I’ll miss my students. Becoming a teacher to Aaron Park and Aaron Lee was actually fun. Aaron Lee’s advice for me—not to be shy of my good voice and his encouragement to let me take the path to optimism is one thing that I’ll keep. On the other hand, I’ll miss Aaron Park’s demonstrative and lively behavior and humor—including the way he imitated Alex’s guffaw.

Despite that Jerry has been acting all hyperactive, I’m going to miss him too. The past few days, we had some bonding time over spelling quizzes which he said he enjoyed. I realized he’s not really that mean at all. Oh, and when he got to beat me twice in the spelling quiz, I could attest that in a way he’s an intelligent boy.

Having great people at work as colleagues is also one of the things that I’ll ache for; Che’s point of view (and the way he approaches me with “po” on the side), Grace’s resilient opinions and our ukay-ukay sessions every payday, Alex and Jeff’s antics, the mellow voice of Teacher Regine (and her motherly advice), Teacher Luz’s science lessons and theories during our lunch get-together.

Meeting somebody like Teacher Arthur. The man who loved the Beatles (actually he’s got some similarities to John Lennon—only that he’s Pinoy) is one of the best advisers I ever met (career wise). His diplomatic way of resolving conflicts is one great asset to a successful and harmonious workplace. On the final day he asked me where am I going after my teaching stint at Sejong, I do love both teaching and writing but what Teacher Arthur said, pursue your passion, your heart’s desire and you’ll go along way.

I’ll miss Luigi too. I’ll yearn for those short, interesting but mind-stimulating talks that we used to have. While some might not agree to most of his philosophies, I also got some bits of wisdom from him. I enjoyed his company and the intellectual conversations. I like him not because of charm but because of his wit. It made sense to me that at least some of our ideas jibe together. I hope I could still know him better but with the succinct moment, I’m not sure if that will still be possible—I just hope it could still be. Yes, he could be short-tempered at times but then he can’t say no to a bag of Tempura or a bar of Hershey’s (as in abot sa magkabilang tenga ang ngiti niya.-)). He’ll remind me of Broadway plays too. He once uttered right point-blank to me that I was heaven sent because of one simple thing that I did (and I took it as a simple compliment despite that—there is) but I do have something to thank him for. Things that really define what heaven sent (which he once became to me) really means. On my final day he thanked me but I don’t know if I really did something worth thankful—I simply did my job. I’m happy to have met someone as witty as him; someone who sticks to the no-gray area view point—no maybe just a YES or NO which I also liked about him.

Tomorrow, I’m back to square one. I have to face some tasks and the family’s business—going back to being dad’s secretary again and stuff like that.But I’ll still keep in touch with these wonderful people who I’ve been with.