Happy Fourth!
Two years ago, I celebrated Thanksgiving by myself -- in an Indian restaurant in Shanghai. Today represents, as some local colleagues would say, an "upgradation" because for this major U.S. holiday, I am not alone.
Pat and I went to the fancier restaurant in the hotel tonight in celebration of the holiday. Again, it was Indian food. Pat is a sport.
We're starting to know some Hindi words: bagh is garden; murgh is chicken; and chollo is slang for let's go/see you later.
A couple of nights ago, a colleague and I learned that both of us blog. We exchanged URLs and today, right before the meeting, she said, "I had a look at your blog."
"Probably more than you ever wanted to know about me...."
"No, that's just what blogs are for...." What a relief. I think there's something ultimately liberating about writing here and sharing a number of the thoughts I have in a given day. Certainly, I felt great when she acknowledged that a blog is for expressing ourselves however we wish.
Hindi Immersion
This morning kicked off the first day of a three-day meeting of the team. We began by interviewing one of our colleagues for a few minutes and then transferring what we learned to a sheet of flip-chart paper, in preparation for introducing the colleague.
We were forbidden to refer to work or to our educational backgrounds, and so we had to describe ourselves in other ways. The son of the colleague I interviewed turned seven today, and the colleague loved Paulo Coehlo's fiction along with the sparkly blue water and white sand of the Maldives.
Among other things, my interviewer learned that I blog -- about what? he asked -- about life experiences; used to go rollerskating in Central Park instead of to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is where my mom thought she was sending me on the train when I was 13 or 14; that I've got a partner of 15 years -- at the end of this month, it'll be -- whose name is Patricia; and that I've got a niece and three nephews, two of whom are identical twins....
My interviewee asked if I wanted her to add her name at the top of the chart, in Hindi.
"Yes, and let's do the whole chart in Hindi!"
She did, and I delivered the introduction by memorizing the order, and speaking English that corresponded with each of the Hindi line items, which felt great.
"Sarah learned Hindi over the weekend!" one of them exclaimed.
My director, who's from China originally, said, "It looks like Hebrew to me!"
And so I asked if my colleague wanted me to write her name in Hebrew and she smiled, Yes. It felt good to know an alphabet other than English characters, since all of them did....It occurred to me to write out all of the line items in Hebrew, too, but I realized that that would be over the top.
One of my other colleagues played cricket on her college team; Pat said that one of her key objectives of this trip is to learn to understand the game of cricket before our return to the States.
Lunch was a special experience: Our manager took us home for a meal cooked by his wife, Sindhu, who has an M.S. in Math and now is studying Library Science. They have two kids, one of whom, at four, already was home from nursery school, and was glued to a Nickelodeon cartoon until his friend came over to play.
Sindhu's cooking was exquisite, and it felt so good to be sitting in a real home, since we're hotel-bound for now. They are Hindu and we took off our shoes before entering their home. I found it ultimately relaxing for an hour in the middle of an extra-full agenda.
Once again, I've nearly fallen asleep at my ThinkPad....
On this Independence Day, I'm grateful that:
- The United States and India no longer are colonies, and are democracies
- As two women, we're free to travel, and in my case work, in this country
- I am more confident in my ability to contribute than I have ever been
- My aspiration to contribute and my contribution both are welcomed
- I have people I miss and who miss me while we're here
- My writing has this blog outlet.
2 comments:
Hi Sarah, yes, we miss you, but your blog and Pat's photoblog really make us feel very connected to you both while you're on your adventure.
That's the hope! Thanks for keeping track of us. We miss you, too. Love, Sarah
Post a Comment