Sunday, November 27, 2022

November 21-27 2022

 Monday 11/21: Our day started out different than planned. Some say mission life makes you learn to be so flexible that you go home as flexible as a slinky๐Ÿคฃ Our language teacher was sick so class was canceled. I was relieved because yesterday I didn’t get near all my studying done as my small man needed me a lot. So caught up on that. It appears as though when mom needs to study that is a great time to ponder earth’s deepest questions. “How do pelicans beaks work? Mom, how many fish do you think would fit in there?” “Can I watch a video on how monkeys swing by their tails?” “Can I light the elements on the stove?” “Why does that man by the gate sit in his chair all day?” “Do rockets need oxygen to work?” “Can I start the washer?” “Do God and Jesus know each other?” “How long do people stay in Heaven?” Of course Mom is the ONLY one that should know these answers, so finally one must settle these questions once and for all which leads to pelican book reading, googling answers and then cookie eating. So that’s how my days go! I hope his thirst for knowledge is a good thing. I don’t mind his questions… they are a nice diversion from the studying๐Ÿ˜€ Jared went with Daniel to the clinic this morning since we weren’t busy with class. He really enjoyed it! Layton wondered if daddy “got called into work.” After lunch Amber and I took a CNG and went to Square Hospital. It is a very nice hospital. I was so relieved to see how nice it was! It calmed some of my anxiety about having a baby here. Reminded me a lot of Wesley. Almost forgot you where in Bangladesh other than the people everywhere. Has 15 floors… NICU, PICU, ICU, Neuro ICU, cath lab, IVF clinic, ER, Dialysis, to name a few services. And it smelled like a hospital… a comforting smell to me. (Only to a healthcare worker). We got my registration paper filled out. We will call in next week to make the apt as you can only make apts on certain days. Then I’ll be in the system and it won’t be such a rigamarole. Alot of English speaking people there. So I believe we are in good hands. This evening was beautiful outside. The sky was blue… a few pink tinged clouds when the sun set. Can’t see the sun setting but you know it is! Since we’ve been here we’ve noticed how the sky is always hazy, white or grey and so much smog! So seeing a blue sky was a nice change. The air felt cleaner just seeing the blue. Sometimes there is so much haze over the sun it seems like it’s a cloudy day. (Quite a change for Marion County folk!.) It’s the dry season now so the natives say when the rain starts then the air clears considerably. Sat up on Daniel’s roof for awhile and enjoyed the slight breeze. When your up on the roof you can hear several Muslim calls to prayer at once from various parts of the city. They don’t all start at the same time but all within a few minutes of each other. Sometimes it’s quite a melodious medley. 

Tuesday 11/22: Language class… Reviewed everything we have learned so far, how to explain to a rickshaw driver where to go if he doesn’t know the destination, a bunch more new words, etc. Spent most of the day studying and doing our homework. In the evening we went and sang with the sisters at the clinic. A few days ago Jared bought what he thought were cucumbers at the dokhane (store by our gate) but turns out they were snake gourd. So I took them and gave them to the sisters to use in our Bangla meal tomorrow.  Came home and didn’t do much. Layton wanted to stop and get rice cakes on the way home but Jared and I were too weary. It was a hard day…  We weren’t lonesome just brain weary I guess. Or maybe it’s called “adjustment!” I was glad when it was time to go to bed. 


Wednesday 11/23: Sleep does wonders for a weary mind. Back at the books this morning… Language class… more review, learned more words for different fruits and body parts. Having a “test” tomorrow so not sure what that means! Elwood and Melissa arrived by bus so we had lunch with them at the clinic. Was neat to meet them and know their faces. The sister’s food once again did not fail to disappoint. My favorite mixture…. Fried Chicken, vegetable mixture of carrots, cauliflower and potato,  rice , chicken and dal. It’s interesting to me how many different ways they can make the same basic meal. Layton was quite proud of himself for eating with his hands! He is still unsure of the vegetables as they can be pretty spicy but is doing great eating chicken and rice at least. Not pushing him as I know he will try the vegetables when he’s ready. I had to laugh the other day because I told Layton to set the table for supper. I always have to remind him not to forget the cutlery. This particular time he was very unhappy about having to work so hard and he said, “Can’t we just please eat with our hands??” ๐Ÿ˜‚easy way to only do half of your assigned job! Since Elwoods are here we all had supper at Daniels. The sisters came too. It was a lot of fun…. Amber made some amazing Stromboli. The sisters just ate and ate it! They love to come over for American food. We all went outside in the courtyard while the children played. Layton said “mom watch me!” He got on Nicolee’s bike that doesn’t have training wheels and went quite aways before he fell over!!! Was pretty proud of my little man. Not using training wheels has been a big fear of his. He’s been practicing while we are in language class. This evening there was a lot of cheering going on in an adjacent apartment and fireworks close by due to the World Cup in Qatar. 


Thursday 11/24: Language class… had a test. Jared did really well and I have some “opportunities for growth.” I had the right words I just spelled them wrong or used the wrong tense of the word. We are supposed to write 25-30 indirect questions for our homework. Jared left as soon as class was over to go on the bus with Elwood. They took a double decker bus and went and ran some errands. They had a really fun time together. Went to some shops to see if they could find a new charger for a cordless drill. This afternoon we worked on our homework which took several hours. I caught up on laundry and made my grocery list for tomorrow. I’m glad that my homemaker duties are still the same here as at home. I so enjoy making a home for my boys. The duties do take a lot longer here without a dishwasher and dryer but it’s even more satisfying when the laundry is done and the dishes are all clean! But I wouldn’t mind a microwave๐Ÿ˜‚ Amber and I tried to decide which we would covet more …. A dishwasher or a microwave. And the unanimous decision was a microwave! Daniels offered that we could come over since it was Thanksgiving but we kinda felt like we should have an evening at home with Layton. Didn’t really even think about it that it was a holiday! One of the sisters wondered what Thanksgiving day was. We told her it was “dhonnobad din” (Thank you day.) 


Friday 11/25: Church today! Jared and I got to church abit early this morning. (We have church at the clinic.)  We were able to practice a bit of Bangla with the sisters before all the others arrived. Daniel had the opening and Jared had the message. There were two children staying there at the clinic after their operations so stayed after to get them their powdered milk and medications. It’s amazing how some children barely have a scar after their lip repair and some will require multiple surgeries due to how disfigured their face is. A child’s looks are a huge deal here. If their face is blemished or scarred the girls won’t be able to get married and then when the children grow up they will have a hard time getting a job. So it makes sense to me why they are so concerned that their children will get hurt when they play. After church we went to the German Butcher. It’s a meat shop and a Japanese restaurant. Stopped at Uni-Mart for groceries for the weekend and next week. Still trying to get used to the fish display in the meat department. It is meticulously arranged and is a splendid display to behold but the smell gets me, hopefully it’s just because I’m pregnant! I’ve used up all the food that the other ladies left in our freezer so now I’m back to my menu making. ๐Ÿ˜ Jared did most of the driving today and did great. You definitely don’t go anywhere in a hurry.


Saturday 11/26: This morning we left at 6:30 with Daniels to go to Golapganj. It’s a 3 hour drive or so. We got there at 9:30. Kelly and Lanae are the missionaries at that post. A pretty drive! Was neat seeing the rice fields. The fields are all neatly divided into small squares and each square has a different owner. The road between Dhaka and Golapganj was really nice. Went over the new bridge. Was a 4 lane bridge about 6 km long. Between the fog and the bright morning sun we couldn’t see the water very well but could make out all the little fishing boats. Before this bridge was put in you had to wait in line for a ferry and hope it wasn’t too foggy to cross. I think the longest a missionary has ever waited was 6 or 7 hours. Not long after we got to Kelly’s a lady from the village had us over for rice cakes. These didn’t have the molasses and coconut in them like the ones in Dhaka. Just plain rice flour…She made some “doughnut holes” with rice flour and coconut that were amazing! Then they brought us a mixture of what looked like chopped up rice cakes in a milk and heavily laden sugar mixture. It was tasteful but Jared and I noticed that the other missionaries didn’t eat theirs. They politely set them aside, so we did the same! This village is predominantly Hindu. On the way to this lady’s house we stopped and looked at a small Hindu temple where they place their food offerings. Went back to Kelly’s house while the children played. Layton was in his element with all the children! After lunch Layton and I took naps at the guesthouse. The afternoon the men spent playing badminton and airing and sharing on the roof. I’m glad we have such a great group to get together and vent when we need to. Us ladies just took care of the kids and made supper. We sang until about 9:15 and then went to bed. Layton said “it sure feels good to be in bed!” On the way to the guesthouse I noticed that you could hear the bugs chirping and singing. Guess after a month in the city you kinda forget about things like that. No Muslim call to prayer either… did hear drums and singing off in the distance but it wasn’t loud or disruptive. 


Sunday 11/27: Church here in Golapganj. They have it here on Sundays. The church is a bamboo frame with tin building. All the bideshi (foreign) men all participated in the service. The interpreter wondered if Jared was French because of his Canadian accent. A lot of cows were along the street or slowly ambling across it. They wouldn’t win any 4H awards for looks or plumpness! Goats grazing down in the ditch. Ducks waddling around and swimming in the rice fields. Here they are allowed to have motorized rickshaws. Definitely not as many buses and motorcycles as in Dhaka. For lunch we had a Thanksgiving meal. I thought it was interesting that a good share of people said how much they missed mashed potatoes and gravy! Lisa made graham cracker fluff with some substituted ingredients and it was a big hit. Layton begged for “fluff like Grammys” so I just let him eat a whole salad plate full. You only live once!!!!! I highly doubt I will ever go to the effort to make it here so I figured he may as well enjoy it while he could. In the afternoon Layton and I snuck to the guesthouse to have some quiet time. The men continued to talk about some of the challenging things that our church and members are dealing with right now here. Had thanksgiving leftovers for supper and read some funny poems to remind us to laugh after the serious discussions of the afternoon. Then we went to the guesthouse and hit the hay… It is interesting to me the connection we feel with the other missionaries. here. Someone said it doesn’t matter who you where at home, all that matters is who you are now in Bangladesh. We all have had to leave home and give up things that we held dear. I’m so thankful that we can look forward to seeing these other families off and on throughout the year๐Ÿ˜€ They have definitely made us feel loved and welcomed. 

Sunday, November 20, 2022

November 14-20, 2023

 Monday 11/14 Language class. Studied how to change verb endings based on the type of pronoun that is used for present tense. Also sentence structure. Subject + time+ place + object + verb. Layton seemed kinda quiet today, so snuggled with him extra and had him nap. He woke up much happier and thought it was hilarious that I hid a toy rat in the laundry basket for him to find when he was helping me put wash in the washer. After an afternoon of studying we went to Farmgate so Amber could look for new skillets for the clinic as the handles broke off the ones they had. We tried to find ones that didn’t have the non stick coating because with all the frying and scrubbing the sisters do the non stick ones don’t last very long. Daniels took us to a restaurant they like. This one was on top of a 10 story hotel. Was neat to see all the lights of the city. Chinese fried rice is very common here at restaurants, along with fried chicken. It’s ridiculous how cheap the restaurant food is. There was so much traffic on the street by our gate that the motorcycles were starting to go on the sidewalk. I don’t know how on earth there are not more injured people with the way everyone drives. I probably shouldn’t say this for our mother’s sakes but tonight on the way home our rickshaw driver pulled out right in front of a van and a CNG, I told Jared it appears the best way to ride in a rickshaw is to just look straight ahead not to the side at the traffic coming at you. ๐Ÿ˜‚ They seem to have a method to their madness though. Police or guards at every intersection. More for directing traffic than enforcing the law. They do a good job. It looks like they are parting the Red Sea sometimes! When we were out it was already dark so the police were holding giant red glow sticks to be seen. The two story buses are packed with people. You wonder how many more could possibly squeeze on! Our housekeeper came while we were gone, I wish I could tell her how much I appreciate her. “Donnobad” (thank you) seems too feeble. Hopefully in a few weeks I can have a conversation with her. Layton’s question of the day was “ How long do people have to stay in cemeteries?” I’m open to answers๐Ÿ˜‚


Tuesday 11/15: Language class: Studied what type of ending to put on the verbs when it is past tense. Was left with a fair pile of homework that involved writing direct and indirect questions, past tense sentences, then sentences to unscramble and correct and yet more verbs to switch from present to past. Worked on that the rest of the afternoon. Layton helped me keep the laundry going. I taught him how to run the washer so just have to make sure he doesn’t put too much in at once! He is being a real trooper about us having to study so much. He sits at the window and counts how many people wave at him or watches the people come to and fro. He really likes zipping around the house on his trike or rummaging through any cupboard he can find. This evening we went to the clinic and sang there with the sisters. They wanted to go get rice cakes afterwards so we went to a vendor on the street and got some. 80 cents for 8! The sisters thought that was way too expensive! At first I wasn’t fond of the texture but it has good flavor. They get a little bowl and put in a handful of rice flour a sprinkle of sugar molasses and coconut shavings and then top with more rice flour. They put it on something that looks like a steamer for a few minutes and then it makes like a pressed cake the size of an uncrustable. It’s been in the 80s here and cools down some in the evening. Very pleasant… We’ve seen several people with winter coats and jackets on in the evenings. Guess this is getting close to their winter but it sure feels good to us. I wonder what they would say about the weather in Kansas right now?! 


Wednesday 11/16: Language class… learned about singular and plural possessive personal pronouns, how to say a sentence when you need something, and how to change a verb into a noun. They are called “verbal nouns.” Here instead of saying “I need,” they say “my need is…” Also prepositions. We learned we don’t say “what’s up” for a greeting, the words we say translates to “what’s the news?” I have been very thankful for all my teachers in grade school that drilled diagramming sentences into my head because knowing what is what in an English sentence is extremely helpful when it comes to learning a new language. So in a few years when Layton gripes about language class and wonders why he has to learn all that I will have an answer ready for him. After Language class we went to Daniels so Jared, Daniel and Jon could get things around to submit for Jared’s security clearance and work visa. Work visas are a challenge to get right now. Have to submit them several times and sometimes at the 1 year mark they still don’t have them.  Had lunch at the clinic with the sisters and the nurse. Pilau (rice with raisins), cubed fried beef and potato curry, okra and carrot mixture and then fried sliced egg plant. Of course cucumbers and limes on the side. Very good! (Khub bhalo)The Pilau is something that is usually served at holidays or when guests come. I’m thankful the food is so good here. Other people here say that after a year you start to get tired of it so I guess we will see if that happens to us. Because you know…. Brianna LOVES food. One of the children that had palate surgery was still recovering at the clinic. He was to only have milk, bananas etc to eat due to his recent surgery. His parents were letting him eat chips! Hopefully it doesn’t tear the sutures out. We’ve gotten a lot of questions about the clinic work but we haven’t gotten into it much as Daniel is running that all while we focus on language class. After awhile Jared will spend more time there and learn the ropes before Daniel leaves. We go there quite a bit though… At home the rest of the day. Studied, spent time with Layton and did usual mom things. Layton drew his letters and numbers this evening and I was really surprised how many he has picked up on without me even telling him! 


Thursday 11/17: Language class. Future Tense, Infinitive and present imperative verbs. Plus a page of words to memorize, more complete and correct the sentence exercises and write 5 sentences in Bangla that are future tense, change a graph of verbs to infinitive and then write 6 sentences with infinitive verbs. My mind was mush by the time class was over so I was glad Jared is so smart and catches on quick so he can help me muddle through it later. Jared counted up how many pages of words we have memorized in the last 2 weeks and it’s close to 8 pages. No wonder we are sleeping so good at night now! After class Layton and I did laundry and made bread. Trying to do a load every other day as the line drying space in this apartment is limited. In the afternoon I did everything I could think of in order to avoid doing my homework. Tried to take a nap but the fighter jets decided to show their stuff. So finally I gave myself a lecture on positive thinking and put on my big girl panties and dug in. Once I got started it wasn’t that bad. Jared helped me some too. Spent the evening with Daniels. Amber and I took the kids up to the roof while the men visited with the brother from church. He is such an interesting fellow! He comes over once a week to chat and drink iced sweet tea. 


Friday 11/18: Church in the morning… Jared had the opening on God cleansing us and Daniel had the sermon on being the light of the world. A brother from Golpagange was there as well. Still trying to get used to no Sunday school!! After the service we stayed for awhile and talked. The clinic nurse Miriam showed me their version of a “lab req.” They fill it out for the babies/children’s blood work to be done before their operation. She wondered if things were called the same in the states. They pretty much were all the same thing. I was able to say a few words to the sisters so that made them grin. They can understand a fair bit of English though too. (Jared talks to the guard at Daniels for practice and he always grins and acts so proud when Jared says something in Bangla.) After church we came home and packed up the hangry children and went to a Mexican restaurant. It was a tiny place but had good food. $3 for a tostada!  Layton got a quesadilla but it was too spicy for him. He’s having a hard time eating this spicy food. He said “I take a drink but that taste keeps coming back!” Then we went to some grocery stores called “Deters” and “Dahlis”. They had a bit more imported food than a place like UniMart. Jared found HP sauce there. A snack size bag of M & Ms was $6.50. So you definitely have to be careful because some of the smaller packages of US brands can be crazy expensive. Good thing I have almost kicked my M & M habit to the curb.๐Ÿ˜‚ (I said almost.) I found some chocolate chips though so was enthused about that. We came home after getting the groceries. Layton and Nicolee were at each other about every little thing! One minute they are best friends and the next they have a vicious argument over who can push the elevator buttons. I think they are both adjusting. Layton with just getting here and Nicolee fixing to leave. Was just at home in the evening, took it easy and studied and read stories to Layton. 


Saturday 11/19: think we are over our jet lag. Back to sleeping “normal.” Someone told us to plan a day for every hour of time change. That’s about what it was! 12-14 days… Now if we could only cure Layton of his life long habit of waking up at 6 AM. Our stomachs are still working on adjusting. We wake up just starving hungry, get hungry for lunch and then have no appetite for supper. Sounds like this is normal and takes several months to adjust. Some say they were hardly hungry at all the first year. Not sure if it’s from adjusting to so much new at once, nerves or time difference. Worked on memorizing some more words that I got behind on the past 3 lessons. Jared Daniel and Jon spent most of the morning at the auditors office to get signatures for various papers.  Went to Daniels for lunch since our housekeeper made a Bangla meal. She made bhat (rice) sobji (vegetables: cauliflower, potato, pumpkin and carrots), Dal and then the manSo (meat) was fried chicken. I like the Dal because it cools down the spice from the vegetables. Most Bangladeshis like their Dal on the side or after they’ve eaten the rest of the meal. The fights between the children today was because they both wanted the doll that closed its eyes when you lay it down. I mean who doesn’t want a real baby that does that?! Amber and I went to a store by the parliament building that sells tourist things and household goods. Was looking for some bedding for their apartment. Two little boys attached themselves to us and were begging us to buy them ice cream. We bought them some snack from a vendor and they left us alone. When we came back out of the store there they were waiting for us telling us they needed more to eat! Came home from Daniels and got prepared for the coming week. Got granola and cookies made, the house straightened up and some laundry done. Found out today that our housekeeper has a 10 and 14 year old. They live in the village with their “old” dad and his family while she is here in Dhaka making money to send home to them. She only sees them twice a year! I can not imagine… Seems like that is common here that one family member comes to Dhaka to work and live and then sends money home. 


Sunday 11/20: Back at language class…. Felt good to have a 2 day break to relax our brains. Learned a bunch more words and practiced past present and future tense verbs and word endings, how to tell a Bangladeshi host that your belly is full and that you enjoyed their food. YOU aren’t full, your BELLY is! Our heads were swimming by the time we were done. I told Jared I felt like that boy in My Bible Friends… “my head! my head!” But we need to learn as much Bangla as possible before Daniels leave so we need to keep pressing on. In the afternoon we studied and when Layton got restless we went to get some veggies. $1.80 for 10 bananas, 4 big carrots and a handful of green beans. We got what we thought were cucumbers but they ended up being snake gourds. I’m going to try sautรฉing them with some carrots or something. They taste like a mix of cucumber and okra. Their green beans are a foot and a half long or so, so it doesn’t take many! Trying to get back into eating half way healthy. 

Sunday, November 13, 2022

November 7-13, 2022

 Monday: We didn’t have any language class this morning so that was kinda nice! Kinda could let our brains rest and study the previous days lesson… It was about pronouns, formative (speaking to adults) and informative (speaking to children or those of a lower station), greetings depending on if a person is Muslim/Hindu/Christian, currency, simple conversation such as “How are you? I am well,” numbers 1-5, simple commands “please open the book,” and then commands for riding in a rickshaw, “to the right please,” or “please stop here.” . In the afternoon Amber, the three children and I hopped onto a rickshaw and went to the tailors. When we were at the market last week I bought some material to make two 3 piece kamis. So dropped that off there. He measured me from head to toe. We had him add extra on the sides for when my baby bump gets bigger. I’m sure it will not surprise anyone that one is hot pink! Haha! Bright colors abound here. The tailor shop was intriguing. Rows of big spools of brightly colored thread. Huge spools, probably three times the size of a serger spool. They absolutely make their sewing machines FLY! Never saw one sew so fast! Then they flick the fabric in place with their wrist and pedal to the medal away they go again. The one tailor had a massive mound of fabric scraps beside and around him it looked like he would have had to leap over it all to get to his sewing machine in the corner.  Lots of different styles of dresses and blouses hung from the ceiling. After that we went to the pharmacy. They gave the children Vitamin C tablets. They hand them out like they are candy here. Amber took me to another grocery store that we could go to that’s close to our flat. It’s so interesting to me how many American brands there are here! Quaker Oats, Oreos, Blue Diamond nuts, many of the same shampoos, conditioners and soaps and cosmetics…. If you want to someone to find something you need you have to tell them the brand. So instead of saying “where are the oats?” you have to say “where are the Quaker Oats?” Layton and I stayed at Daniels until Jared and Daniel came home from the clinic. The clinic is open Sunday, Monday and Tuesday from 10-1. They saw about 30 patients. Layton had woke up at 2 AM and didn’t go back to sleep. So we let him nap about an hour in the afternoon before we woke him up. They advised us to not nap more than an hour in the afternoon to help with jet lag. It was tremendously hard to wake him up so we finally just let him pass out on the couch. Trevor and Lisa and their children and teacher stopped in for awhile in the evening. That finally woke Layton up! They are really jolly people! So had some good talks and laughs. After they left Layton and I could not keep our eyes open for love or money so we went to bed early. One thing that’s been an adjustment is how there is constantly air traffic overhead. We live close to a military base so the aircrafts are roaring overhead as though they could land on our street. The helicopter noise makes the windows rattle. Several fighters jet flew over and wow what a tremendous roar!!! Sure different than how quiet our place was in Kansas. We could hear the neighbors rooster crow a mile away. But I’ve decided I’m not going to compare Kansas and here. It’s not conducive to us feeling settled and content here. 

Tuesday: Layton woke up at 3:30 AM. I gave him some melatonin because I was not amused and he went back to sleep and slept until 8 when the language teacher came. He was a very happy boy today for a change. The last few days have really tried me with him. So hoping sleep and extra TLC is the cure. While Jared and I studied in the afternoon he inspected all components in the kitchen. He dug out anything of interest to him and figured out how it worked. I just let him. ๐Ÿ˜‚ Figured as long as he was happy and not destroying anything it couldn’t hurt. He is finally eating again and is making up for not eating for several days, so is begging for snacks and food every little bit. Language class… reviewed a lot from Sunday and then learned how to tell time, emotions and how to ask someone how they feel. Later in the afternoon we went to the clinic and sang with the sisters. Trevors stopped in and joined the fun. Afterwards we got in rickshaws and went to a Bangladeshi version of a Chinese restaurant. Our driver didn’t know where he was going and all of a sudden there we were lost as bee without her Bonnet. Jared finally told him to just drop us off where we where, so we just waited until Daniel came and found us. 

Wednesday: Language class again… Studied a bunch of verbs and nouns. Also a bunch of questions like “where, how, why, do you have meat? Where is the meat?”  Most of the nouns were names of food so that we can ask for what we need at the grocery stores. Many food names are in English but there’s also quite a few that aren’t. For lunch we went to the clinic where the sisters made Bangla food. Rice, fried chicken, then a cooked vegetable mixture of cauliflower, potatoes, carrots, onion and garlic, Dahl (made from lentils I think.) Then limes and cucumbers on the side. The cucumbers help cool the spice from the vegetable mixture. It has some kind of green chilis in it that add some spice. It was superb!I especially enjoy the Dahl.   I warned Layton before hand about using his hands and that it was ok if his hands got dirty with food. He did very well and ate a bunch of rice and 3 helpings of chicken, so I was very proud of him!! He generously used my sleeve for a napkin. Oh well… loose some win some๐Ÿ˜‚ These people here are not used to letting children run and play. They are very cautious and don’t let their children roughhouse as getting hurt means having to pay money for a doctor. On the way to the clinic, Layton and Nicolee were running and jumping and acting crazy like 5 year olds do and  twice someone told them to “be careful slow down you could fall and get hurt!” Then at the clinic they both climbed up the metal wrought iron  gate and swung on it. All of a sudden a man from the street came and told them to get down they could get hurt! They would be horrified if they saw the things Layton does at home๐Ÿ˜‚ We were at our apartment the rest of the day so that we could study. And so Layton could have some “home and mama” time. He goes to Daniels while we have class every morning. 

Thursday: no language class today but we still studied a lot. I finally quit studying this afternoon for several hours cuz I could hardly think straight. Memorizing has never been my strong point. She gave us a wack of nouns and verbs to “know 100%” before she comes on Sunday. The crazy thing is is when we talk Bangla to someone at the little market or on the street they reply in English. Or they laugh and hoot and say “Bangla!!”๐Ÿ˜‚ All this studying with Jared reminds us of nursing school!!! At least there are no “quizzies.” (any Hesston graduate would quake at the word quizzie. It meant you where taking the famed Hugo Boschman Microbiology class) In the afternoon Amber and I went to the tailor to pick up my new duds. They are very comfortable and there’s “room for growth.” Layton was happy to ride on a rickshaw again. Jared and Daniel had tea with the brother from here in the evening. 

Friday: Church this morning. The brother had the opening and then Jared had the message on the Beatitudes. The brother interprets the services. The sisters were excited to see me wearing my Bangladesh clothes. They had been hoping I would wear them to church!  Us and Daniels went to the tourist part of Dhaka to a hamburger place for lunch. It looked and felt like an American restaurant. Very interesting to watch the people in that part of town. All sorts of nationalities. The embassy is close by so there’s more English speaking people. In that part of town you see more ladies with their hair down with no ornas over their heads. More people wearing western clothes… Jared drove for the first time on the way home. Friday was a good day for him to practice because there is less traffic. However we ran into a political rally so a lot more people to dodge. When you are stopped in traffic for any length of time, you have children peering in your windows offering to dust your car, ladies selling pens and stickers or men selling fruit, maps etc. or people just wanting money or food. There’s never a shortage of things to watch. The traffic here remains me of Black Friday in Wichita except add in people walking in between cars, rickshaws and huge buses to the mix too. We spent the rest of the day at home studying for language class. Was a day of emotional adjustments as well. Lots of new this past week. 

Saturday: Layton woke up early with a cough then he fell out of bed twice. Then at one point he woke up crying because he thought we wouldn’t ever see Amber and Nicolee again. So I made him take a nap this afternoon. We’ve been trying to avoid napping to help our nights go better. Still working on the jet lag. It’s definitely better than it was. I gave myself grace and napped this morning. Was still feeling emotional and the lack of sleep didn’t help this pregnant mama any. I woke up and felt so much better! Felt like my old self again. It came to me that having an emotional adjustment day now and then is ok. We know clearly that God called us here and even though we are at peace it’s normal to have some rough days with such a massive life change. For sure when you need to be a stable security for your child who is also adjusting along with you. Jared and Layton went to the small store by our apt and got some veggies and fruit. We try to buy fruit, veggies, milk and eggs from the little vendor stands and then just get meat and other random ingredients when we go to the big store on Fridays. Mid morning Daniel, Jared and Layton went to get a fish for lunch. The men that sell them keep them on huge bowls of ice. They got a huge carp that was 2.5 feet long Jared thought. They brought it home whole and then it got skinned and chunked up. Our housekeeper cooks lunch most Saturdays for everyone! That is a real treat. Today she made rice, fried fish, Dahl (with tomatoes added this time) and then instead of the vegetable mixture like last week she did cooked papaya and carrots. We are finding on Wednesdays and Saturdays we don’t need much for supper after those big meals. ๐Ÿ™‚ We might all come home with rice bellies๐Ÿ˜‚ I always poked fun at people that have housekeepers and said I would never do such. But this lady is a lifesaver. She comes three times a week to our apartment and sweeps and mops the floors and cleans the bathroom. These floors get so filthy so fast from all the dust and dirt. Our feet are always black on the bottom by bedtime.๐Ÿ˜•I’m always surprised at the amount of dirt she sweeps up. I’m so glad I don’t have worry about cleaning yet too while we are settling in and spending so much time on studying and language class. She has been cleaning here for years. Spent the rest of the day at home studying for class tomorrow. Layton thought life was pretty rough because we were out of cookies so I made some chocolate chip ones. Had to use a different recipe because mine calls for shortening and that’s not really available here. So found one with butter instead. Then I cut up a Hershey’s bar for chocolate chips. I think they are available sometimes here but I couldn’t find them yesterday at the store. Cooking here is definitely different. Meat and vegetable and fruit and most dairy products  are easy to get but things like cream soups, instant puddings, green chiles (canned), tortillas, tortilla chips aren’t available. They have frozen tortillas but you have to fry them and they are sweet. And when it’s hot you don’t want to heat your house up anymore than necessary. The weather is lovely right now. Feels like late summer in Kansas. Very little wind. We found out that it won’t work for us to have the baby at theBaptist Hospital by the coast like we had thought. Their doctor of 35 years is going home to the states on a year long furlough and they are having a hard time getting a visa for another US expat dr with a Bangladeshi medical license. So we will have the baby here in Dhaka. I’m relieved because I did not relish the idea of driving 12 hours home with a newborn. Amber is getting an apt set up for me. Sounds like it works much the same as it does at home. I’ll probably have a couple Sonos, bloodwork and everything as usual. They do tons of C Sections here. This dr has done close to 3,000 so we feel like we are in good hands. There is a NICU if something should go awry. Some days I go crazy not knowing if the baby is a boy or girl. I’m not one of those that likes to have it be a surprise. They don’t tell you the gender typically here but that doesn’t mean I won’t still play dumb and try to ask them.๐Ÿ˜‚ I do miss my Dr Geifer, Jennifer and Heather at NMC, but I know I can text them if I have a question. They were really excited about us coming here. Dr Geifer was quite confident that things would be handled just fine here. 

Finally got my phone switched to a Bangladeshi phone number. Here’s the number…. 8801961597114 I lost a lot of my contacts so I was grieved. SIM cards are a challenge to get here. We had to find someone that was a citizen of Bangladesh and have them buy us two. Because otherwise if we buy them they are connected to our 3 month visas and will expire every three months. So one of Daniels friends agreed to get them for us. So now we just pay at the store to have more data added. Quite a deal when your used to Verizon unlimited๐Ÿ˜‚ We could have just bought new phones but that is expensive so we will just use our existing phones with SIMs. 

Sunday…. Language class today. We practiced how to tell a rickshaw or CNG driver where we wanted to go and how to bargain with a shopkeeper. In the afternoon we hired a rickshaw and went to Farmgate (a big market here that I described last time.) and just nosed around. So many many sights. Little cage of quail for sale, slimy looking tiny fish in a basin, crabs with their pinchers tied close in a cage, dogs sound asleep on the side of the road, men selling SIM cards, ladies holding babies asking for food, so many clothes, one man had a pile of unsewn jeans on his bike. Must have had several hundred pair. Wonder if he was a tailor? We came back to our area and went to a pharmacy and got some allergy meds for Layton. 30 cents for a bottle of Zyrtec. I’ll have you know we talked Bangla to the drivers and store owners.๐Ÿ˜‚So not bad for only being in language study for a week. I guess that’s a benefit of having an intense fast paced course. We felt quite encouraged that we had pulled the whole stunt of completely by ourselves. I think we will make it here! 

Sunday, November 6, 2022

We are here and first impressions

 We are here! We arrived in Dhaka around 8:30 AM Thursday morning. Layton had fallen into a deep asleep an hour before we landed. He was exhausted and tearful so I had to carry him all through the airport and through immigration. Immigration went smoothly just had to fill out one paper that we didn’t have, they didn’t even blink at our health declaration papers. When we were waiting in line at immigration there was a lot of families with small children waiting. They saw us there holding Layton and said “Bring baby and come.” So we got to skip to the front of the line. Looked like they were doing the families first or something! We found our way to the baggage claim and all 6 suitcases were either piled off in a heap or still going around and around on the belt. Jared and I were trying to grab them all and a Bangladeshi man grabbed my arm and said “No! I’ll do it!” So we let him load our cart up and gave him a tip. We went and stood at the curb and waited for Daniels to come pick us up. The traffic was  jammed so we just waited and tried to take in all the sights and sounds. Green CNGs, rickshaws, buses, private vehicles all trying to get as close to the curb as popsicle. Constant honking to make sure you got your spot, hollering… There was a fence on the opposite side of the street where it was lined with people. Not sure if they were waiting for people or just there for the show! Anyways it was all very entertaining except to Layton who was barely able to walk from being half awake. Daniels came and it was so good to finally see them! We were soon on our way. The 7 mile drive from the airport to our flat took about an hour. Stopping every few feet and slow driving. People would drive by us and stare at the white folk in the van! Layton soon get sound asleep again and slept all the rest of the way home which I was thankful for because a sleep deprived Layton can be abit scary.๐Ÿ˜‚ We dropped everything off at our apartment and then went to Daniels for lunch. Amber’s food tasted divine after eating airline food for the past 2 days. We went home and fell asleep and the next thing we knew it was dark outside! I fried some eggs for supper and it wasn’t long and we were all back in bed again! We slept until 4 the next morning. So began our jet lag…. 

The days have all blurred together since we got here. We have been waking up between 2-4 AM, some nights Layton sleeps all night other nights he is up early eating chocolate or begging me to make “fresh bread.”The past few days either we are at our apartment getting settled in and learning how to do wash and cook or at Daniels or going around the city to learn where things are. I only unpacked the things we need for the next 3 months since when Daniels leave in January we will move into their apartment. This apartment has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, a good sized living and dining room. The hardest thing for me to get used to is all the windows have heavy drapes on them, I was going to go around and open them all like I do every morning at home but every one I opened was facing a nearby apartment a few feet away so I left them all shut๐Ÿ˜‚ Figured the neighbors didn’t need a front row seat to how we live! The kitchen window faces the courtyard so that it is a fun sight to watch while I’m doing dishes! Daniel’s apartment is abit bigger than this one. This one has an enclosed veranda off of Layton's bedroom. He likes to go stand out there and yell at the cats that are sleeping on the neighbors roof. It’s also where we hang our laundry to dry. The banana trees are enormous here. Several stories high, palm trees abound. Lots of green plants on peoples doorsteps and anywhere where there isn’t a road or street. 

There’s been so many sights and sounds that we have observed. And smells to smell too I might add! Haha! I hardly know where to start with that all! Life is definitely slower here, everything takes longer which isn’t so bad. The people love to visit so small talk is important to them. Every morning between 4-5 AM we wake up to the Muslim call to prayer. We hear it around 5 times a day. There is a nearby mosque so it generally has plenty of volume. Not really a chant or wail.. Layton calls it “music.” 

Our first trip to the market was something Jared and I will never forget! Us and Daniels took a rickshaw there and back. Layton loves riding on them. Jared said “I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything!” Trying to explain what a Bangladeshi market looks like it almost impossible… rows and rows of fruit and vegetable vendors, shops selling everything you can imagine (baby clothes, adult clothes, cell phone accessories, flip flops, things you didn’t know you needed, even a place to weigh yourself) all along the opposite side, the walk way is crammed pack with people. Crammed to the point where I hung on to Jared with one hand and had Layton firmly in my grip in the other! And look where you stepping because…. One minute you could smell dried fish which was rather unpleasant and the next you could smell something amazing cooking. Then you would smell mosquito spray and traffic exhaust which would then be combined by the smell of sewer… you get the point! People here love to talk to white children. If the kids wave back or smile at them they just are delighted. It’s taking a bit for me to get used to that… to realize that they don’t mean any harm by it they are just curious! That night in bed I just laid there and thought off all the things we had seen seen, smelled and heard! It was a lot. 


We had our first Bangla meal on Saturday. It was so so good! I learned the hard way to first inspect my food for cardamom seeds. I bit into one and was astounded at the incredible “burst of flavor.”๐Ÿ˜‚ Layton had a hard time eating with his hands. He freaked out that his hands were dirty so finally I went and got him some cutlery much to his relief. 

We have church on Fridays here. Friday is Sunday here. Our Sunday is the first day of their work week. We have services in a little room at the clinic. Jared had opening and Daniel the message. The one brother interprets. It was a really neat service. Met the two sisters and the clinic nurse. They all think that Jared and I look like Duane and Chelle Johnson! The brother said he was glad we “were pleasant to look at” since he has to see us for the next 3 years๐Ÿ˜‚ Layton wondered where Sunday school was and how many kids would be in there. I didn’t have the heart to tell him there wasn’t Sunday School. A lot of beggars are out on Fridays hoping for the Muslims to give them extra since it is custom for the giving to be more prosperous when everyone is out going to the mosques frequently. 


Anyways this is just a drop in the bucket with what we have all seen and done so far! We are really enjoying it so far. We started language study yesterday. It’s very overwhelming to me but Jared seems to enjoy the challenge. We have it every morning from 8 to 9:30. The lady is doing a 1 year course in 3 months. So it is very intense and fast paced so you can pray we can learn what we need to. And pray I can understand it all. Jared is much better at book learning than I am. I am more of a hands on type of learner. Trying to read and learn things out of a book drives me crazy. Our teacher kept calling Jared “Duane.” ๐Ÿ˜‚ 


Our love to you all…. 

July 2025

 Well it's been a minute since i wrote anything. There's been a lot of water under the bridge since May when Shana left! We are stil...