Okay, today was a little weird. I had a meeting with the professor I T.A for (Dr. Slightly Green) so we could discuss the approach I need to take when I teach the class tomorrow. Aside from the usual nervousness at the prospect of teaching a class of about eighty students, I admit to being a little awkward in social situations. A case in point, this morning when I went to buy a small coffee and a donut in the library cafe, I ran into another professor while in the line (Dr. Brown Shoes). He was a guest speaker in the graduate seminar I was at last night, and he had written the text that we were using in the course.
Dr. Brown Shoes: Hello, Zhaf. How are you?
Me: Hi, Dr. Brown Shoes. Just getting my morning coffee.
Dr. Brown Shoes: Me too. What did you guys discuss in class after I had left?
Me: Grammar. And how to comment on student papers.
Dr. Brown Shoes: That's always a vexing problem.
Me: I really enjoyed the discussion. It was good.
That's it. That was our entire conversation. As he was paying for his coffee, I didn't know what else to say, if I should wait, or what. Instead, I got a vague look on my face, stood in place for a couple of seconds and left. I didn't say goodbye, see you later, thanks for sharing, screw you pal, or anything. I just walked away. It didn't take more than ten minutes later to feel like a complete fool for not saying anything more. Thus I chalked it up to my social ineptitude, and then inwardly prayed that he might be as awkward as I am and therefore not hold anything against me.
But that wasn't the weird part of the day. As socially inept as I can be, Dr. Slightly Green creeps even me out. The text I need to teach is Sandra Cisneros "One Holy Night." I found it to be an interesting short story that explores the relationship between Mayan and Christian mythology. It seemed to me that Cisneros might have wanted readers to explore the similarities between the two cultures, perhaps as a way to eliminate ethnocentrism.
The weird part was, as we were discussing the possibilities for what the title may have meant, Dr. Slightly Green started singing "O Holy Night." She was trying to remember the verses and explore other connections to the text, but at the same time, she seemed to know every verse almost perfectly. When I admitted that I didn't know as much about the bible as most people, she pulled her copy of it off her shelf and started reading out loud pieces she thought was pertinent to the text. While this might seem tame to read in a blog, I have to say that I felt she wasn't reading it out loud for herself, but rather she was performing it for me. It wasn't the usual Bible as literature approach that I have encountered before. Trusting my internal sense, it just didn't feel quite right. Consequently, as I have now discovered the Professors intense love for Christianity and the Virgin Mary, I have learned that confessions like the one I made might be better kept to oneself.