Linaewen's Lake of Small Birds

I'm having an adventure this week. My healthy, active hubby went and had a heart attack on Monday. Part of the adventure was me driving him through Chicago traffic and construction zones to the ER, praying the whole way that I had not made a bad decision about where to take him or about not calling an ambulance instead. My prayers while driving were answered, and we made it in the nick of time -- he had his attack in the presence of the ER staff while I was getting the car parked. He is getting awesome care, and surprising the doctors with how quickly he is bouncing back from a 100% blockage on one side. I guess being healthy and active doesn't always prevent the attacks, but it helps with the recovery! He is actually doing so well that there a possibility he will be discharged today.

The rest of the adventure will continue next week, as we are scheduled to close on a condo we are buying the 28th, and then move into it by the 30th -- which I imagine will involve hubby supervising from a chair while other people do all the work! I'm praising God that he is still with me to do that, and for all the help we have been offered for the move, so that hubby can relax in his chair.  I'm also even more pleased now with our new condo, which is only a few blocks away from our current apartment, on the first floor, which will be good place to live for a heart patient and his wife who has arthritis in her knees (that's me)!

I'm a pretty flexible person for the most part -- some of that flexibility is innate, and some of it is learned as a result of living in another culture that values time in a different way than Americans are used to doing.  During our time in Pakistan, we really came to understand that South Asians value looser schedules than we do, that time is less tangible, less linear, and always susceptible to last-minute change.  For the most part, that's actually a pretty calming way to live, if one can get the hang of not looking at one's watch or not caring what it says!

It's something we keep running up against here in Chicago, working in the South Asian community.  As a teacher of English here, I have had to go into each situation prepared for my student to not show up -- or to show up at a different time than the set time.  It can be frustrating at times, but it's usually not so hard to stay flexible.

However, I have recently discovered that my flexibility needs a bit of work!  It's been stretched to the limit of late.

One of my new responsibilities at the Center where we work is as the director of ESL -- making sure people in the community who want to learn English or study for the citizenship exam are matched with tutors who are volunteering their time to teach.  There is a certain amount of leeway in these arrangements, because we all know that "South Asian time" is going to be an issue.  But I've never seen it as bad as this before!  Perhaps it's just the sheer numbers of people not coming when they are expected that is testing my patience, rather than me being inflexible, but I must admit, even understanding that it is so, and why it is this way, I'm still having a hard time not throwing a hissy fit!

This week in particular I have not seen one scheduled ESL student show up to study with the teachers awaiting them -- including two of my own students yesterday.  Except for one woman today, who came three hours early and was told her teacher wouldn't be here until later.  After a cup of chai and some talk, she left, saying she would be back later.  But no...

Last week was almost as bad!  For myself, I can manage it, and I'm used to it to a certain extent.  But when it affects others for whom I'm responsible and who don't understand the culture as well, it's another matter.  Some of the volunteers come from a long way away just to help out with teaching, and some of them are students themselves doing this volunteering as part of an internship, so it's important that their students come and come on time.  Instead, we are all getting a taste of "South Asian time" and how it affects the finely crafted schedule.

So I'm pretty frustrated at the moment, and I have the headache to prove it!  Thankfully, I do realize that it's been this way for every ESL director that's ever had the job in this neighborhood, so I know it's not just me making a hash of it.  And I know it will work out eventually -- and the volunteers are certainly getting an accurate feel for it as they learn about another culture.  And I have lovely coworkers who hug me and say "there, there" -- and that's comforting, even if it doesn't help people come in on time for their lessons!

:-)

/cross complaining about culture

Speaking of ESL, this weekend I'm attending the first of three two-day workshops in teaching English as a Second Language.  I'm going to turn it into an adventure and take the bus/subway/train all the way to the suburbs to attend the course.  I set out tomorrow afternoon, with the first class session set for Friday evening.  I will spend the night, since classes begin again early on Saturday and go all day.  I'm looking forward to it muchly, even though it's been a very long time since I sat in a classroom!  But it will be fun.  Not only am I looking forward to the train ride, I'm keen on learning more about this subject -- and not even my frustration with students with South Asian watches can dampen that, lol!

That was the cry from most of the floats at the parade we went to yesterday -- a parade celebrating Pakistan Independence Day (which actually was August 14th, but they held the parade on Sunday).  It means "Long Live Pakistan."  That parade was one of several events taking place in the South Asian part of Chicago this past weekend -- as India also celebrated Independence Day on the 15th with a parade, and our South Asian Friendship Center held a block party on Saturday to coincide with both events.

I was in charge of the food tent for the block party, which involved free water, lemonade, popcorn and watermelon.  I didn't really have my head on straight properly to be on top of things for the block party, due to arriving from our trip to New Jersey only the day before -- so I wasn't actually set up well enough before the inrush of thirsty folk after the parade.  It was almost overwhelming at first!  Also, I was stiff and sore from falling while setting up -- I tripped on a curb and fell on the grass, and bruised my knee severely (a bad bruise on top of a healing bruise from last time).  I'm such a klutz these days, I've fallen down hard twice this month!  Just rushing too much and not watching, I guess.  Anyway, that didn't help me at all to get around like I needed to, but I managed.  People who knew I had fallen helped me out a lot, so that was good!

We had a lot of volunteers from area churches to help out, which was wonderful, but my "assigned" ones always disappeared when I needed them!  Thankfully, I had a capable fellow manning the popcorn machine all day, so I didn't have to do that.  As it was, I was so busy frantically serving drinks and the other food (along with my helpers) that I hardly got a chance to even look at people, let alone chat with them.  And we were right next to one of the speakers which was blaring Hindi/Pakistani music -- fun stuff with a great beat, but so loud we couldn't hear ourselves think let alone hear what our customers were saying to us.  :-D

Local people kept taking my chairs and sitting in them along the street, so I never had one when I needed to sit down.  And I had to run back and forth a lot because we kept running out of lemonade and water.  It was a hot day, and people had been standing in the sun watching the parade, so we were a popular stop for a free drink -- plus the popcorn and watermelon.  My right arm is still stiff and sore today from slicing watermelon and pushing the spiggot on the lemonade jug repeatedly all afternoon!

In spite of all that, I was able to meet and chat with a number of my friends, as well as a bunch of kids who frequent the Center where they get help with English and schoolwork, so I was pleased about that.  And everything really went well and people had fun, and I got compliments on my Pakistani outfit -- which is nice because it's as old as the hills, but seemingly still in style and fitting properly.  ;-)

We were so busy with the block party that we didn't get to see any of the India Day parade, but we did get to see the Pakistan parade on the following day.  We actually skipped church to go see it!  It wasn't anything fancy, but it was fun to stand on the curb behind the police barricade, dressed like a Pakistani and wearing buttons that said Love Pakistan.  ;-)  It was overcast all morning, and sure enough, before the parade was over, a storm blew up.  Those poor people on the floats, lol!  We got soaked walking back home, but it was still fun.  We met lots of people we knew, and chatted a bit when the rain wasn't soaking us.  There was supposed to be a gathering in a nearby park afterwards, with booths for food and performances and such, but I didn't go.  It rained a fair bit, and then, even though it cleared up, it was really soggy out.

Anyway, I'm moving real slow today, as I'm quite stiff, and my bruised knee is a sight to behold.  I'll recover soon enough, hopefully!  It always takes a few days to recover from such a weekend, even when one doesn't fall all over the place and hurt oneself!  Too bad our lovely relaxing week in New Jersey got all used up in just two days, though!  We'll need to take another vacation now.  ;-)

I have to admit that living in small town Wisconsin sometimes has its disadvantages.  Not very many disadvantages, but a few here and there.  One of them is that you can't find a guava for love nor money.  I developed a taste for this fruit over in Pakistan, but haven't been able to find them now that we are back here.  So I've been without guavas for 6 years...

... but no more!  Now that we live in Chicago, I can get things like that!  Last week, I was walking through my favorite international grocery store, and I smelled them -- guavas!  They have a very distinctive smell.  Sure enough, there they were.  They cost a fortune per pound, but I paid it because I wanted a treat.  :-D

They were just the thing, too!  Sliced round with salt, black salt and pepper, yum!

Though it may seem as if I haven't been around, I actually haven't been absent.  I come here several times a day to check out what my buddies are up to.  But do I say anything about myself?  Not recently!  So, in an attempt to be sure I post at least twice this month, here goes...

I really like living in northern Chicago.  Where we are, it's very much like being in one of the bigger cities in Pakistan, believe it or not.  They actually call it Little India up here, though it could just as well be called Little Pakistan!  It still amazes me sometimes that living in Chicago can still remind me so much of Pakistan.  Some of those reminders are as obvious as the smell of curry coming from restaurants, the sweet shop that sells barfi and jallaybee just a block from our house, the sounds of conversation in a foreign language that we can understand, the sight of burqua-clad women or the ready availability in the corner grocery store of bitter gourd, a vegetable native to Pakistan and India.  Other reminders are more intangible, like the way people gesture when they talk, or bob their head in a South Asian manner.  So we definitely feel at home.

We haven't gotten out into the other part of Chicago very much as yet, but we have gotten downtown a couple of times -- and want to do more.  We're coming up on better weather for being out and about, so we have plans to start checking out some of those museums and parks that look so inviting in the Not For Tourists Guide Book we got ourselves for Christmas.  Downtown just one bus and a longish train ride away -- which is part of the fun for us.  Being from towns in Wisconsin where they didn't have public transportation because you could walk just about anywhere you wanted to go, we think riding the bus and the elevated train is a real treat that can't be beat!  :-D  We don't get to do it often enough, because where we are living now, everything we need daily is within walking distance -- even the place where we work is only a block away! :-D

Today is looking like a lovely sunny day, though I'm not sure how warm it is going to be.  Either way, it will be a good day for a walk for exercise.  There is a lovely little park with a pond about a mile away, and I think I'll go there today and watch the ducks.  Maybe if it's warm enough I'll sit for a bit and do some writing!

Thought I'd get some pix of the new place while it still looked neat!  ;-)  We still don't have all the furniture we need yet, but we're getting there.

I have included the first two, and then a link to my Scrapbook Gallery where you can keep clicking until you've seen them all.  Some of the pictures are of the apartment before we moved in (marked "Before", others were taken after we moved and got set up (marked "After".  I included the before pictures to give a better idea of how the apartment is laid out -- for some reason it can be seen more clearly when there is no furniture present.

On to the tour...



The tour continues here -- fourteen more photos besides these two!

http://pics.livejournal.com/lin4gondor/pic/00039r0a/g9

Luckily, I am currently at my other house in Wisconsin for a day or two so I can actually use the internet long enough to post something -- even pictures!  I have my fingers crossed that the DH's plan for getting hooked up to the worldwide web in Chicago will come to pass within the week.  Cross your digits with me!

One of the most frustrating things about having my mom not here anymore is that I can't pick up the phone and call her to tell her of the exciting things that are happening in my life, or to complain of the less than exciting things that are bugging me.

One of those times came recently, and I actually found myself reaching for the phone to tell her some good news, and had to stop myself, lol! I wasn't sad about it when I realized I couldn't call, I was just plain miffed, hehe! After complaining to the DH that I was irritated I couldn't call my mom, I picked up the phone and called my sister and my aunt (mom's sister) instead. ;-)

Most of you on my flist know by now that my hubby and I spent considerable years in Pakistan, where we worked with a nonprofit organization, mostly doing teaching. We are still with that organization, but have been a bit in limbo over the past five years since returning from South Asia. We spent time working in the home office, but for the past three or four years we have been not really doing much of anything. ;-)

For some time now, DH and I have been pursuing an opportunity to a work with a center that aids the Paksitani community of northern Chicago with things like learning English and adjusting to the American culture and helping in all kinds of other ways. It's the perfect set up for us who have spent so much time in Pakistan, and know the language and culture, but are now living stateside. That part of Chicago is less than 2 hours from where we live now, so we can also still keep tabs on our son as he takes the next step in independence by being in charge of our house here in Wisconsin, while living in an Urdu-speaking community just like old times.

We finally got permission from our organization to move to Chicago -- and that is the good news I so badly wanted to tell my mom, lol! She had been a great source of support of our hopes and had been praying for a long time that we would find something like this to do. :-)

One reason you haven't seen me around much recently is that this past week we have been apartment hunting! Not an easy thing to do when you don't already live in Chicago. We have made several day trips recently, armed with phone numbers and appointments to view places. Even though a number of opportunities fell through by the time we got down to Chicago to look at them, we managed to see enough apartments that we were able to make a decision on one.

The place we are hoping to rent -- if we are approved -- turns out to be the very first place we viewed! It is pretty small, but new and beautiful, and located right near all the best Pakistani restaurants! And it's only one block from the Center where we will be working much of our time.

We decided on that place on Monday, and now are waiting for the landlord to approve our credit report. DH spoke with the landlord's agent this morning, and it sounds like he might be able to go down as early as tomorrow to sign a lease, if all goes well! Nothing like waiting for ages for something to happen, and then when it does, we can't keep up with it! ;-)

I am currently visiting with my my dad for a few days, but when I get home, I guess I'll have to jump into packing some things to move down to Chicago! Hopefully it won't be too hard to go back to living in an apartment after owning our own home -- but the nice thing is, our house in Wisconsin is not so far away that we can't visit it whenever we need a break from the big city. It will be the best of several worlds all rolled into one!

Now if only I could tell my mom about it...

But who knows, she might even know all about it already! :-D

ETA: Hope this entry doesn't need an LJ cut; I'm on my dad's computer and I don't seem to be able to do anything the way I'm supposed to be able to with my LJ -- and I can't remember how to do a cut the old fashioned way. ;-) I had to come in by the back door, so to speak, in order to get this to post as it is! Oh, for a nice wireless connection right now. ;-)