Things are rarely what they appear to be

Second week of a new semester here at AUIS, and I am (thankfully) teaching Grammar 2 again.

I don't know what they were up to in Grammar 1 last semester, but this new group of students are going to be doing some magical things; I can feel it in my teachery bones!

Spring semester is always a bit lighter in terms of numbers, as fewer new students enroll at this time of year.  Instead of starting with 85 students like last semester, I began with 70.  This is still a lot, but there will always be a few 'no-shows' and of course a few students always drop throughout the semester.

I received an email the other day telling me that a young lady in one of my classes would be taking a leave of absence.  She had been attending every class, participating, and seemed very invested.  I immediately feared that there was some type of personal or family issue that was going to prevent her from continuing.  

Our community at AUIS is so very small and close knit, and most of us (the faculty and staff) are expats with a desire to live and work abroad.  I often forget that I am in a different culture all together, and that what I see on a day to day basis and how I interact with people is not the cultural norm here.

It is still very common for women to get married quite young (by western standards) and to not seek higher education because of family responsibilities.  And while Sulaimani has shown itself to be a safe and inviting place, I have students who are from Kirkuk, Baghdad, and other places close to or in Southern Iraq where the daily threat of violence is still a very, very real thing.

So when one of my students drops out suddenly, I often fear the worst.

I was eating lunch later that same day in the cafeteria, when I saw said student.  She quickly came over to my table and asked to speak with me.

She proceeded to tell what the email had said, that she needed to take a leave of absence.  "I have to go to Indonesia for training..."

Wait. What?

"Yes, I play Karate and my competition is this summer, and I need to train."

"That's amazing!" I said, and she proceeded to pull out her phone and show me a picture.

"Wait, is that a black belt?!" I exclaimed.

"Yes.  I am the first female black belt in all of Iraq."

BOOM! Yeah, my mind was blown too.  I looked at this petite young woman and thought she perfectly embodied 'never judging a book by its cover'.

So, she is off to train and compete and will hopefully be back in the fall to continue her studies in the APP, and then eventually on into the academic program.

I look forward to hearing about her adventures.

"It always seems impossible until it's done"
-Nelson Mandela

Shine! Make 'em Wonder What You Got.

One of my Kurdish students from Iran told me that people back in her city told her she “dreamed too big”…that what she wanted to accomplish in her life was crazy and that she did not live in reality. People laughed at her for wanting what many take as a simple fact of life.  It broke my heart that someone so young should be told there are limits to what you can accomplish, limits to what someone should desire out of their own life.

I couldn't imagine being told as a teenager that what I wanted to do in the future was silly or impossible.  That I should set my sights lower, on something more 'reasonable' for someone like me.  I grew up in a culture that tells their children they can be the president one day if they want to.  That all things are possible if you go after it.

One of her "too big" dreams was to attend AUIS; She just completed her first semester and will be enrolling in IT classes in the fall. I’d say she’s on her way to showing those doubters what drive, direction, and the unshakable belief in one's self can do.

“A lot of people have gone further than they thought they could because someone else thought they could.” –-Unknown