Two Celebrations, Twice the Happiness!

“Students don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” 

John C. Maxwell

I had a dream, a dream to be a lawyer. I dreamt of becoming a lawyer for sixteen long years. All my life as a student, I aspired to be a lawyer. Becoming a teacher was not in the plan.  Unfortunately, destiny and life had a different and bigger plan for me. I became a teacher-educator. How I became a teacher-educator deserves a different blog which I will write in the future, I promise. 

Teacher's Day is celebrated on May Second in Bhutan on the birth anniversary of Third Druk Gyalpo as a tribute to the father of modern education. For the last twelve years as a teacher-educator, my Teacher's Day typically starts with endless wishes from my past and present students. However, this year I was celebrated not once but twice. 

Yesterday, faculty and non-teaching staff were showered with love in the best possible ways. Students worked hard to decorate the stage, present different cultural items, prepare scrumptious shamdey, suja, and lunch, design beautiful badges and paper flowers, and write short heartfelt wishes in small chits of paper. And oh boy! We felt loved, pampered, and held on the pedestal. 

Today around 10 am, I was informed by one of my mentees not to eat lunch as the mentees has arranged something for me. I had my usual poison, that is, black coffee and a light snack during my lunch hour. During the mentoring session, we walked toward the college guest house and sat in a circle under the shade of nearby trees. As each one of us struggled to find a spot to sit, one of my mentees was busy removing cello tapes from the box. Instantly I asked, 'Is it cake'? to which she shyly replied, 'Yes, madam'. I cut the cake while my mentees sang happy belated teacher's day. Sadly, I don't have a sweet tooth so I couldn't eat the cake but as a gesture of my appreciation, I took the tiniest bite of the cake. As I type the words of the blog now I can still feel the sweetness in my mouth, that's the aftereffect of sugar. We then had chowmein from Ama Choki's kitchen, potato baley, and juice from the college canteen. As we eat, we talked about life, work, and yesterday's event. 

Upon reaching my office, I sat down to work. While working on my laptop a strong realization struck in my head that the teaching profession chose me. No wonder, I had a dream, and the dream was to be a lawyer. I could never dream of becoming a teacher because teaching isn't easy. Teaching is not a piece of cake. Teaching makes me smile. Teaching makes me laugh till tears run down my cheeks. Teaching makes me cry. But most of all, teaching makes me alive. Even though I started my teaching career by chance, over time I have developed a deep love and passion for teaching. The teaching profession has helped me to be a better version of myself. 

Thank you, my wonderful mentees, for loving and pampering me beyond words.