Failele-Mother of a Newborn

I'm embarrased to say that one of my favorite things about recovering from childbirth is getting meals brought right to my door.

This morning our friends Lole and Ana brought over breakfast for me, the Failele. They explained that the failele, or mother of a newborn, needs nourishment early in the morning. They brought supoesi, or papaya soup. I'd been served this in the hospital, too and really liked it. Ana's supoesi had tapioca as a thickener. It was delicious, along with with wheat bread and butter they brought.

Last night for dinner our Korean friend Shin showed up at 5 pm with byoku, Seoul style. It was sesame beef soup with seaweed served over rice. She was so cute as she marched in the kitchen, plugged in her Zojirushi, found all the utensils, and served me up a nice warm bowl. She told us that new mothers eat this for every meal for a month. And they also serve it on birthdays. It tastes really good, I like it a lot, but I don't think I could eat it exclusively for a month. A few days, sure.

Our Kiwi friend (NZ) brought a fruit-based iron tonic. Our American friends brought chocolate chip cookies. Other friends brought Carl's Jr., casseroles, pastas, chicken soup, panipopo, and ice cream cones.

I feel so blessed to be here with such diverse and generous friends. So in case my family was wondering, yes, everyone's taking good care of me.