Know Thy Neighbour

This has been an interesting week.

Yesterday, we chanced upon our neighbour S while Beth was pedalling down Elmes Court. S once introduced herself to me at school and mentioned that we are neighbours. She is a SAHM with three children. C, the eldest, is a lovely girl and a year senior to Beth at school. S is in kinder and the youngest, F, is two, with huge eyes (like most Indian children). They came for our church's car boot sale once and bought three paintings from Yvonne.

As I stood there chatting on the side of the road, S said she was home all day and invited us over for tea. I said yes. Her hospitality reminded me of my former neighbour Rukshanta (now living in Tarneit) whose home was always open to visitors. S took us on a tour of her house, where I admired the neat rectangular backyard, learned about planting coriander (seeds are better than seedlings), and discovered that her family are the new occupants of the house formerly owned by the cake decorating business The Cake Stand (if I'm not mistaken).

Hubby said no wonder there have been no recent complaints about Scottie barking. The former owner had apparently complained to Council that our dog barked excessively during the day. I remember we got quite annoyed at the time. I mean, of course Scottie barks; that's what dogs do if strangers walk past the house, and if they didn't we'd be surprised. But to say he barks excessively or unnecessarily - considering I'm home all day - is a bit much, cos he doesn't do that at all. But that's all water under the bridge now.

In the hour we spent at S's, I learned that there is at least one other family out there that insists on some structure to the children's lives and that children should not stop studying, even during school hols. There was a sheet of paper on the fridge listing out the time for each activity, and S told me she gives her daughter assignments to work on every day: English and Maths. This led to a comparison of Indian vs Aussie education systems and Beth was invited to borrow C's Grade 4 textbook that she's bought in India. Beth spent the afternoon in her room poring over the English, Math, Environmental and Moral Ed lessons and learning about the capitals of Pakistan, Nepal, India and Bangladesh.

This afternoon, I was cooking Beth an omelette when the doorbell rang.

I spied S through the glass - here they were, all four of them, because the kids had been talking about coming over since our visit yesterday!

It started off a little awkwardly but after Beth took the older ones to the games room, things just flowed naturally. S and I were able to sit down and have a chat.

When I'm chatting with someone, especially someone new, there are often gaps in the conversation where I just can't think of what to say. So we smile at each other. And I get uncomfortable. I really need to learn to just let go and enjoy the moment.

S says she feels lonely because her family's back in India and none of them come to visit.

I wonder how many migrant families in our community are going through this same tangled web of emotion?