Mom for a Day

T-shirt, Brian's Etsy Shop

Academia: I may not have kids yet, but that doesn't stop me from feeling like a mom at work sometimes. Yesterday morning, we got a voicemail from a very young student's mother, entirely in the student's native language, saying that her child was sick and someone needed to take him to the doctor. I tried calling the student, but the phone number we had was wrong, so off I went to his apartment. He didn't answer the door when I knocked, so I had to get the manager to go in and check on him. I was starting to imagine the rest of my day spent in the ER with this kid who was too sick to answer the door.

Well. He was fine. He had a cold, and had been sleeping the deep sleep of teenage boys when I knocked. He had no idea his mother had called and didn't want or need to go to the doctor. I told him to call me if he changed his mind, and for heaven's sake, to please call his mom and tell her he was okay.

I also told him to drink lots of fluids and get some rest. Then I went back to work and nagged students who hadn't gotten their immunizations yet. I'm sure my future kids will be thankful for all this mom practice I'm getting now. Good grief.

Sartorial: I think this blazer makes the t-shirt and jeans look a lot more authoritarian, don't you? On days when I have to be a mom, authoritarian is a good way to look. People take my nagging much more seriously that way.

Comfort Ninja

TOMS

Academia: I'm still sick, but I dragged myself to work yesterday anyway. Luckily, our receptionist had taped a note to my office door saying that I was sick on Monday, so the students all asked me if I was feeling better, rather than expressing dismay that I hadn't been there at the exact second they had wanted to talk to me. They've done that before. I'll come back from a day off and someone will invariably say, "Why weren't you here? I needed you!" It's hard not to say, "I wasn't here because I don't live to serve you, thanks." But everyone was very sympathetic yesterday, and I managed to catch up on the work I missed, so all in all, it wasn't too bad a day.

Sartorial: Being sick at work demands clothes that feel like pajamas but look like regular work clothes. Amy at BiblioMOMia told me once that she calls this being a "comfort ninja," because only you know how comfy you really are. It's like a comfort sneak attack. So I went with leggings, a loose cotton dress, and TOMS. Perfect for curling up in my office armchair to shut my eyes, which I definitely did just for a few minutes did not do in the middle of the day.

Coffee and Dates

Academia: Some days my job is hard. Y'all have heard a lot about those days in the past few months. And then some days, it's really, really wonderful. September 23 was the National Day of Saudi Arabia, a day to celebrate the founding of the modern nation in 1932, and my university's Saudi student association held an open celebration/cultural fair in our student union last Friday, September 30. Since nearly 50% of my department's student body is Saudi, my boss figured it would mean a lot for a group of administrators to go over and check it out together. So off we went - our director, assistant director, admissions coordinator, recruiter, and me, the student life coordinator.

Hospitality is a core cultural value in Saudi Arabia, so when we got there, we were immediately offered Arabic coffee and eight frillion different kinds of dates. There were guys stationed at the entrance to the fair whose entire job was to say hello and pour coffee. After we finished our coffee, we could read posters about the history and culture of Saudi Arabia. We could have our names written in Arabic. We could sign a map of Saudi Arabia. And we also got to participate in my two favorite activities: trying on traditional clothes and getting a henna tattoo.

Trying on the clothes was a trip. Like any lover of fashion, the chance to try on new clothes is always exciting for me, but I was there early in the day and none of the Saudi women were out of class yet. So I had a bunch of dudes trying to get me dressed. The end result looked pretty good, but I couldn't shake the feeling that these guys really had no clue what they were doing. Here's how it turned out:

Seriously, I had a whole team of stylists for this.

Not bad, right? Except that I went back later in the day and found out from one of my female students that the thing I'm wearing on my head is not supposed to go on my head. She looked at me like I was nuts when I suggested it. So the lesson here is that guys are equally oblivious to women's fashion in all cultures.

After the clothes, I saw that my boss had gotten a henna tattoo. I got really psyched and dragged a friend over to the henna station so we could get them too. Saudi women use henna as a semi-permanent accessory for special occasions, especially weddings. I'd never gotten a henna tattoo before, but I think mine is gorgeous. It should last another week or so before it completely fades:

I wish my hand could look like this all the time.

Trying on clothes and getting decorated with henna was fun, but what left me feeling really fantastic at the end of the fair was how excited my students were to share their culture with me. Honestly, they were thrilled. Everyone wanted to get a picture with me in the clothes. Everyone offered me more dates and coffee. Everyone complimented me on the henna. I felt a bit like a celebrity, but these students made everyone feel that way. I felt so welcome that I visited the fair twice on Friday. It was truly one of the best days ever at my job.

Saudi Arabia often gets a bad rap internationally, for the status of women there, for its ties to terrorists. Those are issues that can't and shouldn't be ignored. But my experience with Saudis is that they are warm, outgoing, and eager to both learn about new cultures and teach others about their own. And I think the fact that these people exist is also something we can't and shouldn't ignore.

Sartorial: I didn't realize I'd be walking across campus twice in the heat (still!) when I got dressed on Friday, but I unintentionally chose well for the occasion: cotton dress, sneakers, and a ponytail. My Chucks are a bit out of place in the picture with the traditional Saudi clothes, but I think the fact that I'm draped in gold embroidery distracts from that. And hey, people gotta wear comfortable shoes no matter what country they're in, right?

Sick Day

No outfit today, guys. I'm at home sick and if I post Friday's outfit today, I'll have absolutely nothing to post tomorrow except for a t-shirt from a bachelorette party that says "Team Bride" and a pair of flowered pajama pants. But I promise an awesome post tomorrow, which will feature the first-ever semi-permanent accessory to appear on this blog. Intrigued? Tune in tomorrow!

Like It's 1999

Skirt, Brian's Etsy Shop 

Academia: Nothing particularly remarkable happened yesterday. The most out-of-the-ordinary occurrence was that an off-campus meeting got out way earlier than I expected, so I used the extra time to go to a coffee shop downtown. Sometimes it's nice to have a quiet day like that.

Sartorial: Today's visual Friend Friday is hosted by Shelley of GS Lillian, and the theme is "Decades." I was a little stumped about what to wear at first. I wore some things earlier this week that seemed decade-y - my 70s 12-year-old get-up from Monday or my 60s mod outfit from Wednesday - without really thinking about needing to wear either of those things for today.

Since I had a meeting yesterday, I wanted to wear my blazer, and then it came to me: the 90s. The 90s weren't too long ago, but styles have definitely changed since then, and I thought it would be fun to honor the decade of my adolescence through fashion.

While this outfit may not scream "party like it's 1999," the skirt and blazer are definitely 90s-inspired. Remember this?

Via

And this?

Via

This is just an updated version of that. I wasn't interested in breaking out the shoulder pads and combat boots (not that I have those things anyway), but it was nice to pay subtle tribute to the decade that saw everything in my life from my obsession with Laura Ingalls Wilder to my first kiss. Which was during practice for my eighth grade English class's performance of Romeo and Juliet, if you were wondering, and the final performance was so bad that I'm surprised Shakespeare didn't rise from his grave just to punch us all in the teeth.

In Hiding

Brian's Etsy Shop, TOMS 

Academia: I felt significantly less crabby with my students yesterday than I did on Tuesday, but I have a confession to make. Yesterday afternoon, I heard Tuesday's most obnoxious student coming down the hall, and I shut my office door and pretended not to be there. I didn't turn off the lights, but I seriously considered it. If I had thought he actually needed help, I would have helped him, but I knew he just wanted to complain. So I hid. Hi, I'm Emily and I'm a professional grown-up who hides from whiny 20-year-olds.

Sartorial: You know what's great for extended periods of time in hiding? Stretchy pants. Perfectly comfortable for slouching down in my desk chair and trying not to be visible through the frosted glass on the door. I'm wondering if there some kind of office camouflage I can buy for future periods of hiding. Like maybe grayish-whitish clothes that will help me blend with the fluorescent lights and dingy paint? If it saves me from hearing one more time how stupid the US is for not having socialized healthcare, it's worth every penny.

Feel Good, Look Good?

TOMS 

Academia: I had a bit of a frustrating day at work yesterday. I felt like I talked to students all day who were either rude for no reason, or who were asking for my help with things they should have learned how to do a long time ago and had just opted not to. But. BUT! The day ended with shrimp and grits and Project Runway with friends. Any day that ends like that can't be too bad.

Sartorial: I felt good in this outfit yesterday, although when I look at the pictures now, something about it seems a little off. Do y'all ever wear outfits like that? I might try to recreate this in the future with different accessories, because I think the core pieces are working, but it's probably the accessories that are throwing it off.

Generally, I believe that if I feel good, it probably looks good, but maybe that's not always true. I mean, I feel good in pajamas, but that doesn't mean I should wear them outside. What do y'all think? Does feeling good always equate to looking good? And what's going on with this outfit?