On the path.....

I really love this career even though I still outside the door. So I like our first assignment that allows us to have a peep on what a true practicing SLP and audiologist did. Basically in first year, speech students have classes together with audiology student since we have to learn the same thing.

I get to interview people working at private hospital and I could only say private hospital in KL are indeed as luxurious as 5 star hotels where they have Starbucks and Coffee Bean inside with the marble floor and paintings hanging on the wall. That really doesn’t look like hospital.

This is a really small network where there are not more than 1000 of us in Malaysia. I think this is why they are being so helpful and nice. I mean, most of them are UKM alumni or at least acquaintance of our lecturers.

All my interviewees are impressive in their own way. We have one of the first SLP in Malaysia with degree from UK but not recognised by government hospital that she started in private clinic; fresh graduate that set up an audiology clinic in private hospital by himself even though the audiology clinic is just big enough for 3 people; first batch alumni that started to work in HUKM with daily basis salary; private practice SLP that get master from Singapore and teaches in our faculty. I think these are really good exposure for first year students where we are only learning basic theory now.

You know how uncommon our course are, so yes, most of them are dumped here. But everyone is grateful they are here.

Everyone I interviewed blurted up the same word when I asked what drove them through years of hard labour. Satisfaction. They even used the same adjective: rewarding. Yes there may be time that you are tired of it and even have doubts on yourself but the joy of watching a kid pronounce their first word or help to change someone life exerts such a force that would keep you on.

I don’t think there is much career like this where people are so passionate about their job. This is what I want in my future. I don’t want to work because of money or work is just work but I hope that my work is what I love. That is true bliss of life. I saw that from one of my interviewee in which she couldn’t have a long holiday because she will start to miss her patients.

Last weekend I met a fourth year senior that did the same thing as me. She chose Speech therapy with 4.0 in Matriculation instead of Medicine or Pharmacy. Well, both of us don’t think that this is any waste. I am so proud that I could proclaim Speech is my first choice. But she really out a dark cloud ahead of me when mentioning about all those hard times during clinical practice did induce tinge of regret, oh, I hope I could go through all that.

Seriously, I like the course, like everything that I’m learning, like my coursemate, seniors and even all the SLP and audiologist I interviewed. So I am sorry for all those complaints I had before, I guess I just forgot how to study after such long holiday, words keep slip off my head, which means I need to work harder to carve them inside. But these are labours with joy? =p