#3: Potluck Delights

Today was a feast of feasts at work! Every semester we hold an international potluck, and it is undoubtedly always a highlight for students and faculty alike. Not only are there delectable foods from every corner of the earth with names that are hardly pronounceable... kimchi, kapsa, arepas ... and ingredients that are exotic, but there is also the mixing and mingling that happens wherever bread is broken.

I like this event because it allows me to fill my tummy and also see my students outside of the classroom, taking on another identity with their peers and as proud ambassadors of their home countries. As I walk down the food tables, I am greeted with interjections of "hey, teacher, I made this!" "Professor, you have to try this traditional food from my country" and "this is so good--try it!" I marvel at some of the their prowess in the kitchen (or international food market, for those with less culinary flare), and their growing confidence as English speakers and students.

The event is a cacophony of languages and a conglomeration of exotic smells. Today, our potluck also featured Arabic music and dancing, complete with a colleague who, apparently, knows how to shuffle his feet to ebbing Middle-Eastern melodies. All of this chaos builds to a sense of community that I don't always feel as one teacher at one level of the program. Yes, on days like today, I really like the perspective my work and my job gives me... and I feel lucky to have dipped my hand into many pots today, yesterday, and, with good fortune, also tomorrow.