My Mother-in-law said something really strange, but funny (in my opinion) to me today, and it's just something like this that makes living here so news worthy. Here is a back story before I share with you a text message between my MIL and I.
I am having a baby in October, yes old news. But I am pretty much alone, obviously, I don't have my mom to come here like all my other expat friends (yes I'm extremely envious and emotional about the whole thing). I am happy that my husband has taken 3 weeks off for around that time and my mother-in-law has suggested she'd take "some" time off to help. Great!
Anyway, my mother-in-law is not feeling well, she has a fever and a cold. I messaged her this morning asking how she was feeling and if she took a day off from work at the College (she's a professor there).
This was her reply..word for word. I want to see if you spot what I am thinking of...
"the fever's still there. Feeling rundown. Haven't been able to go (to College). Was saving these leaves for your confinement."
I'll give you a second.......
OK....CONFINEMENT???? What the hell?!
I know what she means, she means after the baby, I am supposed to stay confined to the house for 40 days while my body recovers. I have just never ever heard it called that before, and I know she means well, but it just made me feel like I would be jailed after I have this baby. TOO FUNNY!
Hate to break it to her, but after about a week or so I will most likely be out and about. I won't be running a marathon, but I certainly won't be confined to my house. After Yasmine was born I was taking short walks after a week, plus being cooped up is the last thing I want.
I didn't know the days after having my baby had an actual name...now I know ;)
I just love the difference in culture, it really keeps me on my toes here, and gives me things to write about in my blog. HA!
I am having a baby in October, yes old news. But I am pretty much alone, obviously, I don't have my mom to come here like all my other expat friends (yes I'm extremely envious and emotional about the whole thing). I am happy that my husband has taken 3 weeks off for around that time and my mother-in-law has suggested she'd take "some" time off to help. Great!
Anyway, my mother-in-law is not feeling well, she has a fever and a cold. I messaged her this morning asking how she was feeling and if she took a day off from work at the College (she's a professor there).
This was her reply..word for word. I want to see if you spot what I am thinking of...
"the fever's still there. Feeling rundown. Haven't been able to go (to College). Was saving these leaves for your confinement."
I'll give you a second.......
OK....CONFINEMENT???? What the hell?!
I know what she means, she means after the baby, I am supposed to stay confined to the house for 40 days while my body recovers. I have just never ever heard it called that before, and I know she means well, but it just made me feel like I would be jailed after I have this baby. TOO FUNNY!
Hate to break it to her, but after about a week or so I will most likely be out and about. I won't be running a marathon, but I certainly won't be confined to my house. After Yasmine was born I was taking short walks after a week, plus being cooped up is the last thing I want.
I didn't know the days after having my baby had an actual name...now I know ;)
I just love the difference in culture, it really keeps me on my toes here, and gives me things to write about in my blog. HA!
5 comments:
word was used in reference to later stage of pregnancy/few weeks after birth,in the 'old days', with her obv. being alot older than you it makes sense. Its more surprising that you have never heard it used in such a context before... :|
Nope I never have heard it called that before, and I think it has more to do with culture than how old my MIL is. My mom never called it that. And all my friends never heard it called that either. So it was an interesting way to put it....to say the least.
I've never heard that before either!
Confinement, eh? :D
All countries have their own quirky language.
My personal favorite is the Indian usage of the phrase "pass out". During my first month in India, my neighbor told me that his daughter had passed out in 2008. I was mightily weirded out, of course, until a friend calmly explained that it means "to graduate" in Indian English. Heh.
There was also a hilarious situation back in Canada during a vendor conference. One of the British executives came up to our boss and casually informed him that some of the members of his team might be late thanks to the jet lag, but that he'd "knocked them up", so they would be there soon enough. Horrified glances were exchanged until it dawned on us that "knock someone up" in British English actually means to wake them up, as opposed to getting them pregnant. :D
CONFINEMENT....oh geez. How do you think she'll feel if you are out and about in a week? Why is it that Koreans and Indians think that after giving birth you need to be looked after for a good month?
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