Specialization Questions

Kids playing an offline version of chess this summer.

As in so many families, there is more to accomplish than time to accomplish it. This has led to a strong specialization of tasks for myself and El Padre since we had children. And now we've found that it has led to lots of strange questions between us. With El Padre being away, there have been the regular share of 'problems' - which I will not take the time to mention. There were quite a few things that El Padre showed me and walked me through before leaving, but many of them were 'just in case' and it is difficult to keep it fresh in my mind not using it regularly!

So there have been lots of additions to the typical questions, like, "How are you feeling? How was your class? Did you get a seat? How did you sleep? Did you get to see any of the Steelers game?" I thought it would be interesting to share the list of questions I've sent to El Padre while he's been away. Most of these stem from problems: 

• What number printed on the bill do you use to pay the electric bill by phone? Do you put on the last letter printed there too? 
• Where is the electric company located? 
• How do I connect my phone and download pictures (to an old computer) because my phone memory is full (and my current computer is broken)? 
• How much do you think I pay the person who is fixing my computer? 
• Do you think the generator gas will last all night? 
• Did they change the travel notice on my ATM card to Kenya too? 
• Should I follow up about our guard not doing what was asked of him? 
• The children want to play the online chess game with two people, what do we do? Do I need to download the app to my phone? 
• What setting should my parents phones be in to not get US texts, but have wifi? 
• Do you need help with posting pictures to our blog since your wifi is so slow? 
• Do you know where the keys are to the big padlock? 
• Our door lock broke, and we tried to fix it like you do - did you open the silver box to adjust the things inside? 
• How do I make a hot spot from my phone for my parents (regular internet is out for days)? 
• Did you leave the charger for your phone my parents are using? 
• Can I use this fabric for our new curtain? 
• What was the last chapter we read in Acts for family worship? 
• Do you stir kunu when you boil it? 
• Do you think I should contact our partner church representative to greet him specially this week? 
• Also seen in our text conversations, although it is more of a comment - "The filter is broken but I think we have enough drinking water for one day left in the house." 

I was just reading someone else's blog about if your power goes out in the US or if your car breaks down it is categorized as a 'bad' day. And how when we live cross culturally, we often have multiple of these 'bad' day things happen in one day... But living here it is often assumed the system or other things just aren't going to work right away and it will take me 3-4 days to accomplish this task. I am so grateful that El Padre generally accompanies me through these processes and I certainly have a new respect for his patience for paying all the utility bills! These weeks have been living testimony to how "two are better than one... [and] a three strand cord is not easily broken." (Ecc 4:9ff)

-- La Maestra