"Sono ottimista."

This was the phrase yesterday on our new Italian phrase-a-day calendar, which was perfect for yesterday. I was absolutely freaking out about teaching for the first time, but underneath it all I was certainly an optimist - if I wasn't, I wouldn't have gone through with it.

The good news is that it went pretty well. I was still nervous when the class started, but about 20 minutes into it I kind of settled into the idea. It's a full class - there were 25 there last night, with about 5 who didn't show (so I don't know if they'll be there next class or not) - and my voice was wrecked afterwards. As I was sipping tea in my kitchen at home afterwards, I thought, "Wow, it's like I've got two gigs a week now." So I've got to be active in taking care of my voice. My throat was really dry when I woke up this morning, so I'm going to try to take it easy today so I don't lose my voice before my first Wednesday class tomorrow.

I'm not sure whether I should've done this, but I did tell them at the beginning of the class it was my first teaching experience. At the break, a woman came up to me and said, "As a retired teacher, I have to tell you - you have the teacher gene! You're doing wonderfully!" I must've looked relieved and thankful, because she went on to say that she thought I'd probably want to hear something like that... She was right, I did want to hear it.

Teaching felt much more like performing than I'd expected it to - but that's a good thing, because it actually felt more familiar than I'd expected it to as well. I used humor to my advantage several times and had the entire class laughing, which felt very good. I see how addictive eliciting laughter can be. So, while I don't have a future as a singer anymore, I do think I'll learn to like this kind of audience as well.