I had a dream...

In fact, I had two dreams and both were very disturbing. Both of them involved me in an interpersonal conflict. Next morning I tried my utmost to get something out of it but my efforts didn’t seem to yield any fruit.

At last, yesterday a glimpse of the meaning came out. On Friday and Saturday I teach in Alor Star. The person in charge of this branch is yet another one I can’t relate to there. Our relationship began by her doubting my skills and ability to teach. Then she went on to insist on me pretending that I come from the UK. Deceiving people in such an outrageous way, she crushed my cultural identity in that place and what is more, defeated the object of AIESEC’s principle of cultural sharing and understanding. She also doesn’t seem to acknowledge the obvious differences between the two of us – an Indian woman in her 50s and a Czech student – in that she is surprised at my inability or unwillingness to socialize with her and the staff more than I deem necessary. Obvious as it may seem, she is primarily concerned about the numbers and her own comfort while my primary concern is purely that of learning. She also doesn’t realize that the purpose of teaching is learning and not controlling the class. Anyway, I could carry on and on but to cut a long story short, she would often complain about the inefficiency of the local educational system which puts so much strain on the youngsters but at the same time she is unfortunately not aware of how much rigid she is herself.

My question now is whether she is supposed to be a part of my mission and commitment. I love my students to the best of my current ability and it costs me an enormous amount of energy. Shall I spare a bit for her? What do you think?

Sometimes, I feel that I don’t know well enough how to protect myself against those who want to bite. However, the more I fail to stand up for myself the more I know how to stand up for others. We will soon welcome another teacher, this time from Macedonia. She is supposed to help me out in Alor Star and I will make sure that she will not have to go through the same ordeal.

I will persevere despite whoever dare stay in my way.