Apples, Belly buttons, and Egyptian theatre

This week has been an interesting one.

Just when I thought pregnancy couldn't get any more weird, my belly button popped out. Yes, my very intense innie has turned into an outie. Weeeird. Pre-pregnancy, my belly button was almost an inch deep. It is very interesting to see the bottom of your belly button suddenly poking out.

Wilson and I also became Apple users this week. I got a 13" Macbook Pro and Wilson got an iTouch. It's taking me a little while to get used to using Mac, but it's pretty sweet. I got a Macbook because I *have to* have one to be a teacher. My faculty advisor says that all the best teaching software is only made for Macs, so we were required to buy one. I think she just enjoys watching all of her students have a minor heart attack when we have to drop that much dough on a computer. I seriously had to sit down for a moment after I purchased mine.

It's weird when strangers come up to me and rub my belly. Just sayin'.

I had the weirdest, most awkward thing happen to me in one of my classes. I'm taking a Theatre History before the 18th Century class. It's a freshman class mostly and I'm in it because I loathe theatre history and waited until the last minute to take it. So, we're talking this week about Egyptian theatre. First, let me say that Egyptian theatre is very strange and unlike any other kind of theatre that exists in the world. Anyways, so we were assigned to read this essay about Egyptian theatre. It's mostly about certain rituals that take place, different gods that are continually mentioned in all Egyptian theatre pre-1800's, the type of music and dance that takes place, etc, etc. So my professor (who isn't really a professor, just a grad student) puts the whole class into groups and we're to pick a paragraph from the reading and put together a short skit or tableaux that represents this paragraph.

So I get put into this group that consists of 3 other girls and 1 boy. I have known this boy since high school and he is very odd. He offers up the idea of presenting a tableaux that represents the following paragraph:

"Music was an art form that touched all people. It was a sacred art in the temples, performed by royalty and gods and goddesses. There are papyri showing priestess-musicians; both royal and aristocratic ladies played instruments in the great religious ceremonies. Music was said to delight the gods, cheer men's hearts, soothe women in childbirth, and drive away evil."

Oh boy. If you think you know which person I was supposed to represent in our tableaux from the above paragraph, you are wrong. The boy in my group suggests that HE be the person representing the woman being soothed by music during childbirth. The other people in my group all think this is a great idea because it shows that women weren't really allowed onstage in Egyptian theatre and so men portrayed women, so it would be "interesting" to see the role reversal by him portraying a woman.

So, they put me in the middle to represent music, and everyone else in my group is in a tableaux around me acting out the various other things mentioned in our paragraph. We were only given 5 minutes to set this up so we really had to throw it together.

It's time to present our tableaux's. Our group gets called on to perform. So, I take my place in a chair in the center and everyone else is around me. The boy in my group lays down on the floor, legs spread wide apart in childbirth position and begins to make "pushing out a baby" sounds. Very loud sounds. So loud that you'd think we were all in a room full of women giving birth.

I. am. mortified.

I watched as the 45+ college kids in the room gasped and widened their eyes. Oh, I bet it was a sight to behold. Then came the laughter.

I'd like to think that they were laughing at what a FOOL he was making of himself and not at the irony of it all. Luckily, class ended right after our group performed so I was able to get out of there a.s.a.p.

I came home that day and told Wilson about all of this and he assured me that everyone thinks I am such a cute pregnant woman and that everyone loves me. He did his best to calm my worries and turn my frown upside-down.

But sometimes, days are just hard.

And very, very weird.