Light observations

Pigeon life

"Look, Ella, a pigeon is chasing another. I guess its looking for a mate". I called my daughter who was drawing on a piece of paper, in a cafe in downtown Amsterdam. My daughter, 10 years old and already an animal expert looked up immediately and said "ooh, yeah!.....ooh no, it is not possible, because they are both male pigeons"
I looked again and nodded "hm, that's right....but yet again, we are in Amsterdam, so it is probably possible...". That drew a laugh from my wife and a curious expression from my daughter. So before she cornered me by asking "what do you mean, Papa?" - I asked her about her school homework....


Parallel Parking

I was skillfully maneuvering my car to parallel-park in a narrow and congested street in Paris recently, when an old Asian looking man with a grocery bag stared at me from 50 meters away. I thought he was impressed by my Paris-honed parking skill. He walked towards me right after I finished and asked me to open my window.

“Excuse me” he said with a strong Japanese accent – “are you Japanese?”

“No”, I said, “why?” – somewhat annoyed that it is not about my parking skill.

“Oh…..” he almost walked away. Then he decided to come back and asked “I am looking for a hotel – called Novotel Tour Effel”

“Ah, I know where it is – but it is still far, about 20 minutes walk”. So I pointed out the way with confidence, not realizing that I was disoriented and I told him the completely opposite direction. He said “merci” and walked away. I realized after he walked a bit of a distance that I made a mistake. I shouted to call him back, and told him where to go. He passed me again and gave me a polite-"you're an idiot" kind of stare only a Japanese can do.
Some lessons learnt:

When you are lost in a foreign land, ask a local, not someone who look familiar like you