Two things.

My two sisters gave me a beta fish a few months ago. I asked my nephew Caelan (who’s 3) how I should name it. He only said a word that I didn’t understand, so I asked his brother (well, my nephew as well) what he’d said. Brothers are good to translate eachother’s thoughts it seems. Iain told me that Caelan had said, “Bourgogne” (burgundy). So we called the fish “Bourgogne” for a month or so. The thing though, is that they used to have a fish like mine, so Caelan probably just remembered the name of his fish looking at mine. So I had another name in mind, “Bétrave” (beet). Well, I’ve noticed something quite interesting in Bétrave’s behavior the other day.

You see, I am a busy person. And… even though Bétrave’s water needed to be changed, I … well, did homework instead, or, you know, things that needed to be done. I just had no time. For at least one and a half weeks I let Bétrave live in a dirty environment. And on top of that, I started skipping his meals. After a little while of this miserable life of his, I noticed that each time I’d come over to his … square bowl (this is NOT a fish tank…) and Bétrave would be running away (hmmm, swimming away) from me, hidding under stones. He’d freak out. Poor thing (no, I am not Julie Sommer).

So a few days ago, I decided to take the time to clean up the “fish water” and put Bétrave back on top of the TV, as usual. The next time I came around to feed him, Bétrave didn’t run away, didn’t try to hide, didn’t freak out at all. He was doing great again.

So here’s my advice for parents (because I am one myself -and I am a liar too-): Make sure you feed your kids and provide them with a clean enviroment, otherwise, they’ll be prone to run away from you. Understood?

Second thing.

I’ve always had trouble sleeping well when I work the evening shift at VV. After working till 10:30pm or so, I kept waking up, half dreaming, half there, about work and etc. during the night it was never pleasant and frustrating. The other night, I worked on a homework for about 5 hours and went to bed. In the morning “I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been pleasant to me.” (Jeremiah 31:25-26). I asked myself what I had done to sleep so well (it had been a while since I’d felt so good), the answer came easily: I had worked on a homework in which I had to create a one-week lesson plan for intensive ESL students. Quite boring you may think, but I actually enjoyed doing it.

So my advice to myself: Do not work at VV for the rest of your life, you better become a teacher, you’ll sleep better.

I’m quite happy about this realization. It encourages me to keep studying. No less than 3 years to go.