Bubble Tea Masters No More

Lexi Zimbulis

"Wait…how do you make this again?" Mary Claire Macintyre (12) exclaimed, stainless steel shaker in hand, as she tried to remember the steps for concocting one of the Junior Class Store's most popular drink: peach bubble tea.

The same stress and confusion Mary Claire experienced was common among members of the senior class, when they took over Dalat's beloved Junior Class Store while the juniors were at Servathon on Friday the 25th of September.

It began at approximately 2:30 pm. As the juniors worked tirelessly to finish painting Sekolah Kebangsaan Tanjung Tokong (SKTT) down the road from Dalat, a few seniors in H-Block study hall struggled to open the store.

Only a few short months ago, the class of 2016 had run their store with ease--one could even say with poise. But last year's training seemed to prove useless in the face of the class of 2017's new and improved store, almost quadruple the size of last year's store, and complete with fancy shelves, working blenders, and a non-leaky sink the seniors couldn't help but feeling a little envious of.

"Do these pearls look okay?" "How do you set out the candy?" "Where's the cash box?" Questions like these were floating around the store ten minutes before opening, which showed that the seniors didn't seem to be off to a very good start.

When the metal shutters to the store were finally opened and the first shift of seniors began to greet customers, their time out of practice was apparent. “Chaos” is a word that came to mind. Ice was spilled, orders were forgotten, and lines were long.

Seniors began to have flashbacks to their junior class training days, where Mr. Steinkamp, a class sponsor, would chant the recipes for bubble tea: “1 scoop creamer, 2 scoops flavor, 6 pumps sugar…”

Slowly but surely, however, the seniors began to get back into the swing of things. The initial mayhem quieted down a little, and the drinks were made faster—and cleaner. As the afternoon progressed and the seniors began to await the return of the juniors, everyone working seemed to be having a good time, smiling and laughing, while they reminisced on last year’s memories of working in the store.

"I miss our old store, but I couldn’t do this every day anymore,” concluded Boyie Chin (12).

Nods and sounds of approval from others around her made it clear that the torch of bubble tea and Oreo smoothie making had been passed to the new juniors at the beginning of the school year.

The seniors closed the store that Friday grateful for the experience and opportunity to help the juniors, but glad also for the fact that it was over. And a little less envious of their store.