Work has been mad recently. But somehow I finally put on my running shoes and started running again. Although it is quite a torture still to wake up so early and take a run around the neighbourhood, but it feels good. It’s hard to tell what will happen when winter finally arrives. Till then, I guess I’ll keep on running – for life, at work, and in the morning.
There is hope after all. A late night battle against odds to complete the setting up of the Mid-Autumn Festival event at the mall was tough. It was a victory not without losses. At 1:30am the work was done. For today, at least. Spirits were high. And I am glad I was there. It may be just moral support, but I was there. All it takes now is one final battle tomorrow and the moon will be a place on earth. In Shanghai.
Yes, J, it is hard to expect others to be as kind and gentle and understanding. It’s the third day at knidergarten for you, and the “daily report” from the school may seem discouraging, but that is the state of the education that kids, like you, go through nowadays.
Despite the effort by your mom in trying to find the best educational instituion for you, it is hard for us, as parents, to swallow when the feedback at the third day of school seems to think that “you cry a lot and hopes that you will be more easy-going in the future”.
I know that you don’t really cry that often at home. Even if you do, you are just a kid, and it is natural to cry as a sign of displeasure for you lack the ability still to make others fully understand you. I believe it’s because your teachers can’t understand you or can’t cope with your vivacity.
For about 20 years of your life, you will be in the process of formal education. You will be spending probably half your waking time during that 20 years in an education institution. You will be spending a quarter more on education each day of that doing homeworks and assignments.
If teachers in kindergarten can’t even understand your nature and behaviour, and as a 3-year old child, and see things from your level, don’t be disappointed. To most, it is just a profession where passion is a bonus, not a prerequisition.
School will be more crowded and will contain less individual attention once you head into primary education. It will be worse in secondary. By the time it is tertiary education, your lecturer will assume maturity and independence and responsibility, which you may or may not already have. This is the structured and rigid world we live in, and we are bound by it.
J, I guess the only way is not to hope for too much but only to take in the formal knowledge that will be transferred at formal educational institutions. Expect no more than that and you won’t be disappointed. When you need love and passion and understanding, you will always find it at home. From mom. From me. Forever.
I am still staring out the same window at Tianjin expecting nothing has changed. Indeed, nothing much has changed, except that it is morning and the sky is clear. A few tour buses clutter the car park below. High (performed by Lighthouse Family) is playing in the background. It is my first morning in Tianjin, but I’ll be leaving Tianjin soon, and waking up in another city tomorrow, staring out another window. I wish for nothing more than pleasant and smooth journey into the future, pray that all is well back home and that they all get well soon.
Staring out of the hotel window at Tianjin and having just gotten back from Tianjin World Financial Centre, I have lots of thoughts swirling in my head. Crazy Life (performed by Toad The Wet Sprocket) is playing in the background. I think I am just excited about the future.