“You can’t always fix things right away”

Hong Kong Homies is a series where we get deep real fast with Hongkongers. 

Michelle Ann Pumicpic, 23, Teacher Assistant

On Family

I’m quite close with my family. We help each other and share a lot of things with each other. I get to share my problems with them and laugh about our memories. I have two younger brothers and I’m the eldest so I have the responsibility of being a big sister. My youngest brother is still in high school here and my middle brother is studying in The Philippines.

It’s his second year in college so it’s quite hard for siblings or family members to be away. I miss my their company. Now, it’s like a message and a text away. It’s a different feeling when they are actually there.

Now that I’m not living with them we have to keep in touch by messaging each other on Facebook, or sometimes we Skype. We have this group chat on Facebook and we message each other there; we post pictures, videos and make fun of each other. It’s fun!

On Work

I’m a teacher assistant in a primary school. Now I’m taking care of Year 2, which means Primary 1 in a local school. Do I love it? Of course I do, cause it’s with kids. You get to learn, you get to teach, you get to play with them. I don’t know, it just brightens up your day when you see them smile. Even when  you’re really down, once they talk to you or try to make jokes, try to cheer you up – it brightens your day.

I have part-time jobs. I do tutoring too and I also go to HKU Space for part-time schooling. I took up this course called “General English” ’cause they told me that it’s best to take that if you want to be a teacher. That’s my goal. Actually, I didn’t want to be a teacher at first. I just wanted to work in an office. I was desperate and asked a high school teacher if the primary section of his campus had any job vacancies. He said yes, and I got the job as a teacher’s assistant.

I learned that I could be patient with kids and I developed a passion to teach and help students grow. The hardest thing about being a teacher is being adaptable. There are a lot of last-minute changes thrown at you. We have to be patient and find different ways to teach different students because they are not on the same learning level.

On Relationships

I’ve been in a 5-year relationship with my boyfriend. How to keep a long-term relationship healthy? Communication. So if there’ a problem, say it right away. If you feel happy, say it right away. And if you do argue, all you need to do is be patient because you can’t always fix things right away. It doesn’t work like that. You have to understand how the other person feels at that moment.

It’s mostly communication, patience and giving each other space. Nowadays, I know some partners who always want to be with each other all the time. But sometimes it’s not that good, because you also need space. They have friends, they have family and they have other priorities too.

It’s important to give your partner space, because you don’t know what they have gone through that day. Pushing yourself onto others is fine, I guess, to some extent. You do that to make them know you better, but let them know that you respect their space, their time to think and refresh themselves.