Hanging Out with Korean Moms

Yesterday, I spent the morning with Korean moms in our town. They get together every Tues. for a time of fellowship, yarp, and sharing. My Korean vocabulary is quite limited so it was hard for me to understand everything that was being shared and discussed, but it was still a lot of fun to be with them. They all brought their younger kids ranging from ages 3 to 6 months (Elijah being the youngest). We yarped together in Korean style, and I couldn't help but to chuckle at the chaos as we tried to yarp while feeding, kids climbing all over you, and having a breakdown...but, you know we were able to share and yarp for one another, exchange different information about life here, and have a good Korean lunch together. Besides one single Korean woman, everyone else has children. So, the fact that I am a mom has opened up a new opportunity for me to get to know them. It was just really nice to get out of the house for a good chunk of time, to yarp with them, and to see that we can still try to connect with God even with the chaos. I am also excited that Elijah and I will get to learn Korean together!! He really likes being around other kids so it was fun for him too.

A Lesson in Dignity

Since we have been back, I noticed that Elizabeth, our bahini (younger sister--literal meaning-- who is our house help) has been able to cook a greater variety of Nepali food - and her spaghetti sauces have been delicious. Before our departure, she only knew how to make maybe three Nepali dishes... And, I remember distinctively the conversation we had where she explained to me that she did not know how to cook very many dishes. I had asked her if she knew how to make a fish or a chicken dish, and she had said, "No." But, recently, she has been making both. So, I asked her today whether I had completely misunderstood her a couple of years ago or whether while we were away, she learned to cook some new dishes. She laughed and explained to me that I had perfectly understood before and that she didn't know how to cook except for the most basic dishes. But, as she started working for us, she began learning from her husband how to cook some variety of dishes and now, she feels confident to cook them for us! I had heard from various people that her husband is a wonderful cook....and now, I can attest to the fact that he is a good teacher because her food has been tasty!

When P was here alone during the third trimester of my pregnancy, he had taught her how to make spaghetti sauce, bread, and how to clean to his standard. (Although P and I have similar threshold for dirtiness, when he cleans, he likes to do a thorough job.) I had never bothered to really teach her because one, it was easier to just do it myself, and two, I was still getting used to having a house help around....I felt bad telling her to clean this and that if I could do it and/or it was something I didn't want to do it myself....but, mostly, since it was just P and I, I had not felt like we really needed her help. I had felt like we had hired her just to keep her from being unemployed when she was being let go by another ex-pat. But, now, am I thankful and glad that P had trained her well while I was away. It's been wonderful to have her help around the house as I watch Elijah. It has been great to see a new sense of pride in her work that I had not seen before.... she wanted me to go and see our old apartment because she said she had cleaned it really well before our arrival. So I did go to see it. My goodness, she did a superb job of cleaning! It was better than I had expected! We didn't see one cockroach - which is an achievement here! I told her how happy I was with her work and I could see that she was really pleased. I see a change in her and I think the fact that P spent the time teaching and training her in her work while I was away made an impact on her.....I think her confidence level as a person has increased and she feels good about her work...

It made me rethink about what it looks like to treat people with dignity. In some ways, out of my own guilt and convenience sake, I didn't utilize or train her as fully as I could have in order for her to do her work well and not just a mediocre job. I was willing to settle for her mediocrity. But, P decided that he wanted to utilize her for what she's getting paid to do so he spent some time training her so that she could do her job well. It paid off at the end both for her and for us. I feel like I have learned a good lesson here.... Treating people with dignity means that I treat them with respect by having a high standard, giving them the resources that they need to do their job well, and spending the time and energy to help them get there. It's a good life lesson to remember.

The Gift of a Smile

I had posted this blog entry about a week ago on Elijah's blog...I wanted to share it here. Sorry for whom this is a repeat.

While Paul was out today taking care of repair work for the scooter, Elijah and I went to go visit some friends riding around on the bicycle rickshaws. The mornings are generally cool during the monsoon (especially if it just rained) so we decided to take advantage of it and get out of the house. It was our first time out together without daddy. It was quite an interesting experience.

I got lots of stares from people as I carried Elijah. I think people were wondering, "What is this dark skinned Nepali woman doing with such a fair skinned baby?" They were also probably trying to figure out if I was his mom. I also passed a couple of albinos. The funniest thing was that each of them would look at Elijah and then me, and give me a smile as if we shared something in common. How interesting, I thought....

But, what brought me almost to tears was when Elijah flashed a big smile at a bicycle rickshaw-waalah and he in return looked at me and unashamedly flashed a big smile back with his rotting teeth completely exposed. Each bicycle rickshaw-waalahs thereafter would smile at Elijah and then at me because Elijah would give each one of them a smile that said, "Thank you, and I think you are great!" I don't think I have ever seen a bicycle rickshaw-waalah flash a smile before.... When I was preparing for Elijah's baby dedication and praying about what to pray for for him, I got the sense that he would bring "the joy of the Lord" to people. I saw that in him today. What a gift and a blessing it is that we could bring joy of God to one another....we are meant to do that.