I Drew a Line

I guess everyone draws a line in the sand eventually. I drew mine two days ago.  As the neighbours came clamouring to my home asking me to continue the quest for phone lines I made sure they understood my posture at this time concerning this issue. I have turned over every stone to get the phone/Internet cables here and have a bevy of residents hiding behind my skirt as I do this. But after a million different excuses, as many different answers simply to appease me, that have no truth in their words, I give up.

The neighbours continue to ask, what now?  I have told them constantly they need to contact their elected government representative. Do they do this? No.  I tell them to follow this with the letter I wrote for them to be published in the newspaper. Do they do this? No.  I have made it very clear to them I am no longer calling the elected official.  I have no clout there. I do not have a vote.  They do.  I will not have the letter published in the newspaper. It just gives the readers to once again say ' those white people think they can have everything the had back home - over here'. Believe me when I say I have nothing close to what I had back home, but I accept most of it with grace.  It is time for the group here to stand up and take action for themselves. They sit back and say ' we tried before, we cannot get it'.  I guess they never will, and neither will I with that attitude.

I must remember who I am and where I am. I am here teaching a Western methodology of learning along with English language.  I need to remember that all that I do here also has a cultural sensitivity issue. I need to keep that in mind while I interact with the locals.  I know now that I will never be a true local in that sense. I will not ever adopt the group mentality that makes that collective culture unique.  I am western, living in an eastern culture.  As long as I think I can convince these people to adopt my way of thinking, even though they are professionals, I am trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.  Their thinking filters into every aspect of their lives. An example of this is driving here.  I was warned when I first arrived that in any road collision with a scooter, the driver of a car is always at fault. You need to understand that scooters follow no road rules, they drive like little bees swarming a hive, but the hive is your car.  They come from all sides, cut you off, bash into your side view mirrors because they are too close; yet if they collide with you it is your fault. End of story.  I have a neighbour, who had just such a collision with a scooter last week. She had damage to her vehicle, driver door needs repair in order to open it. Side view mirror ripped off. She stopped to be sure the scooter driver was not injured.  He appeared OK, with perhaps minor injury. He begged - no police report. Why?  He has no license to drive.  She agreed. Why?  She was driving a car, and if it did get reported, she would be at fault anyway.  He drove into her - running a red light.  But when it comes down to the final decision, she is driving a car, she is at fault.  Would anyone in North America accept these rules? No, of course not, but here the collective culture just accepts and licks their wounds and keeps on ticking.

No, I am not dealing with scooters when I try to get Internet in my home. But I am dealing with the same mentality and for that reason I say enough.  I tried.  I can look back at all I have done knowing that there is nothing further I can do.  I cannot make someone else do something they don't want to do. I can only give my list of needs and rights, and let the other side decide if that works for them. The hardest part of any such relationship is knowing when to throw in the towel. I am not throwing in the towel, I am doing that which I have a history of difficulty with, I am letting it go. I have done my part. And now it is their turn to see what they can do for themselves.  Wish us all a bit of luck.