いつもの生活に世界のスパイスを。

Cafetalk Tutor's Column

David 講師のコラム

Travel broadens the mind’ - Part 1- 'My Mum, My Hero'

2017年12月13日

As someone who has been travelling fairly extensively since I was very young, I can say that it most definitely broadens your mind, and has the ability to change your views on so many things in life.

 

An example of this would be seeing poverty in Malaysia, in the village where my Mum grew up. She was a from a family of Chinese  immigrants who came to Malaysia  and had a very large family, consisting of her and her 10 brothers and sisters! 

 

As they were very poor she had to go out and sell homemade food on the streets from a very young age to earn enough money to survive. When I first visited this country, I met some of her family who still live there. They recounted stories of giant snakes coming in to their house, dangerous gangs threatening to hurt their family, and also a time when my Mum was kidnapped by one of these gangs and nearly sold on the streets.

 

This is very different from the life I grew up knowing in England, and has taught me to be thankful for what I have. 

My Mums Dad (my Grandfather) was murdered in Malaysia when she was still very young (the murderer was never caught) and so her family sent her to the UK  to live in a nursing school and study. 

She dreamed of one day being able to speak fluent English, and become a nurse to help those around her. 

She wanted to be able to give back and enable others to continue living when her Father was unable to. 

 

This was nearly 50 years ago, and today she is still working (she is 64!) and now running an ‘oncology’ (cancer) ward at a hospital in England. She speaks fluent English and is happily married with two adult boys.

 

Her job is extremely stressful and she sees patients die in horrific and painful circumstances EVERY SINGLE DAY. 

 

Although she has been happily married to my Dad for a long time now, he never realised how difficult her job really was until one day he surprised her at work with some flowers on her birthday. 

 

As he knows my Mum’s friends at the hospital, they let him in to the ward to surprise her whilst she was working and give her the flowers. 

 

As he walked through her ward he described seeing all sorts of people with holes in their necks, huge cancerous tumours and the smell of death in the air. They had friends and families crying, surrounding them as they knew that their beloved Mother, Father or maybe son or daughter was going to be leaving this life soon and was in a lot of pain. He eventually found my Mum, who at the time was laughing and joking with a patient and had a big smile on her face. She brought happiness to those around her in her ward, and made their last few days ones of joy and peace.

 

My Dad said it was too much for him to be around these people and he had to leave. Seeing these people in so much pain, and realising that they were going to be dead soon made him extremely sad. 

 

He left with a newfound respect for his wife (and my Mum), and since that day he has never taken the great work she does for granted.

 

Before leaving for Japan, my Grandfather, my girlfriends uncle and also our beloved cat ‘Spike’ all died from cancer. 

I saw the horrors that this can bring to someone’s life, and I wouldn’t wish this upon anyone.

 

To see this everyday and dedicate your life to making these people’s lives happier for nearly 50 years is something that my Mum should be extremely proud of. She is extremely dedicated to her job, and has no intention of stopping until she is physically unable. She has had to have two knee replacements in the past 5 years, and may need to have another surgery on her back, but none of this stops her from her desire to continue her work and keep helping out others.

 

She came from a family far poorer than any in the UK, and has dealt with many terrible circumstances in her life, yet she never complains about her own situation. Instead she chose to focus the positive, and on making other people’s lives as good as they can be.

This story has taught me that no matter what our background, culture or life circumstances - we can achieve anything if we really want to and if we put the effort in. 

 

If we are truly passionate about something and that goal is for the benefit of mankind, the universe will conspire to help this become a reality. 

 

My Mum is my hero.

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I am a highly experienced professional English teacher, Yoga Instructor, Tai Chi teacher, Nutrition Consultant and Personal Trainer from London, UK. I recently left London to work and travel around Japan on a Working Holiday Visa with my best friend and longtime girlfriend Ashley (who is also a teacher on Cafetalk : https://cafetalk.com/tutors/profile/?id=54542&lang=en ). We love sharing adventures travelling, teaching, exploring and understanding new cultures. We hope to speak with you soon!

If you would like to follow my travels on instagram, and see where we are in the world you can do so here:

https://www.instagram.com/pb_fitness_zen_yoga/?hl=en - My personal page

or

https://www.instagram.com/thisnihonlife/ - The travel page for my girlfriend and I

Please check out my lessons if you are interested in learning real, authentic British English, or have an interest in Yoga, healthy eating or general health and fitness.

Feel free to send me a message if you have any questions, or if you would like to schedule a lesson at a time in which my schedule is not open. I will always do my best to accomodate every student.



本コラムは、講師個人の立場で掲載されたものです。
コラムに記載されている意見は、講師個人のものであり、カフェトークを代表する見解ではありません。

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