An's day out with big 6 year olds

Mri is in Canada on indefinite leave due to Visa issues. We don't even know if she will ever come back in Germany, leave alone showing up in our kindergarten again. Her absence may not have been noticed so much but for the fact that a lot of teachers are absent from the school due to one reason or the other and her group is absolutely without any teacher.
Mz, My, Jn, were all absent today. That left only Mcl to look after Mz's group but today morning he rang to inform that by mistake he had risen late in the morning so he will be late by half an hour to school. Half an hour later he rang again to tell us that he fell down from U Bahn stairs and was hurt so he won't be coming for next few days!

 Mgt and An were sent to look after the whole group. Both Cl and I wondered what was happening in that group today because of Mgt's notoriety in not being able to do anything anywhere and because An is so soft, gentle and self effacing; we have never heard her speak in a loud tone while that group children are so rowdy, indisciplined, loud and totally out of control.

I met An in the playground and asked how her day was going in the group and her reply didn't surprise me at all.
She replied rolling her eyes heavenwards.
"Oh, they are horrible. They don't listen no matter how loud you shout after them. The morning circle time was nerve racking. They kept shouting loudly, talking, fighting, pestering each other and didn't have the courtesy to listen quietly when the teachers were talking to them, let alone obeying them. We took them to the gym and then brought them out here in the playground where they can use all their energy in sports. I feel I am so much better with my baby group in which the little babies don't know yet how to talk."

Mgt is angry with us...and we don't care now...

So Mgt really is angry with me. Twice in the near past she had sailed past me on the road outside the school looking elsewhere pretending she didn't notice me. Today in the morning I was heading towards the school and she did the same pretending again.
I marvel at her intellect. How can she even imagine that people wouldn't recognize her from even so close a quarter as just 2 meters in broad daylight and her profile easily visible even when she tried her best to keep her face averted in the opposite direction?

I discovered that Mri who is not coming to school these days is not unwell but has been deported to Canada.
Her German boyfriend had planned a surprise trip to Croatia for her to spend their long weekend together. She however didn't have the Visa to enter that country. She was detained, I guess, in the train that goes to Croatia and then deported back to Canada by force.
"At thirty years of age, she ought to have known that proper visa is needed to enter a country." Mc (who is male practitioner in Mz/ Mri's group) remarked wryly.
"What a serious mess she is in now."
"And if we substitute her with Mgt, we are in a far far greater mess."
"What? What do you mean?"
"Well, er....well...er...you know....Mgt is.....not exactly a pleasure to work with in our group...." He trailed off.
"Hmmmmmm. I know what you mean...."

I and Cl had been secretly rejoicing and thanking our stars over and over again which made Mgt unable to come to our group anymore. And I had speculated that maybe we had a bad experience with her because our children were small; maybe she committed so many blunders because she was not used to working with such little children. But Mc's casual remark opened our eyes. So she is not working properly even with the six year olds...
Does she even know what pains we have taken to protect her and her job? If we had reported all her willful errors she might now be sitting outside the school.

The new girl

A new girl has joined our group. She is also Ll from England however an American by place of birth.

Yesterday was her first day and she was admirably perfect; no crying, no whining, extremely interested in all and everything and flashing at us her beautiful smile every third second. That however was only yesterday.

Today she had to spend her first day at the kindergarten without her mother. For the first half hour she was fine, only sometimes suddenly remembering that her mommy wasn't there. Then she happened to glimpse her mommy through the kitchen door glass and that was the end of fair weather. She cried and screamed and screeched to her full might. Being only 2 months short of three years old and of medium, sturdy, healthy built, she was as strong as a horse. She would kick, push and scream and even tried to hit and scratch to get away from us and out of the classroom door till her mother really took fright and decided to be with her.

I feel certain Mgt is angry with us, maybe a little more angry with me than with Cl. She keeps a straight, unsmiling face now and just drops a cold and curt 'Hello' and 'Bye' to me that's all. Probably she took a serious offence because I spoke to her that way last Friday.

Luckily she is not coming in our group since yesterday as she has to go to Mz's group because Mri is unwell and absent from the school. I wish she would stay in any other group rather than come to us.

Oh Mgt!

Yesterday we had resolved to correct Mgt whenever she made a mistake.

 Accordingly, today when we were having our morning circle time and Fr began reclining on her lap like on a living room sofa, I first instructed him to sit properly like the other children; he wasn't obeying at first and continued to stick to her and willfully recline on her thighs and she wasn't objecting.
"You see, Mgt", I remarked casually so as not to hurt her in any way and still gently drive my message through.
"You love him so much and he also loves you so much that he wants to sit close to you and lie down that way. But this is a school and we need to teach proper behavior and discipline to the children so he must learn to obey his teachers and behave properly. You know, yesterday you were not here and he was perfect! He sat, walked , ate, peed and did everything else properly. I have noticed that only when he sees you, he wants to misbehave."
I hoped she didn't feel bad but she did. She didn't say anything and kept silent.

Then bigger incidents occurred.
When we were going to the playground, Fr as usual wanted to walk with Mgt and then less 5 meters gone he started insisting to be carried. Before ever she could pick him up, I broke in again, feeling like a villain at the core of my heart.
"Mgt, look, he is trying play up on you. He is big enough to walk and he does walk on his own. I think I should hold his hand because he tries to take advantage of you." and so saying I took his hand and he walked fine all the way to the park.
She felt bad but I couldn't help it.

On the way I noticed that Sf was wearing wet clothes too. She too had been to toilet with Mgt and like we always have to take care to roll up children's shirts, bodysuit, skirts, frocks etc to protect them from dipping into the toilet bowl she had just stood watching her while her long dress got wet with pee!

While we were in the park Fr peed on himself so bad that even his shoes and socks got dripping wet. The last several days he hadn't peed while in the park because we always took him to the toilet before going there. Today Mgt had taken him for pee. We guessed that maybe he outright refused to pee or did sit down on the potty chair but got up without peeing which is why he peed so hard that even soaked his shoes. It was useless asking her; she was visibly in bad mood. Just 2-3 days ago when Mgt had taken Fr to toilet she had proudly told us that Fr had refused to pee in the toilet and had screamed so much for wearing a diaper that she had to give him a diaper...!

I am really getting sick now.
At about 50 + years of age one would imagine her to have more experience and common sense at dealing with things like these. It doesn't require a university degree to figure out how a child should be made to sit on a toilet bowl or what care should be taken while a child is peeing. Furthermore, she is a certified teacher - not even a trainee who is still learning and 7-8 months in a kindergarten should be more than enough to learn these little basics. What, why and how she doesn't know is beyond me. Every single day she makes such silly, clumsy, stupid mistakes for which we have to apologize to parents.

I talked about this to Mks and even he knew how bad she is at work. I was absent on Tuesday and she was given the charge of putting the children to bed and waking them up. We put them to bed everyday at 12.00 noon and start waking them at 1.15 so that by 1.45 they all are up and dressed as they have to have a snack at 2 pm and some of them get picked up. Well, and she let them sleep till 2 pm. When Mks reminded her twice that she should start waking them up, she said, "Oh, let them sleep a little longer. Its good for them."
Imaginably there was chaos when the parents came to collect their children and found they were still sleeping. Many children went home straight after bed without having the time to eat their snack.

Its time to take some step. Her presence in our group is a serious threat to our quality and commitment. On Monday, I will first discuss this with Cl and if she agrees then I will disclose this matter to Mz. I had been trying to avoid doing any such thing which can endanger her position and reputation in this school but I really think her position and reputation should not be so much my concern but her's and if she is any serious about maintaining her job and prestige then shouldn't she be working accordingly?

Language Problem

We had the usual staff meeting today; as always Mgt arrived late when almost half the meeting was already gone.

On the spur of the moment I decided to address a problem I and Cl are having regarding Mgt's frequent use of Spanish and Italian with our children and her unshakable belief that she is right in doing so despite our gently telling her that that is not so.

When Mz asked if I and Cl had anything to say for our group I pounced on the opportunity and asked in front of all the teachers if we are allowed to speak children's mother tongue to them. I wanted Mgt to hear the answer and so sensibly refrain from speaking languages other than German and English with the children while in our group.
 Cl turned her face sideways to hide the uncontrollable smile on her countenance and while I listened gravely to Mz's answer that we indeed must not speak children's mother tongue to children as we have been appointed here as English or German teachers, I was aware of Mgt who suddenly stood up and started collecting the dishes from the table to conceal her embarrassment.

I was glad I didn't take any names and that nobody took any names and feel sure the answer must have convinced her now that she shouldn't be speaking anymore Spanish and Italian in class.

Kts B'day

Today was Kt's B'day!
He had come specially dressed in an Indian brocade Sherwani suit which his father requested that we change after the party was over so that it didn't get spoilt and dirty.

Kt was a child in our group last year together with Ml; both of them were South Indian, both spoke the same language and their families were great friends too. So they created such a chaos in school that it was impossible to control them, especially Kt who is an extremely active, loud, uncontrollable and mischievous boy. So As decided to separate them and threw Kt in the baby group while Ml remained with us.
 It was very unfair for Kt as he was of the right age to be with us and if he had been with us he could have learnt a great deal more than of course in the baby group.When Kt's mother was informed of the decision she was quite angry but couldn't do anything about it.

Now after spending an almost useless one year in the baby group, Kt got promoted to our group.
His mother is notorious in the whole school for being ghastly unsocial. Forget about speaking, she never even smiles at anyone in the school; she just throws Kt in through the classroom door without a customary polite 'Good Morning' or 'Hello' to the teachers, without even waving a 'Bye' to Kt, she just turns her back sharply like a sword and goes away.
Usually I keep bumping into her at the station or in the school way and a few times even in the train but she just avoids talking. Once I remember, we were coming from opposite directions; she glimpsed me from a distance and changed the side of the road conveniently so that she could avoid me entirely..!

Her husband is very nice though. He talks pleasantly and has no problems in any discussions.

According to the new policy formulated by Stf any child in our class who turns three, will have to be promoted to the next group to create a vacancy for a new admission. So Kt who has turned three today will be in next group from next week onward.

Yesterday we broke this news to Kt's father. He was surprised and then immediately a bit suspicious...
"Why? Has he done something wrong that he is being given another group?"
This question made us burst out laughing.
"No, no no, not at all, not at all." We laughed. "He is being promoted to the other group because he is three years old now and fully developed to be in the next group."

Kt has been only about 2 weeks with us and I can clearly say that his parents were happy with us because we talked and discussed Kt regularly with them, something which was never done with them the whole last year, and his mother has even started smiling amiably at me as best as she is capable of. I am sure they must be happy now to learn that he is going to a bigger group. 

Octoberfest party

Yesterday we had our first October fest Party for the staff.

Cl, Mri, Nd, Bh, An, St the boss, even Mz were in the typical Bavarian dress while Stf, Mgt and I were the only ones in casual. Mks and Mk were also dressed in casuals. Nd is naturally beautiful with blond hair, blue eyes and nice features even though she is plump; the beautiful Bavarian dirndl made her look as pretty as Cinderella!

While we were on our way to the station I and Cl discovered that Mk and Nd are in love with each other and are in a relationship since three months! The entire school knew this and I and Cl were the only ones who didn't. We were so happy for them and congratulated them. Together they were looking as pretty as a picture and all through the party Mk just couldn't keep himself away from her, hugging and kissing her every now and then, sometimes tenderly sometimes almost violently passionate.

We had such fun!
I had been to Octoberfest several times before but this was the first time for me to be inside the tent where the real Octoberfest is celebrated. The environment was just crazy with a sea of people, beer jugs, lights, music, noise and heat. We all were just cracking silly jokes and laughing at everything without any reason.  They all drank so much! Even Mz who had earlier told us that she doesn't drink because she is a Muslim, drank a lot and starting behaving crazy. Mks had started to look drunk before his first jug was over and then he downed 3 more full jugs and was asking for more.
Knowing that I don't take beer or other hard drinks Stf had ordered coke for me.

The first 2 hrs we spent at the table where our seats had been reserved and the others all ate chicken while I, being a vegetarian, ate baked potato. Stf who is plus sized, complained she couldn't eat her chicken as her huge boobs were obstructing her and half of her fork contents kept falling in her cleavage. The others laughed and said she could let the fallen food remain there and use them as her mid night snack.
Cl doesn't like to drink much for fear of becoming drunk and losing control over herself (just like her to be so sane and sensible!) She ordered her beer half mixed with Sprite but couldn't finish even half. In addition she had to force herself to eat her huge chicken so that the beer she had drunk didn't hit her. So much of food and beer ended in making her deep Bavarian bodice too tight to breathe. "I can hardly breathe! But, shhhh, don't tell this to anyone." She giggled.
Once Mk who was sitting close to Mz innocently sneaked out his hand under Mz's bums to pick up something and Mz jumped with her face so horrified that we kept on laughing for another half hour till we thought we were now going to throw up all the liquid we had taken in.

Then we got up and I thought the party was over and we were going home, but the group lingered at another end of the tent and Stf ordered several bottles of Champagne, a very high quality of Champagne. They kept on downing one glass after another. Unfortunately there was no coke here for me so I drank nothing. I did taste Cl's beer once and the champagne too but didn't like the taste.

I left the party at about 9 pm while they all stayed late till 11 pm and all got drunk; even Cl! Mks had to forcefully leave the party as he had become too dangerously down.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself as everyone was doing even though I didn't drink. I was touched by Cl's caring attitude for me even in a crowded and busy place like the Octoberfest - but it is not surprising - we both are very caring towards each other. She kept asking me if I was enjoying, she offered me her beer jug to get a taste and even placed my order. She is really one of the most lovable persons on this earth.

On the whole I had a good time and will always remember my first October fest party. For all I know, it could well be my last as well! We still don't know how long we are to remain in Germany but whatever,
I have promised them ( and myself too) that if I chanced to remain here till the next Octoberfest I will definitely buy myself a dirndl...!