Mt. Sterling Headstart, Aug, 2006
Nice Intro… Roger Ebert
I’ve spoken to this group several times… all on topics to encourage you and get you ready for a new school year. .. all having something to do with school. . Today: forget it. I’m retired. I don’t want to talk about school.. Instead…just the best part of school…Kids. Maybe the best gift I can give you today is to get your minds OFF your job.
You have a disadvantage. You seldom get to see what happens to the kids after they leave your program… except for those you read about in the paper.
Teaching introduced me to travel. Have taken hundreds of kids from your areas around the world…
Began ‘79 Inspiration: A sophomore girl with no money, detasseled, etc..Susan Hatfield… had to see Europe. We landed in London .. I looked at her.. tears running down her eyes.
Robert Benchley: IN AMERICA THERE ARE TWO CLASSES OF TRAVEL: FIRST CLASS AND WITH CHILDREN.
See through fresh eyes....Went to London alone because I was tired of traveling with kids… Just wasn’t the same.
Mark Twain: I HAVE FOUND THAT THERE AIN’T NO SURER WAY TO FIND OUT WHETHER YOU LIKE PEOPLE OR HATE THEM THAN TO TRAVEL WITH THEM.
---Beardstown Ladies...King’s Cross...Sydney Australia
---MUST BE SENSITIVE TO PARENTS....Tahiti, Jeremy, Paul Gogan Maroa
(I don’t tell these stories until the group returns)
John Steinbeck: A JOURNEY IS LIKE MARRIAGE. THE CERTAIN WAY TO BE WRONG IS TO THINK YOU CONTROL IT.
---Beth K & Eric M...Bullfight
Airlines: Thursday, the airline crisis in London and elsewhere.. the first person to get off a plane at O’Hare.. from London.. a student of mine from Chapin.. Drew Snodgrass. “Oh, it’s just one of those things.” …Airline rules
- the larger you are, the further you will be seated from the aisle
- If you are tired and need to sleep, the baby with nasal congestion will be seated directly behind you.
- the travelers with no interest in scenery will get the window seats
- they will have nothing but baked chicken by the time they get to you.
...Air Italia...cockpit window.
---Worst airline ever: Aeoflat..Aro-flop..landed three times each time. ……Champaign Dave...getting out of Soviet Union. --Last Trip: Ireland … Continental… Cleveland.. delayed in Newark, overnight… We never travel without Christ.
CUSTOMS: ..Unisex Toilets...concentration ..French Bidet...Rick: Sock washer...wet pantlegs ..Jodi and Susan...bathtubs. . “Girls knocked up” TRULY UNFORGETABLE MOMENTS: ..Ladies in rags waiting for hours to take communion in Soviet Union. ...Seeing St. Basil’s cathedral in Red Square for the first time. ...Highest point in Kremlin: A cross. …The Whales in Alaska ..Ireland...Preacher Frank from West Virginia clearing out a bar for church ..Assisi... Two olive-skinned ladies on tour I’m still a naïve country boy from Perry… English Music Hall Show (2 girls on the way out)
....FINALLY: The story I never tell if any future travelers in the audience. Part of it was printed in USA TODAY last year..Paris-Madrid train.
Finding, exploring, loving diversity through travel has been one of the biggest blessings of my account.
Your kids are going to experience a big, wonderful world. I hope you can give them a curiousity about what happens outside their own hometown. One of the reasons we have so many problems in the world is the fact that we don’t know much about the rest of the world.
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