Thursday afternoon was Jacob's return to the Lower School Chess
Club, where we are about halfway through our official tournament.
Even after several weeks of play, the kids are still very
enthusiastic, and crowd excitedly around the rankings each week to
see what the current standings are. Only one player is still
undefeated-a genuinely talented 5th grader who is
romping through the Advanced group without much opposition-but
everyone else has won (and lost) at least once. Jacob is currently
ranked 4th out of 6 in the Beginners group, but was very
pleased with himself after beating Shoji, the current leader of his
group.
My contribution to the Chess Club (other than showing up every
Thursday afternoon as the Tournament Director) was to broker a deal
with a major retailer for low-cost chess sets. I was initially
appalled at the cheap toy sets bought by the school, and found some
tournament-quality sets that (with an educational discount) cost
less than $10 apiece. After sending a flyer home with club members
in late October, I ended up ordering and distributing nearly a
dozen chess sets at last week's meeting. I knew that my efforts
were appreciated when Cathie and Atharva almost came to blows
because both of them had a new set and wanted to play their match
game on it!
Friday night was the annual ISS Christmas Party, which was held
at a rather unlikely location: the Stuttgart airport. At first I
assumed that we were going to gather at one of several hotels
located near the airport, but Mary's instructions were quite
explicit. Fashionably late at 7pm, we strolled through the main
terminal in our formal evening wear and made our way to The Atrium where we
joined several hundred other ISS parents in a surprisingly swanky
reception room. There we enjoyed an excellent buffet dinner, in
between watching the late-night cargo flights take off for various
destinations. The highlight of the evening, though, was the plainly
dressed young woman who occupied one of the benches in the main
terminal area, surrounded by a half dozen or so Polizei, all
wearing uncomfortable expressions. They were obviously trying to
find the best way to remove the woman from the terminal, but every
time one of them approached her, she would let out an agonizing
scream at the top of her lungs. This effectively kept the police at
bay for over half an hour-her wails reverberated exceptionally well
in the nearly deserted terminal-until they finally summoned up the
courage to withstand her final crescendo of screams as they
manhandled her outside to a waiting squad car.
Traditionally, the ISS Christmas Party features a silent auction
for baskets of goodies assembled from donations by each class. Mary
was in charge of Jacob's 4A class basket, and since most parents
prefer just to ante up with cash, she ended up with a budget of
about €100. She put together a marvelous selection of wines
from around the world, and was delighted to see the high bid on the
"Make Mine Wine" basket reach €150 by the end of the evening.
Also keeping with tradition, Mary & I bid on several baskets
ourselves early in the evening, only to be hopelessly out-bid once
the hard-core bidders waded in. Mary impulsively bid €400
(nearly US$500) on a basket that offered 20 rounds of golf at 5
different courses, but we were both relieved when she was later
outbid. That particular basket finally sold for €750, making
it the most expensive purchase of the evening…it's not
unusual for a single family to spend upwards of $1,000 or more if
they win 2 or 3 baskets!
By the time we have been outbid on the last of the baskets we
were interested in, Mary was getting impatient for the dancing to
begin. Unfortunately, the DJ was still playing 'easy listening'
background music, so when Dan & Becky suggested that we bail
out and head for a nearby dance club, we took them up on their
offer. By midnight, we were packed in like sardines at the Phantom
Bar in the SI
Centrum which was the complete antithesis of The Atrium.
Whereas the ISS party had been formal, elegant, and hushed, the
Phantom Bar was crowded, smoky, and deafeningly loud, i.e., way
more fun. After an hour or so of dancing and drinking, Mary &
I both realized that the rules of 'mingling' have changed rather
dramatically since we removed ourselves from the dating arena. Not
only was it perfectly acceptable for both men and women to dance
alone, but there was a semi-permanent crew of young men who were
happy to dance with anyone brave enough to venture onto the dance
floor, including me! Not quite what I'm used to, but fun
nonetheless…
KidBit: After RE on Sunday, Mary asked Alex what he
thought of the class, and he answered rather off-handedly "It was
interesting." When Mary countered with "Alex, you were bored the
whole time!" he immediately sensed danger and determinedly stuck to
his story "Yeah…but it was still interesting." As the
Egyptian vendor said last week: he is good boy.
PotW: Our project manager asked each branch to provide a
group portrait, so here is the Automation crew, taken at the Berlin
Wall memorial outside our office. From left to right: Phil, Eric,
Pat, Nicole, Dave, Christine, and yours truly (the pointy-haired
boss) lurking up above. I couldn't figure out why this picture
looked vaguely familiar until I saw the album cover of Who's
Next, by The Who.
