Bad Day Gone Good

Most days start with the potential to be good…and then something goes terribly wrong. This was not one of those kinds of days. It was the kind of day that when your alarm clock goes off, you are first confused at what the heck that unthinkable noise is and when you figure out where it is coming from, you seriously think about throwing it across the room, hoping it will shatter into a million pieces so you can peacefully go back to sleep. Luckily for my phone, I decided against throwing it. I worked at the Family Development Centre today, which was nice because it got me out of my house, but you know what they had for me to do…transcribe a meeting from tape recorder to the computer. In the 6 hours I worked on it, I only got through about an hour of the meeting, it is safe to say it was tedious, kinda terrible work. The Centre hired another full-time employee so the desk and computer I used to have is now hers, so I’m stuck on the Mac, which I have no idea how to use!

I was really hoping today that I would find out about some progress for my own research project. I was supposed to meet with the Ministry of Health on Friday, but after about 6 phones calls to my mentor's office, I never found out if the meeting got set up. Today I finally got to talk to him and found out that he hadn’t even delivered the packet of information to the Ministry I had left with him last week. So I was incredibly frustrated about the progress of my research. It was about then I got an email back from my mom, the ever-so-wise, reminding me that whatever research I get done will be an accomplishment and that the real purpose of being here was learning about a new culture, being a “cultural ambassador” for the States, learning about myself and experiencing new things. So being successful is more about what I learn along the way instead of the findings I am able to present at the end. That was something I need to always remember I think, and apply it not just while I’m here. (Thanks mom!) So that helped…and then I got some reply emails that I had sent to people who work for PAHO here in Trinidad and then people who have been a part of successful implementations of National Health Information Systems (which are what I’m researching if you didn’t know that!) in Belize and Switzerland. So I was pretty psyched about that. Then I had to keep transcribing!

Leaving work I was a bit bored and tired, and a bit excited about my new revelations. But by the time I got home, I seemed so much more tired than when I had set out from work. Going for a run now seemed more like a chore than an uplifting part of my day, but I set out anyway, my legs feeling like weights. I started up my usual path, my mind feeling heavy...and then I passed the savannah (it’s just a big open piece of what I imagine was once grass but is now dirt, with a path on the outside to run). There were a few others walking and jogging, but more importantly there was a group playing soccer in the middle. I watched them as I started around the track and one of them motioned to me, asking me if I wanted to come play. I was astounded. I couldn’t believe this group of guys (three probably in their 40s, maybe one in his late 20s and then 2 teenagers and a little kid) was inviting me to come play. One of the teams was a man down, so I joined them and no more than 3 touches later I megged a guy to score a goal. If you know me and my soccer skills, I am usually assisting goals, not scoring them, and to score by megging someone (kicking it through their legs for those soccer illiterates) is pretty much the ultimate way to do it. After that, I was in. They would pass me the ball and joke with me, it was so fun! So my run that had started blah, ended wonderfully…although I’m not sure I’ll ever get my socks clean, they are covered in dirt!

Dinner was next…I cooked some fish that I’m not so sure was still good. I didn’t eat too much of it! But I also cut up and cooked some sweet potato and they were fantastic, so once again bad became good. (And now I’m going to have some dessert and that is going to make good, great!) So I guess I'm saying try to look for the bright side, it is probably there somewhere, and made bad good.