...stand there. And there! And there.
I started this letter in Istanbul. That's me in the black cap. I wrote a few lines in Shanghai and now I'm finishing it in Beijing. And realistically I will edit it on my way to Toronto. Then, in Boston, I'll upload it to our site and I'll start the November letter. My goal is to finish one of them on time.
Here's my definition of "insanity": Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Like writing a monthly letter every month, and expecting that I will actually post one on the 1st of the month that it is due. The reality is, it just doesn’t work. But the expectation that all I have to do is write one each month and one day it will be posted on time is insane. I need to take some action and perhaps write one a couple of weeks early. But doing it the same over and over will not produce the different results I’m after.
We really believe here at GeoVisions that if we do the same thing over and over, we're going to get the SAME results over and over. We're a little crazy sometimes, but we're not insane.
Arthur Koestler, the Hungarian born British novelist once wrote, "The principal mark of genius is not perfection but originality, the opening of new frontiers." I can attest that we're not perfect here at GeoVisions, but this fall will certainly showcase our originality. Take a look:
- Our Conversation Corps in Spain has been upgraded to include many new communities and we now offer family profiles online.
- The China Experience puts all first semester teachers in Beijing at the end of the term in July, just in time for the Summer Olympics.
- We hope our first volunteer projects in Jordan will open in November. We are so proud of the link with The King Hussein Foundation and IICE for those projects. One of the projects in Jordan involves traumatized Iraqi families who end up across the border in Jordan.
- Our new Conversation Corps is adding very affordable and desperately needed conversation programs in Brazil, France, Turkey and China to name only a few.
As the lives of our volunteers and teachers change, so do their interests and the time they have to give to important global volunteer and teach abroad projects. Being able to identify and implement innovative projects that are sustainable abroad and rewarding to our volunteers and teachers requires us not to do the same things over and over so we see those different and meaningful results.
So, go to Turkey and experience amazing food and warm hospitality. Stay a month with a Turkish family and teach them English and live in the crossroads of civilization. Travel to China and man The English Corner in a local school and you will be treated with utmost respect. This trip, for me, has once again changed my life. As our CEO, Kevin Morgan says, “Don’t just do something. Stand there…and there…and there…and there. People want you in their homes teaching them how to speak English. You will learn their language too, and adopt some of their customs and traditions into your own life and you will be the richer for it.
Don’t get out of bed tomorrow and do the same thing over and over and wonder why your life is the same and the same. Don’t just do something. Stand there and teach in Brazil, Turkey, China, Spain, France, Vietnam, and Korea.
They are calling my flight. I can get this uploaded soon and I’ll only be 10 days late filing this letter. Check here in November and see if I followed my own advice!
Randy LeGrant
Executive Director