I got barked at today. By an old Swiss guy. It reminded me of the time not long after we
arrived when Lisa and Paige were on the tram with one of Paige’s friends and
her mother. The two girls were standing
on the spot between the cars that swivels when the tram takes a corner and
being kids, were swaying with the motion.
After a bit, an old guy stood up to leave. At the door, he paused then turned to bark at
Lisa and the other mom. Lisa understood
nothing of what he said but smiled, nodding politely. After he was gone, her Swiss friend said
that they’d just been told what awful mothers they were. This kind of interaction isn’t terribly
uncommon here and is unrelated to our status as foreigners. Generally, in fact, the complainer doesn’t
even realize this. It seems that these unhappy people are
surprisingly self-aware but they simply cannot help themselves (or don’t care). Paige
and her friends were recently scolded on the bus by a woman who continued at
the conclusion of her admonition to remark that they probably just thought she
was an unpleasant old lady. They were too polite to confirm her suspicion but they didn’t deny
it either.
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