Am I Really In A Safe Place?

Peaceful community... Clean surroundings... People are responsible, caring, honest, industrious, and have no vices... The youth knows how education is important in their lives... The parents support their children's aspirations and dreams by sending them to school regularly... The teachers are religiously performing their works as they have promised and vowed to do from the start...

Wow. I was shocked in my new environment for I was thinking of the above scenarios but it turns out it is the other way around. I actually experienced a culture shock with how these people, whom I am currently living with in a particular community, are behaving as if they are not concerned with the ever changing world. They are not moving for the better but instead living and following the status quo.

There are also those who are tired of having or acquiring nothing for they work to at least have a comfortable status in life. There are students who have high hopes that one day they will be successful in whatever profession they will pursue when they reach college. Some of the parents are so supportive with their child's education that they are doing whatever means just to provide their son's/daughter's needs in school.

It is true, I cannot generalize that all I'm thinking of a particular community will be the same in all. I cannot conclude that since the community I've been living my entire life is very adapting to change and the people are aiming for their lives a better status, it is the same as the community I will be sent to perform my job.

I am currently renting a room so that I can go to school early. My landlady is a retired teacher. She's living with her husband and four of her grandsons. We always have first impressions, right? She's nice and she's making my life easy for she is the one who is cooking my rice every morning. When I first saw her grandsons, I thought they are all very smart and they love each other. But I was very wide of the mark, if their grandmother can't give them a money as allowance for a particular day, they would not go to school instead. For me, even without a money if you are really concerned about your future and education, whatever it takes, you need to attend your classes.

Another thing, I cannot sleep properly at nights. These kids are so imaginative and creative to think of something that will cause one of them to cry or to shout as if there is no more tomorrow. My goodness, it's making me want to move to another place in the morning. The only problem is that there is no more boarding house in that particular place.

One more thing, when this grandmother is making a short sermon because of these sons' wrongdoings, they always have their alibis and they would make sure it is in a shouting or yelling way.

My co-teachers are thinking that I am in a safe place for it was a concrete house and there's always someone in the house to monitor my things. Yes, physically I am safe but not in other aspects. If they only knew.

In the first week of my stay in that house I was also thinking that I'm in a good hands, but what will happen in the future? I don't know, nobody knows actually. So this makes me ask, "Am I really in a safe place?"

Hopefully, YES! I'm convincing my self, I AM SAFE.