I am Mae German. 34 years old. Born in Mangatarem, province of Pangasinan. I was taught and trained by 
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Silent Hollo (limited) How hard is my job?
Silent Hollo (limited) How hard is my job? | How hard is my job? |
| Friday, 10 July 2009 | |
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Scrape off the word "hard" because my first paying-job here at Uncle Sam is easy and fun. Easy because all I need to do is watch every thing grandma Irna does. Yes, even when she's lying in bed most of the time. She's 93 years old. She visits the bathroom at least eight times during the day though. Yesterday, we did it ten times. I made a counter on the wall. You know, the way a prisoner does when counting his days inside the cell? Kidding. I just want to know. My job is fun in a lot of ways. For one, I am new in this kind of task (that spells adventure for me). For more than a decade, I have been working and dealing with computer systems. There were even seven years that I (seemed to have) worked alone. No warm human interaction. Everything was dealt with through emails and phone. My boss has his own tiny space, the secretary was a whiner. I was better off staring at my computer monitor. The only time that I exerted an effort to establish friendship with my colleagues was in my first job as a programmer. I've made quite a few good friends there, most of them I am still in contact now. But still I decided not to do such thing again. I don't want to mix-up my social life with my professional life, except that of my last job as an I.T. Consultant back in the Philippines. My boss was already my mentor and friend, and some I have been friends with before I even got in. But true to myself, I never exerted any effort to establish new ones. Like what I have said, I have drawn a line between my career and my social life. I do not expect everyone to understand that. It is more of a "It's not you, it's me" kind of thing. Call me anti-social but not until you really got to know me. I love people. It is never easy for me to strike a conversation with a stranger but I try. I like listening to their stories. I like watching them. I wonder what's going on inside their heads when they're either walking or simply just sitting in one corner of a restaurant. Either in a bus or in a train. I love watching them all. Sometimes I wish I have a way to read what's on their minds. Are they all aware that they are alive or they're just one of those people that belongs to the living dead? What kind of life do they live? How light or heavy are their burdens? And when I see couples together, I want to know how they've met. What was their unknown story? I love animals, too. That means to say I watch them the way I do with people. Conversation with animals? Well, sometimes I do that, too. And I love to write. I just have to make sure that grandma Irna is clean and stable, her oxygen is right on her nose and that her lips are not turning blue, then I can write. Yes, I say, my job is fun. There are two cats in the house and a huge German Shepherd named Sheba, who allows me to hug and kiss her. Oh! They have their own stories, too. You know what else is fun? Let's use the word "exciting" here. I love watching Broadway shows back in the Philippines and when I got here I said, I should watch one to complete my New York City experience. Well, guess who I met two days ago in his unit in New York City's Greenwich Village-- the one who wrote the music for the Broadway musical, Dreamgirls. He said they will run the show again in September. Time to ask for a signed copy of the soundtrack, eh? You see, I was praying for a job that I could look forward to every waking hour. A job that I could love. Something that I could enjoy. Now I wake up a little past five in the morning, have my cup of brewed coffee, relieve the night shifter, then my duty begins. When I see grandma staring at the ceiling, I sit beside her and read to her some poems and some stories. Some I know she has read a long time ago, most of them she might have already forgotten. Priceless it is when you see her eyes aglow, then you will know she remembers. Priceless it is when you see her smiling and hear her laughing, and then she'll ask, "Who wrote that, dear?" Each time, with a smile, I would reply, "Your husband did." God has given me an opportunity not equal to my skills. True. Maybe. A lot of people think my skills in I.T. will be wasted if I pursue on a job like this. But what is skill when there's no opportunity to hone it? Besides, what if this is what I want for now? What if I end up loving this kind of job? What if this is where I can be best at? What if this will lead me to my heart's desires that only my God knows about? I know, in life, everything is temporary. But this I pray: Forget about I.T. for now. Please let me stay for a while and see what I can be. But still I say, Thy will be done, Lord... Thy will be done. Sheba gave grandma a good morning kiss today. She jumped into her bed and licked grandma's lips. Then she came to me and I gave her a big hug before she left the room. Did I say I love dogs? I. Love. Dogs. I must have said "You're welcome" a hundred times already since I got here. If it is not the proper way to say in reply to a "Thank You", I should say, "Thank You" too, because the truth is, I wasn't the one helping anyone here, in fact, it is the other way around. God is just so good! Now, where's the broom? I need a broom. |
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