Tag Archives: hello work

a day to be thankful for

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The daycare’s small program for the September birthday celebrants fell right smack in the middle of our P&ID review period. And luck of lucks, my unit got scheduled on the very morning that the daycare program was gonna be held. When one of the Leads saw my pained look though, he asked if I wasn’t available. And so, right in front of the whole team, I said the reason. Before I realised what was happening (I was still debating in my head whether my conscience will forgive me in case Yui ends up the only celebrant without a parent), the unit leads of the team started to volunteer shifting the schedule of the units. Now who wouldn’t love a team like that?! Of course I told them so too; of how I love the team. In my almost 17 years at work, I have never heard of big review meetings schedules being shifted because of a parent needing to attend his/her child’s event at school (see, these meetings involve many other people from different companies hence most teams are less compromising)

  • And so yesterday, we could attend the celebration. To see Yui’s big, happy, exuberant smile. My heart is so full of gratitude to God and good people who made this possible.
  • There came a bonus too. After the birthday event, Yui’s head teacher called me and gathered her kindergarten troop. They had me seated in the center and then Yui’s class gathered around me. Yui then gave me a DIY-framed photo which was taken after my “Hello Work” presentation to the class. It was lovely; the thoughtfulness of having that small ceremony, the moment to have all the lovely kids and their brilliant teacher gather around me, the sweet photo frame memento. Grateful.
  • When I got back to the office, I learned that there has been “fire” in the morning review meeting. That meant a LOT of argument during the meeting. That means I’ll be dealing with hot headed people when it’s my unit’s turn in the afternoon. It meant making extra effort to be gracious and diplomatic yet authoritative as the specialist for the unit. By God’s grace, I was able to do just that. One Client even commented of how good the meeting for my unit went after having their patience extremely tested in the morning. Thankful to God for empowering me.
  • And to cap a beautiful day, I was able to have a chat with a beautiful friend; who capped our conversation by telling me of how she looks up to me as an inspiration and role model. I see her as someone who’s perfect and a role model herself. Hence for her to say that….it’s one of those ultimate compliments that encourages me to do my best and be the better version of my self.
  • And this, I pray to God.

    • Life with a Kindergartener: Hello Work

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    For an hour my 5-year-long wish came true – to be a teacher at your daycare.

    Your daycare has this program on introducing parents’ work to senior class. I inquired about it and so principal took the chance to ask if I could present something about my mother country. Told her I agree with her idea but that aside from that, I will also teach them some songs and introduce them to STEM.

    IT-WAS-DIFFICULT to simplify engineering to kindergarten level. But at least your class was squealing and giggling during our experiment when we mixed the vinegar and baking soda and CO2 bubbles formed. The food colouring we added made it more fun.

    You were also beside yourself with giddiness by the mere fact that I am your class’ teacher for the afternoon. You wanted to hug and cuddle me. I am touched to see how proud you are of me. Thank you.

    But I am so much more proud of you because you confidently got in front and taught your friends the song “Under the spreading chestnut tree”.

    Keep it up, baby. 🙂

    PS

    Our effort bore fruit. The principal, teachers, my beloved mentor at office, parents all said we did a great job/ we were “subarishii”. That we took the challenge of being the first ever to do this Hello Work activity in the entire daycare history; despite me being a none-Japanese speaker. Thank you Lord, for the inspiration.