Thursday, September 6, 2012

The Rule Breaker (unintentionally)

I am usually the last person to break a school rule. I always try to do my best and cannot be laid-back about school policies like the dress code.

I'm not a born rebel.

But apparently I'm just too absent-minded to stay on top of all the rules.

One of my reading classes actually meets at an elementary school, to acquaint us with a normal school setting. No one needs this more than I. Being raised in a homeschooling family meant that I never did step foot in a school until my college days began in 2009. Since then I have observed classrooms for some of my college courses, but am still not as comfortable in a school as most of the other students seem to be. Because it is still so new for me, I also cannot feel casual about school policies.

My first day of my reading class at the elementary school started off in a hurried frenzy. I rushed to the car, towing my brother along with me, because he needed to get to his college class before I did. In the car I asked him to look over and read aloud the procedures for my class. My heart just stopped when he got to dress code rules. Right there on the list: No jeans. Horrified, I glanced down at my pants. Not only were they jeans, but they were skinny jeans. There was no time to change, so I just had to look down ashamedly when the school greeter said, "And next time, no jeans. We follow school dress code here."

Yesterday I ran a booth for the Student Reading Council at my university's student organization expo. More on the SRC later. Two other booths were beside me. One was a sorority that kept stealing my potential members. Grrr...haha just kidding, they seemed like nice people. Really. The other booth was an Indian club. They were doing henna tattoos for free, and I just adored the look and even the smell of henna (some people say it smells a little like fennel). I got a huge tattoo that covered my hand.

This is what the henna looks like wet.

It took about an hour to dry completely. Once the henna paste dried, it crumbled off and left a stain behind that was bright orange. It did not look good on my skin tone. I didn't even take a picture of it. But then, magically, in the morning the stain darkened to a much more appealing brown color.

It should last about 2 weeks, I think.
But I was forgetting something...once again. The next day (today) was going to be my elementary school day. And school dress code requires that you cover up any tattoos. Yikes. So I tried to put on my longest sweater, and hoped for the best.

Maybe I should've gone with gloves...
If they did notice my tattoo, no one at the school said anything to me about it. But I still wonder, does it really count as a tattoo? I mean it's really a cultural symbol for Indians. My mother was raised in India, and that has to count for something right?

So I'm not a rule breaker. Not really. I'm just too forgetful, and therefore shouldn't be held accountable for my actions. Let's hope the school board sees it that way.

1 comment:

  1. Good excuses to me, but of course I'm just your grandmother who is VERY biased, ha!!

    ReplyDelete

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