In pictures - The make-up artist

Picture taken in Budisovice, Czech Republic, 2008

Maria, look!

Context: In the bus. Behind me, a woman is sitting with a boy and a girl, both around six or seven years old. The children are facing each other.

BOY: Maria, look! She's putting her finger in her nose!!!

MARIA (the woman): That's ok. She can do it. It doesn't matter.

BOY, sounding scandalized: How come I'm not allowed to do it?!

MARIA: Who told you you were not allowed to do it?

BOY: Look! She's doing it again!!! She's putting her finger in her nose!!

GIRL: I do it like this! (I assume the girl makes demonstration.)

BOY, scandalized and disgusted: Look!! She's putting her finger in her nose and eating the bogeys! She's eating the bogeys!!!

From then on, I don't hear the rest, for I can't stop laughing...

Polite conversation

In the bus. A woman comes in with two little girls. The youngest (around four years old) sits next to an old man.

LITTLE GIRL, addressing the old man: Moien!*

OLD MAN, smiles and answers: Moien!

The girls chatter during the journey. When they arrive at their stop, the little girl takes her mother's hand and stands up to leave.

LITTLE GIRL: Äddi!**

No answer. The old man hasn't noticed that she is talking to him.

LITTLE GIRL, turning around, not wanting to leave before she has her answer: Äddi!

Still no answer.

LITTLE GIRL: Äddi! ... Äddi!... Äddi!

People witnessing the scene start smiling.

OLD MAN, finally noticing: Äddi!

Little girl smiles and finally lets her mother take her away.

*Moien = Hello

** Äddi = Bye

Little friends

In the middle of a village celebration, a little girl is sitting in the grass, crying because her mother scolded her.

A friend of hers, a boy a few years older, comes to sit next to her with a plane tree leaf in his hand and starts showing her how to rip the leaf in such a way that only the veins remain. The girl watches, fascinated. When he's done, the boy starts the same trick on another leaf and gives her one to try it as well.

After a while, seeing that the girl is entertained and has stopped crying, the boy leaves, quietly, the way he came.