Celebrating Mediocrity

Anyone who has watched "The Incredibles" will understand the title of this blog post. Anyone who hasn't - stop reading now and go watch it.

Kindergarten graduation at a rich school takes place at an exclusive club in Taipei called ACC to those in the know. The American Club in China is just like the Yuanshan club, except this one is even better because it's full of rich ex-pats, instead of just rich Taiwanese. The school's Christmas concerts and Kindergarten graduations have always taken place at ACC, so I was already familiar with the grandiose ballroom where the ceremony was to take place. I should mention right now, that our Kindergarten class is comprised of ten students, one of which never attends large functions due to shyness.

As I have been helping out twice a week with the Kindergarten class, Michael and I were invited to attend. I had been helping the class prepare their performance songs (A Whole New World and a personalized version of Leaving on a Jet Plane) for the past two weeks. May's son, James, was to be the accompanist, but I had to be by his side to point out which lines he should play, especially when it came to our rather creative endings. Next time we'll know to get piano music first instead of teaching the kids how to sing like Celine Dion and Chantal Kreviazuk...

We arrived at ACC an hour and a half before the show was to start in order to help set-up. Michael enjoyed running all over the stage, putting on his own one-man shows, and of course, jumping crazily off to shouts of "Watch out!". I was glad when two of his little girlfriends, Lauren and Audrey (of Mother's Day fame), from his Nursery class showed up so they could all run around together.

I needed to sit close to the piano so that I could jump up when needed, so I vetoed sitting by Audrey's parents and grandparents, so we ended up with Lauren's parents. They were very nice and willingly played musical chairs throughout the ceremony as the kids (Audrey came over later) kept on changing their minds about which seat they wanted.

Before the show started, I asked Michael if he was hungry as he hadn't eaten much before leaving. He said yes, so I gave him a granola bar. As Lauren was watching with great interest, I gave her one, too. She then stands on her chair and yells across the ballroom to Audrey, "Look what Michael's mommy gave me!". As I didn't have any more granola bars, I gave Audrey a Squiggle (dried fruit) when she came running over. She then ran back to her parents, but reappeared a few minutes later and announced to me, "I'm still hungry". You've got to love the subtlety of three year olds... I explained that there would be food after the ceremony and that she would have to wait. She didn't quite think that was fair as she could see one more Squiggle in my open purse, and was a little put out that I wouldn't give it to her. Life's tough, isn't it?

I had brought Michael's video MP3 player to occupy him during the show as I knew he would not sit still. Unfortunately, that only kept him busy for about five minutes. Luckily, this being a graduation ceremony, there were two cameras for every person in the room. Michael just had to put on his charming smile and flash those blue eyes of his, and strangers were giving him their expensive cameras and tripods to play with. It was insane. Michael completely pulled apart the tripod behind us as the owners looked on in enjoyment. They found him more entertaining than the ceremony I'm sure, but I was afraid he was going to lose all the little pieces. When I got back from helping James with the piano, Michael had a lady's camera and was taking dozens of pictures of the floor, his knees and the back of people's heads. I was so afraid that he was going to drop it, that I got out my camera and let him have it (with the wrist strap on!), just so he would give the other one back.

Due to the small number of graduates, the ceremony did not last long and then the food began. This being ACC, it was all very fancy and all very good. I loved the grilled eggplant and zucchini sandwiches, while Michael loved all the fresh fruit platters. When he had had his fill, I took him down to the supervised playroom (that they had just finished renovating the week before) and signed him in. They had a huge play structure in there with lots of different toys and activities to do. Then I had to fulfill my teaching responsibilities by taking pictures with all of the kids, the parents, their grandparents, their third cousins, etc...

Traditionally, the owner then takes all the staff to lunch at one of the fancy restaurants there, but we were all so full already, that we didn't order much. They had the nicest kids menu that I had ever seen. Basically, everything that a regular adult menu would have, except in kids portions. Michael, being a little boy, wouldn't hear of having anything but a hamburger. But, oh what a hamburger. I have never tasted a nicer one and was actually happy to eat Michael's leftovers.

Somehow, I don't think that Michael's Kindergarten graduation is going to be quite so fancy...