People Watching in Munich, June 24th
Things I observed in Munich yesterday:
-Tiny boy with on a similarly tiny yellow bike, riding in front of his grandparents. He has on a royal blue t-shirt and a yellow helmet so thick it doubles the size of his head
-The increased density of cigarette butts on the pavement in front of the Gynmasium (German high school)
-The temperature difference between the cool shade beneath a tree and the open meadow, where heat seems to radiate up from the ground
-A university student lying on a blanket in the shade, reading a book with no shirt on
-Children singing together as they play on the playground; I cannot understand the words. You can tell by the timbre of their voices that it is a sunny day
-Mother combing her daughter’s hair in the subway station. The little girl sits patiently, carefully holding a tiny yellow flower with two huge leaves she must have picked herself. I think this must say a lot about her, that she is the kind of little girl who not only notices tiny flowers but thinks leaves are an integral part of their beauty
-A father tapping the dirt out of his little son’s shoe in front of the grocery store
-A boy explaining to his father how to pay in the checkout line of the grocery store. It seems they are immigrants; perhaps the father’s German is not as good as his son’s. The father is clearly an intelligent man, but he fumbles his coins when it is time to pay. He is self-conscious about this; he tries to make a joke about it to the clerk but she stares right through him. His loss of dignity in front of his son is painful to watch. I am not sure whether the clerk knows how much she has hurt him.
-A middle-aged woman in a turquoise bikini sunbathing in the park
-Two women having a picnic with their adorable babies, who seemed about the same age. They hold the babies up and introduce them to one another; the babies stare at each other for one long minute and then simultaneously burst into tears.
