Unhappiness doesn't last, thankfully. Feel very encouraged by how the parents have been treating me.
Went to watch the kids play in the competition organized by Unity sec the day before yesterday and they did perform more or less up to expectations, though some matches that could have been won were lost. I guess I couldn't expect much since they haven't been training much, with their exams just over. These kids really amaze me... almost all of them are able to juggle studies and table tennis very well.
It was actually quite a last minute decision to go watch them play. I woke up only at 12 noon as the medicine which I have been taking make me terribly drowsy and sleepy. Then I received Thomas' SMS informing me about the competition so I decided to go down, since I didn't really have much to do. Took a cab down after lunch and reached there when they were playing their 2nd match. Basically just watched them play, gave some advice, as well as chatted with the parents. The parents were kinda teasing me that they hope I can quit my studies and coach their kids full time. Must say that I felt really flattered to hear that. It's actually nothing, considering how people often talk when they casual chat... but its all these little encouragements that keep my spirits high.
After the kids finished their competition, there was still some time so they continued playing among themselves there and I played with them too. I still feel that I have to agree with Thomas that in general, they players are still not suitable for very aggressive play. Forcing them to be aggressive will only result in many many unforseen errors. Thus, I guess my desired direction would still be to improve on their 'own style' of play rather than force all of them to be aggressive. I will continue to teach them some new techniques along the way to receive certain services in particular and hopefully they are able to master a few decent methods before the nationals...
Finally got the 'guts' to have a very small discussion about my 'dilemmas'... or rather, me telling Thomas about my desired 'option', and he seemed agreeable to it though I can't be absolutely sure about that. Alas, I'm really glad he didn't ask me to elaborate on IT and I appreciated that a lot. I wouldn't know how to go about elaborating if he had really asked me to elaborate. After all, some things just wouldn't sound very pleasant if one were to be too detailed.
At least I've gotten some stuff off my chest... =]
On another note, my tuition student also was another source of encouragement to me. The moment she reached home from school after getting her mid year exam results, she called me straightaway(even before calling her parents) to tell me about her results. She also shared that she was very happy because it was the first time she got such marks(in the positive sense)... she passed her English with reasonably good marks, and missed passing her Maths by just 2 marks. Nevertheless, she really deserved some praise... considering that she only scored 10 marks or so last year for Maths and didn't pass her English as well. Then she told me 'If you had taught me when I was younger, I would not have gone to EM3...' Felt touched to hear that from her, though I can't deny that I really felt sad to hear that too. She makes me feel really appreciated and I certainly appreciate that.
All these small little things have made me much happier the past few days. Thank goodness there's all these happier stuff to neutralize the unhappy stuff... ;-)