Hi, it’s Angela. Get a snack, settle in, because I am about to tell you a story of Dream and Courage.

 

 It’s a story of my friend. I’ll call him A, because he doesn’t really have an English name. My friend A, who is six years older than me, is a chef. Now, you may wonder, how  we knew each other since he’s not at the age near mine. We first met at my cousin’s wedding. He’s a friend of my cousin’s husband’s. To be honest, I didn’t really notice him then. After the wedding, me and some of my cousin’s and her husband's friends gathered together, playing board games. 

 

A was responsible for the supper that day. The cuisines he presented were of Western’s kind, like the combination of French and Italian elements. The appearances of every dishes were quite delicate, and every ingredients were so well-cooked that the textures were just perfect. Not only the delicacy was tasted, but also the exquisite cooking skills of his.

 

At first, I thought to myself that it didn’t quite make sense. I mean, he is too young to be such a good cook. I had so many questions in my mind then, and that was the specific time when I started to get curious about his cooking journey.

 

So I had a conversation with him afterwards. Much to my surprise, A didn’t receive cooking education before. Instead, he went to general high school and college like us. At first, also like all of us, he studied hard and tried hard to get good grades, being a so-called “good student” in teachers’ eye. However, in the first year of his studying in college, he realized that it wasn’t what he wanted. So he decided to drop out of school. He got himself jobs in restaurants or dining department in hotels. He’d been working in many places, say, western restaurants, hotels, and bakeries. 

 

A is a dedicated learner, now he’s able to make almost everything on his own, from bread to main course to dessert.   And he never stops learning. And he’s on the way to his dream, having his own bistro, his own career.

It’s his courage and dedication that I admire the most. Each of us have our own dreams, ideal lives, or careers. Don’t limit yourself by your major or whatever. The things that I learn from my friend are we keep learning, keep moving forward, and keep having courage. You can't stop the future. You can't rewind the past. The only way to achieve your goals is to press play. So, I keep telling myself, and now I am telling all of you, you don’t have to dream big, that’s a silly clichee, but, do dream your dreams, even if they are ordinary.