November 2011 Oxford Seminars class

November 2010 class

December 2010 class

Me teaching class

This month I am teaching in Santa Clara again. I like teaching here because it only takes me a few minutes to get to class versus 45 if I teach in San Francisco or Santa Cruz. I am often late (which means I get there on time, but I am not set up and ready to go when the class is supposed to start at 9am) even when I teach locally. It is strange because most of my life I pride myself at being early. My class this month is 8 students, and like usual they are very diverse. We have an older man that is looking at changing his life, he said he wanted to teach here in the USA, but today he talked about going to Taiwan. There is a Vietnamese guy that is in his 40s and wants to go back to teach in Vietnam, he came here when he was 9. The other guy is married to a woman from Morocco and they have been married for three years but she has never gotten permission to live in the USA, so he is looking to go someplace they can go together, I suggested he go to Turkey. One girl wants to go to Hungary to teach and be a sort of missionary, she has visited there before and really likes the country. She has friends there so she will have someplace to start. There is a girl in the class that has teachers in her family so she will attempt teaching overseas to see if she likes it. She will probably end up in Korea, and I would be surprised if she lasted a year because it is tough to live in another country any way it goes. There is a very pretty girl in the class that was a business major, with a concentration in Asia, so she will go to Korea or Taiwan, she wants someplace she can make money and make business contacts. She also wants to go with a friend that doesn't have a BA, so she will probably end up in Taiwan. There is one woman in her 30s that wants to go to South or Central America. She is one of the students I classify as, "Save the World" type, that wants to make a difference in the world and will use the teaching aspect to get into the community and then find areas she can help, like ways to get clean water, set up an orphanage, or help with a woman's shelter. I have had a few of this type of student and I really admire them. They really put a priority on their passion to help others, and I vow to help in any way I can. I have one woman that went to a small village in Africa that doesn't have running water (in fact they have to walk 3 miles to get water) nor electricity. Another old student of mine is in Cambodia and one is working with an NGO in Uganda. I suggested the student that is in my class this month seriously look into going to Guatemala or Brazil. The other student in my class this month wants to go to South America, she wants Chile or Argentina. I told her what previous students that have gone to Chile and Argentina have said about it being affordable and jobs paying for living there if they use money from their savings, and she agrees maybe she will rethink her destination. It is fun keeping in touch with my old students to see what ends up happening to them. Some stay for a few years and some come back before a year is over, and some come back before a month is over.