Although I resemble a human in my physical appearance, a very normal one with many flaws, the truth is that I am an elephant. You may already know that, if you have read some of my posts in the past or talked to me in the comment section. Yeah, an elephant that remembers many things, dates, numbers, people, words, music, places, paths, aromas, smells, sounds, moments, some dreams, you name it. I am not sure how long this condition will last, will I be able to keep an alive image until my very last day of all the things that tugged at my heartstrings in a certain moment of my life. I will see when that day arrives.
However, there are some situations that I completely swiped out of my memory. For example, my first day at school. Why can't I recall that day at all? I don't know, maybe it was deleted from my memory on purpose, or I was just too small. What I do remember are some of the lessons later, when I felt I didn't understand our teacher fully. Now I know that it was because she wasn't saying the words I was supposed to understand in my native language. Neither the other children communicated with me in my mother tongue around me - that was a thing I guess I had to accept slowly in my first days of school and adapt as fast as possible. There were no issues to learn in the same way as the others; however, I don't remember having a best friend until much, much later.
I am one of these little ones (first from the left in the first row) while receiving a guest, a soldier, as it was the tradition that they visited schools one day in the year. We all had to wear these "uniforms", red scarves around the neck over white shirts and a blue hat.
Luckily, the regular elementary school was not the only one I attended in those early years. I also enrolled on the local music school, after begging my parents for a whole year. Considered "too young" to attend the regular piano lessons, I had to wait an additional year to start with them, but somehow, I get it there to start with the piano lessons before the year finished. I guess I was just too boring repeating that I really want to play that instrument. So, there I was, on my first piano lesson! That first day can't be forgotten, and the decision that I made - I will be a pianist/piano teacher. No alternatives. No other professions or instruments. Only piano. 🎹 A deeply rooted dream, a choice, a path that has been steadily walked since then.
That very first piano lesson happened in the school where I started working after I graduated from the Academy of Music. I was back to the roots, teaching in the same classrooms and playing in the same concert hall as I did when I was small. My musical education almost completely overshadowed my regular elementary education, so maybe that is another reason why I don't clearly remember my first day of school, even though the elephant's powers are still not fading, I think.
This was my "entry" to the prompt I saw yesterday, The Silverbloggers Chronicles - Prompt # 32 answering the question:
What do you remember feeling on your first day of school?
