meeting with Ulk and our new team leader

Today I had a meeting with Ulk

First off she told me that my colleagues were a bit irritated with me due to my quiet unresponsive attitude during meetings. By colleagues I know she meant only Mrn. True, I have almost always kept quiet during these meetings as sometimes I find discussed subjects abject foolish while sometimes I consider how dangerous it could be to offer my ideas to a set of particular people like Mrn, Sbr or jn who tend to always rebuff me.

I felt glad for being asked to speak out! That gave me a kind of license to be able to speak and offer my suggestions.

Then she discussed how to implement my new concept of Nature and Culture studies. The last time I was on the verge of introducing this concept, I went on a month long holiday which not only stalled this project but also gave another project in somebody else's hand: the project of preschool group. I had wanted that so badly. And this time when I am again asked to start this project, I am going on a three week holiday to India again!
The preschool group I probably could be given from August onwards.

She also informed me that Jn would be our new team leader! Out of the fire straight into the frying pan! Jn is none other than that young German girl who claims she is a native English teacher because she visits England once or twice a year for a week or two. Her English grammar is often full of errors but no one dares tell her. But probably the worst part is, she already dislikes me enough to make me uncomfortable with the idea of having her as team leader.

Probably Mrn was still better....She let me do what I wanted not because she respected my capability but because this gave her free time for herself. Jn will not do this...

Mrn is Leaving!

Today as I entered the group, I met Jnn. She excitedly blurted that since Mrn was pregnant and physically not able to do much work (any work), the management has decided to send her on maternity leave for about a year or more. Her last working day would be my last day before going on a three week holiday.
"Are you leaving Mrn?" I asked her.
"Who told you?" She asked a bit miffed."I had planned to break this news to you personally. Well, now you know. Yes, I am leaving."

I don't know whether to be happy with this news or sad. To be sure it would indeed be relieving to get away from her dreadful shadow because she keeps me in something like a constant eclipse. She kind of smothers me. But this also means getting a new team leader and who would that be?

I went up to Ncl to talk to her if I could be given leadership. Nope. I can't be given because my qualifications no matter how high they are, are not recognized in Germany. She had sent my certificates to the authority but hasn't received any reply as yet.

A good and a bad news!

The good news is, that woman Shy has been probably rejected.

The bad news is both Jss and Gl are running from pillar to post to pitch Cris in!
Oh no...Oh no...Oh no.....

A disturbing news

I heard today from Mryl that Shy was here on hospitation yesterday! Shy was a dumb (and mute) middle aged Indian housewifely child carer in baby group in MM while I was there. In a particular meeting in MM, I remember her telling all of us that she was teaching ( or trying to) English opposites to babies under two years! Imagine babies not being able to tell their name or identify their belongings but smart on opposites!!

And she was sister in law of Rvn...

It would be scandalous to have her of all people be my colleague. I guess if that happens, the first thing I will need is to bury all the dead and start a new life afresh!

"Nowadays I have begun to think this place is after all no better than the MM;" Jss commented ruefully."they employ just about anyone, just like MM without any regard to qualification or standard."

Jss is fit to get murdered. This kindergarten offers a bonus of 200/- for introducing a new teacher. For the sake of these 200/- Euros she has until now introduced nearly 4-7 teachers from MM which includes me. So far so good, I only hope and pray that Cris does not come hurtling my way here.

 

Down with fever...and disappointment

Until Saturday afternoon I was in perfect health. The weather was fantastic with 23 degrees and completely sunny with sparkling blue skies. We went out to look for a new cycle for H and for myself, then had a bit of a lunch in a typical German farm house, then to the city center to buy somethings, then back home. And then suddenly within an hour I was down with fever and cold.

I was a bit disappointed to be unable to go to the kindergarten when I so much wanted to. I had to report to Mrn how wonderful and successful the whole week had been. I wanted to see how she and Jnn would react to this or what faults they would pick owing to their nature of fault finding.

I was aware of how I had been labelled by them as irresponsible for reporting about my absence at 8.30 instead of 7.00 or 7.30 (and I couldn't inform in time as I was under sedative meds)
In every other kindergarten where I have worked before, it was sufficient to call in the morning between 8-9 a.m. to report that I wasn't coming. In this kindergarten you are supposed to inform as early as 7.00 or 7.30 plus send an email to a bunch of people.

Not wanting to invite any further labels of irresponsibility, I Smsd Mrn on Sunday on her private cell, then mailed all the required people officially. Even after this, the next day Monday, I SMSd Mrn again in the morning at 7.30 on her private cell, then called Jnn on her private cell to inform that I wasn't coming.
Not sure what false allegations Jnn might find for the last week's activities, I also mailed to Mrn a concise report of last week about everything that had happened.

Later in the day, Mrn sent me a curt almost to the point of rude email that next time when I have to report sick I have to do it ONLY on the group cell phone and NEVER on private phone. Furthermore, in one of her messages she said that even though I had mailed everyone it was important that I ring personally and inform as "one doesn't often check one's mailbox." Imagine this coming from her who told me I could have checked my official mail at home.

 Yes, I do understand that official reportings have to be made officially which I did and in time. But if you have to inform someone on a weekend then how do you do it other than smsing on private cell number? And besides, she always did say to all of us that she was reachable on her private phone at all times even when she was on sick leave or a holiday.

Her rude email has left me with a bitter sour taste in my heart. She just doesn't like me and anything and everything good that I happen to do just heightens her displeasure with me. Not a nice situation to be in for sure...

Loz's Birthday

Yesterday was Loz's birthday. Neither of us were in a position to do do much as regards celebration because of being just two in the group. We just sang birthday song for him and in the afternoon I made his birthday crown with the help of other children. He had baked muffins in his baking workshop which served as the  birthday snack.

Mrn called to wish him happy birthday which was obviously diplomatic of her. Jnn didn't bother to do any such thing.

This whole week the group has done extremely well. No mishaps...no complaints...not even those tit bits of accidents that punctuate a kindergarten life such as, falling, hurting, fighting or wetting.

There's a girl in our group who is since three months on potty training. She forgets to go to toilet and wets herself - sometimes three or four or more times a day. Jnn has professionally learnt health education but is totally void of basics such as these. Yes, of course, ignorance is not a crime, but if one is ignorant and brags of being an expert it certainly is a bit of a crime; even more so when such a person even starts accusing other better workers of being something like fools. Jnn had never been able to devise a solution for this situation on her own, her greatest feat being correctly dressing or changing the children. She would grow irritated but still change them a hundred times if needed, without trying to solve the situation. This is hardly the way to train a child.

When left on my own in the group, I just took simple steps to ensure that she didn't forget to go to toilet and devised a reward program which was just drawing a star on the back of her palm. In the last five days this girl hasn't wet herself a single time. Today her parents came to me and were so happy with this. They have started a similar program with her elder brother (in yellow group) who is on potty training since more than a year and a half and still regularly wets himself leading his teachers to believe that he must be lacking sensation in his lower body. Talk about experts!!!

And soon the last day of the week drew to its end too. This was, without a doubt, my happiest week in this kindergarten. And not surprisingly for Loz too. He too admitted that he has been very happy this week, the way he hadn't been since a long long time. "I actually enjoyed myself so much this week; I worked totally carefree and happy without any stress or tensions even though we were just two in the group."

I have warned him to take care of certain things when he is around Jnn or Mrn, for example not lingering extra on his breaks tidying up the room properly and especially noting down his activities or other self related information in our daily register so no one, not even Jnn could say he didn't do so and so thing.

Mrn and Jnn both will be back on Monday. Loz himself will be on leave on Monday and Tuesday and will be back on Wednesday.
How I'm dreading Jnn's and Mrn's return! They both are such big 'kill-joys', such wet blankets....

An unbelievably nice day today

Mrn was supposed to be absent just for two days but today she rang to tell us that she won't be coming the whole week due to still being ill.
And what a nice day it was without Mrn the morbid or Jnn the dreadful.

In the morning Jnt from the yellow group came to help us out. She is a good jolly natured person who doesn't seem to mind smiling affably at others. She stayed with me till Loz arrived and after that Loz and I were alone with nine children and the whole day passed with touch-wood no mishap and no fear and restraint in our hearts.

In the afternoon, after nap time, the green group had to go for meeting. So their group of 16-20 children were split between our group and the yellow group and we managed together with no problem at all.
Loz commented that he felt very happy and relaxed after having talked to me yesterday. Just like me, he noticed too that despite just the two of us with nine kids that later became fifteen kids which is more than we had ever had in this group before, we hadn't experienced any tension, stress or even difficulty in managing the day - something which is impossible to imagine with Jnn who constantly complains of stress, stress stress and tensions and difficulties even when there are just five kids with four teachers.
If she were present today she would have died with her stress..!

Long after I had returned home from the kindergarten, I received a call from him informing me about the transport strike tomorrow. Although this time I had received ample warning from all quarters through mails and messages, I must say I rather liked this kindly and helpful gesture of his; so unlike the previous incident last week when Jnn and Mrn both proved to be so brutally unhelpful.

A heart to heart meeting

Today Mrn was sick so she went home leaving the group to Loz and me alone. Jnn is on holiday this whole week.
I must say, it was in a way relaxing to be able to work without either Jnn or Mrn around. While Mrn seems to tell us without telling that she knows best and we are nearly fools, Jnn watches with an unsuspecting eye only to report not only each ounce of oxygen that you inhaled per minute but also if you inhaled other gases which you were not allowed to. Watch dog of the boss!!

The whole day went without a mishap - something which never happens here naturally because of Jnn who makes sure she has something negative to say.

In the afternoon, we had our meeting - just Loz and me alone! Ulk was supposed to join us later.

First I talked about a few children related points and then when my points were finished Loz he wanted to discuss a particular matter related to Jnn. And he slowly and a bit hesitantly opened up his heart to tell me how he was getting sleepless nights because of her.
"I don't know what's her problem. Why she seems to single me out for doing this kind of thing. I believe she is a quite nice person and is good with her work. But on many occasions in the past and particularly in the last 1-2 months she seems to report things about me that I haven't even done. At first I listened in silence without arguing or refuting her because I found arguing ugly. But now it has become a routine that she says bad or untrue things about me and what is worse all the others have even started believing her, so no matter what I say in my defense they are still going to believe her. The latest example is last week she reported me to everyone that I left the kindergarten with children playing in the garden without being supervised by any group teacher, without informing Jnn. This is not true. I told her not once but twice."

I heaved a great great sigh. "I know exactly what you mean, Loz. You are not alone in this. I am in the same boat. I have a whole long list of things she did wrong but nicely blamed them on me letting others think I am no good. Just like you I too did not like making things turn ugly by arguing but this only spurred her confidence for lying. And recently I have noticed that she has started watching us and reporting us, and most of the times she reports absurdly wrong. She has become great friends with Mrn and the others and they all seem to trust her and believe that she is a poor hard working lamb while we are hideous wolves just waiting to grab our paycheck and do everything wrong or nothing at all in the kindergarten."

We talked for nearly half an hour over this matter and decided that we shouldn't keep quiet about it and must discuss it with Mrn and request her to a least verify her claims before believing her reports.

Jnn was crazy today

Today Jnn, Loz and only I were present in the group. Mrn was on her leave; she is always either on her paid leave or sick leave or taking her overtime down which again means absent. When does she work then? And how the hell does she get so many over hours without working?

Well, so Loz went with some kids to the park, while Jnn and I stayed behind in the group. For some reason Jnn looked and acted extremely irritated. I asked her two three times if she was okay or everything was okay with her. She promptly said yes but continued to look like an irrascible grandma ready to fly off the handle. She left the children in the inside room alone while she sat down outside to write a lengthy documentation work something that we are actually supposed to do only during our free time.

Usually the day Mrn is absent, Jnn always rushes to finish her work as soon as possible. Today she was particularly crazily rushy
She not only woke the kids up from their nap a bit too early but also ordered the children to sit down for snack a full half hour earlier than everyday. That's when almost as if the kids decided she needed to be taught a lesson. First Pl knocked off his glass of water and got himself and the child sitting next to him wet. She irritably scolded him and changed his clothes. She wasn't even half finished with this work, when another child dropped water on himself in the same fashion. I began changing this kid, when Em knocked off her glass and got herself soaking wet. Jnn changed her, brought her back to her chair and the next moment, Em knocked her partner's glass full of water again getting herself as well as her partner wet. Jnn couldn't believe it happening. She changed her again and this time Em poured water from the jug all over the table!

In total, she was changed four times just one after the other and Jnn was ready to pull her hair out of her scalp.
"Jnn, we ( not we,only she; I wanted to be polite) should not have made the children sit so early for snack that too with water in front of them. It's our fault."
"Its good we made them sit so early, considering so much of time that we have spent changing so many children so many times."

She is such a moron....

Public Transport Stike

Today as I waited for my usual morning bus with H at my side I was a bit puzzled to see neither any bus nor any other passenger like me waiting for the bus. S rang to tell me that today was a public transport Strike. I rang the Kindergarten to inform them. Ulk advised me to take a taxi which would be paid by the school. I rang the Taxi service but there were NO taxis available, all having been already taken. I kept trying  incessantly for the next two and a half hour but no success. Finally I decided to stay home and mailed my absence.

The next day, Mrn asked me how was I going to adjust my yesterday's absence. I could use it as my overtime or take a leave.
"Let me think, which would be better." I said thoughtfully.
"Ya, think about it-" She replied a bit pertly which made me look up sharply." because the kindergarten can't pay for this day when it is your fault. The school had duly informed you about the strike."
"Mrn, I am not asking to be paid for this but I got no information. Ncl sent me the official  mail on my official id at 2.38 pm. I check my official mails only in the school. At that time I was in meeting together with you all and Ulk until 3 pm. Then I went home. I didn't see the mail until today morning."
"But you could have checked your official mail at home." She reiterated somewhat irritated. " Or you could have walked to the school; the distance is not so much that one can't. And by the way, Jnn says you knew about the strike."
"Whatt?" I cried. "No, that can't be true. I did NOT know about the strike."
Jnn stepped in super calm and cool and confident."Yes, you did. yesterday I was talking to Nkls discussing the strike and you said yes, you were also aware about it."
"NO, I didn't. If I knew, do you think I would fake it?"
"Oh man," Mrn threw up her hands in irritated dismissal. "You decide whether you knew it or not."


I was hurt and deeply insulted on an issue that I hadn't even raised.

I had 5.45 hours overtime and I decided to take that.
"This will make you half an hour in minus. Is it okay?" She asked. This means you will need to do half hour extra today."

I went to Ulk and asked her to calculate my extra hours. It turned out Mrn had calculated my extra hours (deliberately) wrong. She had put me in minus hours even on my medical leave!

I suspect she has been calculating my work hour deliberately wrong. No matter how more I work, I always show up in minus.

Mrn is pregnant

Today as soon as I went to the group, Mrn took me to the staff room and broke the news to me that she is pregnant. This is her forth month. I was happy and congratulated her and extended my full support and help to her if and when she needed. I wasn't exactly surprised; the load of fruits and juices and special teas which she had lately been bringing with her to the kindergarten had made me suspect that she was probably pregnant.

In the afternoon, we all four had a dead serious meeting with Ulk who formally discussed this pregnancy and asked us if we wanted to know something more. We were asked to write down our questions , feelings, impressions and fears on separate pieces of paper and then talk about them. When we all had done that, Ulk collected all the paper notes, threw them to us in a mail and said that the meeting was very productive.

Mrn will be going on maternity leave in August. Jnn looked a bit shaken and bewildered. She seemed to be araid of the new changes this pregnancy could bring about in the group. Well, so am I...a little bit...! I mean, now Mrn is going to be a good deal absent from the group which in other words means Jnn is going to get a free play - free play or a substitute; and neither prospect is heartening to say the least.

Zlt thinks the same too

Today, I was out in the park where I met Zlt. She is a poor, not much educated Bulgarian single mother of a sixteen year old daughter. She came to Germany three years ago, quickly learnt the language due to her hardships and established herself totally owing to her grit and mantle. A true struggler, I call her.

She obtained a job in this kindergarten as a child carer just a month and a half later than me.
I normally asked her if she was feeling better in Grch's group; earlier she was in Sbr's group.
"Well, certainly I am not brimming over with happiness." said she sardonically. " Nobody smiles here or is a friend of anyone. Some of them seem to think they are experts and nobody else knows a thing. So many times I have seen people smile to someone's face amicably and sneer the moment his back was turned. I don't feel like coming to this place to work. It is depressing and oppressive. It gets on my nerves..."

So I am not the only one who thinks about this place in this way. I had begun doubting myself.

Bloody Ju

Today in the morning, I saw Lnd a bit absent minded and upset.
"What's the matter?" I asked casually. And she took me the adjacent room and burst into tears!
"I can't handle this place anymore. I wish I could leave right now. Why do they make an issue of such trivialities?"
She had forgotten to tidy up the Gym. That Ju the bitch, came and started yelling and brought on Ul the manager to the scene just to blow this matter as big as possible.

I hugged her silently feeling so bad for her. I consoled her as best as I could. She recovered soon.
I guess, I am overreacting but it is so mean to make issues out of things. She seems to do it on purpose and I do not enjoy being insulted, complained about and shouted at. A bad start for today..."

It ended the same way as it had started. Well almost...

On Fridays the Yellow group has its meeting and so one from the our group and one from the Green group goes there to attend to the children while the teachers can have their meeting. Today, Mrn decided that two of us would go to help them out leaving just one teacher in our own so that everybody can say that the Green group doesn't help out and doesn't cooperate. Sounded extreme and the reason behind is both the Yellow and the Orange groups are trying to hunt down the Green group and sort of shutting them out or incriminate them. I have many times heard Mrn talk ill about them for really no reason. If anything, Grch is extremely hard working and innovative which is exactly why she has enemies.

 Well, so I and Jnn went to Yellow group. We did everything that was supposed to be done. Then when the snack was over I started dressing the children. One boy got an elbow push from another girl and he started crying. Just at that time Ju walked in and saw him cry. She just got the opportunity she had been in search of since the moment last Saturday when I said in the meeting that the paper (which she had written and I didn't know!) had plenty of grammar mistakes and other conceptual faults.
First she asked me why he was crying.
"Hnn pushed him slightly with her elbow. He is not hurt."
Her face was full of suspicion as if she didn't trust me. She then took him aside to confirm. Two minutes later she came up to me looking thunderous.
"You said Hnn hurt him but he says Alc hurt him."
"Ya that's right. Alc hurt him."
"Isn't there a difference between Alc and Hnn?"
I smiled naturally. " I get confused between these two girls. It was Alc."

Maybe in our next meeting there is going to be a separate point about this in the agenda...

She wanted to make an issue of it just like the morning incident with Lnd. I just somehow didn't let her.
She is hunting me down. Hunting me and the entire Green group. The Huntress!

It is a tragicomedy or a comic tragedy I don't know which term should fit here better, that the top most bosses are good, they spend a colossus amount of time, money and energy to keep develop good relations between employees. A separate department has been formed with hundreds of paid employees just to solve the matters of the internal. Our topmost boss has been offering bonuses to people to introduce new employees - yet at the ground level it remains a cat and mouse struggle with those few cats hell bent on turning other cats into mice and the mice straight into their stomach.

If I am right and if I have the power of justice and truth with me, I am going to defeat this bloody Ju at her own game. I am going to be all smiley smiley with her and will not give her the satisfaction of making my life miserable. She wants to frame me; I will try my level best not to give her any opportunity. She wants to make issues out of nothings. I will not regard her issues as issues- well, this can be maddening for her if she wants me to be upset and angry and I am not.

Oh yes, I noticed those icy cold policewomen speak very nicely to Jn the way they don't to me.

Carnival Party

We had carnival party today in the kindergarten. As per instructions, the children had to put on their costume and face paint/ make up etc in kindergarten itself to avoid scaring smaller children. This rule indeed was beneficial in building up their comfort level and tolerance with lavish costumes.

There was big party breakfast then a short morning circle. Then a tiny parade in which the children joined each other like a train and moved from one group to another. Each group offered a certain activity to the children. The Green group offered an interesting treasure hunt kind of play and face painting, the Yellow group - princess' castle to build and play, the gym - fun games and dance with music and the lab offered experiment with balloons. All the groups had something interesting and thrilling for the children. Only our group - the Orange group and the studio had nothing interesting; these both are handled by Mrn and she was dead rigid on keeping children calm and quiet. So we had only story book reading activity in our group and silently painting/coloring activity in the studio.Understandably both the rooms remained deserted with all the children choosing to visit the rooms where they could enjoy themselves.

The face painting done by Lr was horrible though; she made some children look shockingly ghastly and lurid that we were sort of relieved to wash off the paint an hour later.

On the whole, it was a remarkably quiet day, far quieter than the other days. I see the wisdom of keeping the children calm on a celebration day but still do not understand why should they be kept forcefully quiet on a special day which comes but only once a year when everybody including children and adults have the license to indulge in merry making festivities and wild fun.

I am on my guard...and it is not enough..!

Since yesterday, I just couldn't kick this idea off my mind how could I have been so ignorant until now. I should have paid more attention to all those clues screaming at my face.

I resolved to wear my broadest smiles on my face today and to smile at everyone even though the four police men of the system give you the creepy feeling that they don't just dislike you, they clearly hate you and suspect you for committing a murder any minute.

I met Jas at the station. She wanted to talk to me too. She is another one getting slow poisoned by the environs of this kindergarten. How I wish I could to her too. I can't. She is friend of Mrn and a great great gossip. Talking to her means broadcasting live!

Jn and I were just about to start our morning routine when I learnt Mrn was going home. Before saying Good bye, she casually mentioned to Jn that if any problem arose she could mail her or talk to her. Yes, in other words it meant that she was authorizing her to take control and to privately report any wrong doing. Not soo bad, but how do I know what and how correct is she reporting? Would it not have been better for her to say that we three should work together and discuss with each other if anyone of us is not sure how to do something?
I had one and half hour preparation time. I was so wary of Jn that I returned earlier so that she couldn't say that I overstayed to enjoy myself leaving her alone.

At twelve 0'clock, I went to the Green group to help due to shortage of teachers there. Grch is a hard working teacher but hugely targeted by the police men in much the same way as myself.

"Grch," said I, "you work so hard with the children and come up with such new ideas! I appreciate this."
"Thanks," she smiled, " you are also just like this. It is so unfair that other teachers treat you so badly especially your own group."

I was stunned. I did know deep in my heart that I was being treated somewhat badly; I didn't know it was a common knowledge and that everyone knew it.

I caught hold of Lnd later. She is another nice girl in the hapless Green group. Her heart is not exactly into kindergarten life and definitely has no teaching aptitude.She had admitted many time to me in the past that she can't handle the stress that this place, at times, gives her.

I implored her to tell me if she knew what people talked about me.
"Well, they say you are irresponsible because you can't be trusted to do do what you say you will do. That's because sometime in the past you took leaves and didn't inform them on time. Then they say that you don't really understand what you are told to do. Once there was that incident with inadequate dressing of a child from your group."

I was upset. Terribly upset at this. I took a leave and couldn't inform them on time as I was sleeping under the sedative effects of the medicines. It was a medical emergency. The inadequate dressing occurred just once with me. The other times it happened with Loz not me.

I came back to my group more enlightened on the situation than ever before.
I asked Jn several times if everything was alright. She said yes. You can trust her to say yes and then write a 100 page email to Mrn detailing what crimes I and Loz committed in her absence. As a precautionary step, before leaving the kindergarten, I wrote in the Daily Dairy things that we did so Jn doesn't have the chance to weave lies.

Power game or no power game, I stubbornly refuse to participate. I believe in doing my job honestly and happily. Its like dung beetles fighting, struggling, killing and dying for the sake of what? Yeah. A dung ball. For us it is just a dung ball, for them it is their life, their world, the very meaning and center of their existence.

The world far too much abounds in hypocrites who hug and kiss you like the Judases of the Bible. I am afraid I am no match for this. All the abilities that I have, I have always employed them to acquire abilities and to perfect them. I never did learn Politics and probably never will. Its a sad case and I do not want to lose out to treachery and deceit.

I have always had just this one simple policy. Win your enemies with love. Defeat them with honesty and good work. This cannot harm anybody; at the most it can only harm me. The road is difficult but I would rather be right and fail than be wrong and succeed.

Dirty and Dangerous

I was quite happy with the situation until yesterday but suddenly clouds are flitting aside revealing a somewhat dangerous facet which I, for some reason hadn't bothered to think about.

Nothing is as it seems..

Until now I had been considering Jn as a foolish hypocrite and not really anything more than that. Today I met Cl in the park. It seems all Cls are nice people and all Mrns are bad ones! ( She is a very nice middle aged woman with plenty of maturity, wisdom and good heart all of which shows on her face and I always feel drawn towards her.) I told her how Jn in our group who is seemingly far duller and dumber than a mouse is actually playing a clever game of her own. She pleases the boss to the limits of irrationality and carries private conversations to report about others- often times these reports are not even genuine. Already, she appears to have become the right hand person of Mrn!

She advised me to talk to her. "I have realized too that there's a lot of politics going on here; a tussle for power. And what you have told me just now is not just happening in your house, it's common in all the houses here and in nearly all the groups. But from what I have heard, this power game is the probably the worst in your house."

I pricked up my ears! This revelation suddenly fit the parts of the jig saw puzzle I had always been aware of, wondered at but not really analysed them as such. Mrn's taciturnity towards me, Ls, Jun, Sbrn's cool behaviour towards me, their contempt of Grch, Jn's existence from non - existent to nearly full blown right arm...the veiled allusions to certain things, the monopoly during the meetings, mysterious remarks, odd gestures ... it all suddenly started making sense now.

So now I know, both Mrn and Srn are strong strong contenders for top position or at least remaining on top and brutally trampling any other who dare climb up even an inch. They  also happen to be great friends together in much the same way as Mz and My. On the second rung of this killer ladder are Jun and Ls. Together these four guard their ladder and act as the owner or the under cover police system of the house. They roam about, passing through the diaper room, art studio, corridors and etc hunting for evidence of the single wrong done by me or two three hapless others. And if they catch you doing something wrong they don't request you to remedy your fault. They will smile their sweetest and let you do it and then publish your faults to the whole world without you getting a whiff of it.

It is disheartening to realize that no matter how good I am with the children, no matter how unprecedented good results I may have given to the parents, the children and the group, no matter if I possess a true spirit to do my best for the kindergarten and to learn quickly, I will still be judged in the extreme negative for doing something nominal such as forgetting to put on the cap on a child or changing my activity status on the magnet board....

Surfing in a new sea...same waters, different name, and I'm not complaining

I do so much want to resume my daily dairy about my kindergarten but am always so short of time. I will give it a shot though...

So a quick recap..

After I left that Kindergarten, and that was a little more than a year ago, I realized I was fast slipping into something like depression and melancholia. I would think about the horrible occurrences over and over again and every time I went to sleep would have a nightmare about Chri, Ank and Consti. I tried keeping myself busy, self learnt keyboard and then enrolled myself in a German course that pretty much ate up all my time to prevent me from brooding, yet the nightmares continued without fail...

One day, after three months to be precise, I received an email from Mrs Wlz asking me if I wasn't working then would I like to work in her Kita again under different conditions. I met her and talked to her to my heart's content. I was glad to hear her confess that she knew I had been a victim of conspiracy and mobbing by her staff. She also admitted that the same group which had begun doing so exceptionally well under me started rolling downhill as soon as I left and now it has reached such a lowly depth that she can only think of me to save it.
She offered me double salary, group leader position, offered to get my degrees recognized and complete command on my affairs totally uninterfered by anybody else in the school.
I accepted. The day I had to sign the contract I had to fly home to see my very ill mother. I stayed there for one month. When I returned Mrs Wlz regretfully informed me that she couldn't wait so long for me so she had employed somebody else. I admit it was like a big jolt to me but God does work in strange ways!
He had planned something else for me...
The same day, I received an urgent email from a Ja. She had worked in the same Kindergarten for two and half years and had resigned and joined another kindergarten, allegedly a big one! She wanted to refer me this big one now and immediately.
I did and bagged the offer with excellent salary with a truck load of perks. Dramatically, the day I received the confirmation email from this kindergarten, I received a second offer from Mrs Wlz asking me when could I join!

So I landed up in this kindergarten with the reference of no other than a colleague from that crazy hellish place.

Now I have been working at this place for eight months. It is a huge place with more than twelve groups and a gigantic staff. It is rich and luxurious, sometimes even extravagant and lacks practically nothing, nothing at all.
My horrible experience at the last one has doused a bit of my fire, I admit. I am more cautious now and prefer to keep myself deliberately hidden and underplayed rather than do anything nice and attract people's envy and jealousy.
My colleagues are pretty good, at any rate they are much much better than those old ones. Surprisingly, Ja is not the only one from that place here. There is also Gl the English teacher who I had replaced in that kindergarten! There are at least 8-9 people from that place and when we meet we always talk about how unbelievably bad that place was!

Just yeasterday, I was talking to Gl and she disclosed that about a month or so ago, Chri too applied here but was rejected. My heart missed several beats in a row!!!!!