Final words from nobi

First of all, thank you very much again, everyone, for having come to my class.

I know it has been very painful to wake up early in the morning.

I always woke up at 6:00 am, and I must confess that it was sometimes hard for me, too.

(Although it gets easier as you get older.)

I often received e-mails from you late at night or early in the morning.

So I knew that you guys kept awake till late, and went to bed so late.

No wonder you were so listless and sleepy all the time in my class.

Well, for your health, go to bed and wake up early!

This has been my fourth class to teach in ELC, and the first class where all the students were from East Asia as I always had Arabic people in my class.

So this reminded me of a college class that I taught in Japan before coming to the US.

Now, you were much younger than my former students.

Therefore, I faced some discipline problems, too.

I knew that I would teach not only English but also other things that are more important than English because I myself was not a good student in college.

You may not be able to imagine, but I sometimes slept in class.

I failed some classes.

I even rebelled against my professor.

Well, time passes, things change, and people grow.

Now I am teaching how to live.

But that is possible only because I also experienced bad times.

Yes, I needed discipline myself, and somehow I succeeded.

However, without other people's help, I am sure I could never have overcome the hardship.

I was scolded, yelled at, and hit by my mentors.

All those made me grow up to be an adult.

And I see that you are still in the process.

I hope I could have taught you like I was taught by others in the past.

But I know that it is difficult and often impossible.

Still, I did what I could do, what I thought I should do as a teacher as well as as a human being.

But, as you will not be my students any more, I don't have any control over your life.

So, how you take them into your life all depends on you.

Now you will meet new mentors, hopefully better ones than me.

I have been teaching something for over 15 years so far.

I have taught so many classes.

I have taught over 1,000 students.

And I have kept saying good-bye to all of them.

Not a single one of them is happiness.

Every single one of them is sadness.

But in order to step forward, we must say good bye.

One good bye bears a new hello.

It is now our turn to be apart.

I hope your next encounter will be even more precious.

This class is just a part of your life.

You will forget the details in due course.

It is sad, but necessary as you must not live in the past.

Live in the present, and look to the future.

I truly enjoyed having each of you in my class this semester.

See you around.

In case I don't see you, I sincerely hope you all prosper in your life from the bottom of my heart.

December 11/2009

nobi