Meanwhile, I had my mom mail me my tap shoes because I foolishly agreed to do a solo tap dance for the show. To be honest, I have never been a performer though I love dancing. However, I was extremely excited to get those shoes in the mail. I have really nice tap shoes (thanks Mom and Dad!) that have really loud taps and good enough construction that they have lasted probably over 10 years now, though in the last 5, their use has gone precipitously downhill. Anyway, they arrived, and I promptly put them in my closet. I’d like to think it was because tap shoes scratch wooden floors, so I had to practice in different shoes, but really I just didn’t have time for choreography at the time.
The weekend after getting my tap shoes, I chaperoned the hiking club’s hike up Lozenska Mountain. I really loved it. I’m not really a city dweller. Granted, I used to live in Prairie Village (basically Kansas City), but let’s look at the figures:
· Bulgaria: 42,855 sq mi; population- 7,037,935; population of Sofia- 1.3 million
· Iowa (my home state): 56,272 sq mi, population- 3,062,309; population of Fort Madison-10,715· Kansas (my most recent state): 82,277 sq mi; population of PV- 21,447; population the greater Kansas City metro area (including the Missouri side)- 2,035,334 (but this covers two states and 15 counties- a huge land area)
Next week, I was really busy… again. It was the week before Faculty Follies, so the Irish dance group really needed to get a handle on those jump-two-threes (they really blow people’s minds). And then there was that tap dance. I finally picked a song (“I’ve Got a Heart Full of Rhythm, by Louis Armstrong) and choreographed the entire part where Armstrong sings. Then, I set it aside again.
Amidst all this, I get an email from my dad telling me that my grandma died. It wasn’t wholly unexpected, as she hadn’t been doing well and she had been struggling with Lewy body dementia for several years, but it was still sad. Plus, I felt really guilty for not being with my family. My grandma and I shared the same name, though that was mostly a coincidence. I often joke that if my dad had meant to name me after my grandma, I’d be called “Mom.” Growing up, my poor grandma often came into the living room as my sister and I were wrestling or doing some sort of gymnastic activity and remark that she “thought she had granddaughters, not grandsons.” However, I think she was pretty happy with the way we turned out. Plus, we have good table manners and thanks to her, we know that the fork goes on the left and the knife edge always points towards the plate. My grandma also had the best reaction to my sister’s nose ring. My mom was convinced my grandma would not approve, but when she noticed it from across the table at lunch, she reached across the table, poked it and then exclaimed, “Oh! It’s jewelry.” She then laughed (you know kids these days) and that was that.
Well, time stops for no man and the next day, Irish dancing mastered the tea cup turns. It was an ordeal, but the Walls of Limerick was now complete. It certainly wasn’t River Dance, but it was fun and it looked pretty good. That Friday, we practiced again after our faculty meeting and then we also previewed it at the school president’s St. Patrick’s Day party. On Saturday, I graded some papers, went for a run, and went out for St. Patrick ’s Day. We ended up meeting a bunch of medical students from the American University’s med school, which I had no idea existed. On Sunday, I had to proctor the school’s entrance exam. I know that no 12 year old boy wants to hear this, but they were cute. I teach 11th grade; They are not so cute at that age and some of them have a lot of attitude, so it was nice to see the younger crowd.
On Monday, we didn’t have to work, but I went to talk to a woman from the Bulgaria Charity Aid Foundation about volunteer opportunities for our students. I found the address without any problem and then I realized that all the names for the door buzzers were in Bulgarian. I can read Cyrillic, no problem. However, I don’t know the meaning of most of the words I read. So I stood there puzzled and then grateful when a lady buzzed in ahead of me and I could just follow her into the building.
Tuesday came and we had our first official rehearsal for faculty follies. I spent the 2 hours after school and before the rehearsal frantically finishing my tap dance. I was worried, but I got the steps written down (more on that later). This rehearsal was mostly for the tech crew to get their cues, so luckily I didn’t have to perform the whole thing.
Wednesday was our second rehearsal. By that day, they had found a board for me to dance on (the stage has a rubber cover, so it really doesn’t work for tap dancing). The board was actually an old backboard for a basketball hoop. I had very limited movement for this dance, but at least you could hear me. I did the entire dance pretty well by reading my paper. That’s right. It was the day before the show and I in no way had my dance memorized. However, people said the fact that I was reading the steps was impressive, so I began to try to think of ways to work my cheat sheet in as a prop. Thursday was the show. I decided to use my paper as a comedic element. I’d act like I didn’t know what I was doing. Little did they know that it wasn’t acting ;-) I was a nervous wreck, since I don’t really like performing, but apparently it went well (it’s a blur, I don’t actually remember). Some people told me that kids were leaning forward and standing up in their seats so they could see my feet. Also, I remember getting big applause for my high kick. (If I’d known it was that easy, I would have been doing high kicks in class every day.) I finished my dance with some fuetes. I’ve always liked turning and it meant I had almost 16 counts done with little thought required. Plus, they are always a crowd pleaser. I heard I got a standing ovation from some students, but I don’t actually know because I basically bowed and ran off stage. The Irish Dance group did really well too. We were basically the last act of the show and I think everyone did great. Afterwards, someone told me, “I’m putting you on YouTube.” Great.
Friday, we had a soccer game. Now, I hadn’t been sleeping much all week, I’d tap danced more in the previous 3 days than I had in the last 3 years, and I was just sort of done. However, Uchitelli Utd. didn’t have any subs, so I fulfilled my duty. I feel like I played terribly, but I might be too self critical. It doesn’t help that I used to play every Thursday and now I play when there are sporadic intramural games. I hadn’t played since October and my muscles were all weak from all the tap dancing (lame as that sounds). At one point (after one of several bad passes today) one of my teammates told me to pass for a wing when possible (which I know, since it was the Coach Bowen mantra), but I could barely form coherent sentences that day, much less consider game strategy. Apparently, I must have looked really hurt by this comment because he saw me a minute later and apologized. I wasn’t actually upset, just tired. Although, with the way I sweat, he could have mistaken a bead of sweat for a tear running down my cheek. Anyway, tomorrow, I am hiking with the Hiking Club again and looking forward to seeing waterfalls and panoramic vistas. Then, I’ll probably sleep a lot.
And that was my very full last two weeks.
