Student: We're like passengers here...

I couldn't stop thinking what my student said this morning, that she thought that they're (students) like passengers of a bus--"We don't stay here for long because someday we get off and move on..."
Is that so?

For the past couple of meetings, my students and I have been talking about the tentative times of when they would return to their country. I might have mentioned this in my previous note, at the moment I am teaching a group of spouses of graduate students of UPitt and CMU as well as wives of employees of multi-national companies in Pittsburgh. One of them has decided her departure date and I can tell that she has mixed emotions about leaving.

These spouses, including myself, know that living in Pittsburgh has never been a permanent thing, at least not for now. And we all know that someday, we all have to pack and say goodbye to Pittsburgh, a place where we all learned how to survive away from our family and close friends.

I don't think I'm exaggerating when I use the term "survival" for these women. They came here to accompany their beloved husband and to give chances for their children to experience living abroad, as many of you would agree has invaluable benefits. They came knowing little of the place, had little clue of how to navigate around the new environment with enough English to ask strangers in case they get lost.

I have been in a country where I didn't speak the language, was alone and clueless, for sure I know how terrifying it could be. But yet, these women found ways to help their children settled in well at school, to cook their family's favorite dishes without the proper spices and ingredients, and most importantly to make their new life livable and worthwhile...

My student might be right to say that they are like passengers, but I believe that they aren't just any passengers--they are extraordinary passengers who "get off" carrying more than what they brought in--a whole set of experiences that will make their next step more colorful and blissful... And thanks to these special passengers, the driver now has learned priceless experiences that will make her journey smoother and eventful...