Badminton season has returned! I love this time of the year because it is finally cooling down. In the morning it gets down to a very cold temperature of 68 or so degrees. It has however reminded me of a problem I've been having the last couple of months. I'm becoming soft. I've put a little weight back on since returning from America this summer and lost a lot of the muscle I had. This is likely due to the fact that I pretty much stopped exercising and started eating a bit too much. The last couple of nights of playing has seen me bruise my heel by playing barefoot, have sore arm muscles from swinging the racket, and my hamstring tightened up from all the squatting and lunging required. This is all combined with a bit of a nice round gut to motivate me to start taking care of myself like I was last year. Maybe I should go ahead and label this what it is, a new years resolution in October. I doubt I'll actually accomplish it but for at least the next couple of weeks I'll try.
In other news, lately I've been pondering values and ideals. As we look around us, there is reality in the present. As we look forward, I'm sure all of us could come up with visions of a better tomorrow and what we could do to get there. At the same time, these ideal futures rarely come and if we are honest with ourselves, we can probably come up with a halfway decent guess about what the future possibility really is. This guess, of course, comes from reflecting on our past experiences. The real question for me though is how does one decide what their values in the present (the only point in time you have control over) are in a way that balances the ideal visions and hope for a better tomorrow with the pragmatic realization that the dream you have is just a vague hope. (By the way, that is not meant to be a depressing thing to say since that vague hope sometimes does become reality.) For example, I'm a pacifist and I readily admit that I cling strongly to an ideal, a hope for the future that I really don't believe stands a chance at arriving before Christ returns. Should that pragmatic realization change the way I perceive my pacifist values in the present time? I try not to let it but in other areas in my life, I think there might be room for such a thing.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Physics...a tiny tidbit
I've been meaning to write this post for a long time now but I keep forgetting to do so.
It has been my observation that Bengali people thoroughly understand that objects cannot occupy the same location in time and space. The thing that they also seem to understand that the American culture doesn't put so much focus on, is that objects can occupy the same location mere seconds (or less) apart. This is particularly true of buses. They have a dance worked out and it isn't one I like them to play at high speeds. Also, being that this is Bangladesh that dance ends badly at times. I've been lucky so far.
Another observation about Americans that was pointed out to me this week is that when asked where we are from we say our State rather than saying America. This is probably both because it is a learned thing from traveling within the USA and because there really is a big difference between various regions of the US.
Hope that's enough to tide you over until I have something more interesting to say.
It has been my observation that Bengali people thoroughly understand that objects cannot occupy the same location in time and space. The thing that they also seem to understand that the American culture doesn't put so much focus on, is that objects can occupy the same location mere seconds (or less) apart. This is particularly true of buses. They have a dance worked out and it isn't one I like them to play at high speeds. Also, being that this is Bangladesh that dance ends badly at times. I've been lucky so far.
Another observation about Americans that was pointed out to me this week is that when asked where we are from we say our State rather than saying America. This is probably both because it is a learned thing from traveling within the USA and because there really is a big difference between various regions of the US.
Hope that's enough to tide you over until I have something more interesting to say.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Durga Puja
This past weekend was the Hindu religious holiday of Durga Puja. Puja means worship. There are many different Pujas in the Hindu religion but Durga Puja is the most popular one for Bengali people. Since Durga is one of the gods of destruction and bay of Bengal is a place frequently ravaged by destruction, I think there is a correlation. It is also a reminder for us that there are more than 15 million Hindu people in Bangladesh and that while Muslims make up a vast majority, Hindus are a significant portion of the population. One of our Hindu staff invited us to come to visit his house during Durga Puja. This was just an evening visit since he lives just on the other side of Bogra.
We headed over to his house and ended up going to the local Hindu temple first. The narrow street outside the temple was draped with Christmas lights which were flashing and the sides of the street were lined with vendors selling an array of snacks and children's toys. There was loud music playing and tons of people all about. We got into the actual temple grounds where a large group of people were looking at the idols that they make fresh every year for the puja. Durga Puja lasts 5 days and they make an entire set of the idols every year. They are made from a mixture of clay and mud which are then painted with all sorts of bright colors. At the end of the 5 days of worship, the idols are then thrown into the river in a ceremony that I didn't get a chance to go see.
After being fed until we were almost bursting, we made our leave and decided to go see what some of the other idols looked like. Several of the temples that we found were quite old buildings and their idols were typically more elaborate than the ones we saw in our co-workers part of town. After seeing roughly 5 temples we decided that we were too tired to continue on and called it a night. It was definitely an interesting adventure though.
We headed over to his house and ended up going to the local Hindu temple first. The narrow street outside the temple was draped with Christmas lights which were flashing and the sides of the street were lined with vendors selling an array of snacks and children's toys. There was loud music playing and tons of people all about. We got into the actual temple grounds where a large group of people were looking at the idols that they make fresh every year for the puja. Durga Puja lasts 5 days and they make an entire set of the idols every year. They are made from a mixture of clay and mud which are then painted with all sorts of bright colors. At the end of the 5 days of worship, the idols are then thrown into the river in a ceremony that I didn't get a chance to go see.
After being fed until we were almost bursting, we made our leave and decided to go see what some of the other idols looked like. Several of the temples that we found were quite old buildings and their idols were typically more elaborate than the ones we saw in our co-workers part of town. After seeing roughly 5 temples we decided that we were too tired to continue on and called it a night. It was definitely an interesting adventure though.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Beggars
In Bangladesh there are many beggars. Many of them are professionals and many of those are organized by and give cuts to some sort of overlord. This creates many ethical problems. You want to help people who really need it but you don't want to perpetuate a system of oppression such as that run by the overlords. I guess I should also mention the massive volume of beggars that exist. It is truly disheartening. I've been here two years now and this is an issue that never gets easier to deal with.
For the last couple of months I've tried out a new strategy that I heard about from an ex-MCC worker. I keep a wad of small (but still large compared to what beggars normally get from an individual person here) bills in my pocket. Every time I have a beggar approach me, I always give them one. This comes from my tithing money. The thing about this that has shocked me is that I haven't even once come close to going through my entire tithe in a month of doing this. It's actually quite amazing how little I go through. Of course when I give to people I try to take the time to look them in the eye or ask them a few questions about themselves which also creates a bit of connection. I may not be doing anything about the overlord thing but I do feel better that I'm at least trying something. I do still feel bad though about not doing more to help these people out.
The other interesting thought I had this morning was about what beggars are. Beggars are just people asking for something which they've done nothing to earn and receive what they are asking for as an act of compassion from the one who gives. Remind you of anything? As Christians are we not all beggars desiring God's forgiveness and grace? Strangely enough, that thought came from reading Mark 9:33-37 in Jesus tells the disciples who the greatest amongst them is. His answer was that a child was the greatest and that whoever seeks to be the greatest must first submit to being the least. Which got me thinking of who the very least in the world is and the beggars came to mind.
For the last couple of months I've tried out a new strategy that I heard about from an ex-MCC worker. I keep a wad of small (but still large compared to what beggars normally get from an individual person here) bills in my pocket. Every time I have a beggar approach me, I always give them one. This comes from my tithing money. The thing about this that has shocked me is that I haven't even once come close to going through my entire tithe in a month of doing this. It's actually quite amazing how little I go through. Of course when I give to people I try to take the time to look them in the eye or ask them a few questions about themselves which also creates a bit of connection. I may not be doing anything about the overlord thing but I do feel better that I'm at least trying something. I do still feel bad though about not doing more to help these people out.
The other interesting thought I had this morning was about what beggars are. Beggars are just people asking for something which they've done nothing to earn and receive what they are asking for as an act of compassion from the one who gives. Remind you of anything? As Christians are we not all beggars desiring God's forgiveness and grace? Strangely enough, that thought came from reading Mark 9:33-37 in Jesus tells the disciples who the greatest amongst them is. His answer was that a child was the greatest and that whoever seeks to be the greatest must first submit to being the least. Which got me thinking of who the very least in the world is and the beggars came to mind.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Dancing for Joy
Have you ever experienced the true joy of finishing a project that was complicated and taking up tons of your time? That is what I felt this past Wednesday evening at around 7pm as I finished up some paperwork and sent it as an attachment to an email. I didn't actually dance though, that part of the title is much more symbolic of the feeling in my heart at the time than the actions I took. I might have done a fist pump though (which, now that I think about it, is a habit I picked up from my father who does that when the Colts do something good like score a touchdown or get an interception...I imagine anything more overtly celebratory would draw our Mennoniteness into question).
Moving on though, I got to spend some good time with a co-worker Austin before he leaves permanently. After he is gone Nate and I will be the ones here the longest. That is just weird but I guess it has been 2 years as of the end of this month. That ends up meaning that I only have 1 year left but I'm trying not to think about that. I've got enough stuff on my plate for the next couple of months to keep me occupied. There is my milk cow study that I'm going to try to finish before the end of this month so I can give the report. Beyond that, my boss wants me to do a review of the way we measure the income of our farmers and try to come up with a better way. Since we are also starting a trial agriculture education program in a couple of schools next year, he also wants me to come up with a way to compare that to our normal activities. Those both need to be done by January which sounds like a long way away until you think about the fact that I'm going to be working on the milk cow survey for the next couple of weeks, then there are several major holidays in Bangladesh next month, and then I'll be vacationing in India in December.
The MCC Nepal/India/Afghanistan expats invited the MCC Bangladesh expats to join them for a retreat in India. It looks like we'll be somewhere in Goa, India in the middle of December and then it also sounds like I'll be getting together with some friends to head up to the Delhi area after that. I know a couple of the Nepal people and even went to college with one of the SALT workers, so it will be good to see familiar faces again. It is my plan to spend Christmas in India this year. Living in Bangladesh is tough sometimes (for instance I got sick again this week) but some parts of my job really should make everyone else jealous. I think a trip to India qualifies.
Moving on though, I got to spend some good time with a co-worker Austin before he leaves permanently. After he is gone Nate and I will be the ones here the longest. That is just weird but I guess it has been 2 years as of the end of this month. That ends up meaning that I only have 1 year left but I'm trying not to think about that. I've got enough stuff on my plate for the next couple of months to keep me occupied. There is my milk cow study that I'm going to try to finish before the end of this month so I can give the report. Beyond that, my boss wants me to do a review of the way we measure the income of our farmers and try to come up with a better way. Since we are also starting a trial agriculture education program in a couple of schools next year, he also wants me to come up with a way to compare that to our normal activities. Those both need to be done by January which sounds like a long way away until you think about the fact that I'm going to be working on the milk cow survey for the next couple of weeks, then there are several major holidays in Bangladesh next month, and then I'll be vacationing in India in December.
The MCC Nepal/India/Afghanistan expats invited the MCC Bangladesh expats to join them for a retreat in India. It looks like we'll be somewhere in Goa, India in the middle of December and then it also sounds like I'll be getting together with some friends to head up to the Delhi area after that. I know a couple of the Nepal people and even went to college with one of the SALT workers, so it will be good to see familiar faces again. It is my plan to spend Christmas in India this year. Living in Bangladesh is tough sometimes (for instance I got sick again this week) but some parts of my job really should make everyone else jealous. I think a trip to India qualifies.
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