Friday night was graduation at the American College of Sofia. It was scheduled for 5pm. As teachers we have to line up at 4pm. Then we wait around for an hour. People chat. People read books. People generally bemoan the fact that we have to line up so early.

This year, it rained every afternoon this past week leading up to graduation. This is great for the flowers but not so great for graduation. We host graduation outside in front of our main administrative building Sanders. It's a beautiful space and because graduation is outside the school doesn't have to limit the number of attendees. Anyone and everyone can attend when graduation is outside. When it's inside in the auditorium however each graduate is given a few tickets and only people with tickets are allowed to be seated in the auditorium to watch. Others can watch from the foyer on a screen that we set up. By far this is the worst option.
<a title="ACS graduation by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7239372164/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7236/7239372164_8efea99faf_z.jpg" alt="ACS graduation" width="640" height="480" /></a>
So while it was grey overcast and cold, it wasn't raining so graduation was outside. This means however that you've got to dress for the weather but because it wasn't clear that we'd have graduation outside until 4pm on Friday you've got to come up with an outfit that works inside as well as outside. This is not an easy task. I work wool tights, a grey dress, a tank-top and a caramel colored sweater. All of this was belted with a wide woven belt. Over this I layered a dusty-rose jacket and navy and grey scarf. I topped this whole look off with a black academic robe and I carried an umbrella and cream colored finger-less gloves. Hey, after the previous two years I am not messing around. It gets cold sitting out there for graduation over the course of 90 minutes and I have to say while my outfit sounds ridiculous it was perfect for the weather.<!--more-->

Needless to say, it's too much clothing to wear inside. So at 20 minutes to 5 we're told to get ready. I get ready. Then I slowly start to overheat. Then at 5pm we're still sitting in the basement waiting to go. At 5:10 we're still waiting and I am getting hotter and hotter. It's about this time that we're told our graduation speaker Bulgarian football star <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimitar_Berbatov" target="_blank">Dimitar Berbatov </a>(Additional information: he plays--or maybe played--for Manchester United. There seems to be some question about whether or not he's been asked to resign with the team but I don't really keep up with these things.) is late and that in fact his plane hasn't landed yet or maybe has just landed.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7239398284/" title="graduation at ACS by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7245/7239398284_e28af28786_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="graduation at ACS"></a>
Either way, he's late. Enter:<em> long sigh</em>. The kind of sigh that famous people get from non-famous people for being late, self-centered, unthinking and careless.

The decision is made that if he doesn't arrive by 5:30pm we'll start without him. We then all begin to discuss who'd great idea it was to invite a football star to speak at graduation. Everyone wants to know who knows him and extended the invitation to him and moreover what on earth he's going to speak about.

Among the international teachers, there's the question of whether or not he graudated from high school and no has bother to look up whether or not he went to college. We all assume that he did not. We also assume that he graduated from one of the sports academies . These high schools have a reputation for producing pretty good athletes but not scholars. The implicit assumption is that academics take a back seat to sports and that he probably didn't really go to class.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7239376048/" title="Berbatov at graduation by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7104/7239376048_c5de927810_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Berbatov at graduation"></a>
Everyone wonders: what on earth does he have to say that will be meaningful for our graduating seniors? Students who will be going to top universities in America, England and Europe.  Lack of educational qualifiers aside, the fact that he's late doesn't help matters much.

Against all odds, he shows up a little before 5:30 pm and we get started. Thirty minutes late.

Now I love graduation and these happen to be my babies who are graduating. I know the Class of 2012 in a way that I haven't know previous graduating classes. The Class of 2012 is the first class of 10th graders that I taught at ACS.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7239382912/" title="graduation at ACS by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5320/7239382912_2634c4b885_z.jpg" width="619" height="612" alt="graduation at ACS"></a>
I've watched them grow up over the last three years. I then taught much of this class in 11th grade as well. If my math is correct over the past three years I've taught more than 50% of the class three days a week. I know these students. I graded their papers. I pushed them to write more succinctly and think more critically. I wrote letters of recommendation for them. I said hello to them each morning the hallways and after school I advised their clubs. Needless to say, I am tremendously proud of each and every one of them.

Graduation of course is a ceremony where we celebrate their hard work over the past five years, congratulate them for their achievements and send them out into the world. It's the end of high school and our students have worked incredibly hard to secure this moment. Thus graduation is not about us as adults rather it's about our students.

Berbatov though didn't get this message.

He stands at the podium to deliver his speech and announces that he doesn't have a speech. (He apparently hasn't bothered to write one. <em>Awesome</em>.) Then he proceeds to talk about himself <em>in Bulgarian</em> for about five minutes. Mind you past Bulgarian graduation speakers have given their speeches in English and in Bulgarian. This is really the gold standard. We are after all the American College of Sofia.

So Berbatov gets started speaking in very quick Bulgarian. He's too fast. There are no pauses for emphasis. His sentences run together. He only pauses to think of what he wants to say next. There's seemingly no clear beginning, middle or end to his speech because really it's not a speech.

Highlights include (and of course, I am loosely paraphrasing this into English): the fact that he didn't attend his own graduation. <em>Um, really</em>?! That he in part credits the support of his parents, family and friends for his success. <em>Okay. That's nice</em>. Then there's the part where he tells our students that one day they may be standing behind the podium giving a speech like this. Only they won't be famous football players because that's hard work and requires talent. <em>Unreal</em>.

To top this all off, during the middle of the valedictorian's speech, Berbatov left. Apparently he couldn't be bothered to stay for all of graduation. I'd guess that he logged at most 20 minutes of sitting on stage. <em>What a guy. What a guy</em>.

Luckily, graduation isn't about the graduation speaker. Graduation is about the students. Students that I adore.

It was so wonderful to see them walk across the stage to receive their diplomas. I was inordinately proud of them. What a great day.

After the formal ceremony, I congratulated students and their parents. I was surprised to see how many parents I remembered from parent-teacher conferences even from 10th grade. Then one of the nicest things happened. Student that I'd taught gave me flowers to thank me. Wow. This kind of thoughtfulness isn't something I expected for students (or their parents) on graduation. A day at least in the States that is focused solely on the graduates.

It warmed my heart. Class of 2012, here's to you!!