It is a beautiful Saturday morning, and we are meeting our Burmese teacher at school around noon to have lunch at her house. She is a woman in her thirties, who, like most Burmese, looks much younger than she is. Living slightly on the outskirts of Yangon, we have to take the bus to go to her place. Our Burmese friend pays the bus tickets despite our persistent refusal. Here, there are no complicated fare zones to figure out how much to pay for a ticket. The fare is always the same, whatever the trip within the city! Her house is about thirty minutes away from the school by bus.
In the courtyard, we greet her daughter and her parents who are standing around a tank of water washing with simple cloths. We are surprised and a little embarrassed about disturbing them. Did we arrive too early? However, neither our host nor her parents seem to be inconvenienced by the situation. Our friend shows us around, and we meet other family members busy in the kitchen, which is separated from the house and consists of two walls with a roof.
We then sit around a coffee table in the house and look at the pictures and wedding posters that adorn the walls. We are very happy to get to see her home and be able to spend this time with her family. The table is filled with different dishes such as noodles, soup, fried fish and vegetable dishes that are mostly unknown to us. At this moment, I (David) realize that I know very little about cultural codes and do not know how to behave. I remember one of the rules of Burmese politeness though, which is to refuse at least twice before accepting something. Therefore, I wait to be invited two to three times to eat before starting. When we do, we realize that we are the only ones eating while the rest of the family are watching us. Dozens of pairs of eyes follow our every move. Finally, our friend agrees to eat with us.
We can feel their kindness throughout the meal. They ask us if we like the food and after a while, I do not know if I should accept politely or refuse. Of course, the answer lies in declining two to three times, which I do. Aline learns to put thanaka on her face. It is a lotion from a wood that is both a beauty product and a protection against the sun, generally used by women and children.
It is getting late, and we have to go. We did not see time pass despite the language barrier. Fortunately, our dear teacher was translating as we went along. We left more motivated than ever to learn Burmese. We were so touched by their generosity. Did you know that Myanmar is one of the most generous countries in the world?
