell's Broadway show, "You're Welcome America: A Final Evening with George W. Bush," which was hilarious from start to finish. Spoofing Bush, of course. That seems like a long time ago now... Take care!