Two funny experiences in the villages today:
1. Dave and I have to this point avoided telling the doctors and nurses we work with that we are married -- it just hasn't been relevant. But today it came up, and the scene it caused was quite amusing. The conversation went something like this....
Health aid ( HA for short): where are you from?
Me: new York
HA: Both of you? So you must be classmates.
(At this point I know it is inevitable, so I just go ahead and tell her that we are married. And then I know exactly what the next questions will be...)
HA: married?! For how long?
Me: for 3 years
HA: three years! So then how many babies do you have?
She was quite surprised to hear that we didn't have any children yet, because in the villages marriage and pregnancy are so closely linked that both a woman's age and her age at marriage are recorded on her chart. At this point in the conversation, there is a crowd of people around us and the health aid is telling everyone that we are married. Which then leads them to ask how many babies I have, which then forces me to explain the whole thing all over again. This continued village to village.
2. At the last village we visited, we went to the house of an old old woman who, as it was explained to me, "knows everything about everyone in the village" (her words not mine). She is basically the village gossip! The nurse, health aid, Dave and I sat on the porch with her as she told the health aid everything that has been going on in the village since her last visit. And once that was over, the attention turned to me and Dave and the health aid told the gossip about us being married but not having any babies yet. And even though I didn't understand a word she said, the gossip turned to me and held my arm and encouraged me. It was very touching, and I felt very connected to these women, even though we didn't speak them same language or live in the same country or come from the same generation. It was very Red Tent. And I just felt like a part of something larger than myself. But the moment was ruined when the gossip grabbed my arm again, pointed at it, and said something in Tamil that was translated to me as "but look how white she is!" I smiled, and she smiled. And she then told me in Tamil "you came here white but with this sun you will go home looking like me!" It was very funny, even the old village women can't help but make fun of me!
1. Dave and I have to this point avoided telling the doctors and nurses we work with that we are married -- it just hasn't been relevant. But today it came up, and the scene it caused was quite amusing. The conversation went something like this....
Health aid ( HA for short): where are you from?
Me: new York
HA: Both of you? So you must be classmates.
(At this point I know it is inevitable, so I just go ahead and tell her that we are married. And then I know exactly what the next questions will be...)
HA: married?! For how long?
Me: for 3 years
HA: three years! So then how many babies do you have?
She was quite surprised to hear that we didn't have any children yet, because in the villages marriage and pregnancy are so closely linked that both a woman's age and her age at marriage are recorded on her chart. At this point in the conversation, there is a crowd of people around us and the health aid is telling everyone that we are married. Which then leads them to ask how many babies I have, which then forces me to explain the whole thing all over again. This continued village to village.
2. At the last village we visited, we went to the house of an old old woman who, as it was explained to me, "knows everything about everyone in the village" (her words not mine). She is basically the village gossip! The nurse, health aid, Dave and I sat on the porch with her as she told the health aid everything that has been going on in the village since her last visit. And once that was over, the attention turned to me and Dave and the health aid told the gossip about us being married but not having any babies yet. And even though I didn't understand a word she said, the gossip turned to me and held my arm and encouraged me. It was very touching, and I felt very connected to these women, even though we didn't speak them same language or live in the same country or come from the same generation. It was very Red Tent. And I just felt like a part of something larger than myself. But the moment was ruined when the gossip grabbed my arm again, pointed at it, and said something in Tamil that was translated to me as "but look how white she is!" I smiled, and she smiled. And she then told me in Tamil "you came here white but with this sun you will go home looking like me!" It was very funny, even the old village women can't help but make fun of me!
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