dannydmc

Well, I went to my first funeral today. One of the elders in our village died last Thursday and the funeral was today; following the traditional three day viewing of the body at the deceased house. Last year there were several deaths in the village, but I never went to any of the services; I wasn't sure how it would look, being new to the village and not a part of the culture. However, the elder in question this time was the Father of one of our matinence men, and the uncle to two other members of staff and so I thought I'd go just to give support. It was a rather interestesting experience as the entire service was done in Yupik, except for a few phrases in English from to time. Oddly enough it was also the first time I ever saw a dead body; which is pretty odd considering how morbid of a child I was.
Speaking of being a child, I was talking to a friend of mine on staff last night when talk turned to elementary school. It was weird, I haven't thought of myself back them in a long time; but it seems to be coming to mind a lot more lately (my olf 4th grade teacher even e-mailed me lately; she was the best teacher I ever had, and so I was I was quiet happy to get the message). Anyway, while thinking last night it suddenly struck me that I really had some difficulties at that age; I was lazy, refused to do any work in school, didn't get along with most of my classmates that well and so forth. I remember being in 5th grade and having the teacher calling home at least once a week.
I was chatting with my Dad today, and on a whim I asked him why exactly I was always getting in trouble back then. "Oh", he said "you know, you didn't play well with others, weren't turning in your work" and so forth "You know, the usual problems until you got into college. "I didn't play well with others", I asked a bit suprised. "Theresa (my 5th grade teacher) was an idiot", my Dad said, "she wanted everyone to get along, and wanted them to conform".
First of all, I was suprised that that my dad apparently had enough animosity towards an old teacher of mine to call her "an idiot". Of course, it all makes sense if he saw her as forcing conformity on people; he is, when it comes right down to his heart or hearts, a non-conformist and would have no high opinion of anyone who was forcing that on his son. Secondly it brought up another conversation I had had with my friend last night when she pointed out that when ever I talk about a person I have a tendency of bringing up whether I think they like me or not. I played it off as the natural personality of an aspiring statesman, but I do think it goes back to when i was growing up and trying to fit in amongst my classmates and never quiet managing.
Anyway, this week seems to be shaping up pretty well, despite the entire funeral thing. My grad school application is marching along and I think I may have them mostly done by the next of next week which will be a huge load off of my shoudlers. Then its simply a matter of surviving the year and waiting; waiting, waiting, waiting