The Rescue

The Scene:  Your first week working at a new job in a foreign country

The Location: The bathroom

The Action:  Realizing that you have become locked in the bathroom

Choose your own adventure…

A) Call for help (realizing that you only remember how to say help in Macedonian, not Albanian, the mother tongue of most of your colleagues)

B) Wait in stoic silence to be discovered

C) Knock on the door and hope that someone will eventually hear you (bear in mind that most people do not drink as much water as you do, and likely visit the bathroom less frequently)

D) Cry, and tumble into a useless heap on the floor

While I debated pursuing options A and B, I ultimately chose option B.  So if you chose option B, congratulations!  Great minds think alike.

Aside from this incident, my first two weeks in Debar/Diber have passed smoothly.  I adore my host family – they are warm and welcoming and have been incredibly kind in introducing me to their friends and family, the people who compose my social life.  The town is small, and I stand out a bit like the new kid who just transferred from another high school.  In that sense, I should be well-prepared given the transient nature of my teens; however, I still find myself struggling with certain adjustments (bathroom doors are enemy #1 currently, but kissing cheeks as a way of greeting without re-enacting the awkward hug scene from Just Friends follows in a  close second place).   

If you were concerned for my well-being, or simply curious to see if I am still trapped in the bathroom and blogging from there, have no fear, I was discovered.  The door jammed and could not be unlocked from the outside even using the key that remained in the lock on the outside, so a coworker had to break down the door to enable my escape.