Days go by...

Sorry this post is late; I was on a trip to visit some partners this week and haven’t had much time to catch up quite yet.

On the trip we saw lots of cows. I also saw a pink goat. I decided to ask about this curiosity. The reason for the goat being pink you might ask? They just said that a kid did it. I guess I should have seen that one coming.

Roast goat anyone?

I ate a lot of Bengali food while I was on the trip. I managed to get to try chicken, goat, duck, and quail on this adventure. I drank lots of tea too. It’s starting to get to the point where I bite into a chili pepper in a food and think, “mmm that’s a good taste” rather than, “crap here comes the heat.” In fact I now often finish meals only to realize that my mouth is warm and I didn’t even notice the food was spicy at all. I do still refuse to give dried fish balls a third chance though. I’m sure I’ll cave eventually and do it but those stupid things tasted super nasty the first two times.

They have begun creating the bricks for the walls of our future house. In the mean time we are still living at the office. Living in limbo is really starting to get old but I’ll survive.

As a result of the warmer weather that has been occurring lately the mosquitoes are out in force now. I really, really, really hate mosquitoes.

Speaking of lizards, we found one frozen solid in my co-worker’s freezer yesterday. That was rather odd. I took it outside and I’m guessing it will be gone soon, I saw the ants eating at it last night already.

A group of us got together for a worship service last night and we are going to try to make it a more regular thing. We discussed how God speaks to people in the time we live in. The thing that struck me through all of this was how we, like Samuel, may not be able to understand what God is saying to us in whatever way God tries to communicate with us without an “Eli” in our life. You might ponder what this means in a practical application? It seems to me that it means seeking the collective wisdom as to how God might be “speaking” to you through fellow Christians, preferably those older than you and as a result wiser. I’m sure anyone who follows this path will be frustrated at times by the loss of some independence and privacy that we as Americans have come to enjoy but I fail to see where that is a problem. What does independence and privacy get us? I would propose that it gives us a concern for ourselves above all else which goes right in the face of loving your neighbor as you love yourself. That said, I don’t think listening to those that are wise means blindly following them. We are the salt of the earth after all and what good is salt if it loses its saltiness? Besides, God calls us each as God sees fit, so what wisdom one person has to share might not be entirely applicable to our situation or relationship with God.

That said, I listened to God’s calling which why I’m in Bangladesh and now it is seeming like I might have listened to God’s calling only to find out that I still need to learn how to listen to God’s calling. If this is the case, I find this quite ironic and hilarious. The random picture that goes along with this thought in my mind is that of me and God leaving my house on a journey. God has a dirty pair of shoes in one hand and the key to the lock on that shiny bike sitting a few feet away in the other hand. He tosses me the shoes, says, “let’s go” and then whispers, “I’ll be riding this beside you as you walk for whenever you figure out how to ride.” That might not be an entirely accurate way of portraying these thoughts correctly but it makes me smile, so I think I’ll keep it. Ugh, this all seems so fragmented and disorganized, if you need any part of this explained or feel like challenging any of these notions just let me know.

Seriously, let me know, I have lots of time for contemplation here.

Recent things...

Mail

First things first, I recently received two cards. Both of them were Valentine's Day cards. One from my parents and one from my Aunt (Ms. Susan Dahlkamp? Did you get rid of Uncle John?). While it was really nice to get them, I figure now is a good time to explain the speed of mail here. Letters generally get to Bangladesh in about 10 days. Now that I'm in Bogra I might also not get them for another week after that. That said, please allow about 2 weeks for letters. Package mail takes a little longer. All that mentioned, Ladies, it isn't too late to send me Valentine's Day cards! You may send them to my address here:

Phillip Birkey
Mennonite Central Committee Bangladesh
GPO 785
Dhaka 1000
Bangladesh

I'm even willing to guarantee a response letter.



Lizard

I went to Dhaka this past weekend and upon my return I noticed a small lizard under my clothing rack. I was tired so I just paid him no attention and went to bed. The next morning I was doing my push-ups (I'll talk about those in a minute.)and he was still under the rack starring back at me. I continued to ignore him thinking his presence was a warm and welcome one. He is a pale colored version of the ones you see around houses in Florida all the time. He actually lead me to reminisce about times spent at my Grandma's house in Bradenton, Florida. That's really not what this story is about though. Later on in the day I was sitting on my bed working on my computer when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. It was the lizard and he was crawling across my floor over by the other bed. I turned to look at him. He saw me and stopped. I looked at him as he looked at me looking at him. I went back to my work on my computer but he was sitting there right in the corner of my view. He was aware that I was aware that he was there and as a result refused to move. This very fact combined with his placement in the corner of my peripheral began to annoy me. I hope you can feel the tension that was present in the situation! So I turned and looked at him. I waved wondering if that would spook him. After this failed I was left to ponder what I should do next. I mean, I wished him no ill will and loved him for what he represented but at the same time I couldn't help but obsess with knowing he was there and wasn't moving because he was aware that I was aware of him. I've often had this struggle with Rabbits and Squirrels as I meander along sidewalks but never a lizard. If I was a better man I would have just let enough be enough, but I'm not and I didn't. I reached for a pile of Taka (coins...they're worth about 1.5 cents each) and proceeded to toss them at him. Unfortunately for me, he was good at this game of chicken. I could land them within a few inches of him and he wouldn't even twitch. I soon ran out of Taka. Forced to make a decision and really truly wishing him no harm, I decided upon my next action. I got up and ran at him! Unfortunately/fortunately for me, he had been prepared for this all along. He quickly scurried under the other bed in the room. Since this time, I often find myself looking at the spot where he stood on the floor longing for his return or wondering what I would have done if he hadn't scurried away. Part of me wonders if I would have just admitted defeat and left the room. Sadly, I feel like I probably would have just picked him up.



A Lament

Yesterday I went to the store and bought Ice Cream. Normally this is a joyous story to share but the events surrounding it leave me baffled at the whole scenario in retrospect. The adventure begins where all great adventures begin, with me. I was born on May 24, 1985 in a hospital in Kokomo, IN. Through a long complex process I ended up where I am today but, more relevant to this story, it also previously ended with me in a grocery store in Dhaka. While I was there I had an opportunity to purchase some Oreo cookies. They were made in Indonesia and were about $3 for what was was probably 2/3 of the normal amount you get in the states. I, of course, having no will power whatsoever, bought them. Having more will power than I had previously suspected, I managed not to open them until I got back to Bogra. The other day I opened them and took a bite. Much to my dismay they don't taste that much like the Oreos I've previously had. They have a very processed, chemical taste to them. In my panic I came up with a solution. Ice cream! I have always been a big fan of adding cookies to ice cream anyway, especially Oreo-like cookies. I do think the Twist-and-Shout brand tastes better in ice cream but I'm not sure if that brand exists anymore and beggars can't be choosers. Which brings me back to yesterday. I went and bought some ice cream only to immediately realize afterward that I have neither spoons nor bowls. Upset at myself and holding a quickly thawing plastic tub of ice cream I returned home knowing that this would mean another trip to town before I could enjoy my triumph. Upon getting back to the guest house in the office, I went to go put the ice cream in the freezer and it slipped out of my hand due to the sweat on the outside. Inches short of of reaching the freezer, I was forced to watch in agony as it went crashing to the concrete floor. The corner it landed on burst open and a volley of ice cream came firing out before it finally came to rest in a better than expected but thoroughly disheartening state. I picked it up and observed the situation. There was dirt all over it from the floor and it was open to the air on one side, but there was a little light at the end of the tunnel because most of it was good enough to eat by my standards. So I shoved it in the freezer upside-down. I found out later that my luck seemed to be beginning to turn, Nate said he had a spoon and bowl I could use. So, in a free moment I went to the task last night. I opened up to the freezer and grabbed the ice cream, turned it over, and opened it up. To my dismay I soon discovered that the freezer wasn't set cold enough and it was the consistency of whip cream. Undeterred from my greater mission I scooped some out anyway, turned the freezer up, and replaced the rest in the freezer. I grabbed a few Oreos and crumbled them into the soupy mess, all the while my mouth was watering the possibility. After a little bit of mixing I scooped up my concoction and took a bite. It tasted like crappy whipped cream/ice cream with chemically tasting chunks in it. What else did you expect? I'm in Bangladesh and this is a lament.



Push-ups

I started doing my old push-up routine again a couple of weeks ago. Essentially this is my ploy to get some exercise in a day without actually doing something that takes up much of my day. A few of my colleagues have joined in are doing it too. I started with 100 a day 2 & 1/2 weeks ago. This week we're up to 150 a day. You spread them out over the entire day so they don't require much time at any given moment which makes it easy to keep up. At the same time, it's still 150 push-ups and I know I'm often tired as well as sore when I finish. The eventual maximizing point is at 300 a day. I figure at that point I can focus entirely on doing more in each set instead of doing more in a day. I think after that point I'll add in some sit-ups too. It isn't much to write home about but it is what it is and you might hear me mention it upon occasion.



Shesh (bangla for finished)

Phil

What goes into a Blog...

I have a few minutes available so I figure I'll write a quick post about the effort and process that goes into this blog. Typically it starts out with living life (I find this to be a key part). Associate the action of living life with some random thoughts or actions and think about them a bit. At this stage I generally have the great idea of blogging about it. Then I think about it some more, (I generally think about how much time it will take too) and then I try some filters. In face to face conversations I don't normally get to use most of these filters because for some reason it seems like God choose not to give me the ability to access them quickly. The first filter has mostly to do with whether I am actually allowed to say it per MCC media rules. Then I tend to think about how appropriate it is. As you can probably tell by now, I have a very loose definition of appropriate. After that I inherently apply the time filter. In general, I'm much to lazy to force myself to sit down and write a blog right away, so I go about life. If I remember it later I write it. This is usually the largest filter for my blog. I forget a lot in life. I think I get that from my mother. Then I take some time and write it. Writing usually takes forever because I can never decide exactly how I want to say it and often get caught up in tangents along the way. If all this fails, I just pick something from someone's life that amuses me and copy it down. I mean, my life is pretty boring. I can't always be talking about me in some random zany way. Sometimes I have to actually put something that has some "meat" to it into the picture so I can keep tricking you into coming back.

That's all I really have time for. I need to go to the grocery store today as well as the Post Office. I should also look into calling Tim Tebow's sister so that I can ask about Super Bowl watching possibilities. My only other choice is an offer from Steven to set his computer camera facing their 13" tv in the corner of the room so that I can watch it without disturbing the guests they are having over to watch the game.

Meal topics...

So the past couple of days we've had unusual lunch conversations. Well, at least unusual for us. We have gotten to if so and so where a what, which one would they be. An example of this yesterday was, if Nate were a car what car would he be. Well, today the girls were talking about how they couldn't stay mad at me because I'm like a dog chasing his tale. It doesn't matter how mad you are, it is hard to stay mad at a dog off in it's own little world doing something silly. This immediately lead into the discussion of what kind of dog I would be. It didn't take them long to decide that I would be a Mastiff. I vaguely knew what kind of dog that was at the time. They said it was because it's a big dog that just kind of meanders through life. They said that crazy stuff can be happening all around me and I'm just kind of standing there taking it in stride. I decided to come back and google it. The following is the description I found on 5stardog.com, which seemed like a reputable site?

"The mastiff is an agreeable, laid-back dog – a “gentle giant.” It is loyal, courageous, and confident. It is not a playful breed, but rather calm and dignified. It rarely barks, drools excessively, and tends to snore loudly. It is patient with children, but not recommended for toddlers due to its large size. It is possessive of its home and family and makes an excellent guard dog. It will not attack intruders, but holds them at bay with its large size. It will refuse to let strangers enter the house unless its owner accepts them. If properly socialized as a puppy, it will accept other dogs. It can be difficult to train."

I would definitely agree that I'm agreeable. <-- I'm allowed to say that right?
I feel like I'm pretty laid back whenever I'm not around my parents...and even sometimes when I am around them.
"Gentle giant" seems pretty accurate too when you take into consideration that I'm often referred to as a "Teddy Bear." Though the whole giant thing might not be true by the end of three years here.
I also tend to think that I'm extremely loyal regardless of whether people know how much I am.
I'm not sure if I would call myself "courageous" but I am probably adventurous which is caused by my curiosity and one of the definitions for adventurous has to do with being courageous so I'm not so sure.
I would say that I'm pretty confident, mostly in that whatever happens will happen and that the outcome will be the outcome. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm pretty confident that the things that are out of my control are out of my control and therefore I shouldn't worry about them too much.
"Not a playful breed" is probably pretty far off the mark. I actually get into a lot of trouble by wanting to be playful.
Calm might be fairly accurate but dignified is probably one of the farthest things from being accurate about me.
I have also been told time and time again that I'm too loud so rarely barks is off the mark too.
I have been trying to work on the whole drool thing but sometimes I still struggle with it. The other day I took a nap and woke up with my face in a puddle of it. That's always a bad way to wake in my opinion.
I do snore sometimes but I would always argue that it's never loud. It's usually more of just like a heavy breathing. If I fall asleep in the wrong position I have managed to wake myself up once or twice with a loud snort.
I'm pretty good with kids but for some reason I tend to scare toddlers, it might indeed be because of my large size as this piece speculates.
I am indeed pretty possessive of my home and family. I love them both dearly.
I won't attack an intruder because I'm a pacifist but I will attempt to peacefully hold them at bay with my size.
I would probably refuse to let people into my owner's house but I don't have to worry about that one because God knows no stranger. ;-)
I am pretty accepting of other people but I'm not sure I was properly socialized as a puppy. I'm pretty sure I'm not properly socialized most of the time now.
I feel like I'm pretty bad at being trained at some things. I'm a little headstrong and stubborn at times. If you want to know more about that one just ask my mom about how hard I was to potty train. (I might post that story later just for a laugh.)

So mathematically I would say about 80% of the Mastiff breed description is accurate. Which is either some sort of "B" or some sort of "C" depending on what grade scale you go by. Congratulations girls, if this was an American school project you would have passed, but I would still like to say that I'm disappointed in you. You are very capable and smart young ladies and could have gotten an "A" if you really set your mind to it.


Peace,

Phil M. Birkey (I can only assume that M. stands for Mastiff at this point.)

Challenges...

I think I'm finally starting to realize why MCC allows Bangladesh workers to have a few extra perks. Up to this point I can't say I thought it was bad at all. I guess I'm just starting to realize how when I step out that front gate I'm at the mercy of the world around me. The difference between an amusing adventure and an exhausting task is minuscule. It all depends on the luck of the day. Don't get me wrong, most situations are very manageable, just draining too.

A story...

So on Friday 4 of us decided to go to a local "park" (in reality just a bare patch of grass in the city that everyone uses for everything) to throw a frisbee around. Soon we got invited to play cricket with them. We were all at least moderately excited. None of us had ever played before. It is an interesting game, rather slow at times but only in that it is about the same speed as baseball. We played 2 what I will call innings. A crowd gathered as we played. There we probably about 100 people watching us. During my teams second at bat one of them started talking to me. His line of questions went about like this:
What is your name?
Where are you from?
How old are you?
Where do you live?
How long will you stay here?
Are you married?
Do you have a girlfriend back in America?
Why not?
Will you pursue a Bengali girl?
Do you want me to find you one?
Can I have your phone number?
Why not?
We are friends right?
Can I have your phone number?
You are rich and I am poor. May I have your phone number?
I live at this school will you come visit us sometime?
Where do you live?
May I come visit you there?
May I have your phone number?
Why not?
Will you come back here tomorrow?
May I have your phone number?



Most situations aren't quite this intense but I wouldn't say that they ever stray very far from those exact same questions.

Our future house is coming along nicely. We went out and visited the site today. They are waiting on the brick maker so they can build the walls but it appears the foundation is pretty well done. In the mean time we had them start digging the holes where the septic tank and rain water collection tanks will be.

All of us MCC foreigners in Bogra did a Potluck meal yesterday. It was quite tasty but 3/5 of us made dishes with potatoes in them. I made potato soup. We ate good and had a fairly good time making it all. We have lots of leftovers which we will slowly but surely break into over the next week or so. It's always nice to have a change of pace from what we regularly eat here. Maybe I'll talk about food in the next post.

Dear "Wise" women....

Over my scant time on this planet I have off and on heard bits and pieces of a conversation held. The conversation that I'm alluding to is the one held by "Wise" women who can no longer eat as much cheese as they like. I have one thing to say to those of you out there. I have no pity for you anymore.

At least you have some amount of control over those movements.



I guess I could have just as easily titled this post, "I miss cheese."

Ferrets, sickness, and all that jazz...

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."