My response was essentially that I was so delighted at the thought of my work being translated into another language that darling Margarete could show up on my doorstep in the middle of the night with a thousand impertinent questions and I would gladly feed her tea and scones with clotted cream and raspberry jam. I didn't actually say that, but that was what I was thinking. :-)
I've also started corresponding with my five MFA students; I actually got a call from one of them this morning, Rebecca, who's currently working in Ethiopia. The first chance we've had to actually talk; it was good. I didn't know much about low-residency MFA's before Robin invited me to apply for this job; I have to say, it seems like a very sensible option for those in circumstances where it would be difficult to attend a traditional graduate program. Not cheap, but convenient. Another of my students is going to China in a few months to teach English. This program lets them travel (or maintain full-time jobs, as others of my students are) while getting a degree. I approve. And while they don't get the day-to-day classroom interaction of a traditional MFA program, they do get far more access to the professors than they would in such a program, I think. Almost all the students I talked to during the residency were really thrilled with the program, and felt they were getting a tremendous amount out of it. That's very reassuring, from a teacher's point of view.