wry synopsis in too many acts

[disclaimer: am yet editing the gap-age fillage, starting with the end of December (as far as the month thereof goes, well, the unintelligibility levels therein soar just a tad too high). given some of the involved details, i'll be slapping the below here below and leave the pull-tooth-whine versions for those with good scrollbars and refresh buttons....]

act one (October): as mentioned, conflict in the kindergarten of a personal/stylistic level is inflated, with administrative action and write-ups, into actual/professional issues and monitoring.

act two (November—present): antje changes her personality during the day, adopts a mask of friendly extroverted goodness, such that the complaints are no longer a daily presence. by night, however, she is, needless to say, both distressed by the superficiality and necessity of this tack that, nonetheless, seems the only way to patch things enough to continue. which is to say: of course she will continue because—what's a little meaningless hardship, right?

act three (5 December): a woman from central (Akron, Pennsylvania) Central Committee comes for a (scheduled) visit. during the course of said visit, she proceeds to levy a completely arbitrary (and antje-specific) Travel Ban™—quoted as organisation policy, despite its being mentioned exactly nowhere in any of the literature. antje's politely pointing out the inconsistencies in this practise has exactly no effect; it appears that volunteers are merely supposed to feel a certain way and, moreover, that this subjective unanimosity is expected to translate into simultaneity and identity of (general and specific) behaviour—thus rendering actual policies superfluous. as an apparent outsider to the exact cog-workings of the group-think, antje has obviously culled this mentality insufficiently. guilty as charged; unapologetic as such. she is informed of a pressing need to work on the Servant Heart. and, in the end, is called to "just" accept the restrictions: there will be exactly no changes made, despite the most unshakeable yelps of logical brilliance.

act four (5.December): meanwhile, working hours at the kindergarten (and several other important contractual (inasmuch as such things exist and/or carry weight these days) details)) are changed from the original signed agreement, without any consultation of the one involved (your faithful and erstwhile troubled narrator). when this slight inconsideration (read: injustice) is raised (also by the above), neither apology nor changed behaviour results (except by the very same).

act five (December-January): antje starts crying, raging, and panicking. the Travel thing is huge (more so, perhaps, than for just "anyone"); the having-no-agency is even larger. she does not stop the hysterics (long enough, even, to sleep) for four solid weeks, at the end of which she is scarcely able to think—much less write (has it been mentioned that these are but different sweeps of the same action?), at least for "publication." hence the bloggy silence.

act six (early January): then one day she realises not only that she doesn't want to be doing this (any of it) forever, but that, given this starkly-reliefed fact, maybe she shouldn't even be doing it now.

act seven (10 January, particularly the 5th): a decision to pull out at the 5- instead of 11-month mark, despite having nothing (definite) in place on the other end. tentative attempts at the lining-up; a few strikingly confirmatory responses. return date set for 3 February. initial location: "second Srbija" (Chicago)—via Akron, Frankfurt, Vienna, Sarajevo.

[now, in this venue, i can say "packing" and you will know it is because i have found another box (using the customary Wily Ways™ and Weasel Words™), because i leave Beograd in not much more than two days.]