Yes, I volunteered.
But when I did so, I thought all I needed to do was a bit of cheering , a bit of clapping, a bit of back patting, some drink serving, some cookie serving ..and thats it. What I finally ended up doing was nowhere near to what I expected.
There were two classes, each with six sections, each section having 30 kids on average.
Welcome to the sports day!
The school rented a "real" athletic stadium" in Den Haag. The stadium was huge...the kids were full of energy...the weather was quite windy with the sun peeping from behind the clouds with a "just checking" attitude and the volunteers (thats us, the parents) were all geared up. I was in full sports mode complete with the right training shoes and my facial expression could have put any Bolt to shame..such confidence, such enthusiasm, such readiness-to-volunteer. Little did I know what was coming.
I was the declared as the leader for arranging and guiding the "skippy" ball race. Since the name of the race does not help much to create an important aura around my role, let me elaborate a bit before you start thinking that it was nothing. My job involved guiding all these 30 x 6 x 2 =360 (ok some might be absent so ~300) children in groups of 8 through a race of two skippy balls tied together with a rope.
This is how it looked. Believe me, no joke.
So in a nutshell from 8:30 in the morning till 12:30 , at any point of time there was the race, the children, the fights, the broken ropes, the tears, the laughs, the bad words, the cuties, the monkeys, the smiles, the injuries, the cameras,..........what more could I volunteer for?
By the end of the day, I was one big tired mass of a mother trying to drive back home with Arno beside me (who suprisingly showed no lack of energy ). He even refused to understand why I kept on saying "I am so tired Arno".
He said, "But WHY mama? it was so much fun".
THAT I cannot completely deny. Inspite of being tired and exhausted, I did realize that such events are capable of taking one back to his/her own childhood. I could not have imagined jumping with a skippy ball otherwise on a Wednesday (mid week!!!)if I had not volunteered and taken the day off from work.
Back home after a good warm shower, the energy was back ! So mother son duo decided to spend the rest of the day making tasty meatballs. ...and thats how we did it!
Tasty Chicken meatballs (in pasta sauce)
You need:
Chicken mince : 500 gms
Tapenade: 2 tbsp
Thyme: 1 small tsp
Oregano: 1/2 tsp
Red chillie flakes: 1/2 tsp
salt to taste
For the sauce:
1 Onion: finely chopped
4 garlic cloves: finely chopped
Olive oil : 2 tbsp
Pasta sauce: 1 bottle
How :
1. Mix the chicken mince with all the ingredients.
2. Roll them into small balls
3. Heat a pan of water..as it starts to boil...put the balls in the water.
they will not break.Believe me.
For the sauce:
4.Heat the olive oil.
5. Add the garlic and the onions.
6. Fry for 2 mins.
7. Add the pasta sauce ..let it come to boil.
8. Add the meat balls with a little bit of the water.
9. Let it simmer for 10 mins.
10. Serve with any form of pasta.
You need:
Chicken mince : 500 gms
Tapenade: 2 tbsp
Thyme: 1 small tsp
Oregano: 1/2 tsp
Red chillie flakes: 1/2 tsp
salt to taste
For the sauce:
1 Onion: finely chopped
4 garlic cloves: finely chopped
Olive oil : 2 tbsp
Pasta sauce: 1 bottle
How :
1. Mix the chicken mince with all the ingredients.
2. Roll them into small balls
3. Heat a pan of water..as it starts to boil...put the balls in the water.
they will not break.Believe me.
For the sauce:
4.Heat the olive oil.
5. Add the garlic and the onions.
6. Fry for 2 mins.
7. Add the pasta sauce ..let it come to boil.
8. Add the meat balls with a little bit of the water.
9. Let it simmer for 10 mins.
10. Serve with any form of pasta.
