Sunday, March 30, 2008 Delen: Farewells (Or...goodbyes suck but it's inevitable) By Annie Delen Jaded Mind
DO YOU remember my friend Kim Ji Hoon? If I am not mistaken he'd saved my skin twice since I started filling this corner with the musings of a Jaded Mind.
He was the perfect counterbalance to the cynicism that seem to naturally pop out from the blank screen every time I sit down in front of the computer to write my article for the day.
If you want to know what I mean, you can read his article on "Valentines Day" through our website.
Anyway, he's leaving for the Republic of South Korea next week. And, by all intents and purposes, I may never see him again.
Well yeah, it has happened before. I mean, in the business of teaching the English Language to foreign nationals, separation is always inevitable.
After all, they don't come to the Philippines to learn English and stay for good. (Duh) To put it bluntly, it's their means to an end; a good job, a better university, for immigration to a first world English speaking country ad infinitum.
Nevertheless, even the most jaded can't stay insensitive forever.
Just look at the likes of Ebenezer Scrooge, Silas Marner, The Grinch, and yes, the Devil who wears Prada and a host of others who despite their callousness all turned out to be softies at one point in their lives.
And here I am a mere apprentice to the hard-hearted. How could I possibly stay immune to the constant onslaught of kindness, charm, friendliness and sincerity of a human being packaged as Ji Hoon? Embarrassing really!
Friends have started to think I may remain to be a lowly apprentice after all. Contrary to what most people think, one is not born bitchy.
It's an art one has to learn, at a very costly price. But I digress. My only consolation is that I am not the only one. Most if not all of his teachers have fallen under his spell.
This brings me to the worst mistake one could make in this business. That is being lulled into a false sense of security.
He'd been here for quite some time that perhaps, some of us have begun thinking that he will always be a part of our lives. I sure don't know about the others but I personally committed that error.
He had without my notice become a permanent character in the daily happenings of a very unexciting series of events that I call MY LIFE.
Well, he mostly had cameo roles but nonetheless, he'd somehow managed to transcend that situation.
So here I am trying to come to terms with the reality of his leaving by writing about a subject that I have come to accept as an occupational hazard but nonetheless consider objectionable on principle (at least in this case) JAL GA (s) and SAYONARA(s).
If my memory (which happens to be only 512 MB even at its best) serves me right, I've written about "Farewells" before. This was at the beginning of my career change.
Fresh from the Call Center Circuit, I ended up trading one race for teaching English as a Second Language that is.
Green as I was, I felt at a loss every time one of my students left for home wherever that may be.
Nah, I didn't cry buckets of tears if that's what you're thinking. But I did feel a twinge of "Separation Anxiety" as the talented Minstrel Ms. Rizza Balmores so succinctly put. By the way, The Minstrel often performs at the Bliss Café.
If you want to be serenaded while having great food, drop by anytime. But again, I digress which seems to be becoming a very bad habit.
Going back to the "sad" topic, it would be months before I realized that in order to survive this occupation; one has to be more careful with ones emotions.
But even then, there are no guarantees unless one has found the secret of turning ones heart into stone at will. This is one thing that even the Talented Mr. Ripley can't pull off.
So, here I am disgusted with myself for becoming a softy but at the same time secretly glad to know that within the hard shell lays a real human being. (Don't get used to it though.)
Farewell, Jal Ga, sayonara they all signal an end but heck, nothing in this world is permanent. I say then: Good luck Ji Hoon and until we meet again.
*****
The good thing about cramming to meet the deadline is that one suddenly has revelations that would not have been possible with well-planned articles.
Sometimes it hits us out of nowhere but in this particular case, it hit me in the form of a jolly and cute (according to some female students I swear!) looking person clothed in a red shirt.
I speak of Teacher Ruben, who said that one guaranteed way of surviving in our occupation is to always remember that when all is said and done, what we have left are our friends who like us shall remain behind. I could not have said it any better.
