Away From Home

The Beebe Family

Bon Pasku to All,

SinterKlaas arrived yesterday at school with his two zwart pieten. On Monday I did a comparison between Santa and Sinter with my class teaching me the new traditions. My favorite was when I compared Santa's reindeer and the kids chimed in that SinterKlass arrives in a Red Beemer Convertible. And guess what, he did!  I was also advised that instead of milk and cookies the kids put out Polar -- a local beer -- for Santa.  They swore that the next morning the beer was empty.  Instead of elves, SinterKlass has zwart pieten --two black helpers -- one is pretty good and the other deals with the bad kids.

The students all made fancy paper hats and lined up at the entrance to the school.  Sinter pulled up in his red convertible and as he walks into the school the zwart pieten throw handfuls of candy to the kids. Pandemonium reigned.  Sinterklass looks like Santa except he has a bishop's mitre and staff.  He held a brief assembly and then popped in to each classroom.  Gifts were provided by the PTA for every student and Sinter read brief evaluations of each student provided by their teachers.  Talk about major payback time.  Some of the kids were sure they were going to be hauled out by the bad zwart pieten and taken back to Spain for the month (and miss Christmas and Sinterklass day).

Needless to say, very little was accomplished all week.  But I am sitting in my classroom listening to Nat King Cole and getting very homesick as each song reminds me of the years past.  Culture is a funny thing.  There are so many differences between people and countries, but after watching the children's faces light up and how each morning they raced in to tell of the small gift's found in their shoes -- I feel much more at home.

Today is SinterKlass eve and I've bumped into several students (it's a small island) and they are hopping like fleas on a griddle. So to all of you up north -- Bon Pasku (Merry Christmas) and have the kids put out their shoes with a little hay in them for SinterKlass's horse -- who knows what they find in the morning.

Ajo and God Bless.

Keith Beebe