Good things that happened today:
I met my new class of students in the morning, having completed two months of business before vacation. I am once again with students of the highest level, but now I am teaching a class called "Raise the Issues" with listening's from NPR. I was happy to learn that the class is overbooked, with 23 students, and five already on the waiting list.
When I returned to my evening classes, I was greeted upon arrival in the hallway with plenty of, "Teacher! How was your vacation?" from many a warm, familiar face.
As I arrived at my apartment in Harlem, I heard someone say from behind me, "Hey Ben!" I turned around, very confused, and recognized one of my old students from the evening classes, a music producer from Ecuador. He was with a smiling girl. This was actually the second time he'd walked by as I'd entered my apartment, the other being upon return from a visit upstate. That time he had invited me to a free meal at the restaurant he manages up the street. He reminded me, and I think I will soon
When I spend a lot of time in nature for so long, I start to wonder why I live in such a crowded city, especially since the Newport Jazz Festival just showed me how you can have a funky yet sophisticated music fest in a gorgeous outdoor setting. There is so much space out there! Then again, as I have learned, people stand in subway doors all over the world, and they drive slowly in the passing lane when there are only two lanes on busy weekends, and they somehow fit in real human conversation and meetings of eyes in between all the attention spent on those small screens... and I feel blessed when these true humans make me feel welcome, wherever I am
I met my new class of students in the morning, having completed two months of business before vacation. I am once again with students of the highest level, but now I am teaching a class called "Raise the Issues" with listening's from NPR. I was happy to learn that the class is overbooked, with 23 students, and five already on the waiting list.
When I returned to my evening classes, I was greeted upon arrival in the hallway with plenty of, "Teacher! How was your vacation?" from many a warm, familiar face.
As I arrived at my apartment in Harlem, I heard someone say from behind me, "Hey Ben!" I turned around, very confused, and recognized one of my old students from the evening classes, a music producer from Ecuador. He was with a smiling girl. This was actually the second time he'd walked by as I'd entered my apartment, the other being upon return from a visit upstate. That time he had invited me to a free meal at the restaurant he manages up the street. He reminded me, and I think I will soon
When I spend a lot of time in nature for so long, I start to wonder why I live in such a crowded city, especially since the Newport Jazz Festival just showed me how you can have a funky yet sophisticated music fest in a gorgeous outdoor setting. There is so much space out there! Then again, as I have learned, people stand in subway doors all over the world, and they drive slowly in the passing lane when there are only two lanes on busy weekends, and they somehow fit in real human conversation and meetings of eyes in between all the attention spent on those small screens... and I feel blessed when these true humans make me feel welcome, wherever I am
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