Translated…
Had it not been the instructor’s name being too familiar, too unique, I may not have known, that this famous instructor in the cramming world, was my father’s former colleague.
Heard my dad said, that Uncle Woo was a total “troublemaker” in his unit back then, because in the public facilities from twenty some years ago, all you need, is to manage the workload that you have, and, nobody will bug you about it, but, Uncle Wu had, made a ton of errors, don’t know what’s wrong with him, but, he’d always been the one that the superiors zoomed in on, and had always gotten the lowest markers for his evaluations.
Turns out, Uncle Wu was a natural born chatterbox, every day he’d talked of everything at work, he knew a lot about everything, and, when you got him to start talking, there’s NO end, but, when he’s faced with the boring documents from work, well, he just, couldn’t, hold his horses down to finish the work, and so, the superiors and the people whom he manages, all hated him so.
Asked him why he’d entered into a public office? He said that it was by his family members’ arrangements, plus since he was younger, he was excellent in “test-taking”, and so, he’d stepped, right into what everybody envies most about, an “ironclad meal ticket”, and because a public service person.
After over ten years of working as a public office worker, he’d gotten a retirement pension, one day, he’d met a former elementary school classmate. The classmate saw his abilities: very articulate, the desires to “perform”, and he’d invited Uncle Wu to the cram school he opened up. At first, Uncle Wu was still doubtful, but because of his optimistic temperament, and his loving a challenge, he’d accepted the friend’s offer.
He’d worked hard in preparing the class sessions and in teaching his classes, in a short two, to three years, he’d become a popular teacher. Later, he’d found this elementary school classmate, the person who helped him realized his potential in life, and opened up a cram school to help the test takers for government positions, he was responsible for the classroom instructions, his friend, all the paperwork and administrative duties, the two of them worked very well together, and made the business run well.
It’s hard to say about the happenings in life, maybe, perhaps, my Uncle Wu who’d done quite well back in the day had picked the wrong paths, that, was why he wasn’t able to use his abilities to their fullest extent, and still, changing an angle, turn the corner, finding what one is good at, put oneself onto the right spot, and, you can shine through! Like how now, on the podium, Uncle Wu would become really animated, and energetic.
And so, maybe, working AT a government office, dealing with the paper works and everything did not fit this man’s personality, because he’s naturally talkative, outgoing, loved socializing with others, so, he’d be better off, teaching a class, plus, he gets to pass along the knowledge he already has.
Mirroring the World 