The woman who does the cooking here at the Vipassana house feeds us three times a day: 8 am, 1 pm, and 8 pm. She is very punctual and so it is best to arrive for your meal at exactly these times so as not to keep her waiting. The very first morning I was here I woke up late at 9 am because I did not have an alarm clock. When I awoke, I just assumed I missed breakfast. I did not understand how the system worked quite yet. However, she had been waiting 1.5 hours for me. I felt so badly.
At the beginning of my stay Rupa, the cook, seemed lukewarm to newcomers. She does not speak any English, so I used to just smile at her in gratitude. She would give me a beautiful smile back, and though we did not understand one another's language, we were communicating in some form. I was determined to learn Hindi so I could connect with her more because she is a beautiful human.
So the other day I learned some phrases, and after one of the meals, I said, "Dhanavad, Rupa." She smiled big and let out a nice laugh. It was beautiful.
All I did was thank her. The simple things.
At the beginning of my stay Rupa, the cook, seemed lukewarm to newcomers. She does not speak any English, so I used to just smile at her in gratitude. She would give me a beautiful smile back, and though we did not understand one another's language, we were communicating in some form. I was determined to learn Hindi so I could connect with her more because she is a beautiful human.
So the other day I learned some phrases, and after one of the meals, I said, "Dhanavad, Rupa." She smiled big and let out a nice laugh. It was beautiful.
All I did was thank her. The simple things.
Miss u... Yes a smile in any language or culture goes a long way !!
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