148. Auction

At the English camp we gave out tickets as positive motivation for helping someone else, cleaning the table after meals, giving a correct answer in English lessons, showing up on time… etc. These tickets were used as money at the auction on the last day.

The auction had everything from headphones, jeans, shirts, Frisbees, balls, cosmetics, glow sticks, candy, hats… etc. The camper that had the most tickets had around 200, the least was around 50 or so, but there was enough auction items that I think everyone got at least one thing but even as much as 10 different items.

When this idea was presented, I was hoping to be a 'spotter' (the person that mingles in the crowd finding bidders and making sure the auctioneer sees the bidders). I really enjoy watching the spotters because they will try to talk people into purchasing things/bidding just a little more. The good ones are also very animated and they yell and flail their hat around when they get a bid. The problem was that the campers did not have a high enough English level to run the auction in English, so the auctioneer had to know Romanian. Also, auctions are not done in Moldova (or at least not very common) no Moldavian had really experienced an auction so I was appointed as the auctioneer.

I was not too worried. I have done auctions like this at camps back in the US and had been to my share of animal actions at county fairs and the Ohio State Fair. I was slightly worried that I would not remember my numbers in Romanian and I did not know if I would be able to say it fast enough to make exciting and fast paced.

But overall it went really well and I had an awesome time. The kids loved it and really got into bidding. They actually learned how the auction worked very quickly (faster than in the American camps I have been involved in) and I do not think we ever had anyone bid more than they actually had in their possession. The one thing they did not get, which was not well explained was that I would call out the price of the next bid, so I just called out the current bid I had and kept my finger pointed towards the person who had that bid and the youth would call out what they wanted to bid.

It was really a lot of fun. I have decided to put 'auctioneer' on the list of potential careers. The people that I work with also saw the auction take place and they think it would be fun/interesting for the people of my village if we do a large yard sale/auction as a community with me as the auctioneer.