My new day job

I have a new job to add to my collection of part-time endeavors. In addition to running Play Global, coaching cross country, helping international school kids apply to college and finishing my Master's, I am now teaching middle school Spanish.

There was a time when I thought a degree from a good liberal arts college would get me places. That was a silly idea. Español has been my ticket to just about every job I've had. There were a couple of social service jobs, an immigration law internship, some translation work and - most interesting - a job at a used car auction. It was the place where old, donated cars got a second chance every Saturday. It was also a destination for people who didn't have much money to buy a car, but were not afraid to fix one. There was a fast-talking auctioneer in a ten gallon hat there, and more cash than I had ever seen. The crumpled 20s and 50s and 100s made my hands grimy. A lot of the buyers spoke only Spanish, and almost none of the staff did. I had no idea what I was doing, but I could at least communicate.

So now, after a couple years of substitute teaching, I am actually... teaching. Preface that by saying I am not a teacher, have never been trained as one, and I know nothing about educational theory or anything that real teachers know. But I can speak Spanish and I show up for work, just like at the car auction. And the kids seem to like me, so I guess it's going ok.

Where will Spanish take me next? It's hard to say. Hopefully nowhere else for right now.  I've got enough to do. I don't know if they even have used car auctions in Germany, and if they do exist there are probably hundreds of laws about them. But if a man in a ten gallon hat shows up to offer me a job, it'll be hard to say no.