Latin bummer.

My one very good Latin student sent me a semi-dramatic email out of the blue thanking me for lessons, and saying he really couldn’t continue them because he got suddenly tapped to undergo (free) certification training that allowed him to ascend the office ladder, and that’d pretty much suck up all his free time, though he’d try to translate a little bit on his own if he ever had time.

I replied very nicely, and reminded him that I’d be in the city for at least 2 years, so he always had the option of starting up lessons again, and that if he ever got through any decent amount of the texts we had been working on (and I recommended which ones might be easier to do on his own, since a few of them were consistently challenging for him, in a good way), we could always meet for 15-30min. to check his translation on a play-it-by-ear basis.

He said definitely, and thanked me for my flexibility.

It’s kind of sad, he read a ton of Latin each week, and it really kept me on my toes.

I’m certain he’ll be back, though, if/when his time frees up.

At our last lesson, even, we had just started Vergil’s 1^st Eclogue – we had already read the 4^th – and he mentioned that he really enjoyed it, and when I then said that it would be feasible with dedication to read the entire work, he genuinely, immediately exclaimed, “I’d love that!”, and you could tell he meant it.

He really does have a genuine love for Latin, it’s very endearing and inspiring.  I’d *love* for him to be able to study with that one priest I studied with, I know he’d really enjoy it and learn a lot.

I also think that he gets oddly dramatic...  Like half a year ago he said he had a family situation that was sucking up his time and money (he lives at home with his parents – is one of them sick?), and couldn’t afford the roughly $150 a month he was paying me, so we talked it over, and I ended up halving my hourly price to fit his budget, until such a time that he could up it again, as he could afford it again.

I really think he was honest with me then, and had thought I’d be a stickler for my price or something, and that's why he cancelled.