A night worth coming to the other side of the world for

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Angelina was a local teacher at the DALAT ESL camp, Megan was helping her & in return we got an invitation to her home for dinner! She was going to teach us to make chipatis but she talked too much so we ate store bought chipatis instead. She made chicken curry, it was spicy for me. The chunks of chicken are random hunks of the bird, bones & goober included. The curry part was runny & a piece of ripped chipati is dipped into it. I was struggling with the spice so I asked for water, & I got warm water...blah! Angelina & her husband kept asking if we wanted more food, we said "it's wonderful, but no thank you". In return they kept heaping our plates. Then they brought out rice to sop up the extra curry sauce, using the hand too pick it up. I remember this from the last time I was here. Normally they have a banana leaf for a plate. We asked Angelina if she learned to cook from her mother, she said "No, my mother was married at 12 years old & didn't know how to cook. So I learned from my sister." It was so cool to eat such authentic food.
After dinner, Angelina dressed us up in traditional saris. She was so excited to dress us up. It took quite a few tries to find tops that were big enough for us girls, the Indian girls are so petit! The sari itself is 6 meters long & when tied properly a woman can run & sit cross legged without messing it up. There are no pins used to keep it in place. Angelina told us that the Indian women even sleep in their saris. The sari that is tied for a bride must be completed in exactly 7 min, because of tradition or superstition I'm not sure. The red dot on the woman's forehead signifies that she is married while the black that she is single. I forget the correct name for that piece that is put on the forehead. The one that Megan wore was a reusable 80 RM wedding piece. Angelina insisted on sending a tiny white one home with me, it is very cute but I don't know all the religious etc connections that it has so I won't wear it until I understand more about it. We had so much fun, Angelina was in a really jolly mood. When Angelina finally had me all dressed up she was jumping up & down & clapping her hands like a little girl: "so beautiful, oh so beautiful!!! When you are a model, my dear, & they tell you to wear sari, you call me & I come tie sari for you. Ok my dear, ok?" Angelina put a hair piece on Megan & it actually looked like real long hair. Giving us both big hugs she gushed "remember that your dark mommy loves you, my dolls!"
After that we sat in the living room & drank horlicks. It tastes like cookies in milk, I don't know what it is made of though. We learned that she feels very segregated even in Penang because of her dark skin. The people here work very hard to be as light as they can & it seems that the darker people are looked down on, I haven't figured out why yet. Megan was trying to tell her how a person is beautiful not because of their skin but because of what is inside, I don't know if she listened but I hope she did because Angelina is a beautiful woman for real. Angelina is a strong Catholic, we are praying that she will come to understand that God is a loving God who wishes to have a personal relationship with us.
Angelina wanted to shower us with gifts. It was really difficult because I could see that it gave her joy to give us stuff, but I have no room in my pack for clothes that I will never wear! She gave us each some bangells & I will treasure them because they are right from India & given right from her heart. She wanted us to promise that we will return next year...I was tempted to say "of course I'll come see you!!"
I told Megan as we sat there at about 12 pm in Angelina's cheerful home, "I think it was worth coming to this side of the world to have this evening", & it was.

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Photos

Pearl Hill
view from Angelina's house

super
Angelina cooked chicken with spicy curry, chipatti, salad with mango, & a marenated salad for us

Comments

[cjs]

Beautiful
What a wonderful evening-it will be a memory you will treasure for the rest of your life. The clothes are so beautiful. I really enjoyed reading this blog and looking at the pictures. I'm can hardly wait for you to arrive in China. I'm very excited.

[Ina]

oooh
Don't you look lovely! That really suits you. Ina