End of Year Celebrations

The school year ended mid-June and we were treated to end of year celebrations – an assembly and a concert at Joel and Hannah’s schools (respectively). There has been good progress over the year for both. In the first instance we really felt like we were throwing them into an unknown deep end that we wouldn’t be able to jump in and rescue them from even if we wanted to. It’s gone from being bewildering and lonely to familiar and quite friendly. It’s still hard work and we’re really not sure how much they take in (or even LISTEN to – I think they’ve learnt to switch off a bit from the Greek and not try to understand), but they are getting there slowly. I'm sorry there are no photos - we are still camera-less at the moment.

Hannah’s school has three year groups with a class for each year. The end of year concert was a whole-school affair, so we got to see children Joel’s age performing too. The concert was held the penultimate Friday evening of term at the local outdoor theatre – a little amphitheatre in the park near H’s school. The theme was something to do with a little girl’s travels underwater and the oldest class performed some songs and dances and skits about that. The lower two classes were split along gender lines and each group dressed up and performed a little dance on a sea-life theme. Hannah and the rest of the girls in her class were crabs. She was really excited about her ‘crab party’. I’d bought some orange clothes on which to sew her little crab picture, which she was very enthusiastic about (she looked like a fan of the Dutch football team!) and we had found a babysitter for Esther (the show started at 1930). Jonathan had stayed behind to put Esther to bed, so Joel, Hannah and I made our way up the hill together. H was all skippy-jumpy and didn’t seem the slightest bit nervous until we got to the theatre. I entrusted Joel in the saving of some seats and took H backstage. All her little friends in orange were happy and smiling but H didn’t want me to leave and clung onto my leg. With the help of Stella (one of her teachers) I extricated myself and left her backstage wailing. I figured that she’d calm down and that there was no way she’d go out and perform if I was still backstage, so this, at least, gave her chance. Ten minutes later, just as Jonathan appeared, the show began. All that time we could hear howling from backstage – some of which, at least, was definitely Hannah. Hannah’s group were on first. She was led on (not quite dragged) at the back and cried throughout the whole performance. She didn’t join in with any of the dance (I’m not sure she would have even if she wasn’t crying – she is her father’s daughter, so far, in that respect) and just stood and howled. It was quite funny and sad at the same time. I was at the front filming it (see it on youtube!), so at least at the end she was able to come straight to me.

I think she did really well just getting up there (I don’t think she knew she had a choice!) and we’re hoping that this won’t have scarred her for next time but rather given her an insight into how painless it could be… We shall see!

Joel’s school is much smaller: just two classes. The assemblies are always separate and this one was in the middle of his final week. We’re really grateful to be able to both go to these sorts of things, even though they are always in the mornings. Frustratingly my video camera battery hadn’t charged properly, so no-one gets to see how well Joel did in his school assembly. With a little coaxing from us (the promise of lunch at McDonald’s!) he agreed to take a fuller part than before. This meant dressing up in the same outfit as the other boys and sitting with his classmates rather than with us. Admittedly, Jonathan had to sit next to him but at least he was at the front. He joined in with most of the singing and none of the dancing (typical Clark male there then); stood in the right place for the recital of the boys’ poem, remembering his verse and speaking slowly and clearly; mostly managed to remember his long poem without reading the whole thing; and even took part in the flower-giving and ice-cream eating at the end (seriously, he wouldn’t have done that a few months ago – his reserve generally outweighing his enthusiasm for ice-cream!). For me, there were two highlights: simply seeing him sitting with his peers and singing along (especially when he and his friend Yezan kept pulling faces at the same point in the chorus of one of the songs – an in-joke) and hearing him speak voluntarily in good, simple Greek. During one of the dancey/sketchy bits the children were all given flowers. Panayiotis didn’t get one and Joel said to his teacher, “Κυρία, ο Παναγιότις δεν έχει ένα λουλούδι” (Kyria, o Panayiotis then echei ena looloothi – Miss, Panayiotis doesn’t have a flower). Slowly, slowly he is becoming more like his English self: not shy to speak…