Today was today,
and tomorrow was tomorrow.
By the time I had started to get used
to service,
I was still working in the salad
section.
I told the head chef that if I wanted
to become a chef,
I wanted to work on the pan section.
But his answer was,
“You don’t have enough strength
to handle 400 seats.”
He asked me if I could manage
eight burners at the same time
during the busiest peak hours.
Even the men working there
had burn marks and scars all over
their arms,
so deep down,
I knew I had no choice but to accept
what he said.
Then he asked me,
“How about the dessert section?”
The chef who had been in charge of
desserts was leaving,
and he offered the position to me.
At one point,
I had felt that maybe I would never
be able to work as a pastry chef
again.
So when he said that,
it felt like a fresh new breeze had
started blowing inside me.
From there,
the path back to being a pastry chef
slowly began to open again.
I worked at that restaurant
for two years,
and after I obtained permanent
residency,
I was offered a job at a hotel.
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