You are, the middleman, connecting these couples together, and you'd become, a, amateur matchmaker…translated…
Before I'd begun teaching, I'd never realized, that this, "career", other than passing the knowledge, instructing, solving the problems, answering questions, there are, a whole lot of other, "add-on services", or rather, it's the "add-on values" of this, sacred, work.
Here, I'm not talking about the extra hours of labor that middle school and elementary school instructors put in to do, like home visits, helping the students with the scholastic competitions, and going to teaching conferences, but the "matchmaking" role of the college lecturers that's unique to this group of professional educators.
For instance, a coworker had been invited by a graduate student passionately to ask a woman's hand in marriage. But the woman is a foreign exchange student, and, as a professor, after he'd agreed to the student's asking, it wouldn't be fitting to go back on his words, so he could, only go with the groom-to-be overseas. The hardest part about a marriage proposal overseas, is the language barrier, and the difficulties communicating with the parents and the relatives, and it was even a bigger challenge to "do as the Romans would", adjust to the culture in the shortest time. But thankful, he'd gone with the status of "the advising professor for the graduation thesis", as a matchmaker, and it'd, given the locals enough courtesy, and everything went, smoothly.
started out in the workforces...photo from online
There'd been many times I got asked to be the "matchmaker" too. Many years ago, a Korean student in the undergraduate department was well-connected with me, and when there was a Korean foreign exchange students coming to study, I naturally asked him to the student in. And yet, after awhile, he'd come with the Korean student, said that he is going to date her, that was when I'd realized, that the student was a female, that they fell for each other, at first sight.
I'd asked curiously, that the new student is a grad student, while the male student is still an undergrad, could it be, that they were in the "less-prevalent" forms of "sisterly romance"? Later, I'd learned that the males from Korea all needed to serve in the army for two years when they turned twenty, so the guy was older than the female student. After they both graduated, they married in Taiwan, and I was, invited, the man was handsome, the woman, beautiful, looked perfectly, matched. And now, they'd become, parents many years ago, this became, one of the sweetest memories of my, teaching career.
One summer, a close friend of mine who works in business asked me to recommend a student for the summertime internship, to help revise the drafts, for the summaries by the publisher, and I'd, gotten a male student who's going on to his junior year for the tasks. And yet, as school started, the male student came to tell me, that because the work in the publisher was a bit more than he could handle on his own, he'd asked a female student from class to work with him. The two worked really well together, and gotten the thumbs up in performances from my good friend, and they both got paid a lot for work.
to becoming partners for life...photo from online
After awhile, the two of them both came to me, to deliver the good news, and told me, that they'd become connected through working together, and had been dating for a while now. And, as they wed, they'd asked me to stand in as the matchmaker, and I was there, from the moment of the man going to ask the woman's family for her hand, and all the way to the banquet, and I was, introduced to their families and friends.
I'd worked, interacted with the younger generations a long time, being able to help them find their matches, I guess, it's the, add-on values of my professorship, and it'd made me feel, very glad, thinking back on those times.
So, you'd become, the connecting link between, those who got married, and, you were the one, introducing them either directly or indirectly, and now, they're, all married, and living happy, all thanks to, you, the "part-time" matchmaker!
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