Oy vey...Change!

So this morning I was woken up by my cabin stewart who delivered me my laundry. I, then, found a rather inspiring post-it on my door from “Secret Agent X” stating:
        “You are capable of accomplishing whatever you believe in. (and on the other side) Live. Laugh. Love.”
I found this random act of kindness to be extremely thoughtful. Upon leaving my room, I noticed Secret Agent X had placed a post-it on each door with a different, inspiring message. It was a superb way to start another sunny day at sea.

We are officially halfway through classes right now. And today I received a new “course evaluation” form, explaining how I will be graded on this course. Although I feel it’s a fair grading system, I was quite aggravated to read that I have a 4-page paper due before we arrive in Panamá (which is 8am on Sunday, a.k.a. TOMORROW). I would have appreciated it if this adjustment was made at some point earlier in the class. Did I mention I skipped the 70s, 80s, and 90s-themed dance to get this paper done? That was a disappointment that I didn’t feel like I could enable myself to go.

Despite the surprise assignment, my class has really drilled in my head that working with communities and strong-willed individuals from diverse backgrounds and experiences is extremely difficult (to the nth degree). And I’m just about ready to accept the fact that you cannot please everybody. In class, we express different opinions and believe very strongly in them, which I feel may hinder someone from listening to others or appreciating their point of view(s). It’s not an easy task to listen to someone without your own bias interfering when you have a different view on an issue. The activity that we did today required writing on the board, and I volunteered to take notes on the board, which broke up the monotony of sitting, offering another perspective of the classroom. It was difficult and due to constant nitpicking, we often failed to come to a consensus on even the most miniscule details of the task at hand. On a lighter note, I feel it’s important to mention that I don’t feel like I’ll get used to the fact that I have a view of the Caribbean Sea from my classroom. It’s a nice treat.

I introduced to a few of my SAS friends/acquaintances the mind-boggling game of Bananagrams! They seemed to enjoy it and I’m hoping to have more fun with my favorite (and addictive) banana-themed speed scrabble game. After dinner, I took part in a Seminar with The Great Game of Power, which is the activity we did in class yesterday. The group and experience, again, offered some great perspectives and insights to the fact that most people interpret and view the same thing/issue differently than you.

So I’m glad to be setting my clock an hour back tonight. I need that extra hour! But just think the next time that you don’t understand another person’s stance or opinion on a topic, try to get to know more about them, so then you can better grasp from where they’re coming on the issue.

Panamá on Sunday!! (And no, we are not going through the Canal, but I am going an excursion that pertains to it.)
Bis dann,
Matt