Animals of my Morning Walk

I wrote last week of the differences between my suburban morning walk and my Belgian morning walk, but I neglected to photograph the animal life I encounter each morning.

Today I'll remedy that.  The first animal accompanies me on my walks - both suburban and rural.   Dobby is the reason for the morning walks.  Now that he is three, he has lost some of his puppy exuberance, but he still needs the exercise and so do I.

The first animals we usually see are the horses that live across the street.   Our living room windows overlook their pasture, so I see these horses all day long.

Next we walk by the mules.  Just two of these in the neighborhood.  They live at the end of the block.  Usually there are some chickens and roosters hanging out with them, but none were to be seen yesterday morning.



Our walk then loops around to a small barely finished road.  We see a few more horses but are mostly walking by fields for a while.  The wheat harvest has begun.  The waving wheat is gone and now the fields look like this.

At the end of the street is where the cows live.  They are waiting to be let into their feeding pasture.  So they are close to the gate instead of all spread out.  These are our friendly neighborhood cows.  There are cows a bit further away along the N6 who have a reputation for being mean.  The cows further down the block seem friendly enough but one must be careful walking by their pasture because there is a weak area of fence and it is not uncommon to find an escaped cow.

As I was heading home I encountered one more animal.  It was unexpected but a reminder of home.  In suburbia, my animal encounters were pretty much limited to other dogs, a cat or two, crows, worms and these guys.  This one is a little bigger than most of the ones I saw on the sidewalks at home but familiar all the same.

Patience is a Virtue

I will readily confess I am an impatient person.  I'm an American, I like things now and just the way I like them.  I am blessed with a brain that processes quickly - upside I learn very quickly, downside I get bored very quickly.

I am not in America anymore, I am reminded of the need to be patient with others and myself.

I have already written about living without stuff.  My family is essentially camping out in our house at this time, but we are OK.  The house keeps us dry when it rains and we have a place to sleep.  We have food to eat and a couple of plates off of which to eat.

Every official process - ID cards, licenses, etc - requires a multi step process.  Some steps must be separated by weeks.  If I pass my signage test today, I will begin the drivers license process which will last who knows how long.

And then there are the times I am impatient with myself.  I haven't learned enough French, I didn't pass my signage test, I can't get the moving company to tell me where my stuff is, I don't know my way around yet. When I went to the grocery store yesterday, I couldn't figure out how to get a cart (they were all locked up) and I didn't know the convention of weighing and labeling one's own produce. I felt stupid - I didn't even know how to grocery shop properly.

Any of these situations would be enough to reduce me to a puddle of tears in frustration.  The fact I haven't succumbed yet has probably less to do with patience and more with grace.  I doubt I am more patient but I do hope I am more graceful (kind, forgiving, loving).

I am not in America.  I understand that.  I am in a new place with new people and a new language and different customs and conventions.  I am in a culture that is not in a rush, that is not all about the individual, that is not about catering to people's selfishness.  It is kind of refreshing and really I am not in a hurry - I have hours of free and open time.

As for me, well I've always known I am not perfect and can't control everything.  I'm just getting extra reminders these days.

I failed

Today was the test for my SHAPE drivers license.  After a two hour class, there was a two part test.  One part tested us on speed limits, distances and overtaking (passing) regulations.  I passed that one.  

I failed the test related to the 156 road signs.  The test was to correctly identify 50 particular signs.  We could miss 5 and I missed 8.  Some of the signs are easy.  Like this one. 

And others require a bit more interpretation.   This means priority road.  Now you know, right? No? In Belgium the default driving convention is that the car approaching on the right has the priority.  So if you are zipping down the road at 50 miles per hour and you see a car coming from a residential side street on your right, you slow down and let the side street car turn or pull out in front of you.  Unless you are on a priority road in which case, the side street has a yield and they have to wait for you.  I get this concept, I tested fine on that.

Lest you are afraid to drive with me, I will confess that the signs I missed all had to do with parking and mopeds.  So I suppose at this time I am likely to get a parking ticket and should not operate a moped.  Though, I'd probably be fine on a moped, I just can't distinguish the signs related to mopeds from the signs related to motorcycles.  I'd insert a graphic here to show you if I could find one on line.  Just imagine a graphic of a bicycle - put it in bold and that is a moped, bold it a bit more and it is a motorcycle.  

I am scheduled to take my sign test again tomorrow morning, so I'll spend some time tonight reviewing parking signs and distinguishing bike, moped and motorcycle graphics.  

Here are some road signs for you to study:

      

Any guesses as to what they mean?