Experience Fulbright

Addendum…

I wanted to give you all a quick update on the situation with the older male Reading and Writing teacher who insisted that I attend his 3rd year course on Friday. Each morning I contact the Dean’s assistant to ask for the classroom assignments for the courses I will be visiting that day. The classrooms are not fixed and seem to each each day. So on Friday morning I sent my message asking which classroom I needed to go to for the 2nd year Speaking and Listening class that afternoon. She responded that Mr. so-and-so would meet me on the 9th floor. I recognized this as the male teachers from the previous day and reiterated to the assistant that I was NOT going to this man’s 3rd year course but needed to be with the 2nd year Speaking class as we had scheduled. I asked again which room that class would be in. She responded with room 905.

When I arrived at the university, I found that the elevator was out of service. Two female students had gotten stuck in the elevator between floors and workers were called to get them out. Thankfully that didn’t happen with me in it as I would have struggled to stay calm in such as situation. Oh, and did I mention it was about 87*F this day and the univeristy is NOT air conditioned?

So I climbed up the 9 flights of stairs, in high heals no less, only to find that in room 905 was none other than… that’s right, the 3rd year Reading class. I was livid. The teacher saw us (me and my RA, Tullo) peek in the room and immediately came out to great us. As he came toward me, his arm outstretched to place around me back and lead me into the room, I took a giant step back, to make space between us and just said, “No.” I immediately turned on my heels and walked away from him, leaving poor Tullo sending there to explain to the teacher what had just happened. Meanwhile, I call the Dean’s assistant again asking her for the correct room for the 2nd year speaking class. She must have heard the irritation in my voice because not 2 minutes later the Speaking teacher came up the stairs to get me and bring me down to the 2nd floor to join her class.

The rest of the day went smoothly but it will be interesting on Thursday when I go back into that guy’s 2nd year Reading class. I know that this was a strong response, but I felt it was essential to set a clear boundary right now in the beginning that my schedule cannot be changed like this without my consent. My project requires a precise schedule which was established between myself, the Dean, and the participating teachers, prior to starting the research. It is not flexible. I have been clear with everyone on this but also have offered to attend other classes or conduct workshops at times that do not conflict with the three research groups.