Ok, I must start off by admitting that this post doesn't really have anything to do with double jeopardy. It just sounded like a fun title. I hope I didn't get your hopes up or crush your hopes already.
This past week started off with lots of bike rides. One bike ride included a funny story but I can't tell you about that because I've promised my friend Jill that I would tell her about it first and she reads this so it would be a spoiler for her. So I guess you'll just have to come back next week and read about it then. Several days of bike riding were followed by 2 days of another head cold. I got better though and ended up coming to Dhaka for the weekend because there was a car coming and I had to be here for work today anyways. Thursday was a national holiday. I'm not sure which one it was but I stayed inside all day. No one else was in the guest house with me all day long. It was a good reminder that, while I like my alone time, I'm definitely an extroverted person. That evening I joined several co-workers for a wonderful dinner and game night. The next day I headed with my boss' family to the American Club. I watched several games of basketball but wasn't allowed to play since I didn't bring shoes. :-( I found it amusing that the American Ambassador turned out to be exactly what the stereotype of those people is. He was an older gentleman who would call fouls but wouldn't let you call them on him. I have no clue how he is professionally but I've heard that the American Embassy workers themselves are pretty rude (I've never been there, just heard). After watching some games, I went and played with the boss' daughters in the pool. After that was lunch, I had a Chicken Caesar Salad. You might question that choice but hey, a good safe salad is a rare thing here so it was what I desired. It turned out to be a really good choice. I spent the afternoon relaxing and reading a book before spending the last half hour at the club trying to teach the girls how to do cartwheels. They didn't quite get there yet but I told them that they are way ahead of where I was at their age since I didn't figure out how to do cartwheels until last summer.
After leaving the club I actually went to church. There was one final English speaking church in Dhaka that I hadn't been to yet. The reason for that was that it's a pain in the butt to get to. I really enjoyed how welcoming and friendly everyone was. I think I'll be coming back to this church. I met two Bengali guys there that lead to two vastly different experiences. I met one Bengali guy who was only 27 and single, and like me, had nothing to do for the rest of the evening. We ended up hanging out for the evening. I felt pretty comfortable with him and he knew a few of my co-workers through other connections so we had some stuff to talk about. The other Bengali man, well that's a different story.
He was what I've found to be the typical baptist missionary here. I met him and he invited me over for tea at his office. I immediately knew this was a ploy to ask me for assistance but I couldn't see a polite way going through it so I agreed to come the next day. That said, I wasn't going to be stupid about how I did it. I told him that 5 in the evening would work best. Bengali people usually eat lunch around 3 or 4 and I didn't want to risk being forced into a meal. I also made plans to have to go to dinner somewhere with friends. This gave me a rock solid excuse to get out before I got suckered into a 9 or 10 pm dinner invitation. I reached his place at about a quarter after 5 (don't show up on time, it's not normal here). He immediately went into a lecture about the mission work that his organization does. His office was in his house by the way. He did introduce me to his wife and daughter. I then spent the next hour trying to promise as little as possible as to how much I would be able to do for him as he lectured me on the good work they do and how God would provide through me. In one moment he started out saying, "the Bible says," and I immediately knew I was going to hear "seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be open to you", sure enough that's exactly what he said. That said, I did make the man a promise and he did seem pretty sincere to me. His organization (SNEHO) is a local Bengali run Christian development and ministry program. They apparently have 5 schools and they use a room in those schools as a church on Sundays. He said that $30 a month would pay a teacher's wage. (That actually seemed pretty low to me and the teachers in the picture he had looked really young, so I'm not sure what the deal is, they might only be part time or maybe they don't actually have a teaching degree.) Anywho, if you want more information about the things they are doing or how you can help fund the work they are doing. You can send me a message and I'll help you do that. Personally, I'm choosing to support him by praying for his work. I would encourage you to at least do the same.
Just for the record, my dinner plans got me out of there by 7. He also commented about how willing I was to try and help. I wonder how hard it is to get these kind of commitments out of other people for him? All in all I would count it a successful misadventure and am very happy with how I managed it.
