So Many Questions
As I write this, the rain has stopped but our view of the mountains is still obscured by clouds. A constant, heavy pounding in the wall reminds me that work has started on plumbing for a bathroom of our own! Sharing the bathroom with our local host family is one of the many contexts for learning in which I have found myself since our arrival a week ago. I wondered: why are plastic bathroom sandals important? So many questions… What is the difference between morning bread and afternoon bread? Which bus will take me to the market, and which one will bring me home again? How do local people stay warm in uninsulated houses in freezing weather? How do I wear my headscarf to keep it from falling off? What about doing laundry? I just learned about laundry this morning. Our host family has a washing machine, but Indian washing machines are nothing like the ones I’m used to, and I needed lots of help (and plastic sandals).
Headscarf and chai
Needing help is an essential component of the experience of adjustment. We are on the bottom end of an extremely long and steep learning curve. Our host family has a two-and-a-half year old son, and this morning after breakfast his older sister was helping him learn to count. As I listened, I realized that this little boy is already ahead of me in his language and cultural abilities! In many ways, I’ve left behind the competent, intelligent, mature person I used to be and become stupid and needy in order to fully enter this culture. It isn’t easy to let go of that former ME and embrace this new childlike one. Beneath all the nitty-gritty of daily life it’s about loving these people from inside their world, rather than just from the outside. We also call this “incarnation.” I’ll need a dose of humility with my morning cup of chai in order to fully embrace the process, keep asking questions, and trust for the answers.
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged questions by Lisa