MYRON BERKMAN

I was in group 42, 1973-1975. I taught ESL in Chumporn, in southern Thailand. I still tell everyone today the Peace Corps experience was probably the best thing I ever did in my life. In fact, I'm still doing today what I learned in the Peace Corps, teaching ESL to secondary students.

I'm probably an ex-officio member of Group 34, as somehow some of my closest contacts are from that group. Among them my best friend, Tim Ryan, and Jim Kreuze, Carolyn Cox, et al. In fact Tim Ryan and I are taking off tomorrow to drive and camp for three days on the road trip to Albuquerque.

After Peace Corps I went and taught in Japan (didn't hold a candle to Thailand) and then came home and got a master's in Urban Policy from San Francisco State. After sitting on my butt for two years in city government, I decided to make a change, and headed back to Thailand. In 1981, I had an incredible year working in the border refugee camps teaching and resettling refugees. When I returned in 1982 to San Francisco, I began teaching at a unique high school called Newcomer High, which only enrolled immigrant and refugee youth. I stayed there for about 12 years. For the last four years I have been teaching ESL and Social Studies at Berkeley High School which is where I live. So, little did I know that I would be doing the same thing when I started in PC training in Cha-am in 1973.

I actually have kept up a lot of my PC contacts. In fact, in 1978, my roommate Henry Domzalski, PC 34) and I hosted a mini-reunion in San Francisco, which was loads of fun. I return often to Thailand and still have some very close friends. One of them, Roger Harmon, is the current PC director there.

Last year, I celebrated my 50th birthday in Thailand on Goh Samui. About 20 friends joined me from the U.S., Europe, and Thailand and we "tiowed" for a week in Samui. The final night, we had a very moving Baci ceremeony which was a complete surprise. It included beautiful Northeastern dancers, music, and food right on the beach. It was truly unforgettable. Afterwards, Tim Ryan and I made a sentimental journey back to our PC towns of Prachuab and Chumporn.

I am still a bachelor, and while I would like to change that status, it does allow me to travel every summer. I just got back from a fascinating two weeks in Cuba. And I am blessed by a wonderful community of friends here in the Bay Area and around the world. Anyway, I am still very close to Thailand, and the people I met there.

My "phut thai" is still pretty good. I am looking forward to the reunion. Anybody in the San Francisco Bay Area, feel free to contact me and reminisce, or look to the future.

Sawatdee, Myron