WORK AND RESEARCH AND FUN

I forgot to say that back in April a student was attacked. She complied and they took her keys and locked her in her car. She later called the police and they fired on the police as the two armed assailants got into a waiting vehicle and drove off. She was safe, but it was scary that it happened in a common area right at the law school.

Then we had a law professor mugged for his laptop. He refused and the assailant killed him. It’s so bizarre and crazy. It’s all around.

People always ask me what my plans are. To be honest; nothing is set in stone. Everything I told you still stands. Here at UCT they would like me to stay for a 2nd year for the post-doc postgraduate student position.

And I had only two other options besides that.

1. The professor to deaf students at RIT in Rochester, NY
2. A professorship at VMI—Virginia Military Institute
http://www.vmi.edu/

They contacted me three weeks ago interested in knowing if I was still interested. They are a teaching college, meaning they don’t focus on research and they have no graduate programs. I would receive immediate rank in the Virginia Militia or something and the students there graduate with 2nd lieutenant officer rating like at Army (West Point) or Air Force or Navy colleges. Anyway, they were interested. After two short just-calling-to-say hi talks, they shifted to e-mail to discuss plans to fly me in person. They are in Lexington, VA, but (unlike RIT) they will not hire someone without meeting him face-to-face. So they wanted to fly me in. I was excited about going to the States for a bit.

Well, they contacted me two Fridays ago (1 and a half weeks ago) about flying last week on Thursday for a Friday interview. I told them 1) the tickets were $4,000 and 2) I cannot fly on Thursday and arrive Thursday night and sleep in a hotel before a Friday morning interview. It takes more than a day; you generally lose a day both due to the time it takes and the fact that there are usually not direct flights between the cities between which you are flying. After this he e-mailed me saying he would get back to me. He got back to me yesterday and said, over e-mail, that they changed directions and chose someone for the job. I was not really hurt, more disappointed that I did not get a chance to go to the US. People in my family used the word rejected, but I didn’t feel rejected. See I asked how they would choose the person. And they said they choose 3 candidates to interview and they make a decision from the 3 after all have interviewed. So they never really interviewed me and decided to make a decision based on who they did see. If they say me and chose me I might feel bad. So it was fine. Strangely my family called telling me to keep my head up and stay encouraged. I thought it was sweet, but I wasn’t depressed at all. I wonder if they were told I was. Not sure.

So that only leaves the RIT option or staying here. I’m not sure about the RIT option. I know they might be scared that I would be sad that I’m not able to do as much research as in the past. Also my presentation was for final year students and first year masters. So they may have felt that I can’t teach undergrads. Not sure. It’s a cool opportunity nonetheless. I will probably stay here another year and seriously hit the job market in the US autumn.