“We get to make a living—We give to make a life.”

Our first day of night classes officially began with breakfast at one of the Villemot Creperie locations. We were then set loose until 2:30 when we met at the hotel to go out for lunch. In between breakfast and lunch, we did errands, explored favorite haunts, and bought any provisions we needed. Those of us who rested on benches in the Jardin Zenea were approached by nurses in white uniforms to see if we wanted a blood pressure check.

This was all fine, but the real work of the day was yet to begin. At 4:30, Antonio came with the van. We arrived at UTEQ a little before 5 pm, where we were greeted by Carlos, who spoke perfect English, having lived in LA’s San Fernando Valleyfor a number of years. Carlos led us to the class building and gave us our assignments. After the first class, we were met by Israel—tall, smiling, dark-suited, the program coordinator for the evening instruction. He had started his work day at 7 am in an elementary school but was in good spirits, though tired. Classes 2-4 had a generous component of students with jobs, professionals of all stripes: mathematics teacher, chemist, salesman, human resources workers, etc.

A pearl of great worth, the true essence of the joy of teaching and communicating, was experienced by the team. A great day!