Wow, I'm the worst, right? The absolutely worst. Can I use the excuse that I'm posting on Filipino time? Haha...
It's a terrible, ridiculous excuse because "Filipino time" is probably one of my biggest frustrations here, even after nearly 5 full months of "getting used to it"/cultural immersion. And I know what some of you are thinking...you're thinking, "Kelly--Kelly Keegan, the notoriously late friend, being frustrated about lateness? How ironic!" And to that I say...touché. But let me explain myself.
I'm actually totally okay with "Filipino time," aka showing up anywhere from 15 minutes to hours late, when it involves a social activity happening during my free time with patient and understanding friends whom I dearly love (shout out to all my friends whom I dearly love and miss!). My frustration lies in this kind of "schedule" at school or professional events. Nothing grinds my gears more than my grad students (consistently) walking into my class 15 minutes or more late with big smiles on their faces and fried, caramelized bananas-on-a-stick in their hands. Just sauntering back from their lunch break to, ya know, catch some of that graduate level class they have enrolled in.
I'm going to be honest. I've lost my cool about it a few times (much to my students' surprise and even my own) which scares them enough for a week, maybe weeks max after which the same situation replays and replays.
Or, let's take another example: seminars that I'm invited to speak at. I'm told I'll be speaking from 1:30 to 3:00. Ok, great. I clear my schedule, prepare enough materials for 2 and a half hours, and I'm ready to rock.
I arrive 15 minutes early and, huh? No one is there and nothing is even set up for the seminar. The doors may even be locked still. Hmm...am I in the wrong location? Nope, I confirm the seminar is being held in this venue. If I rally enough people and appear visually frustrated enough, maybe by 2:00 things are ready to go and at least some people have arrived.
Now I have 2 choices. Rush through my prepared lecture/workshop to finish by 3:00 like the "schedule," or do my hard work and preparation justice by presenting all I had planned and finish by 3:30. It makes no difference to the participants (or so it seems), so often out of my hard-headed, American defiance, I rush to finish on-time. Well, thank goodness I did because there's another 30+ minutes of picture taking and certificate giving. By this time, it's well after 4, I'm exhausted, and that stack of journals I had been planning to grade following the seminar is just going to have to wait for another day.
Sigh.
End rant.
Hello! Hi!
In other news, I've been really busy these last 4 months as the semester got into full swing just in time for a 3-week Christmas break (shout-out to my visitor, Dan), a week-long conference in China (Fellows mid-year conference), and then right back into the semester again. There's only a few more weeks before finals, and I, honestly, don't know where the time has gone.
To summarize, I truly enjoy my students (minus the late ones), I'm learning a lot, I'm working a lot (teaching 6 days a week is not ideal), and I'm loving any and all opportunities I get to explore this beautiful country during my free time.
There's so much more to tell you all, so I promise more regular updates in the coming weeks. It's also funny because as I post this, I'm supposed to be at my friends' basketball game cheering. But that game was scheduled to start at 4 and it's only 4:10. I have plenty of time...in fact, I might even grab a caramelized banana-on-a-stick on my way. :)
xoxo,
Kelly
It's a terrible, ridiculous excuse because "Filipino time" is probably one of my biggest frustrations here, even after nearly 5 full months of "getting used to it"/cultural immersion. And I know what some of you are thinking...you're thinking, "Kelly--Kelly Keegan, the notoriously late friend, being frustrated about lateness? How ironic!" And to that I say...touché. But let me explain myself.
I'm actually totally okay with "Filipino time," aka showing up anywhere from 15 minutes to hours late, when it involves a social activity happening during my free time with patient and understanding friends whom I dearly love (shout out to all my friends whom I dearly love and miss!). My frustration lies in this kind of "schedule" at school or professional events. Nothing grinds my gears more than my grad students (consistently) walking into my class 15 minutes or more late with big smiles on their faces and fried, caramelized bananas-on-a-stick in their hands. Just sauntering back from their lunch break to, ya know, catch some of that graduate level class they have enrolled in.
I'm going to be honest. I've lost my cool about it a few times (much to my students' surprise and even my own) which scares them enough for a week, maybe weeks max after which the same situation replays and replays.
Or, let's take another example: seminars that I'm invited to speak at. I'm told I'll be speaking from 1:30 to 3:00. Ok, great. I clear my schedule, prepare enough materials for 2 and a half hours, and I'm ready to rock.
I arrive 15 minutes early and, huh? No one is there and nothing is even set up for the seminar. The doors may even be locked still. Hmm...am I in the wrong location? Nope, I confirm the seminar is being held in this venue. If I rally enough people and appear visually frustrated enough, maybe by 2:00 things are ready to go and at least some people have arrived.
Now I have 2 choices. Rush through my prepared lecture/workshop to finish by 3:00 like the "schedule," or do my hard work and preparation justice by presenting all I had planned and finish by 3:30. It makes no difference to the participants (or so it seems), so often out of my hard-headed, American defiance, I rush to finish on-time. Well, thank goodness I did because there's another 30+ minutes of picture taking and certificate giving. By this time, it's well after 4, I'm exhausted, and that stack of journals I had been planning to grade following the seminar is just going to have to wait for another day.
Sigh.
End rant.
Hello! Hi!
In other news, I've been really busy these last 4 months as the semester got into full swing just in time for a 3-week Christmas break (shout-out to my visitor, Dan), a week-long conference in China (Fellows mid-year conference), and then right back into the semester again. There's only a few more weeks before finals, and I, honestly, don't know where the time has gone.
To summarize, I truly enjoy my students (minus the late ones), I'm learning a lot, I'm working a lot (teaching 6 days a week is not ideal), and I'm loving any and all opportunities I get to explore this beautiful country during my free time.
There's so much more to tell you all, so I promise more regular updates in the coming weeks. It's also funny because as I post this, I'm supposed to be at my friends' basketball game cheering. But that game was scheduled to start at 4 and it's only 4:10. I have plenty of time...in fact, I might even grab a caramelized banana-on-a-stick on my way. :)
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| Beautiful Baguio |
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| Puppies! |
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| Adventuring at the hotel in Guangzhou, China |
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| Enjoying Christmas break with Dan |
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| Sagada |
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| My fav class |
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| Pagudpud |
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| What most of my days look like |
xoxo,
Kelly
