Psycho

I was reprimanded the other day - very subtly, but not really - on the way I dressed.

This semester was going to be the first time I had classes with my mentor in the Faculty of Education.
We were doing Psycholinguistics, the combination of psychology and linguistics (which she mentioned in her lecture I think more than 3 times >.<) When I met her during our sessions (I'm using the plural here only cos I've gone to her like, twice), she seemed rather nice. I genuinely believed she was nice. She asked me about myself during our first session, and then subsequently asked me to write an introduction essay on myself and to hand it in to her (macam real assignment jer). I had this belief that it would be good to have someone to confide in while I'm here. Someone I can really come to for advice and help should I need anything. I guess, I thought it would not hurt to have someone on my side, you know?

So I guess you could say that I poured my heart and soul into the essay I sent her. I told her about my family, telling her about both my parents being teachers. I told her about being the eldest in the family with two younger brothers. I told her about the teachers who inspired me to be a teacher as well. I expressed how grateful I felt for the teachers who have been in my life, why that led to me finally choosing to do Arts instead of Science even after going through torture under Form 6 Science Stream (Biology is a killer!!! And Maths T! OMG). I talked about my passion for English, my little experience in teaching, my love for writing short stories and some of my published ones. I wrote about why I love the piano, and playing music. And other stuff.

I wrote three pages. >.< 



Anyway. I did not expect it at all, but she send me an SMS a while after I handed the essay in to her. She basically told me that she thought I was a very unique person (I am not making this up) and that she could see that I had a passion for teaching (betul ke tak, saya tak tau).

I could not help it. My heart swelled. Rasa happy jugak kan, bila kena puji?

The next time I made an appointment with her to let her know my second semester's results.
When I was at her door, she looked up at me and asked, "Yes, my dear. Who are you?"

Zhadao. >.<  Ouch. Talk about injured heart (literal translation from Mandarin, but I guess you can tell the meaning). 



Anyway. I haven't even started my real story yet. In her class this sem, I was rather nervous. Will she remember me? Doubt it. But will my actions in class affect how she will evaluate me? I stood up in the front of the class, as was her request, to introduce ourselves and let her get to know us all better. When I did, she looked me up and down and said, "Erm, we have a dress code in UKM, you know?" *imagine my eyes widening here* 


Totally unexpected; I was practically speechless. I was wearing jeans, sandals and a blouse. Okay, I reckon I should not be wearing round-necked blouses to class, but it wasn't that bad, was it? I was decent, that's for sure. No exposed cleavage, or even exposed knees or calves. "As future educators, you should dress like one. Maybe once in a while you can wear baju kurung."

HAH.

Has she tried wearing baju kurung and walking for 15 minutes to the Fac?
Obviously NOT.

If she has, she would know how terribly IMPRACTICAL a baju kurung is when it comes to walking long distances. And mind you, it's not nice, flat ground meant for walking. It's up slopes and rocky pavements with holes and uneven tiles that can just as easily cause you to sprain your ankle.

Wearing a baju kurung would just increase the chances of injuring yourself.
Not to mention you'd probably have to walk in smaller steps, what with the length of the skirt and all, and take almost double the time to reach the destination.

Argh.

She might be funny, and her lectures good, but I foresee her critical eyes watching me in everything I do.

Thank God there's no Psycholinguictics class next week.

Comments

J e n n Y said…
no need to wear baju kurung. just make sure you cover up every part of your body can already as d malays say tutup aurat..hhahahahah. a tudung also perhaps?
Liz said…
Tudung??? OMG. Pengsann man. No freakin' wayyyyy.
shandye. said…
just wear whatever you feel comfortable in and just make sure that it is still decent-lah lisa.

really.

i was also extremely nervous that she'll question my jeans, sweater and shaggy hair-cut combo that that.

guess i should thanked my fever for that as that diverted her attention. hahaha...

she's scary man. its not even funny. i have met her once before (well, bumped into her-lah) and she disses my attire and hair-cut once.

but i guess she did not recall our brief "meeting". haha.
siehjin said…
at least you got to meet your mentor. chenmay never met hers, and if i had one i didn't know about it!

not surprising that she can't rmbr you, she probably meets too many students. at least she did read your essay and respond with an sms. that's something. =)

and she probably never walks anywhere... so no surprise that she's clueless about what dress codes are suitable. just ignore la. =P
Liz said…
>>shandye
Why I pakai tak decent ke? It's memang what I'm comfortable with dy. Cos I walk, see. So I tend to just wear jeans and my sandals. I find it less pain-inducing. >.<
She doesnt rmb meeting any of us dy laa ahaha She asks me "Who are you?" once, and then says we had an "enjoyable" conversation. Tak paham XD

>>siehjin
I memang gonna ignore her la :) I just make sure that I wear collared-shirts to her class now. That's the best I'm gonna give her XD
Oh, and the mentor thingy is kinda new. Cos we have this generic skills evaluation crap? Yeah. Apparently our mentors, through our brief and infrequent meetings, will evaluate us on our 'kerohanian', 'leadership skills', 'civic-mindedness' - soft skills. Don't ask me how that works >.<
It still baffles me !

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