party poopers
The buka was invited to her very first children’s party. It was Onion’s 4th birthday. But poor Onion. That naughty boy in the baseball cap blew out her candles before she ever had a chance. (There were more tears later when she spilled orange juice on her blouse, and this just after her mother had warned her father not to fill the cups all the way up.) A dog livened things up, as dogs will do.
The group consisted mostly of mothers from the European school, which Onion attends. All the mothers were English and/or English-speaking. But something very Greek happened: nobody introduced me. The buka is an excellent source of social cohesion, but the scene was chaotic: the mothers were too occupied with their own children to take note of mine. So we kept each other company. The buka ate cheese puffs and whatever she could find on the floor. I sipped vodka that I thought was Sprite. We found a crown, presumably abandoned by whichever bigger kid had made it. It was great entertainment for us both.
(woops)
The group consisted mostly of mothers from the European school, which Onion attends. All the mothers were English and/or English-speaking. But something very Greek happened: nobody introduced me. The buka is an excellent source of social cohesion, but the scene was chaotic: the mothers were too occupied with their own children to take note of mine. So we kept each other company. The buka ate cheese puffs and whatever she could find on the floor. I sipped vodka that I thought was Sprite. We found a crown, presumably abandoned by whichever bigger kid had made it. It was great entertainment for us both.
(woops)
posted by soap at
6:56 AM
4 Comments:
Funny buka!
(hey you...)
Hey you. (See email.)
Swedish people go light on introductions, too, and even lighter on new people who show up at parties. Glad you both had fun!
I wouldn't have thought anything of it, except that my friend isn't Greek -- and knows exactly what it's like to be expected to join in (Greeks are so good at it) without any introductions. I was a little bit seething by the time we left, just because she, if anybody, should have known better. But she called yesterday, and mentioned how delighted she was that the other mothers turned out to be so nice.
My guess now is that she invited the KIDS in Onion's class, and only through them did she have a chance to get to know their parents better (Onion just started school two weeks ago). She probably didn't really even know their first names, so it would have been awkward to try to introduce me. It doesn't excuse her completely, but I understand the position she was in.
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