Sunday, February 17, 2008

Women Bonding

Everyone talks about Male Bonding... I recently experienced Female Bonding that crosses cultural boundaries and is evident despite differences in languages.

Saturday was a regular meeting of the Roma leaders. We invited one of the men, Tibi, to bring his wife, Natasa, to spend the weekend with us. They have carried most of the burden of a building renovation (changing a house into a place of worship) in their village of Szakmercserke. We wanted to give them some much needed R&R.

While Tibi and Ralph were in the meeting Natasa and I headed to the Csuhai house. (Jozsi was in the meeting too) Zita Csuhai had invited a Hungarian friend to join us too. I spent most of the day teaching the ladies several American recipes. (Zita had been asking me to do this for a long time) We learned how to make chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodles, cheese balls, pigs in a blanket, and a sour cream dip. As I measured with American utensils, Zita took the flour, sugar, whatever and measured it the Hungarian way. We made ourselves sick from munching on the food throughout the day.

This day was more than cooking and eating. It was four women talking about life - raising children, shopping for good prices, keeping house, weight, hormones, and about the challenges we face. An American, two Hungarians, and a Roma - all laughing and having a great time together with the common bond of womanhood. Isn't God great to make us so wonderfully and fearfully???

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