とらぶる

This week, my stress level was at the maximum saturation point.

On Tuesday when I got up in the morning, I found out that five guys intruded our property and tried to break into the house. According to our night guard, they came twice on a same night, around 11PM and 2AM. Our mighty guard managed to scare them away. My roommates and I were terrified, as you can imagine. There are not many violent crimes in Malawi, and these thieves normally just want to steal valuable items in the house such as TV, VCR and computers. They don’t intend to harm anyone, but surely it is not a nice thought. The following day, we spoke to our neighbors and learned that six houses in our area have been hit by these guys and they all had something stolen. One of guards even got injured. Apparently, they are a quite skilled group. To reinforce our security, we have decided to hire a professional guard who has a backup from the security company. Now, we feel more or less safe& secure and can have a good night sleep.

My work situation has been quite rocky, and there had been some frictions among my employer, the local office of the NGO (my sending agency) and myself. I can’t write details about it here, but I got into a serious conflict situation with the NGO. It was based on series of misunderstanding and miscommunication, but I honestly thought my contract could be terminated. I requested a meeting with them, and I managed to resolve the problem in a constructive way.

I kept asking myself “Is this worth it? Why am I putting myself through this??” Sometimes, I think it may take more courage to quit or give up. I am happy that I managed this conflict well this time, and it probably added another dimension on my “life-skills” as I never found myself in this sort of situation before. However, these questions still remain, but I will hang in a little longer. もうちょっと頑張ってみるよ。I keep getting into trouble this year for some reason….. 厄年じゃないはずなんだけど。