The next level
It’s 2008 and I’ve been here about 4 months now. I can sense that I’ve shifted to some new phase of my experience in my work and life in India. I’m not sure if I understand just what this new phase is, but here are a couple things that mark the change.
The first thing is that I got a maid. Yes, American independent, do-it-yourself Sara now has someone come and help clean the apartment. Part of what this means is that I have come to know and accept my own limits – allowing someone else to help me. That is significant. The other part is that it further initiates me into an Indian system of living. I’m not sure how I feel about the second part. There is good and bad in how I look at it. The obvious class difference between me and the woman who comes once a week to clean for me is unsettling, but it is a reality that doesn’t change if she isn’t cleaning for me. So, the extra income for her is certainly a positive thing and I can’t tell you what a wonderful feeling it was to come into my house after a long workday and smell that clean, lemon-fresh smell!
Secondly, I have noticed that I understand my role and responsibilities much more clearly at HMI… as well as distinguishing what are others’ roles and responsibilities. This helps me to know more about when to say yes and when to say no to projects brought to me... when and who to pass things on to when it is not my task. However, as with many places, we are short-staffed, especially in Academics, so often there is no one else to whom I can pass important tasks. I’m trying not to be a perfectionist and just do what I can, but I always find it hard to let go of things I feel are important and which I can do something about.
The beginning of the year in my work means planning the next academic calendar and preparing the next year’s budget. These things have helped me to realize that one of the top priorities is the hiring of the 3 faculty positions that are approved but not yet filled. Most importantly, we need an Assistant Director of Academics. With the Director going on another 3 months of his sabbatical in February, this is feeling more and more urgent all the time for me. The decisions about hiring lie with the director and the board, but I do think that it is a place where I can try to eliminate some of the red tape logistically and stress the urgency in important ways in order to make it happen. During the budget presentation recently, I could tell that I am integrating to that next level in another important way: I used the term “lakh” quite regularly! (1 lakh = 100,000) I still accidentally said dollars instead of rupees a few times, but hey… it’s a start!
I don’t think I mentioned how different and quiet the campus was for several weeks over the holidays. The students were away on break (and many of them will not return until April as they are in their internships in other parts of India) and many staff took leave as well. I got some good work done during that time, but it was really nice to have more people interaction again at the start of January. I hosted a group from Germany which had a very fun and interactive program, and leaders from Hartford Seminary overlapped with the Germans for a few days as well. I was happy to be able to welcome so many India newcomers with a little discussion on cultural adjustment as well as orientation to HMI. As I tell them about the need to exercise the skills of patience and flexibility, I realize how much I am being stretched in these areas as well. I think soon I will have a parade of people walking out of HMI chanting the mantra: “Let it come, Let it come, Let it come!”
As I write this blog, I am on my way (Indian train ride!) to a SIETAR conference in Chennai. I am very excited about it because it will quench my thirst for my own educational and career learning. SIETAR is a professional intercultural association that I had connections to in the States, but now will learn what the Indian SIETAR has to offer. I don’t want to speculate about what the conference might be like, so I’ll stop here and leave it for the next blog. Sorry no pictures yet.... coming later.
On my way,
Sara
The first thing is that I got a maid. Yes, American independent, do-it-yourself Sara now has someone come and help clean the apartment. Part of what this means is that I have come to know and accept my own limits – allowing someone else to help me. That is significant. The other part is that it further initiates me into an Indian system of living. I’m not sure how I feel about the second part. There is good and bad in how I look at it. The obvious class difference between me and the woman who comes once a week to clean for me is unsettling, but it is a reality that doesn’t change if she isn’t cleaning for me. So, the extra income for her is certainly a positive thing and I can’t tell you what a wonderful feeling it was to come into my house after a long workday and smell that clean, lemon-fresh smell!
Secondly, I have noticed that I understand my role and responsibilities much more clearly at HMI… as well as distinguishing what are others’ roles and responsibilities. This helps me to know more about when to say yes and when to say no to projects brought to me... when and who to pass things on to when it is not my task. However, as with many places, we are short-staffed, especially in Academics, so often there is no one else to whom I can pass important tasks. I’m trying not to be a perfectionist and just do what I can, but I always find it hard to let go of things I feel are important and which I can do something about.
The beginning of the year in my work means planning the next academic calendar and preparing the next year’s budget. These things have helped me to realize that one of the top priorities is the hiring of the 3 faculty positions that are approved but not yet filled. Most importantly, we need an Assistant Director of Academics. With the Director going on another 3 months of his sabbatical in February, this is feeling more and more urgent all the time for me. The decisions about hiring lie with the director and the board, but I do think that it is a place where I can try to eliminate some of the red tape logistically and stress the urgency in important ways in order to make it happen. During the budget presentation recently, I could tell that I am integrating to that next level in another important way: I used the term “lakh” quite regularly! (1 lakh = 100,000) I still accidentally said dollars instead of rupees a few times, but hey… it’s a start!
I don’t think I mentioned how different and quiet the campus was for several weeks over the holidays. The students were away on break (and many of them will not return until April as they are in their internships in other parts of India) and many staff took leave as well. I got some good work done during that time, but it was really nice to have more people interaction again at the start of January. I hosted a group from Germany which had a very fun and interactive program, and leaders from Hartford Seminary overlapped with the Germans for a few days as well. I was happy to be able to welcome so many India newcomers with a little discussion on cultural adjustment as well as orientation to HMI. As I tell them about the need to exercise the skills of patience and flexibility, I realize how much I am being stretched in these areas as well. I think soon I will have a parade of people walking out of HMI chanting the mantra: “Let it come, Let it come, Let it come!”
As I write this blog, I am on my way (Indian train ride!) to a SIETAR conference in Chennai. I am very excited about it because it will quench my thirst for my own educational and career learning. SIETAR is a professional intercultural association that I had connections to in the States, but now will learn what the Indian SIETAR has to offer. I don’t want to speculate about what the conference might be like, so I’ll stop here and leave it for the next blog. Sorry no pictures yet.... coming later.
On my way,
Sara
posted by Namasday | 6:48 AM
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