The start of the academic year is marked by
the activities of the induction week.
This year with two “hats” on both at the Postgraduate and the
Undergraduate levels the week was full of wonderful hospitality moments. However one day in particular remains vivid
in my mind because it felt both surreal and at the same time profoundly
amazing.
My day begins with an early rise at 4am due
to a painful back muscle that has been bugging me all week. Since I am up, I
might as well catch up with emails and do a little bit of work whilst waiting
for the painkillers to do their work.
I lose myself in work and before I know it,
its time for a school run. That is when things take a philosophical turn. In
half a day four incidents one after the other mark the day and this years
induction week.
1 A
school ground fight
If you imagined kids fighting you would be
wrong, it was two parents that did the fighting this time and in my dazed and
hurried up state of mind, I give no much thought to the fact that in a school
parents should now better. Or the fact that in most cases including that one we
forget that we can have a win-win situation.
Most of us and especially when under stress focus on our own little
wants and needs and miss the opportunity to create the conditions that allows
success not only for us but for others as well.
Lesson
of the day? Play like a kid but don’t fight like a
kid, remember you can always win-win.
2
Walking over the lawn!
After the school run I have to make my way
to a conference center and not just any conference center… but the
international lawn tennis center. When I finally reach there a colleague waves
from across and in my sleepy and tired state I decide to cross towards him
using the fastest root possible. And that’s when I put my foot in it
literally! For a split second my
rational self looked out for signs that said do not step on the grass, but
apparently I should have known better and an angry grounds keeper is hooting
from his gigantic lawn seeder that I also managed to miss. At that point I ad not realized that I do not
know what I do not know. I see grass not
lawn, I never quite understood lawn tennis even though I lived in Wimbledon for
years. No matter my huge indiscretion I still stood my ground (after I got of
the lawn) and with an angry face I made signs to the angry grounds keeper that
he should have added some signs to his “baby”.
I am lucky he never got off his tractor in a fight between the “ 4am woken
up academic with a bad back” and that guy…well my money was on that guy even if
I was at peak condition (He had the build of a luchador!)….
Lesson
of the day? Never forget that you don’t know what
you don’t know and enjoy learning something new even if the lesson comes from
an angry lawn keeper whose lawn you just disrespected.
3. A
Plumber in a Jaguar!
A couple of hours at the tennis conference
lawn later with Postgraduate students
and I need to dash back to the University to talk to a group of undergrads. As I reach the university and I park my car I
notice something. A gentleman is trying to park his
Jaguar at the University but seems perplexed, I approach and offer to help, I
explain we can get him a parking scratch card so that he doesn't get a fine and
direct him where to park ...I ask him who he is visiting to which he replied
"I am just the plumber" he was dead serious and when he got out of
the car he was in full plumber gear. At
this point I must add that I have helped many others in all types of car,
cyclists and pedestrians when they seem lost in the University grounds. I was intrigued by his I am “just” the
plumber. He had judged that I chose to
help him because of the car and he (in his mind) didn’t matter.
Lesson
of the day? Burn all my degrees and become a plumber…
I am only joking, the real lesson is to never judge a book b its cover but also
never underestimate the power of your own “cover”!
4.
My student our customer! In my talk with the
undergrads I decided to show a little clip of my brothers restaurant, a clip
that I created for him many years ago and for me it is a small part of my soul,
it shows where I grew up one of my first restaurant ventures (we opened the
restaurant together). This was the first
time ever I decided to share this clip.
This year I decided that it shows my students that no matter what, I
come from a hospitality background and I have a deep love for hospitality and
the sea because of my background.
Choosing Eastbourne and the University of Brighton as my current home is
no accident. At the end of the talk one
of the students who I thought was waiting to ask a question tells me this: “I
can’t believe it, I was there at your brothers restaurant a few days ago and
was eating there”. She had just returned
from a holiday in Greece and unbelievably she had visited the little part of
the world I call home and had experienced first hand my brothers divine cooking
and looked at the views that are imprinted in my mind as my most treasured
childhood memories.
Lesson
of the day? The world is much smaller than we think
and one way or another we are all connected.
I am looking forward to more moments for
the rest of the semester. This is the beauty of my varied role, it may be busy
to the point that I have to limit my sleep but I wouldn’t have it any other
way. It is in the sea of confusion and panic where we must recognise the
moments of tranquility and philosophy and use them as “batteries” instead of
using them as “walls of bricks” that hinder us from our journey towards
happiness.
Have a great start to the academic year
everyone.
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