The Whisperer Skypes "Manolo Blahnik"

The Whisperer had a brief chat with thin air while Susan put Barney on the TV for her two little girls, (aged three and three months) and then they got going…

[10:26:46] Whisperer says: Firstly - what Pseudonym would you like to use?

[10:27:09] Susan says: Hum....good question. The only thing that occurs to me at the moment is that, since our surname pronounced in English sounds like "shoe" we could be like "nike" or "Manolo Blahnik" or "adidas" but that just ends up being stupid, doesn't it?

[10:29:40] Whisperer says: Or incredibly clever and catchy.

[10:30:20] Susan says: Maybe if done well.....otherwise you just sound like poorly-named celebrity children. (Who doesn't pity Moonunit Zappa and the like?)

[10:30:22] Whisperer says: Quite. Could you tell me your professional background?

[10:31:35] Susan says: My husband is, was and perhaps forever will be a teacher. I think it’s in his blood as there are a lot of teachers in his family. Our current location has just meant a change in what he is teaching. For myself, I am more of a typical Generation X’er.....following university (where I earned a BA in French and History) a year of English teaching, a year of waitressing, a year of nannying, a year of DVD quality control, all over the map.

[10:33:40] Whisperer says: Preparation for a life of adaptability and flexibility.

[10:34:23] Susan says: I don't know if its more a matter of not "finding" myself, the fact that Liberal Arts degrees lead nowhere natually or our nomadic lifestyle: we have lived in three countries in the seven years we have been married

[10:35:10] Whisperer says: The fact you now have kids - will that delay finding yourself, or has it achieved that purpose?

[10:36:13] Susan says: Maybe some of both. I feel like the birth of our first child made me deal with a lot of my pre-conceived notions about what my life would be. She wasn't planned you see and I needed to learn to see His purpose in the whole scheme of things.

[10:36:49] Whisperer says: A question of submitting your will to God.

[10:39:14] Susan says: Some of it was submitting to Him, yes. Some of it was learning that, just because I had kids before I had an established career at the same age my mum had kids, I didn't automatically become my mum. Some of it was finally fully knowing that my husband didn't just marry me for my flat stomach. I have learned a lot about myself.

[10:40:42] Whisperer says: What is your current sphere of influence?

[10:44:04] Susan says: I think that, apart from my kids, I have two main spheres of influence. I am here for the single women in our cluster; a number of them spend a lot of time here joining us for meals and otherwise joining in our life. I also have some local friends who frequent our home. Some of them occasionally bring friends who don't believe yet and sometimes I get a chance to share in that context.

[10:45:11] Whisperer says: Yes, I remember from when I visited you that you have a very natural and easy hospitality style. This rings true.

[10:45:47] Susan says: Thanks....not sure if we're always that great though. We get tired and crabby around here too.

[10:45:58] Whisperer says: Like I say - natural. What was your highlight of the last month?

[10:46:27] Susan says: My highlight of the past month would probably be...Yeah, I think it was the evening one of our friends, I'll call her Spark, returned from being away helping with summer camps for orphans. She just came to know Him about two years ago when we first arrived in this country. It was great to hear about everything she has been involved with this summer and to talk to her about her plans for the future.

[10:49:48] Whisperer says: That summer camp doesn't sound like a typical activity in your country?

[10:51:51] Susan says: No, it hasn't been in the past but believers- foreign and local- are making the privilege of going to summer camp possible for abandoned children. It was also really interesting to have a conversation with Spark about food.....a subject I have been thinking about a lot lately.

[10:52:38] Whisperer says: Why have you been thinking about food lately?

[10:57:00] Susan says: Yeah, I have gone through a period of revelation, so to speak. I don't think I ever truly knew what it meant that Westerners eat so much more meat than most of the rest of the world until recently. I have been learning quite a lot about what a typical diet looks like in the countryside here. One of the most interesting parts about my conversation with Spark was the guilt she felt over a meal she had recently. She had been eating with some foreigners she was translating for. She said she had probably had as much meat to eat as she would have in a year where she grew up.

[10:58:12] Whisperer says: A year! That's incredible! That is a revelation! Do you think that is caused by poverty or tradition?

[10:58:39] Susan says: Some poverty and some tradition. She really struggles at moments with how different modern city life is to that of her countryside home place. She said that in one day here she spends £0.22 which would feed six people at home. Her family was poorer when she was small but are now relatively prosperous. However, they find keeping/cooking meat too troublesome generally. They have to go to the next village/township to get meat so it’s out of the way. They have no freezer to store things in. If they are going to have protein, they are likely to eat an egg, though generally it would be a few eggs added to many people's food- not a couple of fried eggs apiece. A lot of their protein comes from vegetable sources- tofu, peanuts, etc.

[11:01:13] Whisperer says: OK - let's do some lighter questions now - got to keep the readers entertained...!

[11:02:00] Susan says: Okay, sorry to get so serious :)

[11:02:33] Whisperer says: What was the last film you saw?

[11:03:25] Susan says: At home or in the cinema? We were just in Hong Kong and saw the Simpson's movie there

[11:03:57] Whisperer says: Simpsons movie - worth watching?

[11:04:59] Susan says: Great- and totally designed for the cinema experience. Very glad we didn't wait for the DVD on that one!

[11:05:15] Whisperer says: OK. Pandas or polar bears?

[11:05:47] Susan says: Tough call but I think its gotta be polar bears

[11:06:00] Whisperer says: And you call that patriotism?

[11:07:46] Susan says: No, I call it sane. I’m in my seventh month straight of summer weather at the moment (since we spend some of winter/spring in Thailand) and so anything that helps me envision being cool sounds good right now. We still have at least a month of hot weather ahead of us.

[11:08:09] Whisperer says: Makes sense. If not the heat, what do you love about the country that you live in now?

[11:11:14] Susan says: Food; the sense of community, particularly among believers; how children are celebrated; a fun, though tricky language. To tell you the truth, I don't always love living here but I miss it when I am gone too.

[11:14:05] Whisperer says: Talking about missing - what do you miss about Britain (albeit you're not a Brit)?

[11:17:54] Susan says: Well, if we were talking in person, before I even got a word out, my husband would shout "fish and chips"! I miss the beautiful long Springs out in the Hertfordshire countryside. I miss making ironic comments and being understood. (The locals don't usually understand irony- much like my fellow Americans come to think of it.) I miss the sense of history all around you that exists in Britain - most of what is old here has been destroyed.

[11:18:53] Whisperer says: That's a great answer, although I don't share your husband's passion for Britain's (alleged) national dish). Two more questions. If you or your team could have one more person to come and work with you, who would it be?

[11:23:36] Susan says: My husband's team could use another elementary school teacher or someone else who is passionate about teaching kids. My team could use someone who is deaf. We are looking to expand the contacts/work that has been done locally by another hearing Brit but our recent experience seeing how deaf people reach out to deaf people in Thailand leads us to believe that a deaf person could be more effective.

[11:25:08] Whisperer says: Last question - can you tell us one person we could pray for?

[11:29:51] Susan says: Two just came to mind- can I ask for two? The first is a friend of ours who has professed belief for a while but has not really owned his faith yet. He has just graduated and left to work for a Chinese company in Zimbabwe. We are hoping for him to grow despite all the challenges of being a young man alone in a new, very unstable country. The other is a girl I just met in a bath house the other day who is soon to study abroad and wants to practice her English. For once I felt compelled to say "Yes" to a stranger making that kind of request. I take it that was His leading so I am waiting to see where it leads.

[11:30:52] Whisperer says: That's great. Manola Blanik - thanks for your time. I'll let you get back to your two little children and the purple dinosaur that's entertaining them.

[11:32:00] Susan says: Thanks for the interview- I think its put me back in a better frame of mind. Blessings to you and yours- hope to see all three of you in person at some point in the future!

[11:32:18] Whisperer says: That would be nice. Signing off. Whisperer

[11:32:23] Susan says: Bye