For the uninitiated, the whole event must have appeared quite chaotic. But because I had attended similar events held at WF's previous school, I roughly knew what to expect.
As WY had a super-short school session this morning, we had picked him up by car when school was dismissed at 9:30am. Then, we proceeded to CH. While he went about helping out in the preparations etc (for his BASC group), R and I chatted with another parent.
The event finally started at about 10:45am. All the children came out in their reds and whites. Some even came in special costumes. With all their sale items laid out on their tables and the handwritten/drawn posters and banners, the open area just outside the playground was suddenly transformed into a market of sorts. Surprisingly, there was actually an air of festivities as the children and their teachers began calling out to 'customers'.
WY's BASC group sold some nonya kuehs. WY very enthusiatically told me that he had already 'reserved' a pack of 2 AngKuKuehs for us. So, we bought that reserved pack of AngKuKuehs.
Then WY started to shout at the top of his voice, "Come and buy, ah! Come and buy, ah! Kuehs for sale, ah!" Given that the children of most parents who were present are in the younger classes, WY 'naturally' had no customers despite all those shouting. Sigh.
So I suggested to him and his friends that perhaps they should go get a tray to place their kuehs on and then get the kuehs to the customers instead. I think they tried this but after a while, they just let the kuehs remain on the table anyway.
WF's K1 class sold many types of snacks. There were kacang putih, muruku, assorted tidbits (crackers & biscuits) and mango pudding. At first, the children just stood around because their teacher had started the Henna Painting, which was a crowd-pulling attraction. And I could see that some of the children, including WF, were beginning to get quite bored just standing around. It didn't help that their stalls at their area were 'outnumbered' by the other stalls at the other end of the bazaar.
So I got WF and some of his classmates together and suggested that they brought some snacks to sell at 'the other side'. WF was quick to pick up the basket of snacks and he called out to a girl called Mirabel to go with him. Feeling quite confident (of course lah, I was right behind him, what), he approached some parents and children standing around. When he got them to choose the snacks (going at 3 packs for $1) and successfully sold some of these snacks, the 'triumphant' look on his face was unmistakable. Mirabel collected the coupons.
WF and Mirabel went on to several others and with each successful sale, the basket got lighter and lighter. When WF eventually returned to his class table, I think only half of the quantity was left.
Later, a grandmother of another boy from his class egged her grandson to also do the same as what WF did. That boy picked up the basket and WF went with him. But almost as soon as WF started to go with the boy, the boy backed out and left WF with the basket!
Just then, WY was idling somewhere nearby. So I called out to him and he agreed to help WF sell his snacks again. This time, WY held the basket while WF collected the coupons (which he quickly ran to put into his teacher's coupon box at the Henna-Drawing table).
After a while, I think all got a bit tired. So the basket was returned to the table (about a quarter of the original quantity was left). WY then went about with some coupons which we had given him earlier and treated himself to some steamed corn kernels. He also bought 3 herbal tea eggs - I told him that he could share them with his friends at lunch but he mustn't eat more than 1 of these eggs because they are quite heaty.
WF's classmates were quite 'pitiful' because their stall was not well-patronised. So I decided to get some kacang putih and a pack of muruku from the girls who continued to call out to customers as instructed by their teacher. I also bought one mango pudding from WF at $2!!
Then WF asked to eat the muruku. After he has pestered me for a while, I gave in and got R to open the snack. WF tried it cautiously - R thought that he wouldn't like it because of the spices in it. Then he offered some to WY. Then, WF continued to eat the muruku. He had just bitten off one big part of it when suddenly, his right lower incisor fell off!
We hurriedly passed the tooth and muruku to R and went into the toilet to rinse his mouth. WF was all steady about what to do. Actually, it is quite a relief that that tooth finally came off today because it has been quite shaky for a long while now, and the new tooth has already emerged behind it last week.
By the time we were done with the rinsing etc, it was almost 12noon. So R and I decided that we had better get going. After telling WY and WF to remain in CH and be good, we left with packs of snacks and kuehs and WF's fallen tooth.
Almost forgot to mention, we spent $20 on the coupons for this bazaar. Given that both WY and WF are in CH and present at the bazaar, it's an 'ok' investment, lah.
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