Secret Santa Again..!

gifts to everyone
marcos and jurgen, jurgen and marcos

We had Secret Santa in school again. I was Gbt's Secret Santa. Despite the rule to stay within twenty Euros over all or five Euros each gift, I always end up spending eight or nine Euros per gift. I hate giving gifts which are apparently cheap, unaesthetic, would be useless for the receiver or which would simply not appeal visually and emotionally to the receiver. I also spend a great amount of money, time and energy in wrapping the gifts beautifully too.

On the exact contrary, all the gifts that I receive whether they are birthday or festival or Santa gifts, they are thoughtlessly selected, repulsively packed and provide me no use or slightest appreciation. Now I quite get disturbed at the prospect of receiving gift because I know the choice and manner of the gift wouldn't please me even though I make a great effort to convince the giver how much I admired it and needed it and was so happy to get just that. I can tell you I have a bad history of such presents. Back home, in India, where giving gifts is quite a culture I have told everyone, 'Please, Please, Please, don't gift me clothes or clothes' material: I only wear clothes of my personal choice." I received several clothes but I shuddered to even imagine them on my body. Here, gifting is not so popular, at least not with the people I move with. Last year, Mz was my secret Santa and she gave me a 1 Euro coffee mug,( which was as hideous as an earthen plant pot. You could actually think you were drinking that delicious coffee from a pot meant for growing outdoor plants!), a salt and pepper pot and earrings which I never wear. The school's Christmas gift was a Russian ring which I threw away as soon as I came back home. (Russian rings may be a world of good - they are just not my taste.)
Then, last year, Ll's mother while leaving the school, gifted me a costly enough Swarovski earrings. I liked them and appreciated them but they are golden in color ( I don't like golden jewelry) and so interminably long I rarely wear them. Fr's mother gifted me a beautifully packed something which looked falsely promising; it was only a cheap bottle of bath oil something which I don't use. But I still appreciate the gift wrap though.
This year, I kept guessing who was my Secret Santa without success. I received just a packet of chocolates, a packet of silly micro candles, a collection of winter tea bags, winter jam, and chocolate, and in the last gift, I received a pair of small earrings, a book which I will never read, and super tiny decoration piece- a porcelain icicle.
My own gift to Gbt were a table daily calender with one beautiful nature scene and an inspirational thought for every day of the year, a small classy pocket calendar, and costly chocolate together as first gift, an alarm clock, beautiful artificial decorative flowers with a beautiful classy vase and the last gift was a small pair of swarovski stud earrings and a matching stone necklace packed in the most adorable box with gold ribbons. In fact I had spent more than eight Euros on packing stuff alone. I also presented a good company made woolen scarf to Mks as I was friendly to him, a bottle of perfume to Cl on the last working day of the school, a beautiful studded flower shaped ring and a pair of coke colored gold rimmed dangler earrings to Cl which looked lovely in the gift box and 100 times lovelier when she wore them, as Christmas gift this year and a pack of peacock colored, some glittered, some worked Indian bangles which she loves to wear every now and then and which everyone remarks are extremely good looking, as last year's Christmas gift, a huge 2x 1.5 golden photo frame with one small decorative picture frame for her birthday last year and dinner invitation for two to an Indian restaurant this time on her birthday.  I also presented her a huge book of cooking recipes from around the world and another book about Indian recipes which she wanted very much.

Why am I writing all this. I didn't gift so many gifts to want something in return. It was - it is just my way of expressing my nice feelings to people I like by presenting them gifts they would like.

Well, so back to Secret Santa in school, today was the day of final secret Santa in which we had to personally present the gift in order to reveal our identity. Gbt was mine and she loved all my gifts so much. My was mine; this is funny because last year I was her's. Another funny coincidence was Jrn and Mk were each other's secret Santa!

Fight between MY and Mks

Mks and My had a really huge fight last Friday.

Pkt had pooped in his diaper and then he nonchalantly opened his diaper which spread the poo all over the class. Mks started taking him to the toilet when My came in and started raining on him as to why doesn't he take all the children together to the toilet. Some argument ensued which got heated to the point that both started yelling at each other - well, almost yelling. Mks was mad with rage. "Nobody talks to me like that- neither my girlfriend, nor my sister nor my mother. Can you stop being rude please?"
"I don't want to talk to you." My retorted.
"Hey we started a conversation. Let us finish it. Let us talk. We can't fight in misunderstanding like this." He calmed down and decided he needed to talk in order to clear himself but My obstinately refused to talk any further. He insisted again but this time she lifted up her fisted hand and put it down forcefully screaming a really really loud "No".
"Hey, what's that fist for? Are you turning violent?"
He then rang Stf, told her everything and came away straight to the hospital in an emergency to take care of his Asthama attack due to extreme anxiety and tension.

I was so afraid he had left and that I would never see him again and finally when I saw him again almost hail and hearty as ever before I was so happy.
When my children were sleeping he came in and we talked for a long time in hushed whispers as the sleeping room is just next to the office and almost every word can be heard if you speak in normal volume.

Poor Mks is just the latest victim of the old gimmicks of My and Mz. We all know, he has done nothing wrong; he has just ruffled My's feathers so now My, like always, is preparing the stage for Mks' termination.

"If there is any truth in the saying that God punishes those who do evil to others than really God knows what punishment should these two females get; they have devoured so many people's job for absolutely no reason. If they don't like someone for sheer personal reasons, they just decide he or she needs to go and then that's final. That person has to go. Stf just fires that person and finds a seemingly good excuse to furnish to the parents. Chapter closed for ever." I mused sadly.
"I can tell the Parents Committee that Stf lied to the parents that Bh was fired because of taking too many leaves. She was fired because My just disliked her maybe because she wore expensive clothes and was far better looking than My. Actually My basically got angry with me too because I supported Bh. "
"Nothing will happen. Parents Committee has no power to question these issues with the school."
"They won't get English teacher so easily."
"They never do. When Ad was fired it took them two months to find you. When Jn left, one month passed by before they could get another. And its funny the way they employ English teachers- I mean some of them can't even speak English properly or with correct accent. But they rarely bother about this."
"Well, this much is certain that I can't stay here any longer. The waters have become too hot. I have already applied in other schools. I might not get a good salary but whatever it will be better off than staying here with these filthy females. I think My and Mz both are very miserable creatures. They are very unhappy with their life and that's why they can't see anybody happy in school either. They keep weeping that they had to work for so long implying that we should pity them. Why should we pity them? They are not working hard in free. They are getting paid for their extra work."
"I hope everything becomes okay between you and My and that you get to stay."
"I know, this job is so important to me. Losing it is the last thing I want but not at this cost, really. It is too much. I believe in God. He will do something.I could still go on with just two backpacks and twenty Euros in my pocket. Don't worry for me. I am fine and happy enough because I know that I am right and God is with me. He will definitely do something."

I was overwhelmed with emotions at this sort of talk and felt so bad for him. The situation is really bad and he can't stay much longer.

Christmas Party in Kindergarten

So today was Christmas party in the kindergarten. I was feeling a bit grumpy because Christmas is still more than one and a half week away and none of us seemed to be in the party mood least of all a Christmas party.

At three o'clock all the parents assembled in the hall. Benches had been placed for their seating. First our and Mks' group children were brought in. They stood in one straight line and presented the English song "We wish you a merry Christmas..." Then Mk's and Mz's group together presented the German song, "In der Weinacht Backerei..." H stood in the front row and sang along with the children with pretty actions.

After the song presentation, there were arrangements for selling freshly baked waffles on two waffle machines set up in the hall by some of the parents including Mtn. In another corner, Mz and Jrn had set up a lottery or Tambola type of stall where you are told to pay two Euros and pick up a chit of paper from a bowl of chits; if you are lucky your chit will contain a certain number which means you can chose your gift among the displayed articles, if you are not lucky, your chit will show the word 'Sorry' and you don't get any gift.
Mz was handling the box of money and Jrn, the bowl of chits. The gifts included school's own products like school's monogrammed socks, set of plate, cup and bowl, school's cap, set of tattoos, school's monogrammed plush toys in small and medium sizes and tiny gummy bear.

I had nothing else to do and I feel oddly uncomfortable when I have nothing on my hands. Give me work to do. I feel happier. I knew nothing about waffle baking and in any case it was being handled by the parents. And every other teacher was either eating or chatting together.
I went to the Tambola stall and asked if I could also help her with it. She agreed. Within next ten minutes however, she left the stall relinquishing her post to me, much to her and my desire. It was fun doing that and I had never done this sort of work before. I liked doing it my way which surprisingly started bringing in a crowd straight to the stall. Mz had directed me that if a person lost the tambola three times in a row I should take pity on him and give him one gummy bear. Well, I started freely distributing gummy bear irrespective of who won and who lost. The children just loved the gummy bear (they always do) and would many times just coax their parents to buy the Tambola chit just for the sake of getting Gummy bear. Once Nya won the chit but the gift she wanted to take was a pathetic set of tattoos. Her father tried persuading her to chose something else as gift but she wanted only the tattoo. I gave her the gift which her father wanted as well as the tattoos. Both were sublimely happy and kept returning to the stall. Another one, Ant wanted to take away just the gummy bear as gift, I gave her the gift her mother wanted as well as gummy bears. The children were happy and didn't mind losing in the least as they were getting gummy bears nevertheless.

I was thoroughly enjoying myself spreading smiles and happiness this way. Jrn was happy too.
"Do you know, Mz had been so strict about the rules of the game which was, well, right in a way but no body was coming to our stall. You have relaxed the rules and look how everybody is pouring in. We are doing hot business!"
Upon my part, neither the gifts nor the money collected was mine but the children's happiness was and that was all that counted. Mz tried to save the gummy bear and was losing the business, I scattered the gummy bear in free and was succeeding without effort! What simple fun and sheer happiness! I was doing nothing and getting so much..

I felt sorry when the party started to end after four hours.
I heard through Mz that she had a sort of fight with Mtn! The waffles which she made were rejected by Mtn as improper and not nice enough to be served. Mtn himself made waffles and invited other parents to help him bake.
"I want to murder him. I am mad with anger. How dared he say my waffles were not nice! I want to kill him today."

Just when it was time for us to leave the school, it started raining heavily, really really heavily. I noticed the stress and some peculiar thoughtfulness on Mtn' face and felt bad for him. The next day I glimpsed a big goody basket, nicely wrapped, as gift to Mz and another similar one for Stf in the office. We had made more than 500 Euros by selling the tambola. This money, we have been told, will be donated to a South African child welfare agency. I have yet to know who the gift is from; from Mtn or that Agency. I did read the sender's card which read from Mtn to Mz for her cooperation.....!

Thefts in kindergarten!

Today Asi told us that a few days ago 20 Euros were stolen from her bag which was kept in the staff room where all the teachers keep their bags, purses coats etc unattended. Since she was new she didn't like creating an uproar about her stolen money. Then yesterday again 50 Euros were stolen from her bag. We told this to the others and discovered that Mz's money was also stolen from her bag a few days ago.

It sounded serious that there is somebody who is stealing money like a thief and we have no clue as to who he is.

This matter was then reported to Stf. She called all the teachers to her office one by one personally and asked them if we suspected someone. My idea is, this is being done by someone who is new who doesn't yet know that thefts never occurred in school before or someone who is planning to leave so he or she knows that before long he or she will be out of the radius of suspicion. There are at least 5 people who are new to our staff... and 1 person is clearly either planning to leave or might get terminated very soon....

Stf asked me too if ever my money was stolen and if I suspected someone.
I laughed and told her that ever since I had come to Germany I had lost my bag with money and a costly  mobile in it twice and both times on the train stations but luckily I retrieved them within two hours with not a single cent missing. I had begun to believe that thefts didn't happen in Germany until I discovered they were happening in my own kindergarten.

Stf has assured us that she is going to do something about this and we needn't feel worried.

Nikolaus Day

Today we celebrated the Nikolaus day in the kindergarten.

This Nikolaus is something similar yet totally different from the Santa Clause. Nikolaus was a bishop in Turkey who loved helping poor and needy people. So now 6th of December is the day on which we celebrate his day. A man comes dressed up in red bishop robes different to the red furry robes of the other Santa, and white hair and flowing beard and moustaches and he asks the children if he has been good or bad; if bad the child gets coal (Yikes! I believe no one would do that, seriously!)and if good then he gets goodies and chocolates. And of course we sing Nikolaus songs in German and English. On the other hand the Santa clause which the whole world knows of is just an extension of this real Nikolaus but is represented in a different, easier, carefree, fun and frolicky manner who dresses up in red and white furr robes, flaunts a white flowing beard and hair, is a jolly overweight man who delights in distributing sweets and gifts to everyone.
And, Germans are very very particular to point out the differences between Nikolaus and Santa Clause telling you with all their strength and vigor that Nikolaus is not Santa! Some even have problems accepting the English songs for Nikolaus as we have only for Santa and Santa is not Nikolaus!


All the groups together with their teachers assembled in the hall. A big burly Nikolaus walked in swaying with old age and a kind eye twinkling from under his white bushy eyebrows, wearing a bright red splendid bishop gown with some gold work in front and a big brown sack slung across his heavy shoulders; he even had a bell tinkling in his right hand. He looked fabulous! I swear, the best Santa that I have till date seen! The children just went mad with wonder! Most of them had actually believed he was real Nikolaus come to reward them with goodies because they had been good and learnt the song so well!

We presented our songs to him. Since nearly three weeks all the groups had been practicing the German and English songs for the occasion; 'Lustig, lustig...' and 'Nikolaus, Nikolaus..' as German songs and 'dashing through the snow...' as the English one. But we only presented the German songs and omitted the English one because 'Nikolaus is not Santa!' I was so angry for a while even though I knew that they were right, well according to their point of view, I mean.

Then Nikolaus started calling each child one by one, striking some simple conversation with him and handing him the bag of goodies which the teachers had prepared already. I learnt that this man was no other than Chr, a friend of Stf who has his own computer company and he helps Stf in almost all computer and law related issues within the school. He is a bulky fellow with a fully round bulging tummy and a considerable height, hence he looked awesome in his part as Nikolaus, but more than that he put in so much of effort to act as a real Nikolaus by effecting not only an old aged man's slouched gait but also the voice and laughter of an old man as well which must have been really difficult. I was totally carried away just to hear him speak like an old man in a wobbly voice.

I can never never forget this Santa, ever! He is the best Santa I have ever seen or will ever see in future.
Well, but he was not Santa; he was Nikolaus!

Asy the Model Teacher

I had been spotting a new face in the teachers' group since a few days and eventually learnt she is Asy and a model! We all wondered what is she doing in a pecuniary kindergarten if she is a model. As completely befitting to her profession she is stunningly beautiful and sexy as an actress with black hair, large black eyes and thick black eye shadow. Initially she was working with Stf and Ndn in the baby group.

She accidentally came to our group one day when I was alone with the children and I liked her work very much. She came to us next day too and she too like to work with us as both Cl and I are very courteous, gentle, friendly, warm and welcoming. Maybe, in comparison, she found us easier to work with and of course the difference between infants and two year olds. She went straight to Stf and requested her to let her remain in our group as she like the group very much. Stf agreed and since then she comes to our group everyday.
She is quick, efficient, loving and gentle to the children. However she is only a helper so she is not concerned with teaching anything. She helps us with the kids.

Ever since she has come, our overload has eased remarkably. So earlier while we struggled to dress or change the children and took exasperatingly 40 minutes for every little work, now we are three people and get finished within 20 minutes or so.

I talked to her and learnt she is from Morocco but born and brought up in Germany. She isn't very much educated as she was poor. She came into modelling business as she has to support her family. She needs money badly. That's why she decided to join this school but it so turns out, she is not being paid nicely here too - only 400/- Euros which sounded really pathetic to me. She is acquainted with Stf through her boy friend's side.

I Am so Happy

I was very moved by Stf and Ndn's sadness yesterday and had a secret fear in my heart that Mks might have been fired. I did see him talking to Stf the boss, alone in the orange room.

When I reached the station, I bought a few really beautiful looking chocolates. I quickly wrote on three large packets a message for Ndn and Stf that I wanted to see them smile and to let them know that I loved them and gave the bag of chocolates to them.

Five minutes later, Stf came into my room and she hugged and kissed me emotionally with tears in her eyes.
"You are so nice. I can't tell you how emotional I am feeling at your gesture. I hate the management but for nice people like you I love coming to this school." I myself became emotional this time. I was glad she was happy. She thanked me so many many times. Then later Ndn too came and hugged me.

I was so happy. I was indescribably happy. My heart was almost singing in joy. I had been able to make two people smile and that is a treasure for me. More treasure was in store...!

Mks came and took me to the staff room laptop to search for the correct lyrics of "We wish you a merry Christmas.." While he searched he started telling me that Stf is so impressed with me and Cl!
"What?" I cried in total disbelief.
"Yes. That's what she said. She said"Look at * and Cl. They never have any problem. They work so hard. They are happy with the school. Why can't you be like them?"
"Did she really say this?"
"Yes! We had a long talk. I told her everything. How Mz and My do nothing and behave so badly with all the other teachers, about that fucking Mgt who needs to be fired immediately, about my recent troubles with My and Mz because of their being rude and unfair to me; I told her everything. She listened to me patiently and said she would try to help me out. I am feeling so much better now after so many days, almost two weeks."
"Do you know, I have brought something for you. A chocolate!"
"Why?"
"I just wanted you to be happy. It is a great news indeed that you are already feeling nicer."

I gave him the chocolate and he remarked
"Hey, you are really good. You are so nice. You make me happy everyday. I enjoy coming to work because of you. You are really nice."

And then when it was Asy's turn to go on her break, I gave her a chocolate too. She was also surprised.
"But why?"
"No reason. Just because you are very nice."
She too hugged me fondly.

Today I have been immeasurably happy! The simple happiness I saw on the faces of these people was really like a fortune. I only hope it was not because of the chocolate or worse still they do not misconstruct. I had no other means to express my care and appreciation for them and hence I had given the chocolate.

Secret Santa game has started again. I got a gift of chocolates and decorative candles as well as a small chocolate for H too! I am guessing it is someone who is nice and nearer to me and possibly a man because the gift was wrapped in a newspaper and the person had taken great pains in cutting out the letters of my name out from the newspaper and had stuck it on the box with a cello tape. I wonder who is my Santa...!
As to me, I am Gbt's. She was a trainee last year and has now joined Mks' group. She is very young only about 20 or 21 years so I got her a beautiful calendar with some nice encouraging words/quotes and beautiful pictures for all months and a big packet of expensive chocolates. I wrapped them up with a beautiful pick colored gift paper and pink and white polka dotted satin ribbon. The packet looked irresistably beautiful.

Stf is Angry

We had an interesting meeting today.

We were all ready for the meeting to start, just waiting for Stf, Mz and My to come in; they came suddenly. Stf handed us a 40 page document and instructed us to read it carefully till they came back after having a drink at the nearby restaurant. What the F****! You mean, we are your slaves or what? To read 40 page document carefully till you enjoy your drink! Luckily it was in German so I happily excused myself and enjoyed tasting a new bread while the others grudgingly started reading it. 

We all looked at the clock quickly ticking away while we just waited for them like abject fools. The trio returned after nearly 45 minutes and then there was fire and brimestone every where.

Stf was angry! Angry over the teachers's demands for money or pay rise. She was so haughty and arrogant. She told us that we could all resign if we wanted to. She could herself  fire everyone of us all in one go- she had hundreds of applicants to replace us. She doesn't owe us any money. She gave us a fine Christmas party last year and expensive gifts ( that trash silver ring which I threw away!) as well as a grand Octoberfest Party. Did we even know how costly was all that arrangement? How could we even think of asking for more money? We are not working here for free. We get enough salary; the other schools pay way lesser than her. If we are not satisfied, we are free to leave.

Mk was the only one to protest and in a face that expressed a deep anger and disgust.

"But we are not asking you any money. We are only reminding you what you had promised us. In last April, you together with that Tk had promised us that we would have to admit more children in our groups than the legal number and for every extra child you would pay us a hundred Euro once a year. We are only reminding you of your promise."

"Aah, that was said by Tk, not me. Upon my part, I owe you all NOTHING!"

The next blow she dealt us was to announce that she is planning to get her teachers Montessori method trained and so all the German teachers ( Ndn, Stf, Cl, My, Mk and Mz) will have to undergo this training for 6 months every weekend and would have to pay around 50/-. 

All the teachers gasped in horror! No weekend for 6 months! That sounded really like POW torture! While I wondered why no English teacher was included. But of course, the school and the system is prejudiced towards German. They only promote German, not English despite banking on their bilingual concept which brings them hoards and hoards of children. 

I broke in.

"Are you planning to get your teachers Montessori Method trained?"

"Ja."

"But where would we keep the apparatus?"

"The apparatus? What is that?"

"Well, Montessori method teaching is done only with the help of Montessori apparatus which is made of specific color and dimensions. And everything is taught only with the help of concerned apparatus. It is not a chair or a table which you could fit into any corner." Mko joined me too and corroborated my statement.

"Really?" She cried in surprise. "Well, I didn't know about all this at all. I think I need to talk to you in order to discover more." She smiled affably and quickly flitted on to the next topic of discussion not giving even a moment's time to anybody to react or to express their views. 

She left after an hour - and this was just a quarter of the meeting!

Mz began her list of points, all haughtily flung at us like chain saws. We discussed Christmas. This year, the groups will present Christmas carols to the parents. My group will be merged together with Mko's group to present "We wish you a merry Christmas..." I want to do a story enaction, Christmas dress up party in which all the girls can be dressed up as Mary and boys as Joseph with my group but I keep my mouth shut. It won't do to commit suicide! I just listened in bored silence how they were all arguing which song to do and rejecting every song as too difficult! I have a reason to believe I am any time their superior - I could do a whole play with lengthy dialogues and a lot of acting! 

Most of us wanted one German and one English song. After a lot of discussion, My concluded that two songs per group were too much-  we needed to choose just one song and chose one German song. This enraged Mks and he broke out loudly.

"Hey, This is too much. I can't tolerate it. This is disgusting. We are in a bilingual school. Both languages are important. Cristmas is such a prominent festival; we need to teach the children at least one English song. As it is, the majority of students in the whole school as well as in my class are the English speaking ones. They don't understand German. But I am not allowed to have my way. You do whatever you want; I don't want to say or do anything. It is so frustrating. Damnit."

My and Mz both just curled their lips in obvious leer and none of the other teachers including myself let escape any verbal or facial reaction; it would be as bad as telling you are Charles in front of Cromwell! Nobody wants to die a traitor...

Mtn also came in briefly to tell us how to send the weekly emails to the parents as some groups were still having problems. He was still in Stf's office working on the school computer when I went into the office to request Stf for a Christmas tree for my class too.

Stf promptly talked to her supervisor who replied I would have it possibly by tomorrow. I beamed at her graciously and then surprisingly she gave me a hug. 

We got over from the meeting very late. As we were going out I glimpsed Mks having a one to one meeting with Stf. Oh, God, I hope, he is not being fired, I thought uncomfortably.

I walked to the station in Stf, Ndn and Mk's company. Cl as usual, would either go alone or in somebody else' company rather than mine! We were but naturally discussing how bad we were feeling because of Stf. Surprisingly, I wasn't feeling bad at all. I had never believed in Stf and knew from the first moment that she would never pay us, never listen to us and do exactly what she wanted whether we agree with her or not.