Further Studies
When Elizabeth was 16, we were privileged to have a sponsored trip to Switzeland (Prayers 15 Wish come true). She was indeed a very blessed young lady. Our hostess actually invited her to stay in her house in Zurich and pursue her pre-university. For what ever reason, Elizabeth was not ready to leave home.
After she turned 17, she was talked into applying for a scholarship to study International Baccalaureate in Finland. She cleared her first interview. During the second interview, she was more of an observer than taking an active part in impressing the moderators. And she told her interviewing panel that it did not matter if she did not get the scholarship, for she did not mind going to pre-u in a government school. Therefore, I was not surprised that she was not chosen.
Now she is within days of sitting for her exams. I was indeed taken aback when she said she might apply to my old college for a scholarship. Oh! We will see if she still feels the same come December 15. Anyway, I had quite a journey down memory lane answering her questions. Of course I missed Asian food in America. But my mum and dad sent food parcels every three months and I often cooked up a storm in the middle of the night.
When I fried up chilli paste and dried shrimp, those true Americans all went looking for the dead rats they smelled. A few would follow their noses into the kitchen for a good feed. Those who like ethnic food usually had been living abroad as army brats or as children of ex-pats working in Asia. It was no co-incidence that those who like my cooking were the more international youth who befriend anyone from any part of the world.
Who did the cleaning up after my kitchen adventure? I would not leave behind any dirty sauce pans or dishes. The maid would wipe down the walls and the floor. God had been very kind to me. I remember the maid was most sympathetic to me as she had a daughter volunteering as a Peace Corp teacher in South America. The loving Mum would send monthly food parcel. She would imagine her darling cooking up a hurricane during the weekends in the school kitchen too. During my last year, my friend the maid told me the good news that her daughter was going to marry an engineer from a good family in the country she worked in. She met her Prince Charming when he came with the survey team to bring pipe water to her adopted village.
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