life as a messenger....

What a day.....I feel like my job description today could have been that of a fire fighter, messenger and dictator.

The other day I wrote, my job was slowing down and I was getting into more of a routine. Yesterday, I began language classes at the office for an hour a day 4 days a week.

Well, today, I arrived at the office and my language class was interrupted about 5 times with items of varying degrees of urgency.

Some of the to do tasks that began my day included the following:

• Get a schedule of the foreigner practices for the upcoming performances, because the founder of the university wants to stop by their practices. - I'll try to put this in context for you....the foreigners (westerners) are sometimes viewed as celebrities, lets just say we kinda stand out, for many reasons ;)....There is an annual candlelight ceremony for the incoming freshman in a week and they have asked the foreigners to do a dance- we are dancing to Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger and to sing a song not in English but in the local language, complete with costumes. Apparently the founder of the university wants to check out our performances beforehand.
• Inform one of the foreign teachers that we are not able to continue with our contract and we are letting her go. :( - she doesn't teach English, and their are no students for the classes in her native language.
  
• Notify over 20 teachers that although we have a week holiday starting September 29th, and many are beginning to make plans, they will not be able to travel because due to reasons outside of our control, we have not obtained their residents permits, and they could be fined or escorted out of the country. Well, they can travel but they can only go on the school organized trip - Americans love being told how to do things!
  
• Instruct 15 teachers to reschedule their classes for tomorrow so they can go to town to get their resident permits. (If you have to teach it is much easier to just have class as scheduled than to deal with coordinating schedules and teaching in what would usually be your time off).
  

At dinner tonight, I realized that I had to be "the bearer of bad news" at least 7 different times today. For those of you that don't know me very well, I enjoy making peoples day, and making them happy. Although, I have learned that I can't make people happy all the time, I still like advocating for their best interests, and I really don't like telling anyone bad news.
As an American, I am very familiar with the desire for independence; needless to say, I am sure many people were thrilled to hear from me today! Although, my siblings may not agree, I really don't like being a dictator. Ok, when I was younger, I may have enjoyed dictating my younger siblings around, but I have changed a lot, especially in the last few years! As I was telling people, "This is how it is going to be...", everything in me wanted to take their opinions into consideration and give them a choice in the matter. Unfortunately, I discovered that these situations were totally out of my control, and my only choice was to deliver the "bad" news. In case you know of anyone who may be interested, I am taking applications for a personal messenger! ;)