since i was young i have heard about "the joys of teaching." lately i hadn't thought of that much, as i have been letting myself get bogged down by grading papers, teaching grammar, and formulating my first midterm. i also have to make corrections on each student's diary, which they write in two or three times a week.
this entry, written by a student whose English name is Nikki, reminded me of a lot of things. i've decided to leave it the way she wrote it, except where i think it's absolutely necessary:
"Miss
'The miss taste like a bitter coffee.' I can't sing any song but I can remembe this song. Because It likes [is like] my heart.
Today is a sunny day. But my heart is raining day. I left my grandmother and my relatives there is a miss in my heart. I want to fly into my home. But I can't what can I do? Please tall me what can I do? I hate times keep my grandmother and I part [apart]. I want to go back to when I was chiled [a child] I can't either.
I don't want to be the daytime and the night. When the time finish They need to leave. They can't alway daytime or night. [It can't always be daytime or nighttime.] I like the sky. it alway in there. everybady can see it. when I see the sky, maybe my grandmother see the sky too. Maybe I can convey my heart to its. Let it takes to them for my grandmother. If that [is so, then] I will be the sky look after my grandmother and my relatives of corse also my teacher classmate, friend and everything.
Next lifetime I will be a in frot of my home's tree, because after the tree grow a place then alway can't another place. [In my next lifetime, I will be a tree in front of my home, because after the tree grows in a place then it can't grow in another place.] So I will never leave my family."
i will finish the story of my holiday soon. suffice it to say i miss all of you; my old friends, flames, pals, and families.
yours,
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2 comments:
Hi there, I am an avid reader of Cary Tennis' column and saw your letter to today's writer. I enjoyed your response and visited your blog. Like you and the letter writer, it seems, I dance this strange dance between home and away--wherever away is at the time. I also spent some time teaching English abroad (in Tokyo) and went traveling and did a Masters in London and did more traveling. And at various points throughout that time, I wanted to return home and I did. And then I wanted to leave. I long for roots and when I'm home, I want to flee. I'm learning the merits of being still, calm, patient, observant, accepting. But it's still ever a work in progress.
Anyway, I enjoyed reading your blog--especially with your student's work. Love it very much!
Where is home for you btw? How long have you been in China?
Take care and thanks for sharing,
Monica
Monica,
I wish you'd have left me with another way to contact you. I've been in China almost two months this time, and I studied here for seven months in 2003. I'm kind of putting off the time as I continue to think about graduate school. I'm glad I'm "getting to see the real world" first, as they say. I'd like to be back in classes in the fall of 2008, in one way or another, and the three years off will have been pretty excellent I think. I'm not yet halfway there, but if you could have seen me a year ago slaving in a cafe in north Houston... Suffice it to say I've come a long way.
I'm glad you read my blog; that's why I put the address in the Tennis column. That letter was my first to read on Salon, though I follow the War Room daily. You could say Cary's lead did it's job. I hope to put some more student letters up later. It's an unexpected joy, and they write about the kinds of things that American students would never have the guts to submit to a teacher, much less admit to themselves. I've gotten close to some of them very fast, and I'm always feeling like I could be so much more to them. I have almost no experience at this kind of thing, and judging from my midterm the students and I both have a ways to go yet.
I call Alexandria, Louisiana home, though in the next few years that may shift more permanently to New Orleans, provided it stays above water. A friend has hinted at an interesting employment opportunity (fuck it; a bona fide Dream Job) when I get back home at the end of next summer. Even if that doesn't happen, I'd still like to return to my roots for my last year before I become an "adult," in graduate / law school at the age of 25.
But I'm still 23, and if you find your way back to reading this, Monica, email me at dantsmith@gmail.com.
Now where is home for you?
(pentameter inadvertent...or is it?)
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