Sunday, February 3, 2013

Procrastination: Not Always A Bad Idea


A friend in undergrad was planning a trip through Nepal the following summer. Aside from mountaineering one of the world’s most gorgeous landscapes, she would “attempt to get into Bhutan.” A place she described as the “last Shangri-La” and where only those with $250 a day to spend could even think of entering in. A country I couldn’t even place on the map. 

My initial response:

“What’s funny is that I actually thought you were serious.”

Duh, why would a country with such a unique culture nestled between some of the world’s highest peaks, even think of not charging tourists? Seems obvious enough. And to deem “Gross National Happiness” as more important than Gross National Product? This country has definitely got to exist….

What I quickly learned was that, why yes, such a place does exist.

So there I was, at midnight in the student library with an essay due the next morning, completely fixated on this Himalayan Kingdom. I blame Google Images for causing such procrastination. What’s truly remarkable is that just reading about Buddhism and the world’s happiest people can put you at ease even as the clock approaches the early morning deadline.

So three years later, having completed my B.Ed. only seven months prior, I patted myself on the back for even having a plan the coming year. I would be teaching Grades 4-6 English at Tshangkha LSS through the Bhutan Canada Foundation. Three months to go and I was already sitting in my family’s living room completely homesick, to which my mother reacted, “this is not good.”

Over the course of the preparation months my anticipation of grew in a sort of rollercoaster way and was eased by the reactions of my community to my plan (of whom shall remain nameless):

“Bhutan, that’s in Africa right? Has any western teacher gone there before?”

“Will you be paid in smiles?”

“What if you’re not happy enough? Do you get kicked out? Can you be seen miserable walking down the street?”

“You are beginning your teaching career in the middle of the Himalayas, where you may be bit by rabid dogs and have to pee in a hole? ...Sarah, you're insane.”

And so begins the start of a new chapter in the “last Shangri-La” and the fear by my family that they will completely lose me to this Himalayan wonder.