And now it is September, and glorious halcyon weather, with blue skies and warm breezes all day, cool nights that are prefect for sleeping. I'm finishing up my third week back at work, teaching every day, all my classes full to the brim. We're having a surge in our ESOL student numbers, mostly due to Korean families coming in increasing numbers. They are at once a difficult and an easy group to teach - very willing and anxious to learn (easy), already very educated (easy) but shy and unwilling to open their mouths (difficult), trained in their country not to ask questions or "bother" a teacher (for me ultra-difficult, I thrive on questions - it's how I know they're thinking, learning), afraid to make mistakes (again, very difficult).
But these are the loveliest of people. Before South Koreans started coming to Delaware in large numbers, as they are now, I had no aquaintence with this nationality. Now I am in love with every one of them. Darling people with big hearts, willing to help and share, devoted to family and to higher education for their children, hard-working, and amazingly loving. They don't stay in this area long, is the only problem. After their time of indentured servitude to the chicken processing plants is over, they move on to Atlanta, Philadelphia, Boston, large urban areas with Korean communities and good jobs. As soon as I get to know a student, or a whole student family and become really close to them - they move on. My heart keeps getting broken.
The past two weeks have been full of so much sorrow and anguish about the effects of the hurricane on the Gulf Coast. It has been a time of pain for everyone, I know. If you knew and loved the city of NOLA, you surely mourn for its devastation. My sister in Dallas is helping with the refugees who have gone to that city, filling her car with bottled water and Pampers to take to Reunion Arena. This is a crisis that will not be quickly finished or forgotten. Those who have been displaced may never be able to go home, or at least not for several years. I've written at The Blue Voice about my thoughts on this, you can read some of them here: Of Refugees, Pampers and Beer. I've also been writing on the connection between this violent hurricane and unnatural causes, namely climate change as a result of our pouring greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, this is one of those pieces, The Semi-Random Nature of Weather.
My heart is tired of contumely, why don't we have an adminstration that can bravely and manfully accept and acknowledge their faults and failings and pledge to make things better - instead of this bunch of whiny beaureaucrats (that can't possibly be how you spell that, can it? oh well, I'll check later.) who can only duck and cover?
So, I've been missing my AOL posse pretty badly, and am determined to spend more time here where it feels warmer and safer than out there in the big blog world. I need a little down time from all the hollering and yelling. I love The Blue Voice, love my fellow bloggers, and most of the commenters. Not all of them, however, that's for sure. I've learned to simply ignore the raving right wingnut voices when they make their wacko comments and be grateful for the thoughtful comment posts of many others. I do miss the friendly spirit here, and the way I can just ramble on about nothing or anything. As in this post. And more to come. Hugs and kisses to all.
