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.....!
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.....!
No comments:
Post a Comment