Yesterday turned out to be an okay day as well, which was kind of unexpected. Ian had his first day of class, so he was out the door pretty early and Svein wanted to see the apartment complex's many ammenities.
I showed him the mailboxes, and explained how we drop off our mail, which was a great surprise to him. Apparently, his mail people won't take mail from people. I asked if that was because the mail man drove a boat among the fjords. Apparently, that's not really the case.
Then we hopped across the road to our lovely trash compactor. Except... it was broken and taken away for repair so signs told us to put our trash in the dumpster. Small problem....no dumpster. So we just neatly laid it on the ground NEXT to where the compacter belonged and I told Svein that we wouldn't get arrested unless the police traced the trash back to our address. He was slightly concerned.
Then, off to the clubhouse and pool! When going through the front doors of the clubhouse, I pointed out a police posted sign for a wanted man- "Hey! That's our lawn man!" He did NOT think that was too funny. Mainly because he thought I said "Law Man," like a governor or mayor. So I untangled that conversational knot as we stepped out onto the pool deck.
Here was a little less eventful. We laid out in the sun, read our books, and occassionaly jumped into the pool to cool off. I did, what is a perfectly acceptable sport here in fine America. People Watching. The watering hole is a great place to see a collection of interesting people.
Apparently, people watching is not an international sport. In fact, Svein was quite concerned that I would get caught watching other people, and informed me that it was considered very rude where he came from. I told him that, of course, I don't STARE. And continued to teach him the subtle art of people watching where you glance here and there in order to figure things out about the people around you. And...if someone decides to stare back at you, then, and only then, if you are brazen enough, may you stare back.
The middle age group of women who intently watched me back because I was reading a Christian novel that they recognized (A voice in the wind.)
The mom with two sons who must be fresh off the boat from Japan. They were very good swimmers though.
The young family with their baby daughter who they insisted wore a GIGANTIC sun hat that she could barely keep her head up with.
And then, a foreign family with 3 young boys. I had seen this family before, and was very intrigued. The father chooses one son to work with, and "coaches" him on swimming technique for hours. The poor boy of choice is very obediant and does lap after lap while his other brothers and other pool children play. The only thing is, their accent is unidentifiable. I thought that maybe it was italian, but decided it wasn't. Then Svein joined in and helped me rule out Greek, Russian, and Romanian. We finally decided it was probably Hungarian. I am glad that I taught Svein something important from the US. People watching is a skill that every body should learn.
So here's to happy "pEEple wootching." What kind of interesting people have you seen today?
Currently, my husband is explaining the many *benefits* of eating raisin bran. A conversation I am glad to be not a part of.
Ian's especially glad to see his mom, it's been over 2 and a half years!
