The Battle of the Sidewalk

As I was walking to Lidl (a budget grocery store here in Brussels, found all over Europe) today, I got the idea for my next blog post: the perils of walking in Brussels. And that will still be my next post. However, as I was walking back from Lidl (and the pet store) with a full granny cart of groceries and cat food, I came upon the real nightmare of walking in Brussels. Children.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love children, I want children, I still babysit for crying out loud, but this wasn't just a kid or two. This was a class (or combined class) of 50. All about 7 or 8 years old. On a sidewalk with a workable walking area where 2 adults can walk side by side almost comfortably. And here's me, going in the opposite direction WITH my shopping cart (full and heavy) facing the onslaught.

There were kids everywhere. Not looking where they were going. Running into me head on. Tripping over my cart. Trampling my toes. Taking over every. Fucking. Inch. Of. The. Sidewalk. And the teachers! The teachers were giving me dirty looks like, how dare I walk on this sidewalk in my neighborhood! How dare I when these kids needed it more! For shame!

Ugh, anyway, I made it home, cart and toes intact. And you can look forward to my continued ranting about walking the streets, er, sidewalks of Brussels (with pictures!) very soon.

Dora the Explora

Today I was babysitting Faisal, and after his nap I told him he could watch part of a movie/DVD, and he chose to watch some Dora the Explorer. I had heard of it, but I had never watched it before today. I haven't seen a show that brainwashing since Barney. It was made to make kids repeat after the characters on the screen, so everything is said very slowly, in simple terms and at least 4 times over.

I had Faisal turn it off after about 10 minutes and we proceeded to play with "tracks" (trains). The entire time, he wouldn't talk to me, he was repeating the dialogue of the show. Particularly "We're a team, there's nothing we can't do!" but when he said it, it was like "We're a teeeeam." He sounded like a brainwashed zombie. Just saying "We're a team. We're a team. We're a teeeeeeam." Actually, scratch the zombie, it was more like he was a ghost haunting someone with that phrase. Plus, I don't think zombies can say anything besides "Braaaaaains..."

Yeah, I think I'm gonna avoid Dora from now on.