Monday 12/26: Language class… learned past perfect tense of “did.” Also learned the names of the colors and some animals. Spent the afternoon napping and resting to try and recuperate from our bad colds. It’s the first time we’ve all been “sick” since we came, so figure that’s not too bad! Our housekeeper is at her village for a week or so, so did some cleaning around the house. Got the laundry washed and hung up in the veranda to dry. I studied for awhile while Layton napped, so felt good to get that done.
Tuesday 12/27: Woke up to the sound of rain!!! The first time since we’ve been here. Wasn’t a lot but like my dad would say, “Enough to settle the dust!” Definitely more humid today. Daniels left early this morning to go to the Tea Gardens for several days for a family vacation before they leave! We stayed home so we could keep on with language class. We are making good progress in our second book. Language class… practiced phone conversations… how to ask for someone and how to make an appointment. Then how to start a conversation with someone by asking them questions. Not much homework today. Just need to review past lessons, memorize more words and write out a telephone conversation. Took Layton out to ride bike and jump in the puddles for awhile. One of us always has to be with him outside. White children attract so much attention here and I’d rather be safe than sorry. Later Jared took him to get a haircut. Layton came home all enthused about how he sat in the chair all by himself, and how he wore a cape and how they used a scissors and a QUIET trimmers and “I didn’t even cry.” (A good bribe always helps😂) Some of the dokhanes here sell the tiniest little bottles of Coke. So Jared bought him one for being brave! Layton said he much preferred how they cut his hair here then when I gave him haircuts at home. I said “Hallelujah!!” My college degree is definitely not in barbering. Spent the rest of the day studying and being a mom and a housewife. Been trying to be diligent with taking Layton outside to run around more and ride bike. I’ve decided that children just simply were not designed to be indoors all the time.
Wednesday 12/28: Language class: Learned how to say the date… day, month and year… and “the first of January”, etc… we had to write a story about our first day in Bangladesh. What time and day we flew in, what we all saw, and what we like the most about Bangladesh. We know enough words that it’s possible to write a simple paragraph but making sure everything is written in the correct tense and the nouns and pronouns are the right ones that it’s quite a challenge. She gave us a whole list of words to memorize. A lot had to do with traveling, names of the six seasons, different weather names, etc. Paninna wondered what the weather was like in Kansas and Jared told her “hot one day and cold the next!” She was surprised how it could be -7 in the winter and then over 100* in the summer. Here it slowly cools off and then slowly heats back up. She was astounded that in the summer we ran our AC day AND night. And we used fans too even with an air conditioner running.😁The rest of the day was spent studying and such. Jared would entertain Layton and take him outside for awhile while I studied and then I would do it while he studied. Definitely a team effort. Otherwise just a low key day.
Thursday 12/29: Language class: Learned Future Imperative for the pronoun “tumi” and what ending to put on the verbs that you use with it. A fair size pile of homework to do. Plus a whole bunch more memorizing. After lunch we hopped onto a rickshaw and went to the hospital to get the rest of my lab and test results for my drs appointment next week. Could have waited and gotten them then but wasn’t sure if there would be a waiting line or not at the report desk. You just never know in Dhaka! We got what we needed and were out of there in 15 minutes. The rickshaw ride there and back was enjoyable. The air felt crisp and clear. Was a-bit chilly even. Felt good to get out and about. Our electricity was off most of the day. It was on long enough that I was able to do a load of laundry. They are doing electric work right down the street from us. Usually they try to keep the power outages to less than 6 hours. We do have battery powered generator that works great. But it’s best to only have one light on and maybe a fan if you need it. It doesn’t work to run the toaster, electric kettle, washer or fridge with it. Thankfully the stove top is gas. I was going to bake some muffins for supper but the bottom of the oven is electric so went with toasting bread in a skillet. The water pump obviously doesn’t work without electricity either and we didn’t even once think that we should fill up containers with filtered water and regular water. Usually the electricity is off for such a short amount of time that its fine. So by the evening time we had no water either. A police officer came by mid afternoon and wanted some more paperwork for some of the security clearances Jared and Daniel have been trying to obtain, but no electricity no printer so he left empty handed. Daniels got home from the Tea Gardens this evening so told them to come for supper. That way Amber didn’t have to try and cook with the power out after having been gone for several days. Made sausage potato chowder with the toasted bread. They thought it was such good food after having eaten Bangladeshi restaurant food for three days. During supper the electricity came back on so we had water again. Discovered that it’s important to let the taps run for a-bit first as the water coming out initially was brown. The things we are a learning! Like who knew that milk comes in 1 liter bags (sometimes frozen) and any fruits, vegetables or eggs need to be washed in bleach water before using, or taking your own toilet paper and filtered water with you when you go places, being very diligent with washing your hands with soap after being out and about, tucking your orna tails in when riding on a rickshaw so that they don’t get caught in the bicycle tires and so on. So many important little details! But they are slowly just becoming a way of life now and we hardly think of them as odd anymore.
Friday 12/30: After being home most of the week Layton has been eagerly awaiting “van day.” Had church this morning. Seems so empty without the sisters and our nurse. Glad the brother still came. Had an interesting discussion about the Triune God and about how Christian’s should view self discipline particularly when it comes to eating. With him you never know what you might end up discussing. Jared really enjoys visiting with him! Each of our members definitely add their own unique personality to the group. Love them all to pieces. After church we went to eat and got groceries. Layton is always ready to get groceries because UniMart has 3 stories of escalators plus a large indoor playground. Not sure which he enjoys more😂 We weren’t sure at first if we should go to that part of town because the news said there was supposed to be strikes and political rallies but we didn’t see any until on the way back home. It looked peaceful and wasn’t holding up traffic. Basically just a crowd of people holding signs on the side of street. The metro rail is up and running now in some parts of Dhaka. All the rail by our place is still under construction. Sounds like a year from now our section should be finished. Our brother was saying that yesterday the prime minister got the first ride and there were thousands of people waiting in line to ride too just for fun! Spent the rest of the day at home.
Saturday 12/31: Spent the morning studying and doing homework from Thursday. Have a test on Monday. Layton got it in his mind to scrub the showers so that kept him entertained for awhile so we could study. The afternoon we studied some more… Enjoyed the lazy day. After Daniels leave I don’t think we will have many lazy days for awhile. After supper the three of us played Monopoly and then I made some hot chocolate. We stayed up late and at 11:30 went up to Daniels roof. It was worth it!! All different colors of Chinese lanterns floating in the sky. At one point I counted 57 of them. (Never mind that the police had announced that they were strictly prohibited!) The closer it got to midnight the more and more people hollered and the more and more fireworks went off! Hardly knew where to look first to see all the fireworks. We let off two lanterns much to the children’s excitement. April 14 is actually Bangladesh’s official New Year.
But they were sure celebrating the western new year. Jared and I hadn’t stayed up and watched the New Year in for years as we usually were working or Layton was too little to stay up late so it was so much fun to stay up late with him and see what he thought of it all! By 12:30 Layton was begging to come home so we came home and went to bed. Sometimes living in a city of 20 million people has its downsides but then when it’s holiday time and you can sit back and watch a show that you would never ever see in the states from your rooftop it makes up for the other things that are less desirable.😂
Sunday 1/1/2023: Happy New Year! No language class today… This morning Jon found out that the visa place was open so him, Daniel and Jared quick went. They are applying for Elwood’s exit visa so they can go to India. After they got back, Daniels left for Kulna (where Trevor’s live) for several days. Layton and I spent the morning packing a few things up for when we move to Daniels apartment, did laundry and put clean sheets on the beds. Found out that Kelly’s plan to be in Dhaka Tuesday-Thursday this week and Elwood’s come this Friday. So came up with some menus what I can make for them all. This will be a new experience for me to host people frequently! Did some studying in the afternoon for tomorrows class. In the evening we got on a rickshaw and went to Olive for supper (didn’t get lost going there like we did last time!) and then stopped at a little grocery store for a few things for my menus this week. I did my best to avoid the fish department. 🤢😁 we are learning that sometimes instead of telling the rickshaw driver the precise location to take us to, that sometimes it’s best to just say the street or gate name or close well known store or landmark and then they drop us off and then we walk to where we need to go. Like tonight the driver knew where the grocery store was so we had him drop us off there and we just walked to the restaurant. There’s so many stores and dokhanes packed along the roads and streets that sometimes it’s easiest that way!
Happy new year to you all!
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