One of the things I really love about my job is the fact that I get to hear international news straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak. My Italian students rant to me about the latest Berlusconi flub, my French students ask me about the American criminal justice system so that they can better understand the process of the Strauss-Kahn fiasco, my Russian students let me know that the weather in Moscow is quite warm and lovely, but that there is a dearth of parks in the city. I have a pesto recipe from a family in northern Italy that has lived in the same village for generations. I know the names of the best beer gardens in Munich. I've been invited to country homes in Tuscany and Brittany. I've been given names and addresses in Corsica where I can find the best and cheapest places to stay. I know all the best beaches in the Canary islands. People send me pictures of their children and pets. I've even been Skyped with video, so that one of my German students could show me his daughter's surprise litter of baby bunnies (they'd thought they'd bought two females, ha!), as well as his balcony view of the tallest mountains in Bavaria.
Truly, all of these people are likeable, each story is so interesting, and I feel so incredibly accountable. I used to think that remarkable stories were rare. I truly believed that 99.9% of the earth's people are simply sleepers in the dream, who live and die without ever truly awakening. Now I begin to doubt it.
When I first took this position, I thought it would be me teaching technical English and grammar to foreign executives. Instead, I have discovered that it's me truly caring about the lives and careers of those I am assisting, and me trying to ascertain the best ways to help them achieve their goals.
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