Beauty and the Beast

One of the most important things I learned in my college methods class was:

"The secretary and the maintenance man are the two most important people that you will ever deal with in a school setting."

Notice it wasn't the superintendent, or the principal, or even the parents. Over my now considerable years teaching, I have found this advice to be more than true. It applies even to the Orff Institut!

The secretary at the Institut is one of the most amazing and generous people I've ever met. Her English is wonderful and she is very helpful and patient when you are struggling with German. When my wallet was stolen, containing my ticket to the traditional Salzburg Adventsingen, she replaced the ticket for me out of her own pocket because she felt it was important for me to experience it. She also lives in my 'hood, and on more than one occasion has given me a ride home. She has an incredible assortment of Beanie Babies decorating her office and the dashboard of her car, all gifts from students current and past. She really is the heart and soul of the Institut!

The "haus meister" is a direct contrast. Sending frightened students scattering in front of him, he stomps the halls in his rubber hip-waders (WHY??), looking neither left nor right and responding to friendly greetings mostly with a loud "Harumph!" In a twisted way, I enjoy these kinds of personalities. There is nothing like sending a bright, cheery "Guten Tag" or "Good morning" his way. He can't ignore it (as much as he would like to) and has to do SOMETHING, whether it's shrugging, or snorting, or "harumphing." It's endearing in a cave dweller kind of way.

The haus meister enjoys routine, rules and regulations. Take Wednesday for instance. Wednesday is "outdoor maintenance day." In the spring and fall, the lawnmower comes out and the lawn gets mowed. It doesn't matter if it's raining or even whether the grass needs mowing or not. It's WEDNESDAY. In the winter, this same principle applies to the snowblower. Out it comes, whether there's snow or not! It's just tough if it snows on Monday. Wednesday is snow removal day and that's it! Who cares if by Wednesday it has turned into a layer of lumpy frozen ice? We'll just roll the snowblower over it anyway.

Then there's the chip and the bats. On weekends, the Orff Institut is electronically secured and one can only gain access with the use of a blue chip. This is not a stock, rather it's a key fob with some kind of electronic fingerprint. You hold it up to the scanner and the door magically unlocks...... but only for 90 seconds. If the door is open longer than this, the alarm sounds and the police are summoned....... along with the haus meister. The police are easy enough to deal with, but NO ONE wants to deal with the wrath of the haus meister.

The computer room on the second floor has a tendency to overheat and it is common practice to open the windows. It is not unheard of to forget to close the windows thereby causing a fledermaus problem. One can only assume that the bats want to check their Facebook page. Who doesn't? I'll bet the haus meister even has a Facebook page!