Disclaimer : I just woke up from a good two hours nap. As a matter of fact we all did.
Today we finally bumped into tourists. Chinese tourists to be more precise. And for a good a reason : we visited one of Belarus historical highlight : Mir’s castle.
That’s about it. There is not much else to say about a castle isn’t ? I mean you see some armours, some spades, you look outside those narrow windows, you imagine yourself firing one of those middle-age archery weapons, and then you figure you much prefer this century than the previous ones. Girls however loved it. A castle is a little bit like living a fairy tale so again, high five mission completed.
We spent two nights at Svetlana’s. Her guesthouse was fantastic.
Ah one more thing. We met this strange dude. He was older than us and started talking to Katya. He asked lots of questions. He seemed like a very decent dude to be honest. I didn’t understand all they said so I waited that Katya finished her conversation in order to get the full picture.
Basically that gentleman gave a lesson to Katya. An education lesson. Telling her she shouldn’t do this and that with her own children, that it will decrease (or increase) this and that, and that this and that is – are – at risk if she does this and that. The exact nature of their conversation is irrelevant, what stroke me is the pattern. This constant certainty this man had – we all have – about knowing better than anyone else about children IN GENERAL. It is not enough for us to know what’s best for OURS, we need to tell the world about THEIRS too. And it’s fair enough. I mean, when it gets to children you basically touch the inner nature of who we are. You can challenge anyone on job issues, with rational arguments that is, but you can’t rationalise the education you give to your own kids. It’s a mishung of your social background, your own education, the social economic landscape you live in, your aspirations of course and on top of that, you need to square it all because the same applies to your partner. Education is as it is, and that’s it.
I just wanted to share with you this little anecdote. I don’t hold any grudges to that dude, and neither does Katya really. Even though it would have been nice if he simply got the f*** off a bit earlier. It merely reminded us of how weak we are when it comes to those little beings. By all means, should we ask around I’m sure we’d receive quite a bit of (mild to gentle) critiscm about the way we spend holidays with our children for instance, and that would be OK. The only thing that really matters is that we behave with their best interest at heart. The rest doesn’t matter. Life is a marathon and you’ll only start seeing the quality of the prep work after the 26th kilometre.
So to all parents out there, good job you all ! Although those of you who do this and that should perhaps reconsider…
Pictures from Mir and Svetlana’s guesthouse. Tomorrow is our last day on the road as we head back to Minsk.
Night y’all.
Welcome to our world. 