Most recently, it was the way people just 'drop by' to say hi. It's actually kind of cool, but coming from the States, where you call or email, or even make multiple calls and emails with all of the phone tag just to arrange a day and time to meet, place to meet, etc, etc it's quite a bit of culture shock. At any random moment, someone will walk up to the gate and just holler to get your attention that they are stopping by. The ones who are really good friends don't even stop at the gate, but just come on in.
Last night, it was the nuns who run the school and church a couple of houses down. "Vecina" they hollered out.... we went to the door to be greeted by two sweet older ladies who were wrapping up their evening at 8:45pm by making housecalls on their neighbors. Being good Christian folks, we invited them in and had a really lovely chat. The sister shared a scripture with us before leaving. It was actually exactly what we were planning for our kids chapel this week, from Ephesians 6 about honoring your parents. Last week we started the conversation using the verse in Exodus 20:12 but we felt the need to continue the dialogue for another week. The sisters confirmed the plan when she opened up the discussion with the Ephesians 6:1 verse. Plus it was a great discussion to have with the 2 little ones who were excited to be up a little later than usual!
This weekend, around the same time, maybe 9pm, a couple stops by. No call ahead, just the gate sliding open as they came in with their 2 kids in tow. I'm always sort of startled by these surprise visits, while everyone around me seems completely chill. They come in and take a seat as if it's 3pm in the afternoon. Hmmm, my western sensibilities are obviously annoyed, which I later feel very convicted about. The 'wife' is 17yrs old and just had baby #2 six weeks ago. Her 29 yr old 'husband' can't understand why she is so sad all the time and crying even though she spends all day at home with 2 little ones under age 2. They came over because she finally told him that she had to get out of the house or she was going to lose her mind. Postpartum depression is definitely real, but not very understood here at all. The husband takes it all as a personal assault and meanwhile she just looks completely sad and blank. It's hard to believe that she is the same, smiling happy young adult I met when I first arrived. I had fun playing with baby, while Melanie stepped into role of counselor, but even more so of friend.
These random, or not so random, visits are pretty much the norm here. More and more I'm appreciating the way that people build community and always make time for one another. It's a lesson I'm learning for sure as I am learning how to re-focus and re-prioritize my life. In the meantime, if I can drop in to your busy schedule and ask that you would maybe whisper a prayer for our friend, Lila, as she adjusts to being a mom of 2 little ones, I know she would really appreciate it.
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