Neighbour

The other day, I decided to take the boys down for a walk. On the way out, I saw my neighbour with her grandson both standing outside the house with a guard probing the lock. She, an Iranian, with her very broken English, said that the key was broken and stuck. She said it should be alright, the guard is helping her anyway.

I had not spoken to this very neighbour of mine though they had moved in for maybe 6 months now. Yeah, bad. Real bad of me right, so snobbish and UN-friendly. I know. But apartment living is like this I suppose. You lockthe door and you just don't see anybody else. I can't be knocking their door and say HELLO?? So the most is an occasional HELLO if we bump into each other in the lift. And the worst part is, I go out of the house during the non-peak hours, so to be frank, I hardly know my neighbours - horizontally (same floor ) or vertically (worse still). BUT BUT BUT I do see their maids though. Most maids and old folks bring the kids down to play and I am more 'familiar' with these faces...duh...

So back to my story...

When I got down, it started to drizzle, so I picked up the letters and went up straight. She was still there. Without any hesitant, I invited her in the house. Apparently the guard could not fix it and he had to get a locksmith. I talked to the locksmith over the phone, I knew he must be a Chinese somehow and it would be better if I do the talking. He said the fix would cost RM120 and asked whose house was that. I said my neighbour, an Iranian family. I told the old lady about the price, she said she does not have that much now but her son will be back soon. I told the him to come, I will pay first. He said DON'T. He said his experience with these people are NOT GOOD. They don't pay and asked me not to do this, just forget about it. I steadfastly assured him that I would pay. 'DON'T.WORRY.JUST.COME!' I think I am doing the right thing. Even if the son does not pay me later, I don't want the poor lady to be stranded out with the 2.5 yo and it was near dinner time!

So while waiting, we had a 'conversation' (see, it is quite hard to grab what she meant with her limited vocabs) and the boys were enjoying each other companion and started playing.

Soon after, hubby came back and this handy man of mine took less than 30 seconds to probe open the door. The old lady was so relieved. I called off the locksmith and he was relieved too. :P

ALL SET and the best thing was that sets on our friendships. My Jien happily strut in their house and played with his new friend and refused to come back home until we had to drag him back for his dinner.

The other day, the lady cook us a bowl of yummy Iranian noodle soup. All ingredients flown in from Middle East. It is very rich and delicious.

I am glad that it all turns out so rosy and sweet.