International travel in a day

When I went to DC with Danny in 2012, one of our tour guides pointed out the Canadian embassy, making the claim that it technically sits on Canadian soil. I have no idea if that is true- it sounds fishy.

If it is true, I went to Peru today. It's just north of LBJ on Preston, as it turns out. My former student Cristina was ready on time and came along to make English out of so much Spanish. I was happy to have her there- she's a very level-headed kid who does not act like a kid at all. Here was the beginning of our international journey in North Dallas. 

For a while, we sat in the waiting area- just Uncle Brad, cousin Colleen, my kid Cristina  and me. At a certain point, Brad and Cristina had to head back to an office and conduct the majority of the business. Uncle Brad had to take care of some paperwork for uncle Clayton, who is recovering from a serious stroke in Peru. Not the most thrilling day, I'm afraid. 

I really appreciated Cristina coming to help, and it was very handy that I could connect her to Brad for this task. Being from Minnesota, Brad doesn't exactly have a list of bilingual friends in Texas. This is the unique service I can provide as a teacher. 

My mother handed me some money to compensate Cristina for her time and effort. I added an extra 20 bucks to it just because it took longer than I imagined. I was happy to chauffeur her there and back, and I was glad to throw a few bucks on top of the agreed-upon payment. She's a good kid and she really did something that my family needed. 

It's one of those moments that I will point to when people react negatively to the information that I teach public high school in Dallas. It happens more often than you think. They hear what I do for a living and where I work, and the first reaction is pity or sympathy or something. That's when I pull out a little nugget like this story. I get really good kids, and that doesn't always for the narrative people have in their minds about my job. I get kids like Cristina. I'm a pretty lucky teacher.