Patience and other virtues

  Another thing that Korea has taught me: patience. I've found myself waiting a lot during these eight months. Waiting for the bus. Waiting for winter to end, and for the spring to come. Waiting to understand what other people are saying. Waiting to be understood. Much of my life here has been a series of silences, with not much to think about, but only to sit and wait for others to be done, to be ready for me, or simply to get going somewhere. No deep meaning of life to ponder, only the gratitude that these are the precious few minutes given to me to enjoy. I haven't had to ponder a lot about what people mean: only to wonder at how the trees look different every season; to wonder how to be a better teacher so that my students can be proud of one thing they did better that day; to wonder at how funny things are; to wonder at how I can string all the prosaic, essential moments like beads on a strand to wear around my neck, a delicate and beautiful reminder of another, not especially special day.