Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams

Remember “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”? (Don’t worry if you never saw the show – it was ridiculous, anyway.) At the conclusion of every episode, Robin Leach drolly uttered his signature phrase: “Champagne wishes and caviar dreams!”

Well, now that I’ve arrived in the Bay, I feel as though I’m living in the lap of educational luxury. First of all, the school where I teach – hereafter referred to as Super-Duper High School – is very affluent. The scions of Silicon Valley have been generous to my campus, and the facilities are state-of-the-art. Today, for example, when I showed a video excerpt, I struggled to decipher the surround sound feature of the multimedia apparatus.

When I first started teaching at Super-Duper, my friend Jason jokingly asked, “So, will you be enjoying caviar during lunch?” At the time, I laughed, but now I’m beginning to wonder if Steve Jobs will be serving choice Beluga any time soon.

Second, the principal at Super-Duper has a breezy, refreshed manner. Never, and I repeat, NEVER, have I met a relaxed administrator. Tom appears so carefree that, frankly, it’s almost maddening. He’s a witty conversationalist, and he’d triumph at any cocktail party. Not only that, but he’s worldly and sophisticated, as are his wife and kids. My favorite Tom anecdote, however, is this: at the conclusion of the school day, he packs his attaché, lowers the top of his convertible, and barrels down the boulevard. If ever a man embodied the principles of joie de vivre, Tom does. The other day, as his sports car roared past me, I wondered, “What am I doing wrong?”

Finally, the students at SDHS are phenomenal. Granted, I’m teaching remedial English, but I must sadly acknowledge that what constitutes remedial at Super-Duper would be “advanced” in other districts. On the first day of school, I initiated a discussion about the book we were reading. (Honestly, I feared the conversation would tank, and I didn’t know if students would grasp the complexities of the text.) Instead, I was floored by the articulate insight of these so-called “struggling” students. At the end of the seminar I remember telling the class, “I’m in Never Never Land. That was amazing.”

Granted, I’m still in the honeymoon phase, but I could get used to this!