My student and playmate Hiyori
Received a very happy news today.
Back when I was studying in Hokkaido, I taught English and Mandarin to the locals to earn extra pocket money. One of my main student was a little girl called Hiyori. She was about 8 then and was a very active and friendly little girl.
I was never good with kids, but I always enjoyed my weekly 2 hours with Hiyori. I was not only her English conversation partner, I was also her playmate and baby sitter. We would play dolls and make simple desserts together. Her mom, Atsuko was a great person too who was always very generous to me. She would treat me to tidbits and drinks, bring me and Hiyori out for road trips, onsen and pay for all my expenses on our excursions.
Knowing that Hiyori loved art, I used to let Hiyori draw on my laptop in photoshop using my tablet. My main aim was for her to practice her vocabulary, but of course, her concentration was more on the drawing. In retrospect, I can now see how much she really loved drawing using the computer, she was always requesting to do so but sometimes I would refuse, suggesting that we do other activities.
Today, I received an email from Atsuko that made my eyes tear.
In the email, Atsuko proudly informed me that Hiyori has worn first price in the elementary students category for a CG Card contest! Apparently, having learnt the basics of digital painting from me previously, she had found CG easy. That's her beautiful artwork right there. Isn't that great for a 10 year old? And that's her on the newspaper too.
Life is really strange sometimes. :D