Friday, December 30, 2005
What to do about this Journal? I’m thinking that it was a great way to record and share the adventure and experience of being in the Peace Corps. But now things feel quite different. The adventure continues, but now my life – our lives - are a shared experience between Myrna and I. It feels much more private than being on a solo kick in the Peace Corps.
So I think my entries to the Journal will continue, as a way of keeping in touch with the world – or at least, that tiny fraction of the world that cares enough to check into this blog from time to time. But my entries will deal less with day-to-day activities, and more about how events impact where we are, how we live, what we are doing, what I am thinking. If that sounds unclear to you, it feels unclear to me, too. I guess we will just have to see what happens.
But .... all those post-Peace Corps plans of mine that everyone thought were so definite and clear: Use my great PC experience to canvass NGO’s in Washington in order to find a position involving the economic development of south/central America that pays a small stipend. Yeah. But, a couple of problems. The main one is my surprising (to me), depressing and very frustrating lack of understanding of conversational Spanish. I deal in half conversations, the information coming in my direction is lost. The idea that I could get paid to do ANYTHING that requires participating in conversational Spanish is simply out of the question for now.
So.... What to do? The plan now is that Myrna and I could morph into new lives as language teachers. In this new paradigm, I could teach English as a second language and Myrna could teach Spanish to the US college kids who come here to study. It feels a bit more realistic than our earlier thoughts of living with the other aging hippies at Lake Atitlan, selling bread and sketches to tourists.
If we can believe the information from the internet, there is a need for language teachers, and the pay, though small, can be livable. In the ideal world, we would work for the same school, teaching our separate languages and studying languages at the same time. And only in the most attractive locations, of course.
Lots of questions, though. How important is accreditation/certification, and what investment in both time and money would be required to achieve that? How to break into the field? Where?
For the exciting answers to these and other world-shaking questions, check back now and then to see how our world is turning. And drop a line to let me know what is shaking in your world, too.
And to all of us, a very Happy New Year full of growth, peace, and love.
So I think my entries to the Journal will continue, as a way of keeping in touch with the world – or at least, that tiny fraction of the world that cares enough to check into this blog from time to time. But my entries will deal less with day-to-day activities, and more about how events impact where we are, how we live, what we are doing, what I am thinking. If that sounds unclear to you, it feels unclear to me, too. I guess we will just have to see what happens.
But .... all those post-Peace Corps plans of mine that everyone thought were so definite and clear: Use my great PC experience to canvass NGO’s in Washington in order to find a position involving the economic development of south/central America that pays a small stipend. Yeah. But, a couple of problems. The main one is my surprising (to me), depressing and very frustrating lack of understanding of conversational Spanish. I deal in half conversations, the information coming in my direction is lost. The idea that I could get paid to do ANYTHING that requires participating in conversational Spanish is simply out of the question for now.
So.... What to do? The plan now is that Myrna and I could morph into new lives as language teachers. In this new paradigm, I could teach English as a second language and Myrna could teach Spanish to the US college kids who come here to study. It feels a bit more realistic than our earlier thoughts of living with the other aging hippies at Lake Atitlan, selling bread and sketches to tourists.
If we can believe the information from the internet, there is a need for language teachers, and the pay, though small, can be livable. In the ideal world, we would work for the same school, teaching our separate languages and studying languages at the same time. And only in the most attractive locations, of course.
Lots of questions, though. How important is accreditation/certification, and what investment in both time and money would be required to achieve that? How to break into the field? Where?
For the exciting answers to these and other world-shaking questions, check back now and then to see how our world is turning. And drop a line to let me know what is shaking in your world, too.
And to all of us, a very Happy New Year full of growth, peace, and love.
