If you look for negatives, you’ll find them. After typing up my little rant on revenge (see below), I went to Tahreer to troll for some English newspapers and some juice. There’s a parking lot next to Tahreer, but it’s never used as one. Every time I go by there is either a pick-up game of soccer (or football to all you non-Americans) or there is a guy that rents out time on motor scooters and ATVs. It’s a strange thing, people pay some money and then they zoom around and around the lot. One end of the parking lot has the entrances onto the main road and the other side has a high wall. I noticed that the kids on the scooters were blowing the horn constantly. There is no reason to blow your horn as you approach a wall, it isn’t going anywhere. No, they are just exercising their annoying tendency to make as much noise as possible. Just then, I remembered something that happened today. As I came home from class, a guy was fiddling with his motorcycle by the house. A little kid came up and asked him something, the guy pointed at something and the kid proceeded to push the button. Needless to say, it was the horn.
Just as that oh so pleasant memory was sinking in a little kid came careening towards me. He was on one of those things that are half wagon half bicycle. It was empty, but just like many other kids on bikes he decided that it would be “fun” or perhaps “funny” to scare the westerner. Kids do this all the time, and it’s really annoying. So I didn’t move at all. He managed to come to a stop before hitting me and I gave him a look showing my distinct displeasure. I had almost hoped that he would hit me, almost. I muttered a little something under my breath (best not repeated) and threw his wagon part out of my way. He had a suitably scared look on his face as he biked away. Oh come on, I wasn’t going to do anything to him, he was probably all of 8 years old. I may be many things, but I don’t beat up kids…
It’s days like these that make me worry about my teaching gig coming up. I’m afraid I’ll come into class and start off with some new words for them like, “Myopic, selfishness, pig-headed, ignorant, egocentric, self-absorbed, and thoughtless.” I wouldn’t actually swear in class, that would be unprofessional. I just need to sit down and do my homework, and tomorrow I’ll make an effort to stick to the lesson…