This was a rough week for my Grandmothers. Grandma Reisner passed away this week. Grandma Birkey fell and broke her hip. There is a lot of sadness for me in both those statements but surprisingly a lot of joy as well. Grandma Reisner had been in a nursing home for the past couple of years in a declined state of health. That said, before I left, I figured it was the last time I would see her. I made my peace and accepted it then. More than that though, both of my Grandmothers were and are true women of God. As such, I have this strange trust that no matter what the situation, they will be happy and God will be happy with them. That is the Joy that I find in suffering times.
Today I spent 12 hours in a vehicle. We drove to the India/Bangladesh border to pick up people for a conference that is being held right here in good ole' Bogra. That is what I'll be up this week. I just hope the rest of the days aren't 5:30am-10pm like today was.
Also worth noting: I said "warshroom" today. I thought I had broken myself of that "r" habit but it appears that deep down inside, it is still a part of me. I would like to thank my mother for that. ;-)
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
This a picture of my future home from the road.
The front lawn area, also from the road.
This is what you see if you look out the front door.
This is what you see if you look out the back door.
This is a bedroom, the angle and lack of curtain make it seem smaller than it is.
Living room/dining room/kitchen
The sign out by the road.
Monday, July 13, 2009
I baked a cake.
I cut my finger with a knife while baking a cake last night. That in and of itself is not that big of deal. I cut my finger opening milk....
Also, once I got done baking I realized that I forgot to put the vanilla in.
Oh well, it still felt good to bake a cake.
Okay, bye now.
Also, once I got done baking I realized that I forgot to put the vanilla in.
Oh well, it still felt good to bake a cake.
Okay, bye now.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
UNLIMITED! and Farewells
So you remember how we had the Korean's over for the 4th of July? Well, they invited us over the very next night and like always they way outdid us on the quality and variety of food. I definitely enjoy Korean food! They had us over because it was our last chance to all be together. Two co-workers headed to the States this past week for vacations and this next week another co-worker will go home for good while one of the Koreans will leave for good too. It's a sad fact of life when living internationally or even in college for that matter, people will finish and go elsewhere.
The next day I went to Dhaka for some business. I got to sit next to a Bengali guy who has lived the past 11 years in Philadelphia on the bus. He is home taking care of some business and gave me a lot of interesting but small updates on what is going on at home. He even bought me a sandwich at the rest stop. lol
The next day I and two of my co-workers went to visit a possible location for an all staff training this fall. As we pulled away from the office for an hour long trip, I asked if they knew what our budget for this training was. My one co-worker, sounding quite sure of herself, responded, "Unlimited." That was one of those moments where you just want to slap your hand to your face and sigh. I'm glad I find those moments funny. We went to the place and found it to be quite a nice situation for our needs. I went back and asked the manager in charge of finances what our actual budget was and he gave me a ball park figure that we should stay in. It looks like we can manage it if we are careful about how we spend our money.
The next day I went to go and try to buy some books from the market. I found one of the books I needed and the man told me the price so I tried to barter down like usual. He went nuts on my in really nice english about how I had the wrong ideas about book merchants and the prices they charge! I thought it was hilarious that he posed such a well thought out argument in such correct english. I ended up paying a little more than I would have originally thought I could bring him down to, but sometimes you have to give credit where credit is due.
Following that the only other major happening of the week was my getting sick. It was just some head cold that gave me a fever, runny nose, sore throat, and terrible headaches. I'm not going to lie though, the thought that it could be what is commonly referred to as, "swine flu" did cross my mind. I looked it up and all my symptoms were indeed swine flu symptoms but I lacked a few key things, like flu.
The rest of this will just be pictures...I haven't posted any in awhile and I'm catching flack from home for it.
Just to Clarify, he isn't actually mad.
My Boss
and this is evidence of child labor...
Montu and me hanging out while I had the beard
What I look like now that I've shaved.
The next day I went to Dhaka for some business. I got to sit next to a Bengali guy who has lived the past 11 years in Philadelphia on the bus. He is home taking care of some business and gave me a lot of interesting but small updates on what is going on at home. He even bought me a sandwich at the rest stop. lol
The next day I and two of my co-workers went to visit a possible location for an all staff training this fall. As we pulled away from the office for an hour long trip, I asked if they knew what our budget for this training was. My one co-worker, sounding quite sure of herself, responded, "Unlimited." That was one of those moments where you just want to slap your hand to your face and sigh. I'm glad I find those moments funny. We went to the place and found it to be quite a nice situation for our needs. I went back and asked the manager in charge of finances what our actual budget was and he gave me a ball park figure that we should stay in. It looks like we can manage it if we are careful about how we spend our money.
The next day I went to go and try to buy some books from the market. I found one of the books I needed and the man told me the price so I tried to barter down like usual. He went nuts on my in really nice english about how I had the wrong ideas about book merchants and the prices they charge! I thought it was hilarious that he posed such a well thought out argument in such correct english. I ended up paying a little more than I would have originally thought I could bring him down to, but sometimes you have to give credit where credit is due.
Following that the only other major happening of the week was my getting sick. It was just some head cold that gave me a fever, runny nose, sore throat, and terrible headaches. I'm not going to lie though, the thought that it could be what is commonly referred to as, "swine flu" did cross my mind. I looked it up and all my symptoms were indeed swine flu symptoms but I lacked a few key things, like flu.
The rest of this will just be pictures...I haven't posted any in awhile and I'm catching flack from home for it.
Just to Clarify, he isn't actually mad.
My Boss
and this is evidence of child labor...
Montu and me hanging out while I had the beard
What I look like now that I've shaved.Saturday, July 4, 2009
In and out with a Bang...
This past week had two big events that book-ended the week.
The first was a big disagreement with my roommate. I'm not going to go into details but we both talked about it later and agreed that being in Bangladesh for 8 months without taking a vacation probably hasn't helped. It is also worth noting that doing a communal living situation while also adjusting to a new culture isn't easy. I think it's safe to say that things are going much better now. A mistake doesn't become a problem unless you refuse to correct it, right?
After that I got to join a couple co-workers for the first mediation seminar that our program did. It was a great thing to see. They essentially brought together the local people who would deal with small conflicts and had a discussion about peace with them. They were all very excited about it which was very encouraging to see. Unfortunately, who knows whether the rubber will hit the road on that one when it comes to these guys actually acting on their new knowledge. This is Bangladesh, where corruption is king and breaking loose of that world is extremely difficult.
Later in the week I got to work on a meal plan for a 4 day workshop. I never thought it would be as much of a headache as it was. Putting together meals with people from 4 different countries and very different cultures is difficult in a country that seems to think that rice and oil are the only major food groups that should be at every meal. We did our best and then handed it over to a co-worker who understands creating healthy meals better than us. I am extremely grateful to him for taking the revision on. I fear it could be difficult.
Some other stuff happened at work.
Then I decided to make a road trip. A couple of months ago I visited Piergacha. While I was there I said I would return sometime during pineapple season. Well, it is pineapple season and I needed to go. I didn't really feel like spending the time or the money being there for an entire weekend. So I decided to make it a one day trip. Friday morning I got up at 5 because I know there is a bus that leaves for that direction at 6. It turns out that it goes at 7 now because of the time change. It seems that everyone has pretty much ignored the government changing the time which completely defeats the purpose of them changing it in the first place. I finally got my bus after an hour of waiting. I got some sleep on the bus and it was highly refreshing. Unfortunately, the bus conductor forgot me when it came to my stop and the rains had changed it enough that I didn't recognize it. We were about 5km past my stop when he realized it. He ended up dropping me off with some federal police at their stand watching the road. They put me on the next bus heading back to where I was going. In the process of this I saw them taking a bribe. They stopped the bus and immediately the bus conductor came out and shook the policeman's hand. I just happened to notice that as he shook the policeman's hand he also slipped him some money. (This was before he knew why the policeman was stopping him.) I finally did get to the road I needed dropped off at. I got a rickshaw to take me the rest of the way. Unfortunately, the road was fairly muddy and I got dirty on this next section of the journey. I did see a point in the road where a military transport truck and a regular pickup truck were both stuck in the mud because a small bridge was out and they tried going around it. I finally got to their house at about 12. I hung out for several hours and ate way too much pineapple. Then at about 4:30 I started my return journey completely loaded down with two huge bags of pineapples as a gift for the office staff in Bogra. My guess is that they weighed at least 30 lbs each, maybe as much at 40. This wasn't a problem, but the fact that there aren't a lot of buses that head to Bogra in the evening was a problem. I ended up not getting one until around 7:30. It was a local bus. I had to stoop because I was tall enough to touch the ceiling with my head by at least an inch. Fortunately, the seats were far enough apart that I could sit comfortably. Unfortunately, everyone on the bus thought I was the coolest thing ever and proceeded to want to be my best friend. After about 1/2 an hour of this I decided it would be a good time to listen to some music. I put my headphones on during a lull in the conversation. They proceeded to continue trying to talk to me. When they realized I couldn't hear them they poked me to get my attention and then managed to get another 5 minutes of conversation in. They even asked if they could listen to my music with me. I said no and eventually got my headphones back on. This time I did what I've learned is the best trick for buses with annoying people. I pretended to sleep. Eventually, I actually fell asleep and spent the next several hours pretending or actually sleeping. I eventually made it back to Bogra at about 11:20 and was dehydrated. I know that feeling well now. Stomach pains and a headache mean dehydration. Unfortunately, eating way to much pineapple has the same effect as eating too many oranges. My mother used to warn us against eating too many oranges but never said anything about pineapple. If you don't know what I'm talking about by now, I'm not going to tell you. I slept very fitfully that night and ended up fighting dehydration all night long. Thankfully, the worst of it was behind me by morning. Which was very good because it was the 4th of July and we decided to celebrate.
The celebration was the other big bang in the Big Bang. We decided we would do hamburgers and have friends over. So we invited the Korean's over. The meal was good but fairly plain because we forgot to get toppings for the burgers. The after dinner entertainment was excellent though thanks to Dave. He managed to find some fireworks and we went outside to set them off. You ever seen those strips of fireworks that do nothing but blow up very violently and make a loud noise? I know that they are illegal in most US states because they can blow up your hand. He got some of those. I mentioned beforehand that they were very dangerous. I was right and we had two close calls with the two bundles we had. Other than that the fireworks worked like a charm and the neighbors all came to their windows to enjoy the show. After the fireworks some people stayed up and watched the movie Independence Day. I watched a bit of it but I headed to bed before it finished because it was past my bed time. I would consider it a very nice 4th of July party considering the circumstances.
This week looks to be a mildy intersting one. I have a business trip to Dhaka in the middle of the week and upon my return we are going to finish up that meal plan. Who knows what else may happen.
The first was a big disagreement with my roommate. I'm not going to go into details but we both talked about it later and agreed that being in Bangladesh for 8 months without taking a vacation probably hasn't helped. It is also worth noting that doing a communal living situation while also adjusting to a new culture isn't easy. I think it's safe to say that things are going much better now. A mistake doesn't become a problem unless you refuse to correct it, right?
After that I got to join a couple co-workers for the first mediation seminar that our program did. It was a great thing to see. They essentially brought together the local people who would deal with small conflicts and had a discussion about peace with them. They were all very excited about it which was very encouraging to see. Unfortunately, who knows whether the rubber will hit the road on that one when it comes to these guys actually acting on their new knowledge. This is Bangladesh, where corruption is king and breaking loose of that world is extremely difficult.
Later in the week I got to work on a meal plan for a 4 day workshop. I never thought it would be as much of a headache as it was. Putting together meals with people from 4 different countries and very different cultures is difficult in a country that seems to think that rice and oil are the only major food groups that should be at every meal. We did our best and then handed it over to a co-worker who understands creating healthy meals better than us. I am extremely grateful to him for taking the revision on. I fear it could be difficult.
Some other stuff happened at work.
Then I decided to make a road trip. A couple of months ago I visited Piergacha. While I was there I said I would return sometime during pineapple season. Well, it is pineapple season and I needed to go. I didn't really feel like spending the time or the money being there for an entire weekend. So I decided to make it a one day trip. Friday morning I got up at 5 because I know there is a bus that leaves for that direction at 6. It turns out that it goes at 7 now because of the time change. It seems that everyone has pretty much ignored the government changing the time which completely defeats the purpose of them changing it in the first place. I finally got my bus after an hour of waiting. I got some sleep on the bus and it was highly refreshing. Unfortunately, the bus conductor forgot me when it came to my stop and the rains had changed it enough that I didn't recognize it. We were about 5km past my stop when he realized it. He ended up dropping me off with some federal police at their stand watching the road. They put me on the next bus heading back to where I was going. In the process of this I saw them taking a bribe. They stopped the bus and immediately the bus conductor came out and shook the policeman's hand. I just happened to notice that as he shook the policeman's hand he also slipped him some money. (This was before he knew why the policeman was stopping him.) I finally did get to the road I needed dropped off at. I got a rickshaw to take me the rest of the way. Unfortunately, the road was fairly muddy and I got dirty on this next section of the journey. I did see a point in the road where a military transport truck and a regular pickup truck were both stuck in the mud because a small bridge was out and they tried going around it. I finally got to their house at about 12. I hung out for several hours and ate way too much pineapple. Then at about 4:30 I started my return journey completely loaded down with two huge bags of pineapples as a gift for the office staff in Bogra. My guess is that they weighed at least 30 lbs each, maybe as much at 40. This wasn't a problem, but the fact that there aren't a lot of buses that head to Bogra in the evening was a problem. I ended up not getting one until around 7:30. It was a local bus. I had to stoop because I was tall enough to touch the ceiling with my head by at least an inch. Fortunately, the seats were far enough apart that I could sit comfortably. Unfortunately, everyone on the bus thought I was the coolest thing ever and proceeded to want to be my best friend. After about 1/2 an hour of this I decided it would be a good time to listen to some music. I put my headphones on during a lull in the conversation. They proceeded to continue trying to talk to me. When they realized I couldn't hear them they poked me to get my attention and then managed to get another 5 minutes of conversation in. They even asked if they could listen to my music with me. I said no and eventually got my headphones back on. This time I did what I've learned is the best trick for buses with annoying people. I pretended to sleep. Eventually, I actually fell asleep and spent the next several hours pretending or actually sleeping. I eventually made it back to Bogra at about 11:20 and was dehydrated. I know that feeling well now. Stomach pains and a headache mean dehydration. Unfortunately, eating way to much pineapple has the same effect as eating too many oranges. My mother used to warn us against eating too many oranges but never said anything about pineapple. If you don't know what I'm talking about by now, I'm not going to tell you. I slept very fitfully that night and ended up fighting dehydration all night long. Thankfully, the worst of it was behind me by morning. Which was very good because it was the 4th of July and we decided to celebrate.
The celebration was the other big bang in the Big Bang. We decided we would do hamburgers and have friends over. So we invited the Korean's over. The meal was good but fairly plain because we forgot to get toppings for the burgers. The after dinner entertainment was excellent though thanks to Dave. He managed to find some fireworks and we went outside to set them off. You ever seen those strips of fireworks that do nothing but blow up very violently and make a loud noise? I know that they are illegal in most US states because they can blow up your hand. He got some of those. I mentioned beforehand that they were very dangerous. I was right and we had two close calls with the two bundles we had. Other than that the fireworks worked like a charm and the neighbors all came to their windows to enjoy the show. After the fireworks some people stayed up and watched the movie Independence Day. I watched a bit of it but I headed to bed before it finished because it was past my bed time. I would consider it a very nice 4th of July party considering the circumstances.
This week looks to be a mildy intersting one. I have a business trip to Dhaka in the middle of the week and upon my return we are going to finish up that meal plan. Who knows what else may happen.
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