back to school

So, I survived the first week of the new semester, aka "meet the creature". Rhymes with meet the teacher, ha ha ha. Courtesy of my friend Nicole, that was. It has been a full year since I did this what with the summer break, and before that, maternity leave. It is quite the adjustment! I got kind of used to flexible hours, not showing up if I didn't want to, playing with the kids in the morning, afternoon naps... as the last week has shown me, all this is a thing of the past. Whine whine whine, don't you all feel sorry for me? NOT!

Ok, enough of that. I did take Tina's advice, however, and had a nice hot bath in my jet tub last night, to "get away" from everything. I accompanied it with a couple of blueberry tea's -- when's the last time any of you had one of those? Simply smelling it put me back in Victoria, playing cards (euchre, probably; bridge doesn't work so well when one is drunk) and quickly getting blitzed on blueberry tea with slices of orange. Mandarin oranges, if I recall correctly. Funny how smells can bring back memories so clearly.

What else to tell you? Well, my very first graduate student arrived yesterday; she is from China, and her English is not very good. Her written English is fairly good, and she seems ok with reading, but verbally it's another matter. Sort of to be expected, though; most of our applicants are from Asia or India. What's my point? Well, I couldn't stop thinking about her, and what she must be experiencing. I know when I've been to Europe I feel a definite sense of "aloneness"; I mean, even the houses don't look right. So what must it be like to be set down in a country where you barely speak the language, and everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is totally different? The culture shock must be enormous! So I felt like a bad mother when I left work yesterday, leaving this poor little thing (who is 5 years younger than I am, btw) to figure things out on her own. I'm not sure what is expected of me; I don't want to "mother" her, it really isn't part of my job description, and none of my colleagues would do it. On the other hand, what is fair to her -- should I be driving her around town, for instance, to open a bank account? To assuage my guilt (assuage -- I think that's the right word) I at least know that her roommate will help her out; he is also from China and has dealt with all of the hoops and paperwork already, so I really shouldn't worry. But again, is it fair to dump her on him?

I don't really know who to ask all these questions, either; very few people at ULeth have had graduate students, and I've sent a few emails to my old supervisors, but they have other things to deal with at the moment. So I hope I'm doing the right thing; the other consideration to take into account is ME -- if I add too many more things to my plate I suspect something drastic will happen. Just a leetle overloaded this term! So I'll have to do the best I can and hope for the best. And, most importantly I'm finding, I have to hope that I can live with myself!

OK, enough unloading, I'm going to treat myself to -------- a NAP!