Monday 1/2: Language class this morning… had a test. Part way through the exam my mind was in such a muddle from translating Bangla to English then switching English to Bangla then finding the mistakes in the sentences that I got the pronouns confused and used “you” instead of “I.” Pretty sure Paninna thought I was a hopeless cause getting something so basic mixed up. This afternoon Jared spent a fair bit of time familiarizing himself with CSI checklists and papers. Layton and I read lots of stories, rode bike, etc. Made the worst casserole I have ever made in my life for supper. 😂 I love to cook but I do have my moments. It sounded good… “Cornbread pie.” Somewhere there was obviously an operator error. But my boys bravely choked it down. Not sure if I should try and drowned it in cheese sauce for leftovers or just pitch it. I feel so bad throwing food away here because people dig through the trash after it’s been collected. One time we counted 3 different people digging through it at various times to see if there’s anything valuable or recyclable. Spent the evening relaxing and studying. Layton was on a roll about going home and swimming in Randy’s pond.
Tuesday 1/3: Language class: Learned how to make an active sentence into a passive sentence. Instead of saying “I baked bread” it changes to “Bread was baked.” She read us a paragraph in Bangla and we were supposed to translate it back to her in English without looking at the words in our book. It was hard as half the paragraph was our new vocabulary for the lesson. She gave us probably 30 new words today. Some verbs, names of crops grown in Bangladesh, and other misc words. One thing that I find interesting is that for family names and greetings there is a word that the Muslims use and then there is a word that the Hindu/Christians use, so sometimes you have to memorize 2 words for one meaning based on their religion. For homework we had to write a paragraph about Bangladesh and then 5 passive sentences. Jared can sit and study for hours but I can only study for 30 minutes or so and then I have to take a break for awhile before delving back in. After class we took Layton to ride bike. It was pretty chilly… the guard was delighted because Jared finally agreed with him that it was “thanDa.” (Cold) He always wonders why Jared isn’t wearing a jacket and he can’t believe that we don’t think it’s cool. Came home and warmed up that flop casserole from last night. Cheese sauce did not improve it at all. Jared said “throw it out and forget about it!” So that’s what we did. 😂
Wednesday 1/4: Chilly today! Pulled out our heavier jackets. 66 degrees. Feels colder than that. Language class: Conditional Participle (even though/even if) and then relative sentences (when/then, where/there, as much as/ so much as, as long as/ so long as and what/that.) then relative pronouns (the person who…) Been struggling with knowing what’s the most important to study… to learn all the sentence structures or to memorize words. Obviously both are extremely crucial. We get at least 10-30 new words every lesson lately. We will definitely continue to study long after the class is over! Paninna told Jared that “you do very good with your homework, like Duane!” People still think Jared and Duane Johnson are related somehow.😂 They think they walk the same, talk the same… haha! We are learning that they like to compare former missionaries to their present ones. We don’t take it personal but actually find it quite humorous! Who knows what they will say about us! “Andy greeted people like this…” “Duane boss liked palaw and always ate alot!” “Davey was always smiling!” It’s funny how one missionary will start something big or small and then we just continue it for years afterwards! Doesn’t seem like comparing past and present missionaries is as big of a deal here as what I’ve heard from other missionaries in other places. Again it’s humorous to Jared and I so if you were a former missionary here know the people still love and remember you!!💖 After lunch Jared went to the glass dokhane to see if they could cut a new piece of glass for the fridge. The shelves are glass and one of them broke in pieces yesterday when I was opening the crisper drawer. 45 minutes later he was home with a perfectly cut piece of glass!. It’s amazing how that you can find dokhanes or street vendors that will fix or repair just about anything here. Saw a guy that washed shoes even, all he had was a toothbrush, scrub brush and water! Shops to sew the soles back on your shoes, iron your shirts (they put them in insulated bags so that they are warm when you pick them up.), places to fix plastic lawn chairs, guys that will sharpen knives, print shops, etc. He also went to Farmgate to see if he could find some bags to transport tracts in when they deliver them to places. Daniel and Jared have been using boxes but they are bulky and harder to carry. He went yesterday to look but usually on Tuesdays a lot of shops are closed at the market. We aren’t sure why that is! It’s not uncommon for shops to be closed periodically throughout the day if it’s prayer time but that’s only until the owner gets back from the mosque. After naps we went to my apt at the hospital. All is well. “Unremarkable”. We are grateful. Help us pray that it continues to go that way. 💖💙Daniels got home this afternoon from Khulna. I made a big pot of taco soup and took that and some fresh fruit over there for supper. Miss Trish made biscuits. Kelly’s had finished their airport run so they joined us for supper.
Thursday 1/4: Language class: Reviewed the past several lessons. I’m always glad when it’s review day as we learn a new concept everyday. It’s a day to kinda give our minds a break and try to remember what we’ve all learned. (And need to learn yet.) Jared and Layton helped me get the guest room ready for Elwood’s. I’ve never hosted night company in my life, but they are easy keepers🥰The day was kinda cloudy and dreary. These kind of days always make me start cleaning or cooking or organizing or dreaming up something creative! I was really hungry for Bangla food, so I decided to try my hand at making it. Not sure what got into me. I was just going to make chicken curry and rice for an easy supper but then Jared said “could you make the vegetables too?” and then I thought “well then we need dal as well!” Jared and Layton were enthused about it so they went to the dokhane and got cauliflower, cucumbers, limes, potatoes and tomatoes all for a little over a $1. When they got back we all sat around the table and had a real vegetable chopping session. Layton loves to help me chop up vegetables anyway so he was right ready to help. This stove in this apartment is quite small so I had to first cook the dal and veggies then do the rice and meat and then do the potatoes so it took awhile to get everything cooked. Layton and Jared were so excited that they didn’t mind the wait. The food tasted just like Lucky and Josna’s. I got the chicken a bit too spicy but it was still very good!!!! We all ate Bangla portions too I might add. Layton just loves the chicken curry. I used chicken breasts instead of cutting a whole hen apart. It was a fun experiment and a good family project! So now I can say I’ve made it. Want to try making shrimp curry next but I might need to watch Josna make it first. One thing I like about Bangla food is that it doesn’t take a lot of strange ingredients. Mostly things like turmeric, cardamon seeds, cinnamon sticks, ginger, garlic, onions, cloves etc. So that made it less intimidating to cook since I knew what the ingredients were.
Friday 1/5: Elwoods arrived bright and early at 6 AM. They came on the overnight train from Roche. Daniel was able to get their exit visas yesterday after waiting for 5 hours. 🫣 So they shall depart and go to India next week to get an old mission post (it closed during COVID) back up and running there. There is a furnished house waiting for them. Then they will come back here in February for revivals and then not sure what their plans are after that. Had a mini church service at Daniels and then went to German Butcher for lunch. Bought a whole bunch of beef and chicken to stock up a-bit. They keep the pork in a separate room from the rest of the store so that it isn’t offensive to those that aren’t able to eat it due to religious reasons. If you buy pork at a butcher shop it’s best to carry it in a bag so that it isn’t visible to others on the street. Jared noted that the shops that sell pork at Farmgate all had pictures of Jesus on the wall. Anyways came home and took some much needed naps afterwards. For supper we all went to Daniels. One of their friends from Dhaka and her little girl came and joined us. She wanted to sing for awhile so we did after supper. She got acquainted with CSI back when she was a small girl. She had to have multiple skin graft surgeries to repair a burn she had received on her face so she spent lots of time in between surgeries at our clinic recovering. Her story is quite sad but so typical here. The burn left a scar on the right side of her face. It’s really not that bad considering what all she went through with the surgeries. She got married into a good family but always kept her face covered with her orna. 3 years after she got married her in laws noticed the scar and totally disowned her and her husband left her. Physical beauty in a woman here is just incredibly important to these people. So now she is left alone with her daughter. She is a beautiful woman in spite of the scar but due to culture she probably won’t be able to get married again. At home things like that are just not as big of a deal. When she was with us ladies in the kitchen she let her orna slide off but if she went out to where the men where sitting she always carefully tucked it back around her face and chin. Saddens me that such an outward thing has determined her future. Thankfully she is a skilled sewer and works in factories. For awhile she sewed pockets into men’s pants. With her skill and knowledge she can find a job at pretty much any clothing factory. So once again it’s easy for us to see why we get so many parents at the clinic bringing their girls in to get cleft lip, facial blemishes removed. Having a daughter here is considered almost a burden because it means that someday they will need to arrange a marriage and pay the groom for marrying her and caring for her. Anyways… what a rabbit trail.🫣
Saturday 1/7: Took it easy in the morning. Studied in the afternoon while Layton napped. Made BBQ meatballs, roasted potatoes and Apple Streusel muffins for Daniels and Elwoods for supper. We sat and visited for quite awhile after supper. Enjoying these times as soon it will just be Jared and I here most of the time!
Sunday 1/8: Language class: How to have a conversation with a doctor, and how to say cold, fever, pain in body parts, diarrhea, mosquito bite, test, and a bunch more medical terms. Paninna sent her brother to teach us today as she had other obligations. He had quite a since of humor and was much more dramatic with his words then she is. His accent was more Bengali so it was harder to understand but it was good practice for us. Jared and I were taking turns reading the interview between the patient and doctor. Jared was the doctor and I was the patient. I guess I wasn’t using enough expression as I was reading and George said “sister you don’t sound sick! Make it SOUND like you are sick. We are acting!” 😂 so we added some sound effects. In the afternoon we studied a-bit and reviewed for our test tomorrow. Elwoods, Daniels and us took a rickshaw to a park to walk. It was beautiful! Lush and green, to this Kansas girl it felt like walking through a jungle. Lots of fog and smog. After that we all went to Olive for supper. They have the best fried rice and sweet and sour chicken. It’s super cheap. Went home afterwards and just did our usual evening things.
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