Last night, I had dinner with Miyaki, who is my ex-student, and graduated in mid-2017. I postponed our dinner due to Covid and was finally able to meet up after syncing our time. Miyaki is one of the many student leaders that I work with closely for events or PR campaigns throughout their study life as I am the assigned lecturer to guide these students to organise events. That only means, I spend way more time with the leaders whether physically for meetings or on WhatsApp guiding them in their discussion and work.
It was a good 3-hour catch-up at Chef Wan Restaurant, KL East Mall. From the moment we met, we hugged and started talking all the way till our see-you-again hug. It was just update after update, sharing encouraging things with each other and uplifting one another along the way too. These are the kinds of conversations I love having with people where we are just open to sharing and talking about deep things. Yes, there were lots of laughter as well because we love to make each other laugh even since our lecturer-student relationship 5 years ago.
She represents a group of students special to my heart. I've been teaching for 12 years now and among the thousands of students that have come through me, there are always those who are extra close and these are usually the leaders because we share bad and tough times together through organising events that then bonded us. I am always grateful for this influence and position that I am in to not just be their lecturer but like a mentor, a bigger sister, or someone they can always call on for anything.
I am very proud of how Miyaki is thriving in her career and she never stopped crediting me. I am super humbled when she said that because I always see myself as a rocket launcher for these students equipping them with more than just head knowledge but values and skills to thrive once they graduate and to me, this is more than a job but a calling. I am gifted with this grace and ability to do what I do, and I do it wholeheartedly.
Here's what we ate:
Overall, we had a much better time catching up than enjoying the food. For whatever reason, the quality of food this time wasn't as good as how I remembered it previously. But anyway, it doesn't matter! Don't think we were really savoring our food too! Haha... just got too caught up in our conversations. Good times like this are to be treasured because not always do you get such gems in your life. I am blessed to have this opportunity to discover and groom a gem who now is just doing so well.
My heart is filled with so much joy, thankfulness and pride! What a night it was.
