How To Tell A Bedtime Story

underwater selfie from this weekend

So. Oman.

Believe it or not, I actually had trouble coming up with a post for this week. Not because Oman is boring or uninteresting (because I can assure you that it is not), but because I just didn't know what to say. How do you accurately express the fact that for the first time in your life you are starting to feel personal change occur, or the way that you greet your new friends every morning, or the stories you make up to tell your host sister every night...?

I'm not sure you properly can. But I'm going to try. 

So this week has been crazy. I started Arabic at AMIDEAST last Wednesday, and Culture class (Women in the Arab World) yesterday. I'm starting to understand the way my school works, and I don't get lost on my way to the library anymore... Which is important. 

But I'm going to talk about something far more important... The art of the bedtime story. 

Now I mentioned earlier that I've begun telling my host sister a story every night before bed. Whether she actually enjoys them I cannot say, but I do know that I get a kick out of telling them and I think they're improving...? Here's what I've discovered.

The way I tell my stories is very simple. I start with a name and a type of animal (it could be a pig, or a donkey, or a person). From there I form a setting, and as I talk and talk and talk the plot begins to form. My sense is that normal stories don't have ultra-elaborate plots. But, as a friend pointed out to me this morning, mine do. Last night, for example, was a story about a farmer named Hank who lived in the woods with his 5(?) sheep, cow, horse, and chicken, and followed his adventures as they climbed mountains to get to the big city.

But anyway... There's a point to this story. I think that somehow in the last week things have started to click for me here. I've had some issues, and some amazing moments, and the rest has been a mix of both in the fabulous adventure called high school exchange. But telling these stories provides me with a connecting point. It lets me share something with my host sister, it lets me let out a little bit of stopped up creative energy, and it lets me take a moment to breath, to relax, and to remember that while learning is an important part of the experience, you have to enjoy the little things.

Here's to the little things. Today's audio clip is not a song, it is a recording of perhaps my favorite piece of slam poetry. 

🎶Pretty - Katie Makkai🎶

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