My daughter's new friend.

The playground is an interesting place in our neighborhood. My daughter is a toddler and would like to make some friends so we go there frequently to burn energy and see who's out and about. Turns out our neighborhood is mostly French. All the little children running and playing on the playground are speaking French. My daughter doesn't really pick up on the whole foreign language concept and tries desperately to talk to them but they just stare back at her. They are all older than her and therefore taking the playground as their own. Up and down the slides, climbing on top of the equipment, they are everywhere and all over everything. The later in the evening we go out the more kids start coming out of the woodwork to play. (It is just too hot during the day). They have scooters and bicycles and you have to really pay attention so you don't get run over. A lot of them choose not to wear shoes, which really scares me. It is a nice play area with grass but you just never know what you could step on as it is still a public place. The children are all supervised by their nannies, which appear to all be some other ethnicity besides French or American or native to this country. They are friendly and smile and say hi. If I go out on the weekend we run into the parents which, of course, are all French. They don't really even look our way. It is strange to be on the playground in the middle east and be surrounded by no one that speaks English but not because they speak Arabic.

 

The title of this post is my daughter's new friend so I am sure you are wondering...french friend? Maybe a little girl with bows in her hair and a cute dress and shoes...no my daughter chooses the "playground" cat. Stray cats here are a problem, a big problem. It is sad. They are everywhere and there happens to be one cat that prefers the playground. It must not be a very bright cat as the kids are pretty rough on it and I would be surprised if it weren't already run over by a bicycle at least once. So here we are on a playground full of at least 20 children and my daughter goes up to the cat, waves, and says "hi, my name is (if you know us you know her name) and then looks at me and says...her name is mommy!"  It was so adorable. My daughter just waits for the cat to talk back...no response...I told you it wasn't the brightest of cats. My daughter walks back to me rather sad and says..."Mommy, I tried to talk to the cat but it doesn't want to talk". I thought, oh my goodness, I have to find a friend for her!

We came back to the playground the next day. My daughter began to offer twigs and leaves as treats, laying them down right in front of the cat. I guess it was some kind of friend offering. It is a stray but wasn't hungry enough to eat the twigs and leaves for a snack. Maybe tomorrow...

 

 



The "playground" cat doesn't look too bad for a stray. Some of the cats look much skinner and sickly than this one. Someone nearby probably feeds it.