There were so many times this week where I was sitting around bored (oddly a lot of classes were cancelled this week) and I was left wondering if I was getting the most out of this experience. I found myself thinking about all I had not yet done and what I knew I needed to do in order to feel accomplished with this semester. And then the little things in life happened and I was reminded of a couple very key things to live by...
Life Lesson #1-Learned via losing
This week we had two more volleyball games (and one tomorrow) but unfortunately were not successful in either of the games. For some reason I was getting into my own head and frankly was not playing the way I normally do and as a team we were not playing that well either. For anyone who has seen me around a volleyball court, I get a bit aggressive when it comes to my competitiveness. With that being said, I hate losing. I really, really hate losing when I know I could have done better. Coach (who is honestly such an amazing person) could tell I was not satisfied with the game (and she knew I could tell she wasn't either) so she came up to me when we were waiting for the bus. She said she wanted to talk to me as a fellow player not as a coach. She said something like, "You know what you are doing, you are just thinking about it to much. Stop thinking and just play your game. Get on the court and win. If you are constantly analyzing you won't score points." She was right so I got on the bus knowing what I needed to do the next game. It was not until we were almost back to campus did I realize what she said is extremely applicable to life as well. This whole week I have been trying to figure out what I need to do to make sure I love this experience and not just like it. I have been thinking about so many things that I found myself in the same place I was on the volleyball court...over analyzing and not doing what I know how to do. So I decided to take coaches advice, stop over thinking everything and just do me. That is how you live.
From now on...less thinking/analyzing....more living.
Here are some pictures of the vollyeball team...note we are wearing men's soccer jerseys.
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| AUS does Sorority |
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| Of course we have to have the classic "tourist" pose |
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| Game faces...slash disturbing |
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| Game time |
Life Lesson #2- Learned via getting lost
It was Thursday night so we escaped campus like every other student. A group of us, essentially all exchange students, decided to go to this really good Palestinian place in Sharjah for dinner. We knew the name and the general area of the place and hoped that it was enough. Once getting to the taxis we discovered that it was in fact not enough information. The drivers thought they had a general idea so we got in the cab and left campus. Here's the kicker, they actually had no clue where we were going and we were not 100% sure of where the place was. It would not have been so bad but we managed to squeeze 5 girls in our cab (four in the backseat which is illegal). After everyone nearly getting car sick and having limbs fall asleep from the tight quarters in the cab, we finally just asked them to drop us off at the waterfront park and we would walk to a place to eat. Note that at this point it was 9pm and we had not eaten dinner....you guessed it, we were starving. We crossed the street and walked into an Iraqi restaurant hoping for some authentic Arabic food. All nine of us sat down and looked at the menu. Some of the girls were not sure they wanted to eat at the place because there were not a lot of options and the prices were not the best. But we convinced them to stay because it would be a little rude for a big table to up and leave, plus taking risks is part of the adventure at new restaurants. When the waiter came over to get our orders it so happened they were out of the majority of the dishes we wanted. A few of the girls were trying to communicate with him (he was not the best English speaker) and were getting a bit frustrated with it all. Knowing how it feels to be on the other side as the server, I knew that we needed to calm down as a table and collect our thoughts before speaking to the waiter again. He was trying his hardest and we just needed to be a bit more patient with him. Deciding to split four different dishes we called the waiter over and put in a super simple meal for us all to share. Not that long after he comes back with one plate of the chicken dish we had ordered. He then tells us that they are out of the chicken and cannot finish our order. Thankfully one of the girls with us was Egyptian and started speaking to him in Arabic. No joke, within a few minutes he leaves the table and our friend turns to us to inform us that the waiter is Egyptian as well and is going to take care of us tonight. And this is when the craziness starts. For the next ten minutes trays of food were brought to our table. Salads, Hommus, vegetables, soups, bread, beans, olives, chicken and rice and a lot of other Iraqi dishes now covered our table. It was incredible. The amount of food we had for the 9 of us was actually insane.We went from being upset that they were out of the dishes we wanted to having enough food to feed a small army. We ate the most we could and finished the dinner with tea and fruit.
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| Our Iraqi feast |
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| Seriously, this bill is not real. I have no idea how it was so cheap for all of that food |
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| The box our check came in...We definitely recommend this restaurant |
I think the most incredible part of the evening was we were shown so much hospitality and kindness when we did not necessarily deserve it. Between almost leaving before ordering and not being the kindest to the waiter when he was not understanding English there was no reason for them to show us so much love. But thanks to a little patience and perseverance (and a lot to our friend being Egyptian) we had one of the most amazing meals of the semester. It goes to show that you should always be patient and kind with someone because you never know when they are going to turn around and help you.
Be Patient. Be Kind.
We ended our night (and this week of life lessons) with a nice walk along the water front. There is a really beautiful mosque and water fountain in the park that we walked around and just enjoyed the nice weather together. It turned out to be one of the most relaxing and culturally fulfilling nights. Who would have known that getting lost in a cab, wandering up to a restaurant, almost leaving and getting mad at the waiter could lead to a feast of a meal and a beautiful evening by the water. It was a blessing.
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| Sharjah at night |
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| The fountain was synchronized to music too, it was really beautiful. |
Less thinking, more living
Be patient, be kind.
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