Primo Giorno di Scuola

I haven't taken any pictures today. The sky is gray, and when it is, everything else becomes a few shades cooler. I have a sickness growing inside of me, a longing really. For what, I can't be sure.

This morning was my first day of class with TEFL International. The course runs from 11 October 2010 to 9 November 2010, and consists of four intensive weeks. We will cover grammar in the morning and methodology in the afternoon. We have several short breaks throughout the day. In the evening we have observations and opportunities to practice what we have learned in methodology. If today was any indication, the next month should prove to be exhausting.

The class is a happy mix of diverse demographics. Trainees have come from as close as Rome to as far as Canada. This gives me valuable material for my side project while I'm here- namely, people-watching and character development.

For example, on the plane from Charleston to Newark:

Caucasian, mid- to late-fifties, salt and pepper hair, reading a book in French, wearing a pink and white striped button-down, Bose headphones to block the noise, drinking Mott's tomato juice, watching Invictus...

You just can't make this up. You find yourself filling in the gaps, dreaming up the details. Next thing you know, this gentleman is no longer a real person, but rather a character of your own invention.

Isn't that what we all are, to some degree? We have different relationships with people. They know us for certain conversations we have or specific shared experiences. We tell them whatever we choose to tell them. The end result is an incomplete, abstract portrait of an individual.

To others, we are characters, partially grounded in reality, partially invented, but wholly complex and unknowable in a full and sound sense.