Yesterday afternoon, I enjoyed a spontaneous tea celebration with colleagues. What was the reason for this celebration? Ah, a secret! I must say the prayers & hard work of department faculty and program chairs played a special role, and I am proud to stand among our fine ranks.
Humming with good tidings, we brought our little offerings for a tea party at noon: red velvet cupcakes from the recesses of a department fridge, a colorful array of teas (white chai tea, green tea, lavender tea, lemon blossom tea – my choice), and spicy red kimchi. Humble contribution from me… salmon sushi rolls from the campus “snack-nookery.”
My department usually hosts teas once a semester… once, we even invited the parents of students in our major. Perhaps I should make weekly teas a part of our co-curricular programming, too! And spontaneous tea celebrations, well, a definite must!
Now I will spend the evening drinking mint pomegranate tea, listening to the Adagio Sostenuto by Sergei Rachmaninoff… it’s the second movement in his second piano concerto… played by the venerable Arthur Rubinstein… on an old audiocassette tape, such a bother to rewind to the middle, but well worth it.
KAREN AN-HWEI LEE 