Just imagining 5-1-09

    It takes a while to teach an old dog new tricks. While I’m all of 22 years old, the way my joints pop every morning as I climb out of bed makes me feel much older than my age. Perhaps my attitude also contributes to that. I look at Murray State as if I’ve seen everything there is to see and know everything it offers.
    Thank God our international students have breathed new life into me.
    Last semester, I was introduced to the English as a Second Language program through a friend who became an instructor. Through this, I became a conversation partner to a wonderfully delightful South Korean girl named Mia. I confessed I knew very little about South Korea except what I’d read in history books, and she taught me about its language, culture, customs, government, conflicts with North Korea and why she loved America (the food was excellent!) and also hated it (the food made her gain weight!).
    I also became a frequent fixture in my friend’s ESL classes as her “assistant.” At first it was just to help out with their ancestry study. But eventually, it became an excuse just to be around people who were so obviously eager to learn about their new “homeland.”
    Something that really struck me was their willingness to really experience American life - and I mean really. They fully utilized campus amenities and practiced their English at every opportunity. They attended music recitals, drag shows and coffeehouses - anything they could.
    Per my involvement in the ESL program and the Baptist Campus Ministry, I’ve become genuine friends with several international students. We have done "normal" friend things, like watch movies, cheering at sporting events and even going on vacation, but each has been experienced with a pair of new eyes. They are thrilled by subtitles, new cuisine and Racer One. They love American cookouts and birthday parties. When confronted with a piñata at a friend’s going-away party, they became so eager to bust the guts out of it that we had a steady stream of volunteers.
    I had the incredible fortune to spend Spring Break in Gatlinburg with around 20 international students. I say “incredible fortune” because I was there to witness their first reactions to the Smoky Mountains, huge stacks of pancakes and old-time pictures. I got to run with them through our huge chalet like we were kids turned loose in a candy store. I ate every meal with them, played checkers with them, cooked, shopped, got lost, hiked up mountains with them - and loved and learned from every moment.
    I have also seen how independent they are, and they never cease to stun me. I want to coddle them, hold their hand and help them through everything. It makes me nervous when they travel by themselves, but these are students who have navigated more airports in six months than I've ever seen in my life. They have spent Christmas and New Year's in New York - I have never been there even when it was not a major holiday.
    It just goes to show how these students have taught me to love my life. If we complain there is not anything to do on a Friday night, but they can find something - shouldn’t that tell us we’re not looking hard enough? Perhaps we don’t have the zeal in being here that they have.
    It breaks my heart that they’re going home so soon, but it is my prayer that I keep a bit of their excited explorer attitutde in me. It’s a great way to avoid taking something for granted - something these international kids have down pat.
    So goodbye for now, my friends. Thank you for the invaluable lessons you’ve taught me, and it’s my sincerest hope we cross paths again.
   
    "You’ve got to make a conscious choice every day to shed the old - whatever ‘the old’ means for you." - Sarah Ban Breathnach
   
    Jodi Keen can be reached at jodi.keen@
murraystate.edu.