For the last couple of weeks Matt was a substitute teacher at TASOK where he is also continuing to work on engineering projects on campus. He filled in for the Librarian/Life Skills teacher. If you asked, I don't really know exactly how to describe what "Life Skills" are but I have a few examples of some life skills we have picked up or improved on here in Kinshasa.
Resourcefulness: A+
Let's say your boss is in town and you decide to have a work-related dinner party with some of your colleagues. You invite 4 people because you and your significant other have 6 plates, 6 bowls, 6 etc., because you live in a place where everything is very expensive and sooner or later you're going to have to pack it all into a suitcase or give it away. The table is set and the guests begin to arrive and one of them has decided to bring a guest with no notice. O.K. What do you do? Tell them you can't accommodate another? No. You grab a plastic patio chair and pull it up to the table. Then one of you slips out of the party while the other one distracts the group with The Grand Tour. You run over to your neighbor's and borrow an entire place setting (which luckily probably matches since you live in a place where there are only 2 choices for, well, everything) and try to slip back in without being too obvious.
Attention to detail: A- (with an A for effort)
There is a skill to buying a used car. Like most skills you can sharpen it over time. You learn to see the signs that a car has been converted from a right-hand drive to a left-hand drive (for whatever reason) by noticing that the blinker switch and the windshield wipers are reversed, the button on the floor-mounted automatic transmission gear shifter is on the passenger side (if you're lucky and it's not a stick) and the main window control is on the passenger side door. You also begin to notice debris (sticks, a pile of leaves, a sweater, shoes, towels, etc.) magically located under the cars to hide the drips of transmission fluid, power steering fluid, engine oil, etc. Your ability to spot a lemon has improved. Unfortunately, this does not feel like time well spent.
Creativity: 100%!
When a 5-year-old has a birthday party it goes without saying that there should be a pinata. This is especially true if the party is "space themed". So when there is no party store around selling pinatas what do you do? You build one. How the heck do you do that? You gather all the empty cardboard boxes, tape, party hats, and wire hangers you have and you make it happen, trying to walk the fine line between break-open-after-just-one-hit and quick-run-and-get-the-scissors-they're-going-into-the-3rd-round. The next day the birthday boy was asked by his parents what his favorite part of his birthday was. I'll let you guess what his response was.
Patience and Flexibility: B+
Nothing ever happens the easy way because here there isn't one. Don't be mad when your power is shut off because your landlord didn't pay your utility bill (included in the 7 months up front rent he received) because he went on vacation. Don't get upset when the rental car company replaces the current defective car with an even more defective one, and then does it again, and then does it again, and then does it again. (Seriously, we are on our 4th car now - when you turn the car off the doors open automatically - among other things). It won't change by swearing at it. Or them, it turns out. They probably won't understand you anyway since you don't know how to swear in french, and they don't know how to listen in english.
Resourcefulness: A+
Let's say your boss is in town and you decide to have a work-related dinner party with some of your colleagues. You invite 4 people because you and your significant other have 6 plates, 6 bowls, 6 etc., because you live in a place where everything is very expensive and sooner or later you're going to have to pack it all into a suitcase or give it away. The table is set and the guests begin to arrive and one of them has decided to bring a guest with no notice. O.K. What do you do? Tell them you can't accommodate another? No. You grab a plastic patio chair and pull it up to the table. Then one of you slips out of the party while the other one distracts the group with The Grand Tour. You run over to your neighbor's and borrow an entire place setting (which luckily probably matches since you live in a place where there are only 2 choices for, well, everything) and try to slip back in without being too obvious.
Attention to detail: A- (with an A for effort)
There is a skill to buying a used car. Like most skills you can sharpen it over time. You learn to see the signs that a car has been converted from a right-hand drive to a left-hand drive (for whatever reason) by noticing that the blinker switch and the windshield wipers are reversed, the button on the floor-mounted automatic transmission gear shifter is on the passenger side (if you're lucky and it's not a stick) and the main window control is on the passenger side door. You also begin to notice debris (sticks, a pile of leaves, a sweater, shoes, towels, etc.) magically located under the cars to hide the drips of transmission fluid, power steering fluid, engine oil, etc. Your ability to spot a lemon has improved. Unfortunately, this does not feel like time well spent.
Creativity: 100%!
When a 5-year-old has a birthday party it goes without saying that there should be a pinata. This is especially true if the party is "space themed". So when there is no party store around selling pinatas what do you do? You build one. How the heck do you do that? You gather all the empty cardboard boxes, tape, party hats, and wire hangers you have and you make it happen, trying to walk the fine line between break-open-after-just-one-hit and quick-run-and-get-the-scissors-they're-going-into-the-3rd-round. The next day the birthday boy was asked by his parents what his favorite part of his birthday was. I'll let you guess what his response was.
Patience and Flexibility: B+
Nothing ever happens the easy way because here there isn't one. Don't be mad when your power is shut off because your landlord didn't pay your utility bill (included in the 7 months up front rent he received) because he went on vacation. Don't get upset when the rental car company replaces the current defective car with an even more defective one, and then does it again, and then does it again, and then does it again. (Seriously, we are on our 4th car now - when you turn the car off the doors open automatically - among other things). It won't change by swearing at it. Or them, it turns out. They probably won't understand you anyway since you don't know how to swear in french, and they don't know how to listen in english.
