The Epilogue: Things that hit me in season 3

I wanted to call this lessons learnt but couldn’t bring meself to put that into the tittle so there you go. As for season 3, this is me third spell in North Cyprus, I have been home for the summer break twice making this season 3. So after nine months in North Cyprus a couple of things have come across to me clearer. Some I knew and needed emphasis and others are just plain old new. They are in no particular order but the important ones are mentioned and emphasized.

But before I get into them a bit of back ground. When I first came to North Cyprus I was coming on my own, which is a typical story among those who go to study abroad, I’m not looking for sympathy or applause, I’m just painting a picture here. I knew no one and it was pretty much this one guy in foreign land. I travelled with three other Zambians but had little or no interest in talking to them much let alone befriending them, now they are friends though some more than others. My plan when coming here was keep your head down, get your degree and get out. In short I was an assassin on a covert military operation. I even did the John Rambo polish under the eyes bit.

That was me ready for battle, but i cant do the lip thing, I'm a smiler

Fast forward to this spell here, season three, and a lot has changed, a lot has also remained the same. This here is a little bit of that.

Hit 1: Never mix Coca Cola and Charger. So charger is this energy drink that is sold on campus. It is by and larger probably the most consumed bevy on campus. It is cheap, ridiculously cheap, it does the job and doesn't taste too bad either. Naturally I like it. Plus a six pack of it costs slightly more than a single can of Coke, in short, SOLD!! And they have cases and cases of the stuff, it never seems to run out. I am a huge fan of the Coca Cola Franchise and A big, not huge, fan of the Charger one and so it really pained me to discover that you should NEVER drink Coca Cola followed soon after by Charger, not even Charger followed by Coca Cola. What can I say, I was looking for a solution. Nuff said.

I did this in season two as an assignment. Just to show my fascination with coke.
Not and addiction, A fascination

Hit 2: This I learnt in my infancy but has been proven true this semester in particular. It’s from a song they taught us at bible club called “Read your bible pray every day” which coincidentally is about… you guessed it, reading your bible and praying every day. The hit comes from the second verse which says “Neglect your bible, forget to pray and you’ll shrink, shrink, shrink. And you’ll shrink, shrink, shrink. And you’ll shrink, shrink, shrink. Neglect your bible forget to pray and you’ll shrink, shrink, shrink.” Massive depth eh... but what can I say, it’s taught to 5, 6 and 7 year old's so it has to be basic. But the lesson rings true and I have felt it deeply

Hit 3: You fall down, you get up. This is more spiritual than physical or academic so those looking for a motivational section, you’re not in luck. When in a spiritual stupor, when at the bottom of the ditch. When you feel so dirty and filthy you have no place else to reach but up. So reach up and ask God for forgiveness and to “restore your soul” and “lead you beside the still waters”. God is all knowing and saved me in full knowledge of the absolute depravity of my heart and how often I would stray. He did not weigh the opportunity cost, he did not think once or twice about me being a good investment. He picked me knowing all my flaws and saved me. So in my stupor, I learned to reach up. This however is a lesson I will learn more and more till my dying day

Hit 4: The world is a bad, no, a terrible place but what are you going to do about it. One of the problems with studying abroad is a lot of the people who do come here are people with the mind-set of children. I’m not making fun, it’s the truth. Its people who think life is all fun and games and lack seriousness. I saw this more and more and it baffled me, I would sit and talk about how I have given up and I’m not interested in helping people who don’t want to be helped but God taught me different. I did not hear a sound from heaven or see a vision but in my time of quiet surrender it hit me that my attitude was not an attitude that is befitting of one who is Christ-like, after all that is all a Christian is. The difference between a Christian and a scoffer is not in terms of sight. In reality they both see the same evil and a lot exaggerate to the same degree. The difference is that the Christian is driven to do something about it, to show people the light of Christ. There is a thin line between Christian and scoffer in that sense and I was sitting with the scoffers for quite a while. I hope not to go back.

You can keep standing and point out problems or you can actually do something to show the the light

Hit 5: Talk to somebody. To date I’m not sure if I am noisy or quiet. I like to think of it as me having a switch that I can flick at will and turn into loud me or quiet me but truth be told, I’m not really sure. The problem with quiet me is that he keeps it all in and the problem with keeping it all in is that eventually it becomes too much and you either burst or break. It helps to have people around you that you can talk to about sensible things and speak to about your struggles. Being in Cyprus has made that very difficult but this time around I have generally managed. I will only mention one name because he is unlikely to read this, Miz, thanks a lot mate. The other/s you have been invaluable.

Hit 6: Never leave to tomorrow what you can do today. My first semester upon arrival in season three I relied on talent alone to get me through and to some extent it worked. I’m not claiming to be Leonardo Da Vinci or anything but I am fairly good at what I do. But it was the most unfulfilling semester I have ever had, school wise, on other fronts it was quite productive, see The Troublesome Roommate. So I promised myself that come the next semester I would push myself to do the necessary when necessary and this semester that has just ended has been my best. Little or no procrastination led me to finishing my final project almost three weeks before the final, which is quite rare. School wise it has been fulfilling and I hope to go from strength to strength in that regard.

I could learn a thing or two from the soldiers will to call home and the feeling afterwards

Hit 7: This is my last to mention. It’s not the most important neither is it the least but it is something that I have had to learn and is not easy for a person like me to remember and continue. I’m not the clingiest individual and this practice has cost me quite a few friendships along the way. I would always phrase it this way, “I communicate little so the little counts when it happens” but the truth is I need to hear from the mother ship, not just my mum but her too, more often than I do. It is a hard lesson for me to keep track of but I hope to one day be good at it. The lesson simply put is this CALL HOME. Unfortunately or is it fortunately I won’t have the chance to practice that soon as I am going home but we’ll see how that works out in Season four