Today is the time for the faraway minority. Many people travel thousands of kilometers to this place. Behind them they leave emotions, family, and food. But, they come with a baggage full of experience.

It all begins in the morning. You take the bus. You do this alone. You work. You take  English classes as if you were a child. Your university years don't matter here. We are all same. It doesn't matter what education you have. It doesn't matter what your experience is. We are pure and untouched.

I'm talking about the small Vietnamese with Asian eyes that  have abandoned the horrors of the war. About Phung, my classmate, who quit teaching and left her

children to triumph in  the United States.
I speak of my friend, the architect, who left his plans and pencils in Ecuador for a better life. He was working in a factory so he was able to attend school at night. He was not able to handle that life. He couldn't  handle such a system change. He couldn't forgive himself  for just hanging his diploma on the wall.

I speak of Diana, who needs English to enter the university in Colombia. Although she loses her family for a short time, but the language "she steals" will serve her  a lifetime. I speak of Fernando, a gypsy journalist, who moves around a lot. He also needs  English, but as the other people, he leaves  his experience in the parking lot with his awards and his profession. What is the use of knowing Spanish well, if in this nation it is worthless? It is not just to say that we ALL come from the frontier. All people have a different past and they feel their country in their heart. But we are all joined with this language and in that we all try to look for a good future.

For that reason, sometimes, diffrerent groups are formed during free time in school, in order to follow the customs; The Vietnamese, the Mexicans, and the South Americans. Each one communicates in their own way.

He answered him for "five months." Then, the other one said "after four months I already had a car. The one that falls asleep doesn't triumph in this country." The student taking the bus and didn't say anything. But, when he was alone, he thought of all his efforts, the hours that he dedicated to English. He thought of the house, the car, his profession that he has in his country. And he remembered the fable of the "tortoise and the hare." For that reason he didn't care. He knew that if he fights for English, the rest will come by itself...

Fernando Cardenas
Student

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