Some Thoughts: May 2014

In the near future I will have my first visit to one of my favorite places to be alive since I drove across America to New York from California in October. I drove straight to this lake for three days, and then to my family's home in farm land, for two days, and then down to the metropolis, and two days later I had a job. Wow... it's been 7 months in New York City as of today. It began in mid-October. I interviewed my first day, interviewed and observed classes at another place my second day, got hired, went up to the Bronx for a second time to observe classes the next day (a Saturday morning), and then began teaching my first class two days later. I began another class the next week, and since then I've been doing various schedules of teaching groups of humans for five-week classes. During that time I had visited home several times to see the country side in the winter, or leafless spring. I was surrounded by the mostly brown hillsides and desert landscapes of California the year before. That means I haven't seen upstate farm fields and mountains in the height of spring in two years. And I was on journeys in Japan and China during the most beautiful season of the Earth the previous springs.

I have two days before I go to work in Manhattan for the first time since April of 2009. Even though I've been working in New York City and living in Manhattan since January, I haven't worked on this island since my previous experience living and working in the city. That time I always worked in Manhattan and lived in Brooklyn and Queens. This week I will begin substituting to start my transfer to the Upper West Side branch, which is technically down the road from where I live. I could walk there or be there in a few minutes via the 1 train. In June I will have a full schedule of classes, which keeps me fed and pays my expenses in my otherwise financially modest lifestyle, one that allows me to practice writing every day and grow this book that is growing now, wherever and however it continues to grow. But to do so, I must also work and be with humans to remember the whole reason I'm writing the book: getting to know and like each other, and love the world that puts us all together. We don't have to all love each other, but we can make the most of this.

The Upper West Side branch is where I originally interviewed and got hired to work in the Bronx, where I have been for seven months as a teacher. I've been teaching groups of international students, mostly immigrants, ranging in size from six to twenty-five. When there have been many students, I've worked standard 35 hour work weeks, but with four hours of commute time per day while living on my friend's couch in Queens. If my friend hadn't been so generous, I wouldn't have been able to start in this city again. I've also worked as few as ten hours per week, at the beginning. All of that has been in the Bronx, where students tend to come from continents and parts of the world I have never been, with cultural styles I could only have imagined from media. New York isn't the easiest place to become acquainted with strangers, especially if you're the type of person who decides to switch coasts within two weeks, and then sleep in your car on some back road or in some rest area six nights in a row. I've been incredibly fortunate to spend my time getting paid to stand in front of rooms of my peers and help them the way they expect to be helped, through improvement of their English language skills. This will theoretically improve their chances of quality of life. Since the Bronx is ranked at the bottom of all counties in my home state in many important categories, this is a major leg up for many of these people. Some of them are college students from West Africa, others are Dominican, Mexican, Honduran and Ecuadorian mothers hoping to go to college or get a better job. Many are Dominican or Mexican men hoping to get a better job or go to college. There are people from all over South America. Venezuela, Peru, Colombia, Brazil and Chile come to mind. El Salvador and Guatemala also helped represent Central America. Almost every class has had students from Albania and Yemen. There were also people from Mauritania, Kosovo, Spain and France. And although most people who live on the continent of Africa will simply say they are from Africa, they represent a vast swath of excitingly diverse cultures from very distant places that happen to be on the same enormous mass of land that also has the pyramids in a remote corner. Mali, Senegal, Nigeria, Guinea, Togo, Burkina Faso, C'ote D'Ivoire, and Congo have definitely been represented positively by their ambassadors who happened to be in the class given to me. I had fewer Asian students than ever, compared to Japan and San Francisco where they easily predominated (and obviously in the former). Still, I did get to meet great people from Japan, China, Vietnam and Bangladesh. They've ranged in age from 17 to 60. I'm excited to meet many more in the new location this week before going to my favorite place.

We have talked about just about everything groups of people could talk about thanks to the wide variety of book materials and activities, although some were much better than others. Some of my students could rival anyone I'd taught anywhere else on the globe in ability, enthusiasm and personality, while others had no idea what it meant to learn something from someone in a formal setting with other people, or to consistently work on a skill. Some of them complained they had nothing to do all day, while others worked 14 hours every day. I know one guy who works 14 hours every day, and has for the last nine months with no vacations. Maybe the occasional 10 hour day. One day he will be the boss and won't have to worry about it. He was from Yemen. He ALWAYS was smiling. Or the other guy from Yemen who works 12 hours every day but also admits he didn't have to work at all when he was a 19 year old at home the year before. He bought me an elephant shaped clock for Christmas. They didn't all have elephants to give, but they usually made some memorably delicious food for the parties that celebrated the end of every five week cycle. Yesterday was no exception. Great people and great food.

During this most recent five weeks, we covered a lot of grammar I wouldn't have known by name before I arrived here, and that's including all of my previous education and teaching experience. I taught grammar in all of my jobs, but always as a smaller part of a larger curriculum. It has been the predominant focus here. It's been very helpful for me as a native speaker to understand how and why our language is organized the way it has evolved. During 18 classes we learned present perfect, past perfect, present continuous/progressive, past continuous/progressive, present perfect continuous/progressive, past perfect continuous/progressive, future perfect, future continuous/progressive, future perfect continuous/progressive, modals, expressions of purpose, contrast connectors, reported speech aka direct and indirect statements, plenty of new words and ways to use them through listening, speaking and reading exercises, and even the occasional story from yours truly. I got some good practice here and there telling simple stories that were interesting and unique without being completely crazy or mind-blowing so that my diverse audience could get a basic valuable lesson that at least some of them could learn from. Besides that, we spent the last five classes reviewing. Then we had the final exam, I graded them, and they socialized and shared food. When I came back they insisted I eat their food and take pictures with them. I finally remembered to bring my camera and did the same, but I can't find my flash connector right now, so they will be forthcoming.

Whoever they were, I hoped they learned something from me, because I definitely learned a lot from them. When I think about that combined with everything I've learned from and been honored to discuss with hundreds of students from teaching experiences in Japan and California, I know that this journey toward greater understanding of and affinity for all the wondrously unique people of this world is still going strong. And it's even more than using voices to speak in person. The journey of words on pages also continues.

This journey has been growing in Manhattan in the neighborhood of Harlem since the beginning of this year. I have my own room with a window looking up at the skies and over the streets and people busily walking by, or socializing on the strip between the lanes of Broadway where many locals like to sit on benches beneath the trees, which finally have bright green leaves. Sometimes they appear to be laughing and telling stories. Other times they are sitting alone, thinking of who knows, if anything. Others sleep there because they have nowhere else to go. Some play music. Others play cards and chess and drink from brown paper bags. The trucks and taxis go by, and sometimes they have interesting things to say and I take pictures of them in between sharing stories on this laptop and writing the longer story, which is not an easy thing to do at all. I am learning to respect it more, persevere and be patient, and I am enjoying the process. It is difficult to adjust to the newness of today while reliving days before. The best technique is to find the gifts and lessons in both, and this helps me focus on that unnameable feeling of aliveness one gets from the golden moments. Some call it following your bliss, or living your joy. If that's too high-sounding for you, just think of it as having a great !!!!!!! time.

Speaking of which, it's a beautiful day. I'm going to go explore some more.

Maybe I'll float upon the waves so I may see Lady Liberty, who welcomes those wanderers, seekers and dreamers who have clearly already displayed the astounding, awe-inspiring and adventurous feat of journeying with the sea, the epitome of freedom and bravery.