Mugu received some very good news a few days ago. He got a call from The Chica, who submitted her thesis that day after successfully defending it. Our supervisor asked her to follow up my work after I finished up, to take my ideas "one step further", so to speak, which usually means "bribnging it to the real world". She did it, and I was happy for her, that she finished with flying colors, and for me, that the ideas still works.
A bit of background story, The Chica is no Latina, in fact, she's, for the lack of a better word, a Hillbilly. But being the only girl in the lab, and that majority of lab-mates are Ombres (yes, Latinos), that name got stuck very quickly. Mugu met The Chica (before she was given this name) when he was teaching her class, but didn't really get to know her well until she came work with us as an intern. She apparently like her stint so much, she came back a year later as a Masters student.
Unlike most of the grad students I have worked with, The Chica is a single mom before she finished high school. After going through all sorts of odd-jobs, and strings community colleges, she finally settled on studying at our university. She's also a very dedicated person. I remember the first job I gave her (she asked me to give her some work because she was bored). It was probably the most boring of all things. That explained why I never got around to do it in the first place. She did all that, within two hours, and was totally amazed. There was also another time, when she was supposed to bring a grill to a research group party. Her son was in a car accident, and had to bring him to the hospital. She could have pull out in the last minute and have us figure something out, but she sent her boyfriend to drop off the grill.
The Chica was not without her quirks. Mugu remembered having to give her a quick, and brisk lecture on African politics because she was starting to talk about something to which she didn't know she had no idea. On another occasion, she somehow invoked the wrath of the Ombres over some equipment sharing issues. Mugu had to come intervene, and everyone was happy in the end. There were other episodes, but Mugu always took pleasure to watch over her.
There are two sides of The Chica. On one hand, she's the bubbly "new kid" who, to us, is still a kid. On the other hand, she's the mother who has to grow up quickly for her role. I can only imagine how tough she it had to be for her to juggle the two sides of her life. I remembered, when she took Mugu and Mrs. Ubuntu to the airport. Both of us (Mugu and Mrs. Ubuntu) were exhausted and delirious from three straight days of packing and moving out. Her motherly instincts kicked in, and put everything under control and took care of us like a good mother should be. When she dropped off Mrs. Ubuntu to wait in line at check-in (now that's really tight timing), Mugu told her she was simply an amazing woman for doing what she has done and more.
Congratulations, Chica, for a job well done, and I wish you all the best in your future!
