At least my life is an adventure. Nothing I do can ever be done easily. There's always some kind of story.
For instance, I went to the Wednesday outdoor market today and it was suppose to be a nice stroller ride for Alexis. Just something to get us out of the house since the sun was shining.
Our first stop was the bank. Our bank is in the city center and they were doing some construction to the building attached to our bank. I guess we got there around the same time all of the construction workers and their trucks did because as we exited our bank (that's another story) I noticed that we were blocked in by the trucks and the trailers. (Not tractor trailers more like small Chevy truck with trailers attached and box vans.) I thought, surely they wouldn't block the entrance of the bank. So, I walked to the front of the truck and he had parked so closely to the other truck that I couldn't get through there either with the stroller. It was enough space for me to fit through but not me and the stroller. Picture this: straight ahead, left and right, are trucks blocking me. Directly left is a large metal garbage bin and directly right is a patio to a restaurant. I am completely blocked in from all sides. So, I find someone who looks like a construction worker and gave him the "hi, I'm blocked in smile and can you move, please hand movements. I'm not quite up on those words in Dutch. He went to talk to someone (whom I thought was the owner of the vehicle) but then never came back over. Well long story short, finally some man saw I was stuck and helped me lift the stroller over one of the smaller trailers and we were on our way. That would only happen to me!
Wanna here my side story on entering and exiting the bank. The door to our bank weighs about 150 pounds so I can barely push the door open and manage to get the stroller in the door without it crashing into me or the stroller. Rarely will you find a nice Belgian to open the door for you. They just stand and look. (The guy who helped me lift the stroller: British tourist) On this day, I've found a way to click the door open, hold 150 pounds of door open with my butt and start to back the stroller in when some lady coming out decides she should go first and scurries on by me leaving me left outside again...with the door shut. Where's the hospitality I ask? We made it on the 2nd attempt in. Exiting took 2 tries as well. Alexis is such a good sport!
After all of that adventure I thought surely nothing else could happen. I try and be all smiles to keep a positive atmosphere around Alexis but my patience is wearing thin at this point. (Note: I normally have no patience to begin with so the fact I've had this much to this point is huge.) I decided to treat myself to a pastry from the market going on. I hate the outside Wednesday markets because I get treated like an outsider because I'm not Belgian. They'll serve the Belgians before they will serve someone looking like a tourist. Also, there are no standing in lines, waiting patiently, in an orderly fashion here. It's every man for himself. With that being said, I walked to the pastry area and positioned the stroller so no one can skip in front of me. (Yes, I do what's necessary if that means Alexis helping out!) There are 2 people ahead of me. The lady waits on one, then waits on the other. You would think she would wait on me next. NOPE! She went to the other side and waited on a Belgian. Without thinking I said out loud, "Ik bin de volgende." (Dutch to English translation: I'm next!) She never came to wait on me but another lady did. I might have caused a small scene. HA HA to the bakery workers! I speak Dutch! My chocolate eclair was yummy if you were wondering.
All that just for an innocent stroll on a Wednesday morning.
Alexis playing with her new toy.
I made a slide show of Alexis playing around today but for some reason it won't upload to the blog. Click
here to check it out!
