Interesting Weekend :)

Saturday night we feasted on an amazing dinner. There was good food, great wine, good music and conversation. We had Thai wraps with very hot sauce and sushi. By the end of the evening we were all very full and quite rosy. And just to top things off we finished with champagne and raspberry creme brulees. The fun carried on well into the wee hours. The next morning I dragged my butt out of bed and went to mass where I witnessed my second baptism... much better than the first! There were some jokes made but it didn't take away from the integrity of the ceremony. After I went home, picked up Swati and we went to the Siek Temple (we had been invited the day before by the wonderful nurse). We were planning to just go for lunch but we ended up catching the last bit of their prayer session. The women were beautiful. Rich, colourful saris, praying and singing in soft voices, their gold bracelets jangling. The Lady who invited us came and sat by us and I was awed. She had transformed from the wonderful nurse who I had never seen wearing anything but scrubs into this beautiful, numinous very feminine creature who simply flowed. Then the food started... The women and children sat in the main room and the men off in a side room. Metal trays with separated sections built into them were set out on the floor along with metal cups. Most of the setting out was done by three little boys all under the age of eight. One of them had been promoted to Pourer of Water and was taking his new job very seriously but the water jug was approximately a quarter of his size and so much of its contents were distributed vigorously into and around the cups. The food was amazing. Two or three women came around with metal and plastic buckets of steaming hot exotic smelling entrees. One of the plastic buckets had originally held OxyClean, I enjoyed that. As the food was served and the eating began the conversation flowed. It was wonderful to listen to, a sea of swirling female voices communicating in Punjabi. As I was sitting there on the floor, lost in the sights, sounds and smells a shill little voice pipes up " I aam Unnderwear!!" I had to laugh, that was the only English I had herd in the last fifteen minutes. The owner of the voice was a five year old boy who was now busily devouring his mothers strawberries. About half way through the meal Swati made the mistake of getting up and refilling her water. Unbeknownst to us the proper etiquette is to call for one of the serving women to get whatever you need more of, even if you are sitting right beside it. Very different culture, try that in the Leake residence and you will get your head served to you instead. All in all it was a very different and wonderful experience but my day was not over yet. Later in the afternoon I received a distress call from a good friend of mine and Sarah and her posse rode to the rescue. ;) Girls stick together.

A very interesting weekend!