meaningful @ work

was supposed to supervise a visit to tokyo (a study trip that was conducted last week) but due to my dad's demise, i had to hand over the responsibilities to my colleague. so i missed the trip and was a bit disappointed. i had been involved in all the planning over the past couple of months. but looking on a bright side, it was a restful two weeks when my students and colleagues were away.

anyway, everyone returned from the trip over the weekend and these two days had been tremendously busy. suddenly, a flurry of events occured... and we had to rush through the final preparations for the end of the course next week. report writings, interviewing students, and so on. but i must say that i do find the hectic schedule very meaningful and purposeful. the interactions with my students and seeing how their face light up during these interactions certainly gave me the motivation to push on.

and today, i was very pleasantly surprised when one of my students came to my office and gave me a bag of snacks and a souvenir from tokyo. also, one of the support staff whom i had supervised came up to my office and gave me a pack of japanese post cards. rather touched by their gestures. they remembered me when they were there... so sweeeeeettt!

:-)