~STUDENT MANTRA~
The easier I make it on my teacher to grade,
the better my grade will be. (D.L.Dubsky)
"Luck is a train that comes only if you are at
the station to catch it. Better yet,
throw yourself in front of it."
Who am I?
(The picture isn't me.)
BA in English Literature
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois
MBA International Marketing
Schiller International University, Paris, France
My hobbies are traveling with no money, reading, writing, European culture and history, gardening, having the TV turned on even when I’m not watching it, and living vicariously through my brother who has children and grandchildren. I'm a frequent tutor and ardent dog lover. Love me, love my dog(s).
I'm a native Chicagoan and a typical Cub's fan. Yea, Cubs! As my father told me, "You are not Czechoslovakian, you are Bohemian! " So I keep my money in my mattress. I actually do miss the snow tho I don't like to shovel it, and, after all my traveling, I still find Chicago to be one of the most beautiful and liveable cities in the world. There, I first used my English degree to become an advertising copywriter, then moved on to marketing director for several major midwestern companies in the industries of cosmetics (Helene Curtis) and electronics (I'm eclectic).
After years of hard work, I pretended I was still a kid and left for Europe for six months with a backpack. I stayed for 15 years...one in Munich, nine in Paris (with the shower in the kitchen and the gravity toilet down the hall), and nearly five years on a beautiful, medieval island off the Atlantic coast of France that I still call home. (see pics)
After receiving my MBA in International Marketing in Paris, I worked as a marketing consultant for a French firm helping major food companies enter the U.S. market. A long time ago I helped Danone market French yogurt to Americans before they really knew what it was. I taught International Marketing at undergrad and graduate levels for many years both in Europe and the U.S. I especially liked teaching English to French and German adults, enjoying their special flavor of humor. I was also an European Correspondent for four food trade magazines, traveled everywhere on their money, and wrote many articles to earn it.
My big dog Jake (a puppy with fleas found on a beach in the south of France) made 22 trips with me across the Atlantic Ocean, checked as baggage, before he left me recently at age 16. Jaysen, my 16 year old miniture, female sheepdog from the Pyrenees in France, just passed away last February. That made them older than most of the kids I teach. They meant everything to me and I still miss them. Now Wyle Coyote is my tiny "I don't know what kind of dog" whom I named for her oversized, ridiculous ears. You know, the "she's so ugly, she's cute" breed.
Jaysen
I am fluent in French and can understand a little German, Spanish, and English. My dogs are/were bilingual and love eating next to me at my table inside cafes and restaurants. Our favorite books are Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham. I literally put down The Razor's Edge and got on a plane for Europe all by myself. I threw myself in front of that plane and have lived an endless adventure ever since. Oh, I spent the summer of 09 back in France on the island with friends. C'etait genial!