One of the people I mentioned that I really missed is my sweet AiYi
{which means auntie}.
This sweet woman came to our house in EA 2 days a week for a couple hours to help me.... and trust me, I needed the help. She'd do anything from help me clean & do odd things around the house to help me wash & cut veggies and prepare my meals (an undertaking when you live in a developing country with really bad water that has stuff in it that needs "killing" before it can be consumed), but more than anything else she brought a little spark of joy to my life.
She makes me look ginormous, & Adam even larger but at 4'9" and all of 92 lbs (she got on my scale one day and asked, "What does this mean!?" and I said, "THAT YOU ARE TINY!!!") she has more strength & energy to put the both of us to shame. This woman works HARD. Coming to help me & another woman was just what she did on the side; she & her husband are farmers who work hard to farm this land......
During planting & harvest she would spend days bent over planting & picking, working the land.
These are "You Hua" the flowers that produce rapeseed oil. They beautifully covered every inch of land where we lived in the spring. They also grow corn & a few other crops.
Last spring she invited us to come out to her house during Tomb Sweeping Festival. We were so excited. We had a driver take us 45 minutes outside of our little town to her village.
This is the entrance to their compound. This house in the front is the neighbors, but theirs is built similarly, just a little older. Most homes like these have multiple people or familiies living in the, each with a different section of the upstairs that has been finished, and everyone shares an unfinished downstairs.
She told us that when she had her first baby, that they lived in this hut.... with her husband's parents, sister, brother, and brother's wife. Her water buffalo lives in it now and the floor is covered in poo, but I could still envision what that must have been like, with a new born baby 20 years ago.
This is still their bathroom. A little outhouse with a squatty potty with no plumbing hooked up, just a hill for everything to run down.
They don't have running water inside, just this spigot outside that they fill buckets with.
This is her kitchen in the unfinished downstairs of her house. She has a small fridge in another room, but this is it for the kitchen. A few pieces of secondhand furniture to store things & serve as counter tops.
She cooks on a little hot plate that gets the job done.
Being at their house made me re-think poverty & wealth. For all of you reading this, it would seem like they live in poverty, with no indoor plumbing & an outhouse but I would challenge that thinking {as I'm challenging my own}. They have everything that they need. It is lavish by no means, but sufficient. And they are HAPPY.
They have a few outfits, and many second hand things like furniture & a TV that they are so thankful for & don't take for granted. They haven't been bogged down by stuff & a desire to be constantly seeking more. As farmers, they have worked SO hard for all of the things that they have & to get where they are.
I pray that they would one day find the only TRUE source of satisfaction for their souls. I am thankful that they haven't been blinded by greed & that evidences of their creator are all over their lives.
They aren't like many EA-ian couples who are satisfied with putting up with each other. For many, getting ahead is the most important thing in their lives, not their marriages & families. You can see the my AiYi & her husband aren't like them. He is a sweet & gentle man with a huge smile.
Back to our visit....
She was happy to cook for us.... and was obviously so thoughtful about the process. Most people when they have you in their homes cook the local specialties, that many foreigners wouldn't find super appealing. That's what I was expecting. But she went to the market and bought vegetables that she knew I liked... not because she asked & I told her, but based solely on what she has helped me wash & prep at my house {for western food}.
She knows I like Celery, cauliflower, & peas. And let me tell you, I can guarantee you that she forced herself to endure those 3 dishes that were pretty bland in their book {albeit DELICIOUS for me} instead of the other way around- when foreigners endure eating the delicacies to be polite. I couldn't get over the fact that she did this for us {well, really for me... Adam LOVES spicy stuff}. She made the LaZiJi, the super spicy chicken dish, at the last minute because Adam told her he loved spice.
After we ate we took a little tour of the rest of their house and land.
We met her pets.
This is her water buffalo, who doesn't have a name, who was pregnant at the time & had a little water buffalo baby in July! I asked her, "What's her name!?" and she said, "Name? It doesn't have a name, it's a water buffalo." We had the same conversation about the dogs & chickens. "So what do you say when you want the dogs to come to you?" "Dog, come" "But then they all come, how do they know which one you want?" She just laughed and shook her head. She knows all about my Lucy, and probably thinks we're nuts for treating her like a member of our family.
We walked through one of their fields
This is an alter in one of the downstairs rooms where her mother in law places things to worship their ancestors.
AiYi makes amazing tapestries and was working on this horse one at the time. She also makes beautiful minority needlework as well. So talented.
Right before we left, her mother in law, sister in law, & niece came home. I was so excited to meet them. I had to beg her mother in law to take a picture with me. You can see how much life she has lived by the lines on her face. I always wonder what people in her generation & demographic have seen & endured. She is around my dad's age, but looks so much older.
She spends her days picking tea leaves with other women like these.
The next time you have a cup of green tea, you can think about this beautiful woman picking the leaves on the other side of the world.
We took a long stroll back through the village to try to catch a bus back to our town.
As we walked, we saw many different aspects of village life.
Because it was a holiday, everyone's families had gathered to eat together.
We were a sight to see- foreigners in the remote village isn't something you see everyday.
She told us that when she walked back to her house after she left us, people were asking her all kinds of questions, even if she worked for a foreign company.
There were lots of water buffalo everywhere- naturally as everyone farms. It'd be like a farmer in America having a combine & a tractor.
Some houses were nicer than others...
but many old architectural elements were still around.
We made a little pit stop at the public restrooms.
And were on our way, back to "big city living".... hardly, but it's all relative.
I'm thankful to have had the privilege of going places like this & meet wonderful people like these.
I'm still pondering the whole poverty & wealth thing, and maybe I'm off,
But my gosh do I miss this sweet woman.... I miss her big smile & laugh and that loud, "AHHH NI HAAOOOO!!!" when she walks in our front door... all 4'9" 92lbs. of her. I didn't know so much life, love & hard work could come out of such a wee little thing. And I never fathomed when I met her that I'd miss her as much as I do. She didn't understand why I cried when I told her bye, and she'll never know how much of a blessing it was for me to have known her. I think of her often.
