Goodbye, Nelly!

The kids’ bus driver, Nelly, is retiring.  After 29 years of faithfully transporting the children of Aeugst to and from school, she has decided to exit on her own terms, before they kick her out. 🙂  This woman is amazing.  She is so much more than “just” a bus driver.  She takes the time to get to know each new Kindergarten as they join her route, and then she watches out for them.  If she sees a kid running to the bus stop, she will wait, even if it makes her go off schedule.  If a child is missing, she will ask if they are sick before just driving off.  She makes sure the big kids leave the little kids alone. (although most of the kids are pretty nice anyway) She doesn’t hesitate to kick someone off for bad behavior, no matter how far they are from home.  She usually only has to do it once, and that kid (and everyone who witnessed the punishment) is good as gold from then on.

But she is not some strict authoritarian.  She is kind and patient and gentle with the kids.  She accompanies them on school outings, chats with them about their day, and is generally a good friend to all.  In short, we are crushed that Nelly is leaving and don’t know how the replacement driver will ever, EVER be able to live up to the bar of excellence she has set.

All the moms in our little corner of the village got together and organized a surprise going away party for her.  Nelly doesn’t like to be the center of attention, so if she knew what was happening before hand, she wouldn’t have shown up!  I think one of them asked her to come over for coffee, or something. 🙂  The kids were so antsy wondering when she would finally come.

Just as they were finishing setting up tables outside, the rain started falling pretty hard. 🙁  We hurriedly moved the tables back under the covering of the porch, and decided everyone would have to stand, rather than sit on all the provided, and now wet, benches and chairs.  5 minutes before Nelly was due to arrive, the rain stopped and the sun came back out again.  So back went the tables out in the open, and we grabbed towels to wipe down all the benches and chairs.  Craziness!  But we were all so happy to have the rain over, the extra work didn’t faze us much.

We all brought treats to munch on, and there was a whole table with different beverages.  It was quite the spread.  One lady had made a chocolate mousse, and in cocoa powder had written “Nelly” on top.  Really clever.

Finally, finally, Nelly arrived.  She was very embarrassed to see the huge mass of people gathered around, but at least she didn’t get in her car and drive away again!  My neighbor, Lente, is the one with the camera.  Maya is giving Nelly (in the blue jacket) a hug.  Coming down the stairs in the peach jacket is Maya B (to distinguish her from Maya, since they live across the hall from one another!).  Seriously, the BEST neighbors ever.

We gathered all the kids together and took several photos for posterity.  We were hoping that some of the older kids who used to ride the bus would also come, but most were all at school.  Maya B. wrote a very nice poem talking about Nelly and all she has done for the kids.  Maya read it, and at the end, Nelly broke down and just started crying.  She was very touched, and of course, that made all the other moms start crying.I took the picture before all of that. 🙂  Anyway, two of the ladies had organized a collection to purchase Nelly a gorgeous bouquet of flowers, and a travel gift certificate.  They had also made this cute poster, and had all the kids sign it before they framed it.Not a great shot of it, but I was too busy chatting with everyone to get a better pic later.  Still, you get the idea. 🙂 We stayed at the party for about an hour, and then we had to leave.  But I heard from Lente that the last guests stayed until 5, and a good time was had by all.

The next day was Nelly’s official last day of driving the bus.  At the front of the bus, just over the windshield, there is an electronic sign that always lists where the bus is going.  Normally, it says “Schulbus” so no one accidentally tries to board, thinking it will get them to Zurich, or something.  But her fellow drivers down at the bus depot had changed it to read “Alles Gute zum Ruhestand Nelly!”  Which translated means, “Best wishes for your retirement, Nelly!”  And as she drove away from the bus stop, she tooted the bus horn a couple of times, much to the children’s delight.

It was a sad day, but we are happy that she goes into retirement healthy and young enough to enjoy traveling around the world with all her spare time.  And of course, she promised to come back and go on many of the school outings with the children, just like always. 🙂