A night with Florence's family

Two weeks ago Florence contacted me (she’s a girl that I worked with at the school—she was not from the orphanage, but actually a student of the school.) Therefore her family was a general middle class Christian family. And she invited me to dinner with her family. I accepted the offer, and every day since she called me to make sure that I was still coming. Every phone call lasted at least 20 minutes as each member of the family passed the phone to talk to me and relay their excitement of my visit.
The day finally came when I went; she came to Frazertown to pick me up (a little 13 year old girl traveling around Bangalore by herself!) I had my first experience on an Indian public bus! Let’s just say that was quite interesting! The bus was so full of people that there were about 6 people hanging off the bus! (3 people at each door of the bus holding onto the side of the bus!) It was one of those times that I'm extremely glad that I'm a girl and therefore given the right to actually be squeezed on the inside. Florence paid my bus fare against my protests and we boarded 3 different busses until we finally reached our destination. We walked about a mile to her house in which I was warmly welcomed by her mom. I was told by Florence during our journey that her entire family had spent days preparing for my visit and cleaned the house, shopped for food, and that I had been the topic of conversation for days.
Her mom hugged and kissed me on the cheek when I stepped in, as did her grandmother. Her elder brothers cracked jokes and asked me all about America. I was surprised to find that a small picture I had given Florence a month ago was lovingly placed in their family photo album! Her mom made me an AMAZING mutton curry, rice, omelet, and naan. The funny thing was that her family didn’t eat until 9:30p and they wanted to send me back before too late, so the entire meal had been prepared just for me. I sat slightly awkward as I ate while the entire family watched my every bite. It was a HUGE meal and I knew if I didn’t finish it her mom would question whether it was good enough, so I stuffed myself to the gills, much to her mothers’ approval. I gave Florence a small bracelet as a show of my appreciation and when she showed her mom, her mom scrambled into her room and found a pair of earrings of her own to give me. She apologized that they weren’t brand new and said that the next time I visited she would surely have an appropriate gift for me. I told her it wasn’t necessary, but as usual I was rebuked for even protesting. After dinner, Florence and I walked around so she could introduce me to all of her neighbors and friends. Around 8:30 her dad arrived home and also warmly accepted me. He was much more reserved than her mom, but very kind nonetheless. Her mom then gave me money to get an Auto back and again I protested but with no use. Before I left the entire family gathered to pray over me, asking for blessings in my life, and thanking God for bringing me into their home-I certainly felt like a revered guest! After, they sent her older brother to accompany me home for safety reasons, and I discovered that her mom had given me 3 times the amount needed for the Auto….I tried to give this to the brother but he refused to accept it.
And once again I'm left to say that Indian hospitality is incomparable!