Do you ever?

Do you ever sit back and realize that your life has gotten a bit out of control? I find myself dealing with this lately. I got so busy this past month that I wasn't able to function in a way that I think does who I strive to be justice. I notice this in all areas of my life. Imbalance in my experience is rarely limited to one area of our lives. I've been very functional at most things I've done this past month but my heart and soul weren't truly fully there in my actions and thoughts. Without these being present, life becomes nothing more than a pale shadow of what it might be. I become a pale shadow of who I might be. In response to this, I'm trying to slow down and be the real me again. I guess you could call that my New Year's resolution but it is purely coincidence that it falls at this time and I'm actually starting a few days too early for that to be true.

Do you ever get the desire to do something? Every year, I have a very strong desire to play basketball at two points in the year. At the beginning of college basketball season and during March madness. Hearing me talk about this strong desire, one of my friends bought me a basketball for Christmas. I went out and shot hoops today by myself. Yeah it isn't as cool as doing it in a group but I didn't do it entirely alone. There was a group of teenage Bengali boys using the basketball court as a cricket field. We shared and chit chatted during breaks a bit. In other news, I'm really terrible at shooting now. I shot 100 free throws and only made 42 of them. It is a sad day when I'm unable to hit free throws at a rate better than Shaq used to.

Do you ever go to bed at 9 pm? That's what I'm about to do! Goodnight!

Christmas tree

It may not seem like much but it is still better than Charlie Brown's...

Cold Hard Reality

Earlier this week, Esther and I had the privilege of being invited to the house of a friend who has a considerable more cushy job than us. The evening was relaxed, we had grilled cheese, soup, and salad for dinner. We met a few people we had never previously met and ended up playing games until almost 11pm. Given that this friend was on the other side of town and I had to work in the morning I was thinking about my safety in getting back to my side of town and how I was going to feel at work in the morning. Little did I know as I stepped into the brisk chill of the night, I was going to get a reality check that night. I say the brisk chill because we are right in the middle of a cold snap in Bangladesh this week. I have to wear a fleece jacket and scarf at my desk while I work in the morning these days. Well on this particular night it was cold enough that I was even wearing my Carhartt sock cap which comes in handy when you add windchill while riding public transportation. I managed to find a local bus near his house which was a wonderful thing since local busses in my opinion are the safest mode of transport in the city. After getting this to one bus stand and switching to another bus, I finally arrived at the stop near my house. I got off and started walking the last quarter mile or so of my journey. That is when it hit me like a ton of bricks, there was a dozen or so people in dirty, tattered clothes sleeping on the sidewalk. If I was cold in my nice jacket, scarf, and sock cap...I can't imagine what they were under their thin blankets sleeping on cold cement. It flew right in the face of my association of Christmas with joyful times. It got me to think and made me want to do something. Like most people, I'm not sure exactly of what I should do but I know I'm not disappointed to have been reminded of the cold hard reality of life at times. It is something we can all use a good dose of occasionally.

I enjoy challenges...and talking loud.

I've been in my new job for all of 3 work days now and so far, I love it.  It has been really busy and at some points really daunting but I'm being challenged. Out of the challenge arises lots of learning and joy because of accomplishment. Most of my job is just to assist the experts in the planning of their jobs. I also get to help trouble shoot problems. That allows me to be creative. I don't even mind so far that I'm going to have to be incredibly organized for this job (something I have not been so great at in the past). It is a headache that I'm thrilled with so far.

Speaking of headaches, I was reminded this past week of something that I really enjoy about Bangladesh. Loud talking is not considered rude! In the course of a debate between many people, everyone starts talking really loud here and no one takes it as being out of anger. You can say something very forcefully without someone being worried about you being angry. Given that I have about zero control over my voice level, this is a perfect situation for me. That said, if you start yelling here, you are generally presumed to have lost the game as showing anger is generally considered inappropriate.