Summer Festival / Sommerfest

Today was Sommerfest at Nikolas' kindergarten, a big celebration marking summer, I guess, although it was not marking summer vacation as schools here run almost until the end of July. So anyway, it was celebrating summer or just celebrating to celebrate, and it was great fun. The "garden" (not referred to as the playground or the field but it is, most definitely, a combination of the two) was set up like a traditional beer hall with tables and benches in rows under the branches of a giant tree. There was food and drink for sale - schnitzel, sausages, salads, cakes, beer and wine and juice. All were served on real plates with real silverware and real glass glasses - not your standard US picnic paper plate affair.

Besides the food and drink and bouncy castle and arts and crafts stations, the main event was The Show. It was not a little each- class- stands- up- and- croons- Twinkle- Twinkle- Little- Star performance. It was a 40 minute musical with choreographed dances and song after song after song. The setting was Africa, the story was focused on a watering hole in the savannah, the songs were all animal related, and the kids were all decked out in makeup and large t-shirt costumes. Nikolas was an Affe (a monkey), and a darn good monkey at that. They have been practicing for this show for the last couple weeks, and Nikolas has loved every minute of it. Every day he has come up with a new song or has showed us the moves of the hyenas' dance, or how the elephants walked, or how the lions roared, or even explained how the zebras were going to have wild hair as part of their costumes. He would have been a good stunt double for any of the parts.

Once again, it was an amazing display of good behavior. They sure do something right at Kindergarten Herrnau. Seventy five pre-schoolers were involved in this show, each group coming out to center stage for their animal songs and dances, and then serving as the chorus in the wings for the other groups. And no one misbehaved. The six teachers served as narrators and musicians and singers and gymnastics coaches for the somersaulting hyenas, but they didn't have to spend time corralling the kids or telling the zebras to stop hitting the lions or repairing torn elephant ears after wild monkey attacks. The kids were all completely with it, sometimes waving to parents or watching as the lions slunk through the grass and forgetting to wave their arms around wildly, but completely in control throughout.

One of my favorite moments, toward the end of the show, was the performance of The Lion Sleeps Tonight. The lions were sleeping (except to wake up to join in the howling) while the rest of the kids belted out the song in English (with German accent)! Nikolas is in front of the student-teacher with green shirt.

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