Warning!
This is a book for the open-minded only!
If you feel that you already know all about the mysteries of our existence, your view of life is set and you would like to keep it this way, then this book is not meant for you. Don't bother reading...
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Happiness is not the absence of problems, it's the ability to deal with them.
- Steve Maraboli
Whatever the results in the political sphere, the incident had two immediate effects on my personal life. One: I grew even more wary of the media and of politics than I had been before. Two: I became interested in the head of the USSR at that time, also known as President Gorbachev.
In my daily life, however, I was struggling with completely different and much simpler issues: when and what to buy for my family and boyfriend for Christmas (and for his birthday), who to ask to give me a ride on Saturdays (since Max' new girlfriend was insanely jealous: he was not even allowed to talk to other girls, let alone give one a ride) and how to survive the afternoons in the WFA without falling asleep.
I had given some thought to the last problem and had made a surprising discovery: it seemed to me that every time that I had had meat of any kind or in any form for lunch, I would invariably suffer from drooping eyes for the rest of the afternoon. A theory, that I put to the test during the following few days. . .
A few weeks later, in mid January, I had already changed my diet. It turned out that my assumption had been correct. It was, indeed, considerably easier for me to remain focused during the second half of the day, if I refrained from consuming meat.
Not having any choice in the matter, really, I switched to a vegetable-carbs-salad based type of diet during lunch and the results were immediate: to my great relief, I was once again able to concentrate during the afternoon lessons. On the down side, there was not much left for me to eat that way. After all, the buffet did not offer much variety to begin with, much less on the vegetarian front.
I told my classmates who were suffering from the same symptoms, about my findings. Which only earned me mildly amused smiles.
Their loss...
I had to admit, however, that their lack of interest in my dietary advice might have been partially due to the growing feeling of hysteria and doom that had slowly begun to spread among us students.
Our teachers did nothing to assuage our fears, on the contrary: some seemed to take great pleasure in describing in detail the horrors that we would soon have to face: namely: five weeks of pure torture.
"For the next three weeks, you will continue following your usual time table, while having to sit for your end-of-term exams in some of the subjects. During the last two weeks, you won't have to attend classes any more. But you will definitely need the time to prepare for the rest of the subjects, including the language examinations at the end. The written ones will take four hours each, followed by the oral ones in the afternoon."
"Dear Lord!" Marlies turned to us, her eyes wide. "Shoot me now!"
