Happy Monday ka.
There's one story I've had on my mind for almost over a week and it has kept me smiling whenever I think about it! My teaching time which was brief has turned out to have so much influence in my happiness, and my life. (It always makes me think of Ajarn Mor+ Vicharn too as he really loves listening to teacher-student stories.)
A group of Trimitr students invited me to their reunion after over 30 years they graduated and left the school. I never taught this group but was very close to their homeroom teacher so I was delighted to be included and accepted to be with them without hesitation.
A student kindly picked me up from my house and told me to let him know if it started to be boring so he would drive me home. Personally, I didn't feel it could be so because it was so nice just to observe the teacher-student reactions and to see how much fun students themselves had with many of their long lost friends.
Here are what I think "unbelievable's"!
- The group tried to look for their long lost friends. Obviously they searched names from google. When only the same last name popped up, they contacted those people to see if they could be related. When they couldn't track any down, they went to see where their friends used to live in case their friends are still in that neighborhood. I heard that it worked!
- A few called me 'Ajarn Porntip' right away and several could even remember my last name!
One student said to me, 'Whenever I go to your office in the evening, you always eat 'เส้นเล็กใส่น้ำพริกเผา' (thin noodles with chili paste). I had no idea that was my favorite but my senior friend confirmed it too!
Another student told me he could remember me very well because he was at my office to answer my questions he could no longer recall. But he felt very happy I asked him to be there! Immediately, I thought that some little things we did could be far more meaningful to our students than expected ka!
- One student started talking with me when he saw that I was simply observing the people. I told him to sit on the chair as he was kneeling down. He said with teachers, 'I'm always a kid/dek' (aged 50 laew ka!). We talked a lot from his career to family and his impression of the school. He was really touched with teachers at his time who were dedicated and like 'second mom' unlike teachers today.
The next morning, I emailed to thank him for keeping me company. His answered has made me smile. He ended by putting ด.ช. (honorific for younger boys) followed by his name. So very cute and sweet!
The appreciation expressed and the caring shown have made me feel so blessed to be a teacher for at least once in my life!.....in fact, in the Thai tradition, I've never left the profession since 'A teacher is always a teacher!'
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