Simple Pleasures

Have you ever had a job that you dreaded doing? I certainly have! One of the strange things about living here in Karen land is that it is considered TERRIBLE for me to actually work. The Karen  think of white people as being better than themselves, and so they feel that it is wrong to let us work. But, I am trying to show them that this is not the way it should be, we should all work together and serve each other. So, I looked for something that I could do that they did not seem to enjoy doing, and I found it! Dishes…. Well, I don’t always like to do the dishes either, but I decided that this was the only thing that I could find that I could get away with doing. So, the first day I took all of the dishes out to the creek and tried to wash those icky dishes while squatting on the ground at the water’s edge. It was torture! My legs just were not made to stay in that particular configuration for more than 3 seconds! So, my boys gave me the bright idea of sitting on a cookie tin while washing dishes…that did not work either. They are made of metal, but it is the thinnest metal I have ever experienced! First, it conforms to your body, and then it collapses on the ground with you close behind it!  So, I thought of buying a little stool to sit on, and it worked! I found one in town that is actually made really well so that it will not break when I sit on it. (most things here are made very cheap, and they tend to just break)My next problem to overcome was that when I went out to the creek to wash dishes, the mosquitoes thought that it was lunch time, and they would swarm me and eat me alive. Since having dengue, I did not like the idea of even one mosquito having lunch at my expense, so once again I gave in and went to town and bought mosquito repellent. It is very expensive over here, but well worth the cost! Now that I had my stool, and my mosquito repellent, I was finally ready for action.Once I got over all the discomforts of dish washing, I noticed something interesting. Each day as I came and set up shop at the creek, little delegations of fish came over looking at me as if they wanted something. I finally figured out that they like rice! As I rinsed the plates, they would zoom in and grab a piece of rice and look profoundly happy.  They are friendly little critters, and I started looking forward to seeing them each day. They swim up to me, and wiggle their tails expectantly. They are not all in one big group, but each group of fish have their favorite place to gather. One group likes it better in the deep water near my feet, another group likes it in the shallow water downstream where they can catch the rice as it floats by.  Each fish seems to wiggle in delight as I throw our leftovers to them. I think that they like me!Now, I really look forward to going out to do the dishes. I have many little friends waiting for me, and they appreciate my clean dishes probably more than the rest of us do, because it means that they can eat well too! (And they sure are growing!)You may think that it is rather strange to do dishes in a creek in the first place, but for those of you who are slightly squeamish, you will be happy to know that we have never gotten sick even once from the creek water. Besides, it is really our only choice in our present circumstances...and, it makes doing a disagreeable job a lot of fun! As you wash each dish, the soap suds are naturally washed away with the current, so you always have nice clean water to work with. It is almost like having running water in a sink. If it is a hot day, you just set your little stool in the middle of the creek, and enjoy the water while you wash.The lesson that I am learning from my dish washing excursions is that if we want to serve someone else, we can find pleasure in doing things that seemed disagreeable at one time. Try it, you might just find yourself with many little fish friends!