12K Cracuin Presentation

I have a number of classes and it is hard to keep track sometimes which student is from which class, but this one is memorable. Craciun means Christmas in Romanian. I have a few students whose last name is Cracuin and it was a few weeks before I realized what the name meant. Cristina is the one who finally made sense to me. I thought they were all looking forward to the next holiday, when actually it was their name they were trying to explain. Cristine is a student in 12K and it was her class that decided to put together a delightful Christmas presentation for the teachers they had studied with during their four years in high school. It was quite nice.

This particular celebration was specifically for the teachers of the 12K class. It is was a thank you to the professors who care about them and all the hard work put into getting them from ninth formers to graduation. Romania has an interesting organization for their students. Each class meets with their diriginte twice a week for an hour so that they can iron out any problems that might be brewing, to council the students, to keep them on the straight and narrow. The diriginte for this class is very proud of them. I often see her talking with her students and checking with other teachers to see how they are getting along. It reminds me of our original SRT system some years ago.

We arrived in the Multi-Media room to find tables set with holiday plates and wonderful homemade wine. I never did find out who made it, but they are to be congratulated on a great vintage. The scent of freshly-baked traditional sweetbread of poppy seeds and candied fruit wafted up from the plates. Yes, the same kind of preserved fruit we find in fruitcake, but this was wonderful.

Soon the students arrived and got situated. They sang and told stories of Christmas. I have learned enough Romanian that I was able to recognize the story of the birth of Jesus. Romanian carols are beautiful with very different haunting quality to them. I found myself humming along. As the program progressed the students shared the speaking parts while effortlessly passing the microphone to each other without all the loud rustling that usually accompanies such hand-offs. They were bathed in the golden glow of dozens of candles.

As they came to the end of the program I could see a gleam in some of the boys' eyes. They sang the last carol with sparklers. Very impressive. As the applause died down, the director handed out excellent cookies to each of the performers. Amazing what you can make a person do for a sweet…