Where you think you're going, baby?

Since I have nothing happy and exciting to say about living in Vietnam I am going to focus on my students in this post. I have two classes in particular that I just adore, year 8 and year 11. I set both classes the task of writing a list of 100 things they want to do/achieve in the future. This is a surprisingly difficult task considering how many things people generally want from life. I'm sure we each want thousands of things, but the process of writing them out is a challenge. I suppose we all have our own secret goals, too.

I had very different reactions to reading the goals and dreams of each class. Reading those of my year 11 students made me feel a bit teary, remembering the feeling of being 16 years old and having so many plans for the future, everything seemed so far away but also very possible. I don't have that feeling anymore. My goals have become more realistic, I only bother yearning for the things that I perceive to be attainable. I became more realistic but also more cynical.

I've definitely given up on the dream most young people have of being ' wealthy'. Totally given up and I don't care. I suppose it's because my idea of what it takes to be happy has...matured. My profession is not a money maker. Law is. Medicine is. High class prostitution is. I want to be a teacher so one goal has cancelled out the other. Anyhow, after getting all nostalgic over my year 11 students' goals I read those of my year 8 class - and laughed my arse off (it would be awesome if one could really laugh one's arse off since I've put on 5kgs in the last three months).  They had written stuff like be iron man, marry superwoman,  blow up a house with TNT (worrying), learn to shoot a gun (also worrying),  shoot an insect with a machine gun (errrrrr), take over the world, become a vampire (screw you, Twilight),shrink the sun and eat it (my personal favourite), and  take a shower every day (admirable!).

When I was in year 8 all I wanted to do was get the hell out of High School, grow taller, become an actress, and marry David Boreanaz (as Angel).

When I was in year 11 all I wanted to do was get the hell out of High School, grow taller, live in England, and meet the man of my dreams (a real one). I had no idea what I wanted to 'be'.

I have achieved two of those goals.

Ten years later, my goals are to improve my Spanish, get a Masters or PhD in History, work in an international school, and to eventually own my own home (yet to decide which country it should be in) that looks something like this:

 Photo:  errr...somewhere on tumblr...

Post Script: an update on my last teaching post/insane rant: my students have now come to terms with their project and are working on it like a boss. Like, a class of bosses. Boss class, yo.