Nice Weather/Students/Country

Today I went on a hike and I really wish I had brought my camera. I had just seen lots of snow and other types of bad weather on TV, and there I was, sitting on the top of a mountain, wearing shorts, looking at a gorgeous blue sky and palm trees swaying in the breeze. Don’t get too jealous, because there obviously won’t be a lot to brag about come summertime (HOT!!!). Nevertheless, I am grateful for the delightful winters we get out this way (By the way, I guess pregnant women are an oddity on that particular hike, because people kept stopping me along the way to give their congratulations and tell me what a good job I was doing. So, if you ever need some motivation, just get pregnant and go on a hike.).

In other news, my ESL class is going well, and I just got a cool new student. Now, I love all my students regardless of their native language, but I was particularly excited when I met this man—he’s from France! In all my wildest dreams I would have never imagined having a French-speaking student in my class. I was glad I spoke his language because I was able to go through some items of business without too much difficulty (of course, when it comes to actually teaching, I abide by a strict English-only policy). The other students have each other to rely on, and when worse comes to worse, I know some basic Spanish. Once I had a Vietnamese lady in my class, and I felt really bad because she knew neither English nor Spanish. Going through items of business (explaining the syllabus, etc.) was really tough with her. Luckily I can at least help this French fellow if he’s having real difficulty.

It seems like whenever I'm immersed in other cultures/languages, I always have really profound patriotic experiences. In a former post, I mentioned how I was touched to see a homeless man selling American paraphernalia. This experience occurred right after leaving my doctor's office, which is always filled with Hispanic women (of whom many are recent immigrants, I'm sure). Well, when I met this French man the other day and heard the story of how he came to America for a job, I had just voted in the primary election. I thought it was neat to fulfill my civic duty and enjoy the blessings of this opportunity, and then talk with someone who had just recently taken advantage of some of the employment opportunities this country has to offer. Furthermore, at the end of class, one of my students mentioned that she was on her way to the polling place. For some reason, I was really proud of my country right then. I hope I'm doing a good enough job of explaining why all these things were special to me. Anyway, Vive l'Amérique!