*Transcribed*
Politically incorrect statement? Not here. Eben, K and I went to do our laundry this morning. By “do laundry” I mean I was washing my clothes on a rock! I wish I could have got a pic! Anyway, while the 3 of us were doing this, 4 girls came by on their bicycles. They slowed down as they passed and they made fun of us by saying: “In OUR houses, men NEVER wash their own clothes.” I told Eben to ask if they were volunteering to come wash our clothes. We decided it was best not to make comments in this place. I thought this was VERY interesting because this was supposed to be an insult to US! Can you imagine a guy in Canada (or even Colombo) saying: “Well, in my house men never do the laundry; that’s what women are for!” Incidentally, if any of you are wondering: I’ve been doing my own laundry since I was 13 or so, but with a washing machine! I thought this was funny and it made me think of something that happened a few years back:
I was taking a management training course and one of the first “icebreaker” exercises was that we were all going to exchange lunches that day. In the morning, the facilitator (who was our [female] boss) asked everyone if they remembered to bring their lunches. A couple of people said things like: “Sorry, I totally forgot. I’ll go buy something later”. A Sri Lankan who was there said: “My wife was sick this morning.” Everyone around the table looked confused but I put my head down and looked over at T with a big grin. T shook his head, smiled and looked down as well. We both knew what he meant. Our boss repeated: “Your wife was sick? [So?]” He said: “Yes.”. If I remember correctly, it ended there but it was funny to see the cultural difference. People seemed surprised by what he said, but this was completely fine in his/my culture. Incidentally, if any of you are wondering again: My mom (or grandmother!) will still make my lunch if I ask! 