So in the wake of classes, and nothing of any true consequence to blog about, I thought I would take a moment to talk about how well behaved and how misbehaved children in Germany can be.
Now I love children, anyone who knows me can vouch for me that I am a very patient person when it comes to kids, but the children here in Germany seem to try my patience more than ever.
I often wake up to children screaming outside my window and it is super annoying. I believe I already posted once about the kid outside my window for about an hour saying the same phrase over and over again.
(Ew, not an attractive face, thank you Youtube for picking such an awful frame as the still for this video!)
I have also often witnessed children just screaming in cafes or stores just because they did not get what they want, and I know that all children do this, it is just something I have seen a lot more here versus at home. I often said to the others in our Valpo group upon witnessing such children, how Matt and Jenna wouldn't do that, so don't make me a liar guys!
Now I come to the part where not all children are bad, in fact the parents are the ones to blame in these two examples.
Tuebingen, as well as many other cities in Germany, has signs up everywhere that say:
Translation: Stand by red to be a good example for children.
It is very uncommon to walk on red, and often even frowned upon by fellow citizens. This was especially difficult for us to get used to at first, because whenever I visited Chicago, these signs really mean nothing, it is basically every man for himself when walking or driving in Chicago.
So one day Rachel, Hannah, and I were walking back from our German course, and as we were waiting at the red, an older woman crossed the crosswalk on red with her grandchild. Well, the child did not like that at all. The child then proceeded to tell the grandmother that it was red and that they shouldn't have walked. So much for "Kindern Vorbild sein". It is now a joke among us that when you walk on red you are a "Schlechter Kindern Vorbild" (Bad example for children).
Another occurrence of well behaved, well maybe not so well behaved, maybe more adorableness I witnessed today while walking to the Nonnenmarkt to meet up with Rachel and Hannah. As I was walking I saw a dad with a balloon walking fast, a mom with a stroller behind him, and a child staggered in the back. The little boy was walking kind of slow, but hey, it's hard to walk here with all those stones everywhere! The boy obviously got frustrated and said in his cute little German child voice:
"Mama! D
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