I have recently moved to a new location. We are finishing out our third month of language study in Bogra. Bogra also happens to be in the same city I will be living in permanently. I guess I should also comment that I won't actually be living in town for long. MCC purchased some land this past year and they are currently building a home and workshop there. The idea of the place is that we can do research without asking the people to risk their lively hood for us while also working towards developing a model of what all villages could be like. The land is just on the outskirts of a village. The villagers aren't used to us yet and come out in a flock every time we go there. Eventually, I'm sure we'll get to be less of a spectacle. I'm also quite sure we'll never not be a spectacle of some sort. This leads me into my next thought.
I like the people here in Bogra so much better than the people in Dhaka. People in both places are so curious about us and we get a lot of stares but in Dhaka people will really get up in your face trying to be your friend or get money from you. Here in Bogra many people will still often try to talk to you but there is so much more of an innocence to it. People here will often talk to me a little bit and have no issues with walking away without trying to do things like get my phone number or get money from me. They just enjoy the novelty of speaking to a "bideshi" (the bangla word for foreigner).
I was riding a rickshaw yesterday and as we came to a corner I saw a group of about 10 or so people just hanging out. As I rode by, I heard a child excitedly exclaim, "bideshi, bideshi!" I decided to borrow a page from our Boss's daughter's book and replied, "deshi, deshi!" This was much to the delight of both the group of people and the rickshawala (the guy who pulls you) who all had a good laugh. I guess I should also note that I did not actually literally borrow a page from a little girl's book but if I did, I would probably choose a Berenstain Bears book.
In other news, a group of us got together to celebrate the new year together. It was interesting to do without a tv or internet at the house we were hanging out at. We mostly just sat and talked for a few hours. We also had a nice discussion about dancing music with our Boss who is a couple of years older than my parents and has much different concepts of dancing music. We finally decided what clock probably had the right time and rang in the new year before we guys left to head to bed and apparently the girls stayed up and watched a movie.
The next evening I got sick. I'd had intestinal issues ever since we got back from vacation. Somehow it finally moved to my stomach on the evening of the 1st. This ended up being mostly just really painful. I spent the entire next day in bed with a bit of a fever and no desire to eat anything. I drank lots of liquids and didn't eat anything until about 8pm when I finally dared to touch a package of crackers. Today I feel a lot better. I'm still kind of tired from yesterday though.
Finally to my last thoughts, I bet you thought they'd never arrive. Ferrets. Apparently we have them here! We got back from lunch today and the SALTer Dave and I were talking to one of the guards and I noticed them eating something on the far side of the badminton court (oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that we have that here)and pointed to them. The guard told us the name and that they like to eat chickens. When I asked if they were bad animals he said no and told us that there are six of them. I'm sure he gave more news than that but unfortunately that is all my limited bangla can interpret right now.
Oh and just for the record, I got this message from my mother after my last post. "I do not know how to add comments to your blog so won't but my first reaction to your Tebow info was "there's more to life than football." But for the most part, this household understands your infatuation and would be suitably impressed if you ever got to meet him."
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