All entries for Wednesday 08 February 2006

The Penguin Bear

This Bear looks like Penguina.

: 08 Feb 2006 18:14 |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

My First Day at School

I don’t think parents can ever fully understand and appreciate their children’s shock on their first day of school. I had my first day at school today and it was absolutely horrifying! It was a big building – big mostly because it’s unfamiliar, it’s only four storeys tall really. There was, as to be expected, plenty of unfamiliar people; all in smart suits, looking like they just came back from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and have just established world peace somewhere. They joke in Latin and sneer at people who reply in Greek – all of them speak at least three languages and find ordinary Russian jokes boring and flat. They quote Plato and look at things in rhetorical ways. They know what’s going on in every corner of this world. They honestly intimidate me. I turned into one scared bird, looking for holes on the perfectly white walls. Hard as I tried to overcome this irrational fear of the new people (the same people I desperately wanted to meet just two months ago) I couldn’t help feeling out of place. I wasn’t trembling, no, but it definitely wasn’t the kind of experience I wanted to live over and over again.

Julia, my good Russian friend, once told me we have to disturb our own minds in order to live a fuller and richer life. Apparently, we tend to assume things of other people and once we find our place in the society we hardly ever break out of the routine of our own life and behaviour. So right now I’m doing the ‘what if the other kids don’t like me?’ scene, denying myself the chance to meet new exciting, Latin-speaking people. Julia also told me that the key to human interaction is to make people happy with your presence. She said she was gonna try passing her exams using that technique: bringing joy to her examiners and showing the required minimum amount of proficiency in the subject. I’m yet to ask her how that went for her. But one thing is true: a big full-hearted smile can be real contagious. Maybe I’ll try that tomorrow: bring happiness to people with my presence and my shiny maniacal smile! And they will, subsequently, love me.

: 08 Feb 2006 17:47 |  Comments (4) |  Close comments |  Report a problem