Maybe you have heard this title question in a film, cheesy skit, or actually in person.
Almost daily I get the privilege to speak with people who are not from around here. I love the opportunity I have to continually learn from their cultures and get a constant perspective check.
I’m a private English as a Second Language teacher and have been for 10 years now locally. It’s such a great joy to be able to learn more about my own complicated language, while making friends with my students. I have learned some of their language and much of their culture as well.
Predominately, I have worked with South Korean students and at this point I feel welcomed by their phrases and at home with the smell of their native meals.
South Korea was the first foreign country I traveled to, at the age of 2. Actually, I had my second birthday there. My students always find that funny that I have a home video of me wearing the traditional Korean dress, hanbok, along with my cousin. My aunt (who was also an English teacher there) and uncle lived there for 11 years along with their four children. Through them and that trip, the country became apart of my subconscious memory.
We moved to the Auburn area when I was four, in ear shot of the stadium. I dressed up in my Pocahontas clothes and ran around the neighborhood. My best friend in Pre-school was an English Language Learner (ELL), with her parents being from Iran. My best friend in Kindergarten was Polish; I still remember the feeling I had while listening to her parents speak in their native language. It was like a warm fire for my mind and I wanted to be near. I’m thankfully still in contact with both of them today.
Before I began teaching students, I had the fun idea to become an ambassador or spy (read my previous blog post if that’s confusing). It was my plan to go into International Relations and do “important governmental work” travelling the world and what-not.
Working at a coffee shop in town, while attending Southern Union, I met a girl who was an ESL teacher. She and I had a lot of common interests, and she seemed to enjoy her work. Some time later, she told me she was moving and would like to train me to take her place as her students’ teacher. She did just that and I fell in love with teaching language. I completed my Education degree and took linguistic classes at Columbus State University (because you can get in-state tuition there while living here). I married my amazing husband, an Auburn grad, and started a family here. It wasn’t the original plan, and that’s ok. It has helped me to trust God’s control over my life.
Here I am in Auburn with no regrets with staying. Not because it has been my choice to stay here, but because it was where I have needed to be. I have needed to love on and learn about this culture around me as a wife and mom.
The stadium, that I had grown up so near to, I’ve only been inside of twice. Football just isn’t my passion. It is a passion for a lot of people here, and all over. But for some locals, and many visiting internationals, it’s not a priority.
People from other places, their culture, and their language -these excite me. Heritage, ancestry, history, and their essence-these excite me perhaps like a touch-down or cheer does you. Not to down-play your passion, I can’t even make the accurate comparisons because honestly I couldn’t explain how football is played.
The internationals here, the people who come from all over the United States, they are looking at our local culture and want to know about it. They ask about University traditions, about where to travel locally, about the history of this area. In their questions, I’ve learned more about my community. I also learned much about their home countries, when comparing it to Auburn and Opelika. I’ve had to see it partly through their eyes, of curiosity, and excitement. One of my students has never been to a game and her husband bought tickets for them to go to the Iron Bowl. I can’t even imagine all the firsts they will experience and the questions she will have. Imagining you had no idea about this area-there’s actually a lot to explain. Throwing toilet paper in trees is a hard one to explain for me at least.
There’s nothing wrong with wishing you could go far away, but loving where you are is key for your ability to love where you will go.-This is what God has been teaching me over my life, what He still does daily.
Whatever your passion is, I hope you pursue it, and let it lead you to a place you know you were meant to be. I hope you also get the opportunity to explain it and share it with someone who is interested to learn your “language.”
