Trek to the West Tiger Mountain
"This one's for the instutute."
Beng and I meant it in good faith. We were at the summit of West Tiger Mountain in Issaquah, Washington wishing well for the Institute for Labor Studies. It was at the institute that I came to know and understand more about decent work. Those were the days when I thought I would never have to get to know Ayeddis Vahkkendjaab.
It was another sweet reunion for the institute with Beng. The last time I met with Beng was five years ago before Beng would join her husband in Australia. The hike was for old times, five years ago and beyond five years ago, when the institute was a family I considered. It was a time to be feel lucky for being able to get away. Not from the institute but from a bleak future of making a career in government service as labor and employment officers for labor policy research. Every now and then, I would still look back and pat myself on the back for the best decision I ever made: coming to America and plucking two girl children from a doomed future of being raised by a single parent in an oppressive Third World urban poor community. Yes, I bag peaks to celebrate plucking myself out of a melodramatic life situation from an oppressive Third World urban poor community. Yes, I'll never stopped rambling about being plucked out from a melodramatic life situation. I make sure I have photographs to go with the documentation.
Beng has always been that sweet. I will never forget that she was the very first from the institute who hugged me, not to welcome me to the institute but to wish me happy birthday on November 5th. I thanked her for the hug but could not tell her that it was not really my birthday. I just transferred from the bureau then. We were both with the employment research division and was conducting a round table discussion on World Trade Organization in relation to the labor and employment situation of the country. The WTO forums started my interest on General Agreement on Trade and Services. I graduated from the institute into the North American Free Trade Agreement and moved on into the Mode 4, the temporary transfer of North Americans from Mexico to come to render services to the government north of the Mexican border.
That was me at the institute. I never got to be promoted. I knew I was doomed as a slug.
"Isn't she adorable?" I swooned at this gopher.
Beng and I were the institute's gophers. Nobody from the institute ever told us to "go for it". But we did go for whatever spared us from a bleak future as labor and employment officers for labor policy research at the institute.
It was another sweet reunion for the institute with Beng. The last time I met with Beng was five years ago before Beng would join her husband in Australia. The hike was for old times, five years ago and beyond five years ago, when the institute was a family I considered. It was a time to be feel lucky for being able to get away. Not from the institute but from a bleak future of making a career in government service as labor and employment officers for labor policy research. Every now and then, I would still look back and pat myself on the back for the best decision I ever made: coming to America and plucking two girl children from a doomed future of being raised by a single parent in an oppressive Third World urban poor community. Yes, I bag peaks to celebrate plucking myself out of a melodramatic life situation from an oppressive Third World urban poor community. Yes, I'll never stopped rambling about being plucked out from a melodramatic life situation. I make sure I have photographs to go with the documentation.
Beng has always been that sweet. I will never forget that she was the very first from the institute who hugged me, not to welcome me to the institute but to wish me happy birthday on November 5th. I thanked her for the hug but could not tell her that it was not really my birthday. I just transferred from the bureau then. We were both with the employment research division and was conducting a round table discussion on World Trade Organization in relation to the labor and employment situation of the country. The WTO forums started my interest on General Agreement on Trade and Services. I graduated from the institute into the North American Free Trade Agreement and moved on into the Mode 4, the temporary transfer of North Americans from Mexico to come to render services to the government north of the Mexican border. 
"That's a tiger slug." Beng notes.That was me at the institute. I never got to be promoted. I knew I was doomed as a slug.
"Isn't she adorable?" I swooned at this gopher.
Beng and I were the institute's gophers. Nobody from the institute ever told us to "go for it". But we did go for whatever spared us from a bleak future as labor and employment officers for labor policy research at the institute.
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