making a fool of myself

Make a fool of yourself once voluntarily in a school setting and you're almost guaranteed to make a fool of yourself again...and have people requesting it. My brief stint on stage last year in a skit to celebrate teacher's day is coming back to haunt me. Some of the students (yes, they are ones I taught last year) have requested that I participate in the skit again this year. Sucker that I am, of course I said yes....and then I realize that yet again I'll be wearing a uniform, mistaken for as a teacher, up in front of the entire high school. At least I get to pretend to be a student...which this year I believe will consist of me taking pictures with my cell phone with a friend, being out of uniform, and doing the normal high school student complaining (as opposed to last year's i-pod listening). I don't really mind, it's just a bit intimidating to realize that I'll be up there making a lot of people laugh at me - and that I'll still understand maybe 1/3 of what is going on. "What?" you ask...well I'm in a skit, but the majority of it (including my lines) are in Turkish. This is when you begin to see how things get a little tricky. It's hard to improv when you don't know what someone is "yelling" at you. Oh well, maybe that will make it more realistic as half the time I don't think my students understand me at all.

To add to the day's humiliation I'll also be up on stage singing the teacher's anthem. The what???yes, Turkey has a song specifically for teachers. And I'll be singing it (with a group of other teachers)...in Turkish. Are you beginning to get a sense of just what I've gotten myself into? We had a rehearsal for the song today...I guarantee you that I'll get my tongue twisted up in knots at least once during the song, and until then I have the niggling feeling that the tune will be coming back to haunt me as it won't leave my head. Now if only I could remember some of the words!

What a thing to look forward to coming back to after a week break. Why does it have to be on Monday???