At our Bradley child birthing class in Lexington back in 2004, our instructor, Deb, tried to teach us to squat. It opens up the birth canal, she said. People in other countries do it all the time, pregnant or not pregnant. They squat to save their backs in the fields, or on the side of the street where there are no benches. It really is a very comfortable way to perch, Deb assured us.
But then we tried it, and seven swollen women nearly toppled to the rug. It just doesn't come natural to those of us raised in the chair-sitting world. I think our pelvises are fuzed at the angles necessary for occupying the seats of our minivans.
But my kids are not being raised in that world. In their world, they squat (Deb would be so proud). They squat at the public toilets. They squat to play with their toys. They squat to look at bugs. And they squat at the checkout while we wait for daddy to finish paying for the groceries.
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| It looks like I could be C3PO and they could be Ewoks, don't you think? If you have sons, you know what language I am speaking. |
A great many of our friends are moving back to the States this summer. It just seems like the fullness of time for a lot of people. But for us, the time has not yet come to return. We don't know when that time will come. We honestly couldn't say. To use a phrase from my high school days, it looks as if we've "popped a squat" here in East Asia;)
