Al Llegori

Coming up on the end of my service and just thinking back to the early days when things were so new, fresh, and sometimes confusing.  This little story pretty much sums up a larger point/picture that, as a volunteer in another country and culture, I had to be patient enough to learn.  Thankfully, I was able to learn.

So, the story goes like this: In Albania I've spent a lot of time in cafes drinking coffees with friends.  When I first arrived I noticed a strange habit the waiter would do while changing out the ash tray.  Instead of grabbing the ash tray, and replacing it with the new one, he'd place the new ash tray on top of the old one, pick them both up, then set the new ash tray back down on the table.  I remember the first 10-20 times I saw this I didn't understand why he was doing it this way, and I saw it as a wasted step.  

Anyway, after getting more acquainted with cafes, smoking and Albania, I realized that the waiter would take this extra step so as to avoid having ashes fly out of the ash tray and onto the customers.

I think this is an allegory for what many volunteers/travelers go through, and we have to be aware that there may be more than meets the eye.  We also may not completely understand why things are happening the way they are, but that doesn't mean there isn't a good reason why things are this way, it may simply mean that we don't understand the bigger picture.

This is one of the skills I will gladly take from my time in the Peace Corps, and although I may have had it before, I think it has only been sharpened through this experience.

7 days left....yikes.