Stories over Meals

            

From left to right:  Shiokomar, Naveen, Vijay, and Michael

Shiokomar, Naveen, and Vignesh

Naveen, Vijay, Shiokomar and Predip (back)

Do you eat with your family?  Isn’t it nice sometimes to sit in a dining table and catch up on each other’s lives?  Doesn’t it feel nice to sit with your family and talk about what happened in your day, what happened at work, what happened at school, what’s new with others?  When we have friends we haven’t seen for a while, don’t we set up a coffee meeting with them or a lunch date with them to just sit and catch up with each other’s lives and update each other on what’s new?             

When families eat together, they are enjoying one another’s presence.  While I am staying with the brothers, I have mass with them, eat meals with them, and talk about life.  Through our meals we talk about different current events around the world that affects us, types of spices, favorite food, and even life in general.  Curious as I am, I always ask the brothers why they chose the religious path.  I receive various answers, but they all mean one thing:  Doing something to impact another person’s life.  Without meals with the brothers, I probably won’t know the many things that I know about them.  Even for half an hour I am able to learn new things about them that I’ve never learned before.  That means a lot to me because everyone could be at different places at different times, but here they are, spending 30 minutes with me and talk about whatever comes up.  One topic leads to another and another leads to a few more.  Then I take some time out of my evening to visit the boys and sit with them while they are having classes. 

            

For 15 minutes, I am able to see what they are learning in school.  I learned about their favorite subjects and even play hang man with them.  They love hang man and even when the bell for meals come, they still want to play.  During meals, I sit with the boys and ask them about life.  I ask them to teach me how to pray their prayer and they are willing to teach me.  During their meals, I ask them what they are having and they teach me new words every day.  Although that language barrier is there, it never stopped us from communicating.  If we have to act out what we are saying, we would do so.  We wouldn’t let something like a language place a barrier between us.  During meals, I learn about their religion, their favorite food (very interesting diet), and favorite games.

            

After their meals, we all go for a walk and play some games in the dark.  Tonight, I learned how to play statue (which is like freeze), and I learned to look up on the sky and appreciate the natural beauty that God gives us every day.  Tomorrow, I know that the relationship between the boys and I will be stronger and I’m looking forward to it.  Although I don’t go out of the campus, I am learning about the boys more every day and that’s all that matters because I came earlier to get to know the boys and create a relationship with them and not see the temples earlier than the others.  

Until then<3

Kristeme