The Secret Club / Der geheime Klub

Nikolas' kindergarten is like a secret club, each student sworn to secrecy about the daily going ons there. We pump him for information each day, without success, and he usually looks at us with big eyes, pretends he didn't hear our questions, or simply says, "I don't remember." When we ask him about his lunch, he usually says it was good. If we ask what he had, he responds, "You can look on the computer (on this blog) to see." Total secrecy.

On very rare occasions, he'll slip and break his oath for a moment and allow us a little glimmer into kindergarten life. "Nino cried today," he say, but will explain no further. "A volcano is a big mountain and shoots out fiery lava," he'll announce. When asked where he learned that, he'll mysteriously shrug his shoulders. We know the general scheme of how things work at his school, but we are completely clueless when it comes to specifics. Mums the word.

The other night after dinner was over, we were still sitting around the table when Nikolas burst out into song (a total breach of kindergarten protocol!). It was an animated song about fish in the sea, filled with motions and boisterous singing, that repeats itself again and again as the fish disappear one by one. It goes like this:

Fünf kleine Fische, die schwammen im Meer,
da sagt der eine: Ich kann nicht mehr,
ich wär viel lieber in einem kleinen Teich,
denn im Meer sind Haifische, und die fressen mich gleich.
Blubb, blubb-blubb, blubb, blubb-blubb

And it translates roughly to something like this:

Five little fish, swan in the sea,
Then said one, I can't do it any more,
I would much rather swim in a small pond,
because in the ocean are sharks, and they'll eat me right up.
(And, the shark does eat him up, as shown through hand movements and the fact that there is one less fish in the next verse.)

Here is Nikolas performing the song, starting with three fish (because five tends to get boring!), allowing all of you a glimpse into the secret club of Kindergarten Herrnau too.


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