Me. Attention?

Sunday 15th May 2005

I am cleanly scrubbed,
silently proud of my crowning glory:
It has been two weeks.
My longest ever,
Untouched by the stuff
Which untangles the locks.
I now realize how easy it is.
The itch has become part and parcel
And it’s now very tolerable.

I had been a recluse.
Shunning friends and also
The washing machine.
Had to resort to G-strings,
Coz I have no normal ones left.

Recluse partly by choice,
Using the thesis and EBE Assignment
as an excuse.

I had two encounters.
One with drunk Wolfgang,
Another with the strange French guy.
Both dropped serious hints –
It was so strange.
I was scared,
But now wary and wiser.
Of course they were spurned.

Perhaps it is the language barrier,
I am feeling more competent
With the Deutsche in Graz’s almost-daily classes.

Fret not, I am not extremely joyous
Nor am I in the doldrums
Although recently I have taken
To staring at photographs
From back home for hours.

“The communicator cannot stop at knowing that the people he is working with have different customs, goals, and thought patterns of his own. He must be able to feel his way into intimate contact with these alien values, attitudes, and feelings. He must be able to work with them and within them, neither losing his own values in the confrontation nor protecting himself behind a wall of intellectual detachment. ”

For starters, you can find opportunities to become familiar with many types of people so that the differences become normal and interesting instead of threatening. And you can practice body awareness so that changes that signify a stress reaction can be identified and counteracted.

It is a transition stage for me,
Where I am straddling the end of
Cultural confrontation with adjustment.

Curious I will be when Sam and Rub arrive,
Of what feelings my mind and heart will evoke.


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Not By Choice

I told myself and Mama
No to more traveling
I had my share of fun abroad
Plus thought I – why not Austria?
It presents many opportunities for
My idea of fun. At a lower cost too.
I am resolved to enjoy
The coffee houses,
The Fine cuisine,
And surely shopping, too,
For myself and others!

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