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end of days
Jun. 8th, 2002 12:58 amLast day in the Writing Center today. It's so strange! I don't feel like it's really the end. I feel like I'm going to go back next Monday night and sit there with Jess C. and Kerry and Cori and spend the night ducking our heads whenever the door opens, praying it's not another engineering student with a twenty page thesis chapter on highway construction.
But it is the end! So strange.
I had my last session with the Chinese professor today, and it went rather well. I gave her my going away/end of tutoring experience gift and she got all awkward and embarrassed because she didn't have anything for me. I said it was an American tradition in the tutor/tutee relationship, this gift-giving, and that it was a one-way deal: the tutee never gives such a gift to his or her tutor. I don't know if she bought it, but I tried.
At the end of the session she was very sweet, and kept thanking me, stumbling over her words. I heard "Thank you so much" and "Glad" a few times, so I got the gist. This exchange begs the question: What caused her inability to fully express herself? Overwhelming emotion that accompanied the severing of our tutor/tutee bond? A general lack of command of the English language despite months of twice-weekly tutoring sessions with yours truly?
I, for one, choose to believe the former.
After her thank yous, Wenping reached over and shook my hand and then stood there with one of those Wanting More expressions and I thought it was a Hug Prompt. And so I moved around the desk and opened my arms a bit and said (and YES, I REALLY SAID this, it almost hurts to type this out and reveal the level of my dorkiness), "Want a hug?"
I started advancing on her with the outstretched Pre-Hug Arms and Wenping looked very confused and, to be honest, rather terrified, said "Hug?" in this panicky voice and started backing away rather quickly and almost fell over the chair behind her.
Dude, there are few things worse than the Generic Awkward Hug Rejection. But one of those few things may be the Awkward Hug Rejection Accompanied By Sheer Terror.
But! I really thought I was getting the Hug Signal! She stood there all awkward after saying goodbye and shaking my hand and looked very emotional! I thought I was doing THE RIGHT THING! I thought she WANTED a hug! I thought I was supposed to make the first move! I didn't mean to SCARE her!
We ended up parting in the hallway, waving across the vast four foot space between us. I guess that's the kind of farewell she was going for, not one where her tutor attacks her with this mysterious American "hug."
This evening I decided to go crazy in celebration of the closing of the last week of classes in my college career and go out to HOLLYWOOD VIDEO and RENT A MOVIE! Woot woot! My roommate and I also ordered a pizza. On my way out, I bounded down the stairs and started singing "Here we goooooooo!" a la the *NSYNC song of the same name because I am just that cool, only to open the door and discover two people standing on my porch staring at me with this combination of curiosity and horror. They totally heard me belting it out! It was mondo embarrassing. I handled it gracefully, of course (by blurting out "Oh God, you heard me singing, didn't you?" and then ducking my head and running off to my car before they could answer).
We ended up being very late to pick up the pizza due to Rental Indecisiveness but when we got there, the pizza was still hot and stuff. I paid for it, picked it up, and headed for the door, only to drop the pizza with a huge CRASH while reaching for the door handle. Everyone in the place turned and looked to see me crouch down over the fallen pizza box and, as if this were A Major Crisis, announce to all concerned onlookers in a confident, non-panicky voice, "It's OK! The pizza is OK! I am sure the pizza is fine!" And then I picked it up and ran out.
I was right, though. The pizza was OK. A little bit smushed to one side, but edible.
And so goes another day with yours truly, documented here should I ever get a big head and forget that, at my core, I am terminally uncool and uncoordinated to boot.
But it is the end! So strange.
I had my last session with the Chinese professor today, and it went rather well. I gave her my going away/end of tutoring experience gift and she got all awkward and embarrassed because she didn't have anything for me. I said it was an American tradition in the tutor/tutee relationship, this gift-giving, and that it was a one-way deal: the tutee never gives such a gift to his or her tutor. I don't know if she bought it, but I tried.
At the end of the session she was very sweet, and kept thanking me, stumbling over her words. I heard "Thank you so much" and "Glad" a few times, so I got the gist. This exchange begs the question: What caused her inability to fully express herself? Overwhelming emotion that accompanied the severing of our tutor/tutee bond? A general lack of command of the English language despite months of twice-weekly tutoring sessions with yours truly?
I, for one, choose to believe the former.
After her thank yous, Wenping reached over and shook my hand and then stood there with one of those Wanting More expressions and I thought it was a Hug Prompt. And so I moved around the desk and opened my arms a bit and said (and YES, I REALLY SAID this, it almost hurts to type this out and reveal the level of my dorkiness), "Want a hug?"
I started advancing on her with the outstretched Pre-Hug Arms and Wenping looked very confused and, to be honest, rather terrified, said "Hug?" in this panicky voice and started backing away rather quickly and almost fell over the chair behind her.
Dude, there are few things worse than the Generic Awkward Hug Rejection. But one of those few things may be the Awkward Hug Rejection Accompanied By Sheer Terror.
But! I really thought I was getting the Hug Signal! She stood there all awkward after saying goodbye and shaking my hand and looked very emotional! I thought I was doing THE RIGHT THING! I thought she WANTED a hug! I thought I was supposed to make the first move! I didn't mean to SCARE her!
We ended up parting in the hallway, waving across the vast four foot space between us. I guess that's the kind of farewell she was going for, not one where her tutor attacks her with this mysterious American "hug."
This evening I decided to go crazy in celebration of the closing of the last week of classes in my college career and go out to HOLLYWOOD VIDEO and RENT A MOVIE! Woot woot! My roommate and I also ordered a pizza. On my way out, I bounded down the stairs and started singing "Here we goooooooo!" a la the *NSYNC song of the same name because I am just that cool, only to open the door and discover two people standing on my porch staring at me with this combination of curiosity and horror. They totally heard me belting it out! It was mondo embarrassing. I handled it gracefully, of course (by blurting out "Oh God, you heard me singing, didn't you?" and then ducking my head and running off to my car before they could answer).
We ended up being very late to pick up the pizza due to Rental Indecisiveness but when we got there, the pizza was still hot and stuff. I paid for it, picked it up, and headed for the door, only to drop the pizza with a huge CRASH while reaching for the door handle. Everyone in the place turned and looked to see me crouch down over the fallen pizza box and, as if this were A Major Crisis, announce to all concerned onlookers in a confident, non-panicky voice, "It's OK! The pizza is OK! I am sure the pizza is fine!" And then I picked it up and ran out.
I was right, though. The pizza was OK. A little bit smushed to one side, but edible.
And so goes another day with yours truly, documented here should I ever get a big head and forget that, at my core, I am terminally uncool and uncoordinated to boot.
