This is a post about my favorite sport, “tennis, ” this was an anxious week -end for me and my daughter. Sunday was the day the final men’s tennis match was played in Wimbledon, London,England. The players who reached the final was Novak Djokovic from Serbia and Roger Federer from Switzerland.
Each player had won the famous trophy more than once. Novak was going for his third trophy and Roger for his eighth . Both are excellent players and anyone of them were capable of winning the match.
This time I decided to watch the match regardless of who wins. The first few games were pretty even, after each scored six games there was a tie-break, Roger made some unusual errors which cost him the set.
The second set was equally competitive they tied at six games all, the tie break followed and Roger won the second set. I was happy I thought Roger had a chance to win.
There was a rain delay of twenty-five minutes, when they came back Roger did not seem himself he made too many unforced errors which cost him the second set followed by the third and eventually the match, I was disappointed, consoled myself by thinking Roger would do well in the next tournament.
Wikipedia image
In Reason to Believe ,Bruce Springsteen sings,”At the end of every hard-earned day, people find some reason to believe.” What’s your reason to believe?
My reason to believe is as long as I am honest, truthful, and I never hurt or cheat anyone. I will be awarded by God.I say this from experience.
My father passed away when I was twelve, I had no idea how my mother will be able to take care of twelve children. I had two brothers and a sister, who had almost finished their education.
There were nine of us left to complete our education. My two older brothers supported us by contributing funds for our education.
I always wanted to study in England, I knew it can never happen, my brothers could not bear the expense because it was too expensive to go there to study.
I kept hoping maybe I’ll be fortunate and get a scholarship to study in England. I wasn’t really positive it can happen, hope is a wonderful word and I kept hoping the day will come. It did and I grabbed it.
Now I believe everyone should hope, you never know when God would look down from heaven and say, “this person’s hope needs to be fulfilled.”
It was surely me He looked at and said those unbelievable words!
https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2015/03/21/dp-daily-prompt-7/
what’s your favorite part about visiting a new place–the food? The architecture? The people watching?
My first visit to London England was full of surprises, the first stop was the Heathrow Airport. The lounge was surrounded by shops, the candy shop, cosmetics,there were restaurants around, one was ,’Eat’, I watched the people working they were hard at work, not looking anywhere but their focus was on the customers. I could not picture myself in a place where all one does is ,’serve the customers’. It to me was too boring .
I bought a sandwich for myself and sat down on a bench, I made sure I could watch the people coming and going. It was delightful to watch people rushing to get the next flight, then there were others gingerly walking, I could see they were coming off a flight, their faces looked tired it must have been a long flight.
While watching them I thought someone in some corner must be thinking, where is this person going or where is she coming from? She is here for a while, I hope she is going somewhere. If I knew this is what the person in the corner thinking, I’d say, ‘Yes I too have a flight to catch my stopover is a long one.’
I suddenly remembered I have to buy some chocolates for my family at home, I rush to the nearest shop, there are so many varieties, I’m having a hard time selecting the chocolates. I look around and find a family looking for chocolates too, they picked up a box of chocolate, I looked and saw the name ‘Flakes’, I bought one and hurried to board the flight!
: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/07/17/365-writing-pr…a-strange-land
I had just completed my M.A and B.ed.,degrees and took a teaching position in a local school. I always wanted to go to England to study. Financially I was not solvent to be able to study there.
My only hope was to see if I could get a scholarship. I was never sure it was possible to get one. I did not stop dreaming. One day I was reading a newspaper which I did frequently to look for opportunities to get a better job or maybe something about scholarship. I was very secretive about my quest, one my colleagues may discourage me or if my siblings found out they’d make fun of me, these were the two things which stopped me from telling anyone.
To my absolute joy I found exactly what I was looking for. The British Council was offering scholarships to study in London,England. I was happy I’d get a chance to apply. It didn’t mean I’d be successful. I was told there were thousands of applicants. Out of that number, they pick only one thousand. I was getting this news from my colleagues who knew nothing about my application. They may have suspected, I certainly was tight lipped about it.
My secret did not last long, the secretary called my principal and told him I was selected for an interview. He of course wasn’t thrilled to know this, he discouraged me,he said they (the school) was planning to send me in a couple of years. I told him it’s only an interview it doesn’t guarantee anything. Inwardly my joy knew no bounds,I was cautiously optimistic and that was all.
On the day of the interview I was nervous, I sat outside the door of the conference room and wondered what kind of fate awaits me.When I was called in, I walked in slowly, I could feel my heart beating, I was told to sit,which I did. There were about seven gentleman sitting around the oval table. I must have looked somewhat puny in comparison to them.
The barrage of questions started ,I could barely answer one and another one was asked by a different person. This kept on going for at least thirty minutes. When they told me that was all. I couldn’t imagine what the verdict would be. I was glad to be out of that room . I tried to take my mind off from this interrogation and consoled myself by saying, not everyone is lucky and I certainly could not count myself as belonging to that group.
My luck ran out when I lost my Dad at age twelve. My mother always encouraged us to be optimistic. It was probably why I applied for the scholarship.
Two weeks after this I received a large envelope from the council,I was afraid to open it first,then I said to myself, maybe they’ll say they are sorry they couldn’t select me. When I opened the envelope, the tickets fell out, I could not believe I was selected. Next few days were spent getting ready. I did not mind it, it was the best day of my life!!
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/03/04/daily-prompt-against-all-odds/
Once I bought a shoulder bag in a store in London,England. I took it home and was disappointed when the zipper broke as I tried to open it. I went to a store nearby to get it fixed. The store clerk asked me the date I purchased the bag. I told her yesterday, she seemed puzzled and told me I must take it back to the store. Back in Dhaka if this happens they refuse to admit they sold me a defective bag, replacing it is out of question.
Reluctantly I went back to the store. I stood in a corner of the luggage department. I hoped I’d see the man who sold the bag, after fifteen minutes I saw a different store clerk approaching me,he asked me did I need help. Quite hesitantly I showed him the bag,he took it from me and was taking quite long to return,I thought he will tell me he cannot take it back.
He apologized ,told me he could not find a similar bag,but he had one which was slightly larger. He was ready to refund my money.I was impressed and agreed to take the larger one and pay the difference. He was so polite, I wished the store clerks in Dhaka would take a refresher course in good manners from someone like him.
London (Photo credit: @Doug88888)
It happened a while ago. I always dreamed of going to England to study. Whether I would ever be successful in doing so or it would always be a dream,I did not know. The thought was there.I never talked about it with anyone especially not my siblings.
I was not a serious student, working too hard was not in me,despite this fact I wanted to study overseas . My brothers who paid my tuition fees for college and university ,were incapable of sending me.It was a question of a large sum of money.I understood it. I did not expect them to try,they had already done enough for me.
I am a big believer that if you want anything bad enough,the doors of success opens up out of nowhere. This was my case,I saw an ad in the newspaper, British Council was offering scholarships in innumerable subjects to successful candidates to study in London . How could I pass this up.I was dreaming about it for eons. Now fate was giving me a chance to grab it. I did not have faith in myself,I was a student who spent minimum number of hours to get through my courses. It was a test I was willing to take,if it failed to materialize it was okay, I did not deserve it.
I applied and waited patiently for a response,at the same time thinking,Me?no they will discard my application the moment they receive it. after what seemed a decade I received a letter in which they said I was selected for an interview. I was cautiously optimistic and made sure no one knew about it.
I have no recollection of what the questions were,I only recall the interviewers,their eyes were pinned on me,this is how I felt. I dared not look at them fearing I’d fall apart and it’d be a total disaster. I came out of that room,feeling nothing good or bad. The days that followed were painfully slow.
My joy knew no bounds when I was handed a thick envelope,I hope the news is good,please God I thought. My hands continuously shaking I opened the envelope and found a letter and a ticket to fly to London. My feelings were completely numb,is this a dream or is it real. Did my dream come true? My mind spoke to me, “Open your eyes ,Chaman, your dream is now a reality!”
I spent sleepless nights about the journey. I was never the giggling type but I was excited!
This is the most ordinary movie of my life. I am the middle daughter of my parents. I grew up a happy person.I liked to sing and play with my siblings.The happiness of mine was short. My Dad died when I was twelve. I cannot say if I ever thought what my future will be.I lived one day at a time.
Before I knew it was time for me to go to college. I was lucky my two older brothers took care of my expenses. I was not ambitious at all. When I completed my education,I suddenly wanted to go to England to study.I knew it was expensive, none of my siblings could help me.I have a strong belief that if you want something bad enough, Almighty God helps you out. My desire was fulfilled. I taught for sometime.
I got married,had three children. Everything worked out the way I wanted. I left my home and came to live in a foreign country with my husband. The locals tell me this is my home now. I agree with them.
I chose this because I thought,it would be fun writing about me. I am the main character.I did not have the privilege of doing this before.I told myself I don’t know much about me.Maybe the readers and I will know me from this piece of writing.
I am the seventh child of my parents.I went to school at an early age.My Dad thought I was too talkative.School will be the only place where it can be fixed. So I started school,if my home work was not done,I played sick or too cold.My dad did not have any issues. Who knows what he thought.My big sister did not leave me alone. After passing the hurdle of school, I was faced with a new animal called college. I zipped through it and reached the grown up stage. I started university,suddenly I realized I have to be serious,this is no joke.Now that I am here I should make the non-believers take me as a serious student.I am not just going to squeak by,but make some noise while passing through. I did make some noise,it was not loud enough for my friends or folks to take notice.I completed my university degrees comfortably.
With not much to do I decided to apply for a scholarship to do B.Ed.Fortunately I was successful.It took a year to complete it.I took a job in a local school,taught for eleven months.I was advised to look for a job in the big city. I got the job.I was told I should stay single for seven years.Well I gave up the job after two years.Once again I tried my luck to go to England ,I applied for a scholarship and God was kind once more. I completed the hurdle of school.
A real change came into my life when I got married.I moved to Montreal,Canada. Within a year My husband and I moved to Gander,Newfoundland. I taught in an elementary school.I taught some amazing kids.
Gander is a place where the winter is long and cold.We had a lot of snow.Sometimes the snow would change into rain,melt some of the snow and the ground would freeze. I used to be scared of the ice and dreaded going to school.I had a very considerate young child in my class,he waited for me everyday to help me walk on the ice.He was always there,in fact he came early.His name was Ross Piercy.I don’t know where he is now,I hope I could tell him now, what a great kid he was!
- Fourth Grade (Photo credit: edgeplot)
English: Photo of Jonathan G. Meath portraying Santa Claus. Date approximate. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
- A typical classroom library (probably 3rd grade) at an American elementary school (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Gander Academy is in the province of Newfoundland,Canada.It is an elementary school.It is a school for children from kindergarten to grade six. I was hired to teach grade four.There are five grade four classrooms with five teachers. Out of these there is one for French immersion. My classroom was four Blue. I was a new teacher.I had to remember the colour of my classroom. On the first day the kids were lined up to go to their respective teachers. My class of thirty-three marched in, took their seats, and looked at me. I was not the kind of teacher,they expected to see. I was wearing a Saree,I had long hair and I was not Caucasian. The darlings were exposed to someone they had not seen before. They exchanged glances,whispered, then they were quiet.
When I started teaching,one of them said to the one beside him.’She talks funny.’ Then one named James was irritated by this remark, ‘he felt he needed to come to my rescue.’ James gave him a piercing look and replied,’No she doesn’t, My mom also has the same accent,you know nothing,people from England has this accent.’ So I was saved from opening my mouth. The boys and girls were sizing me up at this point.I was going along smoothly. Since it was the first day for us.I distributed the text books. They had their exercise books,a separate one for each subject and pencils, erasers and the geometry set.We were ready to start. The kids were anxious to go home and tell their parents regarding me who is so different from the others. This became evident,on parent -teacher interviews.
On the day of the interview,the parents wanted to see who I was,the kids were so excited to tell them? Gander is a very small town,it has a population of ten thousand and I’m sure some of them have seen me. My husband was an ophthalmologist. Half of the population probably had trouble with their eyes, so to know me was not unusual. When they came to see me regarding their children,they realized I was the one they were referring to. The day went very well,I was able to tell the parents some positive facts with regard to their children. However there was one mother who wasn’t quite sure how to react when she heard her child has an Indian teacher. At this point I feel I should let my readers know when one comes from that part of the globe,they are Indians. She went to the Principal and voiced her opinion. The Principal wanted to ease her mind,he told her I was the most qualified teacher in the school and she shouldn’t be concerned. As soon as she stepped into my classroom she confessed her feeling and also what the principal had told her.
There was one problem I noticed. Although they all were in the fourth grade, their ability varied from one another. Some were extremely capable,some could read well,some couldn’t,same was true of Mathematics,and other subjects.
Then came the month of December. The boys and girls were extremely restless.Their discussion centered around Santa Claus. They had to let me know what Santa will bring for them. They knew it beforehand because they wrote to him and alerted him of their preference. Santa never fails,it is his duty to keep the children happy. One day I saw a variety of gifts on my desk.I tried to review the situation,my brain refused to co-operate. Disappointed by my inability I opted to go to one of the senior teachers to solve this mystery. Oh she told me,’these are for you, and you have to accept them.’ Later on I learned ,at this time of the year,all the teachers are given gifts by their students and it was absolutely normal.At the end of that day I went home with all the gifts, my husband had all sorts of questions, I chose to ignore him.
Before the school was closed for Christmas, we had a Christmas party.Then we had an assembly,we all gathered in the auditorium to hear what the principal had to say.We sang a few Christmas carols. The assembly was over.It was time for us to collect our gifts and wish each other a very merry Christmas and a happy,”NEW Year!”
English: Fraser Valley Elementary School classroom (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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