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*Picture that post title like the bit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail where the calligrapher is writing down the story and it trails off into arrrrgggghhhhh*
Everything happens so much, all the time. This morning we woke up to emails from the State Department advising US citizens to leave BLR immediately. My boss is working with the school HQ to make a plan for any of us who want to leave. However, I don't think I will leave just yet.
My main concern is physical safety, and every source I can find, from all sides of the journalistic spectrum, do not expect BLR to experience "kinetic military action" -- aka actual fighting, with the possible exception of cities on the border with Ukraine. We are just over 300 miles away from Kyiv. Most of us are worried about not being able to get back in if we do leave. Several of us had that happen with our homes/jobs/lives in China at the start of the pandemic. So I think I'm physically safe, even though my tummy hurts and I'm seconds away from crying at any moment.
The first thing my students asked this morning is if I would be leaving them. SO FAR, I have decided that tonight I will pack up all the stuff I want to keep but don't actually need, like knick-knacks and photos and books and have it ready to go or be mailed. I'll have my documents. I plan to stay as long as the majority of the families are here or until we are ordered to go. My reasoning is that the families want to keep their children safe and wouldn't put them in harm's way. If I'm ordered to go, I'll probably have to go to Tbilisi because I'll be teaching online, and Georgia is only an hour's time difference. I do not want to teach overnight again if I can avoid it.
Ugggghhh.
One of my friends said, "Well, this will be an interesting chapter in your autobiography!" And yeah, not really! Day-to-day anxiety is excruciatingly boring on top of being gross! Also, knock it off with your positivity!
I just wanted to teach. That's a hard enough job. And I wanted to meet new people, try new foods, and see how other people live. I should have been more specific.
Everything happens so much, all the time. This morning we woke up to emails from the State Department advising US citizens to leave BLR immediately. My boss is working with the school HQ to make a plan for any of us who want to leave. However, I don't think I will leave just yet.
My main concern is physical safety, and every source I can find, from all sides of the journalistic spectrum, do not expect BLR to experience "kinetic military action" -- aka actual fighting, with the possible exception of cities on the border with Ukraine. We are just over 300 miles away from Kyiv. Most of us are worried about not being able to get back in if we do leave. Several of us had that happen with our homes/jobs/lives in China at the start of the pandemic. So I think I'm physically safe, even though my tummy hurts and I'm seconds away from crying at any moment.
The first thing my students asked this morning is if I would be leaving them. SO FAR, I have decided that tonight I will pack up all the stuff I want to keep but don't actually need, like knick-knacks and photos and books and have it ready to go or be mailed. I'll have my documents. I plan to stay as long as the majority of the families are here or until we are ordered to go. My reasoning is that the families want to keep their children safe and wouldn't put them in harm's way. If I'm ordered to go, I'll probably have to go to Tbilisi because I'll be teaching online, and Georgia is only an hour's time difference. I do not want to teach overnight again if I can avoid it.
Ugggghhh.
One of my friends said, "Well, this will be an interesting chapter in your autobiography!" And yeah, not really! Day-to-day anxiety is excruciatingly boring on top of being gross! Also, knock it off with your positivity!
I just wanted to teach. That's a hard enough job. And I wanted to meet new people, try new foods, and see how other people live. I should have been more specific.
