Chaos! Chaos!! Chaos!!!

Today, as I was about to board my train to school, I received Stfn's call. She asked me if I was coming to school.
"Of course." I replied, baffled. "What's the matter?"
"Please don't come to school. Today there are only three teachers yet in the school - all the rest are ill. We also do not have any manager now nor is Stf, the boss available on phone or mail; so we have to decide amongst ourselves. We can't manage the kindergarten with just three or four teachers so we are closing down."
"But we don't have the authority to close. We have to manage anyhow. We can't close."

The fool that I was, I came back home, rang the school again and this time Ndn spoke to me who agreed that we couldn't close down.

I started for school once again, cursing myself for having wasted a good half hour already.
Even the train was late and kept stopping in the tunnel every five minutes or so. The main train station was simply speaking a sea of passengers!

Just outside the school building I saw Ll's mother and Ls's mother.
"We are taking our children back home."
"Why?" I cried.
"There is shortage of teachers in school. Our children can't be very well taken care of."
"Of course not. There are, indeed a few teachers who are sick and then there was some problem with the train due to which some other teachers,me and Asy as instance got very late. But this does not mean in the least that you need to take your child home. Please come."
"To tell the truth, I am a bit glad to see you. I would have felt very uneasy leaving Ll in this situation, but I think I can now leave her safely in the kindergarten."

I brought back both Ls and Ll. On the way, I met another truly baffled parent who wanted to know what the hell was wrong."Nothing at all. Just that, a few teachers are absent due to being sick and others got delayed due to something wrong with the train. Everything is okay now." I reassured him and he was okay.

As I entered the school, I was disconcerted to see so many panicked parents talking to all the equally panicked teachers. The expressions on their faces were enough indication that they were revealing the whole Mz-My episode in full details.
"Are...you...sure..., Ls...will...be...okay...if...I...leave...him?" Ls's mother wailed at my elbow.

"Why did you lie to me? You said the train was late, but here all the other teachers are telling me that there is shortage of teachers in the school." I heard someone, probably Ll's mother say this Asy.

I whispered to Asy who was as totally shocked and disconcerted as I was." They are telling all the parents about Mz and My. I can't imagine. We don't need to do that. It is our kindergarten's private matter. We don't need to tell them this. We should be discreet."
"They are telling everything...Oh no! It is so shameful...!"

"Do...you...really...think...Ls...will...be...okay?... He...was...ill...this...morning...."
"Is he unwell?"
"No...But...he...has...a...runny...nose.... And....he...didn't....eat....anything... in... the... morning-"
"Please go. He WILL be okay. Don't worry."
"You.... think... so....?"
I wish I could kick that woman out of the building.

The first disconcerting factor having faded, the other one emerged. There did not appear to be a teacher shortage after all, at least not bad enough to close down. There were total eight teachers out of fourteen and about 55 children. And many children had already been sent back and many were being persuaded to do so if it were possible for them. It now dawned on me why Ls' mother and Ll's mother were taking their children back- because they had been told to so. And I brought them back and couldn't understand why Stfn and Ndn looked puzzled to see them in the class.

To tell the truth, I felt furious, distressed and frustrated at the way together Ndn and Stfn had decided there was an emergency and should either close down or send as many children back as possible. They continued to bumble in one disastrous step to another until it was a complete torture to watch them.

God knows why they thought that fifty five children could not be managed by eight teachers or why they felt that this situation had something to do with Mz/My's termination.

They decided to have a merged morning circle of all the children together instead of letting them go to their respective groups and relaxing the tension build up. Meanwhile I managed to assure another parent- Ksk's mother- that he would be okay if she left him here, nothing to worry so not to take him back home only to discover later that Stfn had rang her up to come back and take Ksk back home. Phew!!!

When the assembly was over, they announced that only ten children at a time would have their snack in the kitchen, while the rest will be made to engage in free play in the hall. Mks and Gbt were managing their group separately.
"But why can't we have the snack in our room as usual? 12 children in our room, 12 children in the kitchen and the rest can wait. Isn't it possible?" I protested.
"No, it is not possible. I have not prepared their snack. It will take time." Stfn replied.
"Preparing musli and milk doesn't need any preparation or time." I suggested but Stfn had made up her mind already that she wanted things to be done the difficult and complicated way rather than simple and easy one.
So the children kept playing while at a snail's pace ten ten children finished their snack. It took ages to get finished with just 35 children.

"The snack is over but I have no idea what to do about the lunch."Stfn sighed deeply.
"I have a plan, if you want to listen to it." Said I. " We eat the lunch together, ten bigger children in kitchen, the rest twenty five in our room with more chairs."
"Oh, yes. That sounds good." She exclaimed.

We brought some extra chairs and an extra table and soon all the children were sitting in a neat order, eating their food in perfect discipline. We had no difficulty in serving food or cleaning up and absolutely none at all in getting lunch managed.
'I wish they had done like this at the snack time too. There was so much confusion at that time and now look this appears so good and orderly. Absolutely no confusion or chaos." Asy whispered to me.

For the sleeping time, luckily Stfn and Ndn didn't much exert their brains so every group slept as usual except my group which slept with the baby group. Ksk mother came to collect ksk at 12. 30 - his usual time and I saw Stfn talk to her, persuading her to "not to bring him to school if it was possible as we have a teacher shortage..." Arrgh!
Ksk's mother has agreed to keep him at home the week now.

I had a talk with Mchl. She too appeared rather off set and disgusted at the way our school's private affairs were made shamelessly public by all the teachers in the morning.

I was watching over the sleeping kids when Asy started chatting with me in hushed whispers as the children were asleep. She asked me what could be the reason behind Mz and My's treachery. Did Stf do something to them, maybe some injustice or bad behavior?
"I don't think so. My and Mz didn't have good character. They were not honest. They wanted more and more money, more and more power. They probably wanted more salary. They were also disgruntled by the fact that they rather had to work a lot without getting the money they desired. So they decided to teach Stf a lesson by plotting like this."
"You say, My and Mz were not good. Why? I think Mz was a very good teacher. And My was also nice."
"There can't be worse teachers than Mz and My. They didn't do anything with the children. And they were bad enough to get other teachers fired for their own personal reasons."
"Ya ya. Once I was talking to Stf and she had told me that I need not take notice of Mz as she is very jealous and many times she gets teachers fired because of her jealously."
"What?"
"Err, nothing. I just heard that she was jealous. I have to go now for my cigarette break. I will come later."
 She abruptly changed the subject and didn't talk about it again.
Apparently this remark had just dropped out of her mouth without her intention.


Now I know something else. Asy is Stf's secret informer in the school.

Once in the beginning she had told us that she knew Stf through her boyfriend. Once there was a rumor that although she works here for only five hours like me, her salary is by far heftier than even Mz or My. I had dismissed this rumor because she had herself told me once that she gets only 400 Euros which is very less and she wants more money. I had felt sorry for her for earning so less, apart from her modelling job but it is fact that she is not only the best looking female in the whole school, she is also the best dressed female in the school; furthermore she never appears like she has less money. Her dresses, shoes, bags, car, dogs, even magazines which she brings to school to read all suggest that in fact she is quite wealthy.

In the past she had similarly dropped unguarded remarks like: "I was talking to Stf and told her you don't need any watch over this group; these two are so dedicated they work hard without anyone telling them.'
and, " Stf asked me if it was okay to admit more children in this group." This remark in particular had baffled both me and Cl as we wondered why would Stf ask this question to Asy who is just one month old in the school, does not know any thing about our group, isn't even a teacher to begin with and has never worked in a kindergarten or with children before.
 
The day, for me was finally over but not my tension and apprehension.
When the parents came to pick their children up in the afternoon, Stfn began shamelessly requesting them to keep their children at home if it was possible for them as the next day too the situation would be very much the same like today.

I continue to feel ashamed and indignant the way Stfn and Ndn took an extreme step without even the need. The situation was not an emergency. It was not impossible to handle as they declared that it was. They, together with the other teachers like Mks literally stripped the school down by discussing Mz and My affair with the parents. The parents are now laughing at us or holding us in contempt and sarcasm.
The stupidity of our teachers resulted in such chaos and confusion, not to mention so much of unnecessary trouble and botheration for the parents.

It would have been far better to let the children come in as usual without panicking about the teachers, to maintain a discreet silence on Mz and My matter, talk to all the teachers to decide what was best to do and merge the groups. To have somewhat larger groups would still have been better and fairly manageable rather than having a jungle group of thirty five and telling them to 'play whatever you want, wherever you want, whenever you want' The school had a total number of 55 children today and eight teachers. Even if 10 children groups were formed, or 15 or twenty, we would still have been able to handle them handsomely. What made them think we couldn't?
I am amazed! What are they made of? Jelly? They get cold feet if they have to manage meager 12-15 children alone? Eight teachers mean emergency and urgent closure of the school? Didn't they feel ashamed begging the parents to take back their children as they were unable to look after them? Give me fifty and I can look after all of them alone.

I am wondering how Stf receives this news....

Mz, My Gbt, they all are evil

Wow, what an end to a horrible episode! And what an end to people like My and Mz. I regret they were let off rather leniently just like As. They deserve something more.

I was wrong in my perception of Gbt's character when I said she had nothing to contribute. She has apparently contributed a great deal. She has been instrumental in dethroning the two super power blocks in the school.
At the end of the day I am just impressed by the way these three women have revealed their low character.
Gbt might have ended up doing what the whole school most wished for but that doesn't earn her any appreciation from my side.
 I cannot respect the fact that a person who is barely out of the first six months of his first career in his life, sneaks into deliberate friendship with the two most important authorities in the institution and hatch a murky plot against the very institution, and then has the gut to turn against his allies on a miniscule issue, and go and give them away and now plot against them, as if plotting is his mission in life. This sort of behavior is best explained as having a snake in your sleeve.
I admit I had always found her mysteriously unpleasant, the type of person I couldn't exactly define but felt quite sure I didn't want to trust or be friends with. There was something in her demeanor that struck me as akin to dishonest though I couldn't quite pinpoint it as dishonest. Sometimes you get impressions in your mind you have no words to explain. In short she just bothered me.

As to My and Mz... what else is there to say? Two ambitious, manipulative, deceitful women, armed with the skills of false pretensions, and flattery and no real attributes,  have been able to get along fairly better than the others out there who are people of character, substance, talent and sentiments.
Yet, this is proof enough. Flattery will get you only this far - your meanness, only this down. They are still better off as they already have a new job somewhere else and now they do not even have to serve their notice period and are technically free. In addition, they have the impressive tag of 'served as manager of one of the biggest kindergartens in the city' in their circum viate to benefit them through out their life.

Mz was an evil woman. Her very presence was evil. Her exit makes me feel almost as if the Ravan of Ramayan has been killed.

It is Stf who has emerged as a real hero in this entire episode of plot and deceit. I have a grudging admiration for her keen intelligence which turned the whole plan back upon the perpetrators with no losses in the end. It is remarkable how she has turned a nasty situation to serve her advantage. She is intelligent and worthy of laurels. I only wish she gets someone right to lead her school. Its ridiculous that her efforts to obtain a fitting manager for her school only makes her stumble from one pitfall to the other making lots of money in between.

I wish she wouldn't trust that creepy Gbt. The very thought of Gbt gives me shivers down my spine.

Mark my words. Stf is anything but foolish. Gbt will also receive her end in a similar way...!

Jrn, the Dutch English teacher

Today I had Jrn with me as Stfn is still absent and will now probably come on Monday.

He is from Netherlands and is an English teacher in Mz's group.

He is an easy going guy and seems pretty keen on keeping his job safe uppermost, so much so that he can stoop and lick the ground. Of course everyone has a right on wanting to be safe and I am not at all criticizing him for it but his servile attitude, his unassertiveness, his eyes seem to say I know you are a fool and dog but I don't care. I am happy to call you my king because my job is in your hands. And how true! When everyone in this school has been fired due to just one reason even when they were badly needed for the school this lone fellow has been able to retain his job even though he is now technically not needed.

I love some of his qualities which typically only guys have and girls can never have. He had the guts to come in unwashed jeans and a chequered full sleeved shirt to a formal dinner in a highly posh restaurant where the dress code had been clearly specified and we all team members had been detailed and warned well ahead in advance. He also prides himself on his mobile phone which is old enough to belong to the bronze age and so broken that it has to be sticky taped to stay together. "It does everything I want it to do," He declares with a singular pride; "I can make and receive calls and sms to anyone I choose to, I have no fear of it breaking even if I drop it from a twenty story building, and no fear of it getting stolen ever. What more can a man want?"

A Great Great News!!!

Yesterday we had a meeting about which Mz had already hinted me that it was important. It was!  Unfortunately, I couldn't attend the meeting as I had my doctor's appointment. How I am regretting my absence!

Well, both Mz and My have been fired! Point blank! Their fault? They were seriously plotting against the school!

The meeting was opened by Stf by giving their letter of dismissal. Nobody could believe it. Mz started crying as always. And then the whole truth came to light.

Well the truth is like this: Mz and My both got a bit more friendly with Gbt.( probably because of same religion and same country origin) and all three obtained a better job somewhere else. However they decided to make their exit in a way that damaged Stf the most. So they planned to exit without informing during the Easter vacation. Furthermore they started instigating the other teachers to leave this school too. In fact Gbt left on My's instigation and Mz was telling her newly joined English teacher,Iz that she should leave this school. According to German law, if a school doesn't have required number of trained teachers as against the number of students in it, the school is immediately shut down. If Mz's plan had materialized, there would be only about three or less trained teachers in the school when the school reopened after Easters. It is not easy to find teachers, much less qualified ones. The appointment of at least 3-4 new teachers could take two three months, by which time the legal authorities would shut the school down.

Their plan was fatal and would have succeeded but for Gbt herself!
Gbt was completing her two week notice period and was often absent despite the shortage of teachers in school. My got irritated and told her heatedly that she shouldn't do like this. This angered Gbt so much that she avenged her insult by going straight to Stf and disclosing the entire blue plan with full gory details like the sms, mails etc and swearing that she had even seen their new job contract papers.

Stf, being Stf knew what to do now. Maintaining utmost secrecy,  she offered Gbt more money and cancelled her resignation. Next, she offered more money to Stfn, Mk and Ndn to stay in this school and not to think of resigning from here so that she can maintain the required number of trained teachers in the school at any time. And all this without letting either Mz or My get a whiff that their whole secret was out.

When My and Mz's letter of dismissal was read out in the meeting, it were Mz and My getting the nasty shock which they had snugly been planning to give to Stf. They were given just two weeks notice.

When I went to school today, I learnt the whole truth through Stfn during our circle time.
I had to know what was their version of the story so I asked My and she burst into tears. She took me the kitchen, closed the door then in broken English she mumbled that she worked so hard here and did so much for Stf but Stf believes in Gbt and not her. I gave her a comforting hug and wished her happiness and success in her next job. Then I went to talk to Mz. Understandably, she had more things to complain about.

"I worked so hard. I did so much for this school, for my children, for Stf. And all that has resulted in this? I have contacted all the parents and have talked to committee members and told them the truth so that they know what is happening here. Stf sent me and My dirty sms telling us that we are not religious. We should stop wearing the veil, stop praying to God because we are not fit to do that. we are wicked and God will never forgive us. You know when we were having Cl's farewell, I felt so bad that she was getting so many flowers from Stf and so many presents although she was not even full time. I stayed here longer and did a lot more work than Cl but no flowers for me? I would really like to have maybe just one rose and a note of thank you form her but look, this is how our sweat and blood gets repaid..."
"You told the parents?" I cried.
"of course. They should also know what bad things Stf is doing to us."
"Isn't that something you shouldn't be doing?"
"I don't care."

It was interesting to notice that there was an unmistakable suppressed excitement in the whole school. Everyone was battling hard not to appear happy including myself. Nobody said or even thought of saying that he or she was sorry for them. They just kept their eyelids firmly lowered so as to conceal their elation for the sake courtesy and probably I was the only one to express my regrets and to wish them good luck and then my reason to do so was only to know what they had to say. My good wish for them was not real.


Mks came to me. "Did you hear everything?"
"Yes." I replied. "Tell me are you happy or sad?"
"Happy without a doubt." He grinned shamelessly. "You can't feel sad for mean people like Mz and My! They tears don't mean anything. They were planning to leave, anyways and would have left but their wicked plan backfired at them. They are crying not because they are fired but because they have been found out and now have to leave on Stf's wish, not their own. And so popular are they, and such warmly loved that we are having trouble hiding our ecstasy."

I was in the sleeping room with the kids, waking up and dressing them. I  met Mz. She came to me in tears and hugged me.


"Stf has just now told me and My to leave immediately. She said,"Pick up your bags and go. Right now." I am leaving. I just wanted to say Goodbye to you one last time."

Coming back to my room, I met My, she too in tears. She already had her bag and was going to get her shoes. She threw one glance in my direction and looked away wiping her tears.
"My...?"
"I left."

Soon it was time for me to leave too. I met Ndn at the main door. She smiled charmingly.
"Do you know that both My and Mz have left?"
"That is what happens when you dig other people's grave; you fall in one." I replied.

What's wrong with Mz?

Today as I reached the school I met Mz in the wardrobe area. She was looking unwell. I asked if she was okay and lo! She burst into tears!

"What happened to you?" I cried.
"I am unwell. I had viral fever and am still not okay." She sobbed miserably. "But this doesn't matter to anybody. I must work."
"That's ridiculous. How can you work when you are unwell?"
"I can't take leave. There is so much work to do. I can't let my children be alone with the new teacher."
"But you have fever." I reiterated. "You will only get worse if you work in fever. Why don't you tell My that you can't work today?"
"My...!" She sighed sarcastically. "My is alone too. She has so much of work and her co teachers are also absent. I can't go and tell her,'Hey, I am going home too."
"Maybe you can talk to Stf?"
"Stf..!!! Hmmm. As if she would understand."" She sighed sarcastically yet again." Don't worry. I will be okay. I will stay here till I dry my tears."

I was really feeling bad for her. I went to my class and found we were together three teachers in the group today which is quite a luxury considering we almost always have to manage with so many kids with just the two of us and have to lend Asy to the others owing to teacher shortage. I ran back to Mz and offered her to have Asy in her group so that Mz could go and rest in the staff room. Mz had only Iz, the roughly one month old English teacher.
"Maybe you should ask My if she needs Asy. She is also alone." Her answer struck me as a bit strange.

I went to My and asked if she or Mz needed Asy. She declined too saying she had a trainee and Mcl already and so Mz could have Asy if she wanted too.

I ran to Mz again and conveyed My's message but she assured me she was okay and didn't need Asy.

Later in the afternoon, I was in the kitchen and Mz was there too serving food for her children. Suddenly Stf came in and I couldn't help notice the sudden taut, sarcastic, tense, cold, insulted expression cover Mz's face. They didn't even greet each other and Mz became suddenly very silent looking deep into the dishes she was digging into but appeared to be thinking something unpleasant.

I am guessing she has been reprimanded a bit too severely by Stf so she is angry with her; it maybe regarding her work in office or in school or maybe something entirely different which I do not know. I also feel strongly that she is also angry with My.

We have to have a meeting tomorrow and Mz has told me it is sort of important as Stf is also coming and she has to say something important. A pity I cannot attend this meeting as I have a doctor's appointment.

The illness Fairy

I was absent from the school for one whole week due to being sick.

Today when I returned back to work, I discovered our dear little kindergarten is being visited by some illness fairy! More than half the teachers were absent due to illness. The school had never before witnessed so many children and so few teachers. 'It was the hardest week in the history of this kindergarten!" People told me.
This week again many teachers are still absent.

Gbt, the Turkish teacher in My's group who had been a trainee with us just last year and had joined us as a fully trained German teacher has resigned. This is probably her last week. Nobody is happy or sad...
There are some people whose presence makes no difference to a place's productivity or environment and leaves no dent in your memory or a place in your heart. They have nothing to contribute to. They exist as if they don't exist! Gbt was precisely one such a person. The only two thing which I will probably remember about her was that all the food in the kitchen used to disappear when she was around. And if the food happened to be something nice like the vegetarian pizza then even the children fell short of food that day.And nobody saw her eat that much.

Her second remarkable feature was that she somehow, somehow appeared very slutty..the type who hurl their body and (body parts) right into your eye and seem extremely complacent and dead sure that you are dying a thousand deaths to see what they offer. 

Stfn's Birthday Party in School

Today was a huge birthday party celebration in our kindergarten. We were celebrating four teacher's birthdays together: Ndn, Stfn, Mym and Mks; out of these four, only Ndn was actually having her birthday today. The rest had already had it several days ago.

I had hunted far and wide for Stfn's choice of gifts and finally obtained just what Ndn had told me Stfn would love: home made bath bombs with glitters and the DVD of 'The Fast and The Furious'. In addition I also bought two similar bath bombs with glitters and tiny hearts for Ndn too and a bottle of wine and a small vegetarian recipe book for Mks.

I was very excited!
When I reached the school, I gave the present to both Ndn and Mks in private. Mks was so happy and gave me an affectionate hug!
Then to the real party in the hall!
After the singing of the birthday song for all the four birthday people, it was first Ndn's turn to get the gift. Mch presented her chocolates and a music CD. Then it was Stfn's turn. I brought little Nn and gave her a beautifully wrapped gift to present to Stfn. She opened it up happily and found it was just an empty box! Then I produced the real gift box. First she opened the bag of the bath bombs.
"Oh, I want to go home right now to take bath" She exclaimed. Then she glimpsed another gift box in the bag.
"Another gift?" She frowned. She tore a part of the gift wrapper and on discovering what it was she shrieked with joy and started shrieking and dancing exclaiming "Oh my God! Oh my God! I can't believe this." She ran to me and hugged me tightly.
I was so happy to see her happy. 'Well, you have to thank Ndn for this." I told her. She and I were genuinely pleased.

Mks received a gift coupon of Saturn which is a big electronic goods store and a popcorn glass, while Mym who is a new English teacher in the baby group in place of An received a tin of her favorite biscuits and a chocolate bar.

I sensed a bit of a stunned silence, shock and surprise in everybody's demeanour when Stfn opened her gifts. Everybody seemed to be hurriedly calculating the cost of her gift which appeared to be more than the allotted 20 Euros, whereas the other's gifts seemed to cost less than 20 Euros excepting Mks of course. It is true because Stfn's gift costed me 27 Euros and of course because I make a lot of effort in deciding what the person would love the most spend a lot of time in hunting for the right thing.

I was very very glad that Mz happened to be absent today otherwise she would surely have exploded with jealousy.

Later Stfn told me she was a complete fan of "The Fast and the Furious" and had all the four of its series. The latest one to release was the fifth one. She somehow promised herself that she wanted to receive this DVD as a gift from her family or friends and not to buy it herself. She was so sure she would get it as a Christmas gift but she didn't and she was hugely disappointed. A number of times she had came across this DVD in shops but managed to remind herself of her promise at the last minute and refrained from buying. "And imagine! I get it now from you! I still can't believe this. I can't thank you enough."
"Oh yes, you can. But what I want is something you won't be able to do."
"What's that?"
"I wish I could see you what you look like when you come out of your glitter bath." And we all laughed so hard till our sides started aching.

In the evening they have a big plan! Ndn, Stfn, Mk and Sbr together are going to an old fashioned restaurant.