There are only three weeks left and I'm already missing SP :(( I don't like waking up at 6 plus in the morning, or not getting to go home for hols. But I really like the working environment (at least the small sphere I'm around) and the people there.
One thing that I really appreciated in SP is the willingness of some people to give compliments, and their capacity to share. I used to think it is not a culture of young people to give compliments (but they still can't beat my supervisor in that sense), but I realized that the chemists from both labs I'm working with are very generous with that. Instead of an official 'thank you' they took the trouble to comment on positive aspects of my work, however small it was, as being fast, complete etc. That is so unlike our project work teams in NUS whereby people hardly acknowledge the extra effort others put in so that they know it, except maybe when they fill in peer review forms. It makes Mother Theresa's quote so apt: There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.
Now I have to make this very clear - I do not lack love and appreciation. (I will be severely whacked on the head by many if I say I do.) And I daresay if there's no one to appreciate my efforts in something, I am 'zi lian' enough to appreciate myself if what I've done is really worthwhile. But there are many who do, and few who give what they need. Instead of just looking out for yourself and how your contribution is valued all the time, it would do good to yourself and others to do some degree of appreciation from time to time, even to people you're not familiar with. Sometimes things like this go a long long way.
Three more weeks - time runs so fast, and therefore it's really important to make each day and hour count :)
No comments:
Post a Comment