more photos can be seen on the Oudezijds100 websitei didn't grow up with Sinterklaas. and i don't really know the tradition or songs. being enthusiastic about the whole Sinterklaas part was definitely pushing the limits of my capabilities. and yet, it was good. not great, but good. there were no disasters. there was good food. and Sinterklaas and two zwarte pieten even came. and on top of that, everybody got a relatively decent present, most of which had some kind of surprise or special wrapping and a poem [considering most of the group was even less familiar with Sinterklaas than me, this is quite impressive - an hour before we were to begin, i had to remind someone of who they were to buy a present for, the morning was spent making a lot of surprises and poems (thanks to the great group i had helping with the weekend), we sorted up a mix-up about a present bought for Sinterklaas himself - and made sure it got to the person who it actually was intended for, and we made sure there were extra presents (in case of disasters)]. i'm thankful for the efforts and enthusiasm of the rest of the weekend team - without them, it would have been much more work for me and a lot less enjoyable for everyone.
and what was nice was that afterwards, i wasn't even utterly exhausted. but having worked (fairly intensely) all weekend left me a bit off-kilter the next week. that that week was a bit more full of meetings and events didn't help, either! i've now regained balance again (writing this is evidence of that). it took a while for my perspective to come back - and to be able to see again that being part of the Sinterklaas celebration was the kind of chore that i find it a privilege to get to do. i'm not sure how much i'll choose to do it again - but now that i know what i'm doing, if i could get a couple of good helpers, i could probably be convinced to do it again (and maybe even next time look forward to it :))
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