When I was still learning how to drive, I accidentally bumped into another car when I was parking mine. The driver was not there and there were no cameras around. I was so tempted to just drive away and avoid all the hassle of negotiating and costs that will incur. However, I realised that it’s unfair and I don’t want the same thing to happen to me. I left a note in his/her windshield with my apologies and contact details. The person contacted me and thanked me for not running away unaccountable. I felt that the peace outweighed the hassle and money spent on the repair.
I believe that my culture and the people around me, especially my immediate family, has greatly shaped my values and identity. It shaped who I am, how I work, how I react to situations and how I treat others. The culture in the Philippines has greatly influenced my beliefs of what is right and wrong. Growing up in Catholic family, I have always been taught to fear God and this has greatly impacted my decision making. Also, I was taught to always be respectful especially to my elderly. It has helped me maintain good relationships as I grew older.
Some of my strengths are being goal-oriented, I manage my time well, I persevere and I work well in a team. I believe these would help me in my learning journey because as the course is designed to be more of a transformative learning, I get to set my goals in a given time frame which I fairly manage to do well from my past experiences. I also persevere to finish my tasks no matter how challenging they may be. Also, I work well with other people and know how to collaborate and compromise. This is essential in any pair or group challenges and projects.
At this time, I have a one year old baby who is very dependent on me. Me and my husband are the sole carers although we get help from our parents from time to time. I think this situation is one of my limitations in terms of time factor. As much as I want to give all my time to my study, I can’t because I also need to look after my baby from time to time. This might affect my learning journey in a sense that I might not be able to explore and practice as much as I want to although I will really try my best to give more time to my study especially during bootcamp.
When I was working at a private tertiary, we had a diverse team, all of my colleagues have different nationalities therefore we had different cultures, beliefs and work ethics. At times, we would have different opinions and address a certain situation differently probably because of our different backgrounds and values. If a tension arises. I try to be quiet and not push my idea in the heat of the moment. When the tension dies out, that’s the time I raise my thoughts again. At this time, everyone has a clearer and more relaxed state of mind which helps us be more open to others ideas. I also reflect on how my colleagues reacted and try to forget if they misbehaved as I always believe one mistake does not define a person. I try to read into different cultures as well so I can understand their motivation because what might work for me might not work for them and vice versa. One of my weaknesses is that I am not comfortable with confrontations. One strategy that I might try is to have a private discussion if I had a misunderstanding with a colleague.