Like most of you know, I began work today and a lot of exciting things happened! At least they were exciting to me.
Kindergarten FTW might be the sentiment I have now, but I have a feeling that maight change as soon as I get really tired... but anyway! This was my first day at work, I had to get up at 06:00 this morning because my bus left for the trainstation at 07:05. Anyway, that was quite weird and disturbing as I've actually been going to bed around the time I now have to get up o_O But as I was dead tired last night I fell asleep around eleven, so I actually awakened by myself a bit before six... weird that.
So, I took the bus and the train, used a map to find the kindergarten (really wasn't that difficult) and arrived half an hour before work. I was ushered inside, greeted by loads of various women (all really nice), given a cup tea and set down to wait until half passed eight to begin my work. I thought that since I had arrived early they might as well just introduce me to the work at once, but it doesn't seem like they believe in working more than what's absolutely necessary. Weird girls.
I was put in a group of children ranging from 1 to 5. It's a sibling division, and that is why the age varies so, which was great! I got a taste of everything. The adorable little onelings running around and climbing up the walls like crazy, and the bigger bossier children who loved ordering me around because "they knew where everything is and such". But they were all adorable, I was completely surprised at their well behaviour! The only exceptions really was Elias who liked to get my attention by throwing rocks at the other girls, and Markus... but I think his problem went a little deeper than just being boisterious. He didn't want to talk at all really, and whenever he interacted with other people he was quiet and (to me) showed a lot of repressed anger. There was this adorable incident where we were taking a walk around the block, and they had to hold hands. But Markus wouldn't hold his friend's hand, and the other boy seemed so confused by this, repeating "But don't ya wanna hold my hand Ma-kus? We're best friends. But we're best friends!' And it was so heartbreaking I just wanted to take the two little buggers and hug them. Anyway, I managed to talk Markus into holding his friend's hand. He never went violent or angry whenever I spoke to him. Either he just ignored me or did whatever I asked quietly. Like when they were playing in the sandbox, and he lost his temper with his friend and began shoving him, and I yelled across the sandbox that he should quit it at once and behave properly. His head bobbed up and he stared at me with huge green eyes before sitting down, quietly playing again. It took maybe half a minute before I noticed someone standing beside me where I was busy building chocolate cakes with two other a bit younger girls. And he just stood there, I asked if he wanted to come build cakes or maybe we should make a castle together, but he didn't answer. He just stood there, beside me o_O
I also already received flowers!!! That was so peculiar! I was sitting on the swings (trying to ignore the girl who wanted to use them because I didn't want to leave the swings... ) when I noticed this girl (she was from a different group, so I hadn't seen her before) who looked exactly like me from when I was that age. The same silly cut bangs, the same middleblonde curls, the same little face, even the same type of clothes. It was like staring at a living picture from when I went to kindergarten! And suddenly she comes over to me and asks "who're you?" and I say my name is Siren and I'm gonna work there the next few days and I ask her for her name. Now I can't really remember what she answered, but suddenly she just held out her hand: "flowers," she declared "they're for you." These kids, honestly, they break my heart.
Like my new little love, who tags after me wherever I go. I think she's about three at most, and her name is Kaja. She has blonde hair, a tiny little face and huge grey eyes. She always plays alone in the sandbox, so I came and sat down with her, and we instantly became friends. She talks none stop, and I can't understand a single word of what she says. I think she talk about her mum a lot. We built sandcakes, she tore them down and was quite andamant in making the perfect cake. But she didn't get angry if it broke and didn't turn out well, she just laughed, said "it got ruined!" and smashed it with a spade. This she followed up with "gotta make a new!" but she said it in such childish norwegian it actually sounded like "gotta rake a new". For a while I thought she wanted to rake it but... And chiming in "now's enough! Now's enough!" when we filled the bucket. She would pour on more sand and say "now's enough!" and then hand me the bucket to turn over. She was quite an expert in sandcake making I'll tell you. And she copied everything I did. If I dug in the sand with my hands, she used her hands, if I took away the upper white layer of sand to get to the wet, she'd do the same and be imensly proud whenever she managed to conjure up the playable sand. Kaja was also quite concerned when another boy took my spade because he didn't have one and all was taken. "He took your spade, took your spade!" she warned me, pointing at the boy who looked like a deer in the headlights (he hadn't asked), but I just smiled and said it was ok, he could have it. That made them both relax and I begun playing with my hands instead (which prompted Kaja to do the same). Such a sweet little thing.
I was also set to the task of making treasure maps for every single child in the kindergarten out in the freezing wind on the bench I had to sit, three kids helping me hold the papers down as I drew after the instructions that a rather bouncy little boy decribed to me. He hasked me to make paperplanes too, but it didn't hold to his standards so he showed me how to make a proper one. Afterwards (he was from a different group) he came running out in the hall when I was dressing another boy and began chattering like crazy.
I could go on and on about this, writing pages up and down about each little child as they were completely adorable the lot of them. I was so surprised at how well behaved they were, and I had almost no trouble and needed to talk to some boys just a handful of times and break up a catfight a couple of times. I mean, I might get tired and see their true nature really soon, but this far, they seem to be the most brilliant people I've met in quite some time. It flabbergasts me to hear them talk because they're way more intelligent and aware of their surroundings than one would believe. I listened in on a conversation between two kids, where one loudly described the road to some mall they had been to, and where they needed to drive. I can honestly say I almost haven't a clue what the street I live on is called, and here the little kid on 4 knows all the complicated roadnames.
They also have such extremely adorable priorities. Like this girl I had never talked to before came over and told me excitingly that she was visitng a friend of her this afternoon and they'd play and then she'd eat at her place and then they'd watch children's tv and then she'd be driven home XDD They are gorgeous. To hold the youngest of them, when he got tired and was to take a nap and he rested against the crook of my neck, completely trusting that I wanted the best for him.
And then we have the little kid Wilhelm, who just flabbergasted me all in all. He was maybe a bit over a year, but he was one of the very youngest and one of the first kid I noticed when I entered the kindergarten. He sat buckled up in his highchair and stared at me with this scrutinizing "who're you" gaze. This really intence, curious and slightly strict and forbidding face, the little kid. And he wasn't like the youngest boy (Mathias) at all, even though there might just have been a few months apart. This little kid, completely silent, I can't remember him having uttered a word all the time he was there. He just sat by himself, playing, and once he came over to me to show me his doll, which he seemed particularly proud of, before putting it in a trolley and roll it around the room for a bit. When Mathias was on the floor Wilhelm came over to him with is playcars and handed them over for him to play with. The fact that a boy a bit over a year has the concept of sharing by free will and co-playing just blew my mind. He was so kind, quiet and thoughtfull. Sadly, he was ill, no one knew because he didn't complain at all, and we didn't notice until he threw up. I don't think he'll return tomorrow, which is a bit sad.
The other adults were all really nice too. The women I work with are all really sporty and nice. Well, one seem to suffer a lot from headache and was very tired, the other behaved a bit like she owned the kids and didn't quite trust that I could handle the situations. But she soon gave me a bit of space as she saw that the kids liked me. Anyway, we are much fewer adults than we should be per group right now (and tomorrow we'll only be two), so they forgot to give me the proper instructions as to who kid is allowed to this and who should do that and when we should do this. But no worries! The oldest girls in the group was put to the case of raising the new kindergarten-nanny, and damn, they knew their business. I can't remember ever having been that conscious of my surroundings when I was in kindergarten. All I remember was chewing rocks because I saw it on tv once, argue with my friends, fight, play with the boys, staring at the sky (I did that a lot. I have lots of memories of sky staring o_O) and generally just being a brat. But then again, I also have a distinct memory of a lot of scolding from the nannies, I might have been one of the kids you just want to shut in a room and keep away from the other kids... anyway! What I wanted to say was that I had no clue what went around me at all. I didn't know the nannies' names (just called them kindergarten-aunts), I hardly even knew which group I belonged to, or where my food was, or my clothing... these kids just know everything like the back of their hands.
Well, I could write an entire essay about this, but I won't haha XD Anyway, bet I'll be writing even more tomorrow!!
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suomigoth:
