Monday 1/9: Language class: had a test… After class Melissa and I took several more pairs of Jared’s pants to get shortened at the tailors. I had a really hard time understanding what the man at the tailor was saying, I was glad Melissa was with me to help me talk. I could have probably pulled the conversation off by myself but he kept trying to say that he only wanted to do a shirt tail hem on the bottom of the pants. I was concerned it would unravel or fray out if it would rip or something because they just roll the raw edge under several times instead of surging it. Finally we got him convinced to just do a normal looking hem like they have when they come from the factory. I’m not sure why he was so adamant about it because he said he didn’t have any other work to do today. The older tailor is a lot more willing to do what you want. In fact Amber will just WhatsApp him a picture of a pattern and he can make it. Made stroganoff for lunch for us and Elwoods. Lunch was later since Jared went to the clinic as soon as class was over and Elwood was running errands in a far part of Dhaka. Went up to the roof and soaked up as much sun as possible. It’s 68* today and the sun feels bright and warm. Not much smog either so stocking up on Vitamin D and clean air. We walked to the tailors instead of taking a rickshaw just to get more sun. Felt so so good. Did a bunch of laundry yesterday so caught up on getting it all folded and put away. Only to start the cycle all over again today! It’s been cool enough that things take at least a day or more to dry even with a fan on high speed. Amber, Melissa and I got together in the evening and made fajitas with all the fixings minus the rice! We eat so much rice at the clinic and anywhere else we go that we figured we didn’t need it again. The sisters came plus a guy named Natun. He’s mid twenties and has been friends with the missionaries for years here in Bangladesh. Quite a friendly likeable guy. Looks like a youth boy at home! He was so excited about all the food. He looked at Elwood and said “do all American woman cook like this or just the mennonite ladies?” He was like a kid at Christmas when he saw the monster cookies. He said “I’m so depressed! Do I take a smaller one with more chocolate in it or do I take a bigger one and then not have as much chocolate?” He finally took both to solve the problem.😂 Elwood told him that if you follow a recipe when you cook you can make pretty much anything. Natun just laughed and said “how am I supposed to know what “50 grams of this or that means?” Later in the meal I noticed him lean over and whisper to Elwood, “where’s the bones in this chicken?” So we had to explain that you can buy chicken without bones in it, like chicken breasts. It was news to him and he was all enthused at the idea! It felt good to laugh at someone being so silly! Sometimes it seems like we are so sober here. Adjusting to the new, struggling with feeling inadequate for the work, and wondering how we will manage all the paperwork with the government officials after Daniel leaves next week, handling concerns at revivals in a culturally appropriate way so that both parties will be understood. One thing we know… God has been here with us and for that we are thankful. Seems like He is showing us how small we are and how big He is.
Tuesday 1/10: Language class: 76 new words. Most of them were words with almost the same spellings but different meanings. For example: PORa: teach, POR: read/study, POR: fall, POr: wear/put on, POre: later/after, PORE ja: fall down, etc. Now you can tell why I’m becoming an expert at hand motions.😂Elwoods left this morning for India. If their visa cooperates they plan to come back here for revivals in February. I find it interesting that years ago they where the first mission couple in Siliguri India, and now they are going back to reopen that post. The new couple that will be taking over comes in about 3-4 weeks. They were placed the same time as we were! It was so fun to have Elwoods here. Layton loved Uncle Elwood’s riddles and funny dragon stories. He was sad to see them leave. In the evening we went to the clinic for Tuesday evening singing. It was so good to all be in that little room again. Didn’t realize how much we had missed it. There were 2 mamas and babies staying there. They were quite curious and joined in the singing too. After we were done singing we tried to have a prayer. We bowed our heads the first time and a helicopter came roaring over so loud we couldn’t even hear each other, then the 2nd time we started praying Daniel had only said a few words and crash! Kale knocked a cup of water over. We just sat there and laughed and laughed!!! One of the sisters said “maybe you should just pray in English this time.” So Jared prayed in English. Once the sisters start to giggle they can hardly stop! It’s such a beautiful sight! 2 ladies, dark colored skin, shiny black hair, even blacker eyes, heads wrapped in ornas, shawls wrapped around their shoulders and tucked under their arms, brightly covered 3 piece outfits poking out from under their shawls, balancing their worn green songbooks on their laps. Hands over their mouths they shake and shake with laughter. Laughing so hard they can hardly talk. They stop briefly before one of them snorts or starts to laugh and there they go again… It was a sight I hope I never forget. You never know what might strike them funny! One day they got the giggles because they thought it was so funny that Jared, Layton and I all wear glasses! You just can’t help but laugh with them , even if you have no idea what they are saying. Our brother doesn’t come to the singing evenings. He comes over Thursdays evening to chat and talk. Visiting is more his thing than singing. I’m glad our church is small enough here that we can spend 1:1 time with each member. After the singing Jared and Daniel restocked the powdered milk and meds. We get most of the meds from Square Hospital here in Dhaka. Lots of vitamins, antibiotics etc. The powdered milk comes from a wholesale market not far from our place.
Wednesday 1/11: Language class… possessive verbal nouns (before doing, after doing, on my way to, at this time, etc.) Only 3 more lessons in this 2nd book! We are going to take a break for awhile after we finish this book while we settle into Daniel’s apartment and figure out what we are doing! Then Jared will take the third book about written Bangla script. Went to the clinic for lunch. It was good to do that again! Nurse Miriam is so enthused about our baby coming. She wanted to know how I was doing and when I was due. She was telling me that here in Bangladesh people rub mustard seed oil on their babies instead of lotion. Mustard is grown here so the oil is easily available. Since Daniel’s departure draweth nigh Josna made cabbage patties (borah) and biryani. Biryani is mostly rice with whole boiled eggs and chunks of meat in it. (A dish that would be served for special occasions.) The rice in this dish is a smaller grained stickier rice than what they would use with their curry. It’s easier to mush into a little pile to get it into your mouth. You can use any sort of meat in it but she used beef this time. Jared had it with goat meat a few weeks ago. He said Josna’s recipe was much better than what he had eaten at Farmgate. It definitely was spicier than the regular Bangla food that Josna makes but it was still delicious!! Layton was not a fan of the extra spice but he picked out the meat and ate that at least. “Why can’t we have regular bhat and mugi?” was his comment! He does love his chicken curry and rice. The cabbage patties were good, I wasn’t sure what to expect. It was grated cabbage, carrots, egg, garlic, ginger, onion, cornstarch and rice flour. She made it into patties and fried it in a small amount of oil until they were crispy on the outside. It’s one of those foods that grows on a person. By the end of the meal I quite enjoyed them. I want to try making them sometime! They were nice to eat on the side to cool your tongue down. Spent the rest of the afternoon entertaining Layton and doing housework and homework. Jared and Daniel worked on some more papers that the police wanted for Jared’s security clearance. Paperwork seems to be the name of the game here.
Thursday 1/11: Language class… learned how to conjugate verbs to say “used to.” For homework we are supposed to write a story about our childhood. “Use a wide variety of words” she said. In the afternoon Jared and Daniel had their usual Thursday afternoon visit with our brother, Shurov. Amber invited us to come for supper, so that was enjoyable!
Friday 1/12: Church… Daniel’s last Sunday in Dhaka. Jared and I feel sad for these members having to tell Daniels good bye. Every three years they have to go through this, definitely a grief process. I can’t imagine how I would cope if every three years we would have a complete changeover of support people at our church. Not to mention that when the new ones come they are still clumsily trying to learn the language. Our brother Samir from Kulna was there. He used to work in Dhaka but moved back to Kulna (Trevor’s post) to live with his family. He talks excellent English! Wish we could have talked with him more but he had rode the bus down from Kulna this morning and was “osustho” (not feeling well) so he went to Daniel’s to rest. Bus rides here are notorious for making you carsick. Jared made a comment last night that “I’m glad we can have church tomorrow.” At home we so looked forward to our Sundays off so we could go to church together. I wondered how church would feel here but we always leave the services inspired and happy. I wish we could have a children’s Sunday school but no children come. It felt good to be back there with everyone. Amber and I sat in the kitchen while the men all visited and watched Josna and Samita chop up their vegetables for lunch. Something I will never tire of watching. Layton told them he liked to chop things up and was eyeing their big chopping blade and I said “don’t even think of it!!!!!” We need to keep all limbs and phalanges intact while we are here. Judging by my family’s history with that it behooves us to be careful.😂 Daniel’s were busy with farewells and this and that the rest of the day so Jared and I got first dibs on the van and went and ran our errands. Layton was one happy boy because he got to ride on the escalators, play in the UniMart play place, and ride in the van all in the same day! Glad he enjoys our “van” day. Jared does so good with driving. Rest of the day was our family time. Playing with Layton, housework, homework, etc.
Saturday 1/14: Spent the morning studying for our test next week. A “normal” day with nothing that unusual happening. Jared was busy with paperwork and doing the CSI books all afternoon with Daniel. He ran to another pharmacy in Farmgate to get a few things for the clinic. Layton and I did the usual. (Riding bike, laundry, cooking, etc.) His highlight of the day was being able to WhatsApp his speech teacher at home! He told Jared “she misses me!” 🥰
Sunday 1/15: how is it the middle of the month already? Language class: reviewed some pass content and then learned even more names for family members. Ones for Muslim and ones for Hindus/Christians. Our final for book 2 is due Tuesday. Paninna agreed to let us do it on our own time so we can use our notes. Neither Jared or I feel like we have the mental capacity to write 30 sentences, 11 questions, a 10 sentence paragraph about Bangladesh, correct sentences and conjugate 6 verbs with all tenses without our notes. Our brains are very weary. So after Tuesday we are taking a week off to rest while we move into Daniel’s apartment. After class, Jared went to the clinic and Amber and I and the children went to Farmgate. Lucky (our guesthouse housekeeper) made a meal for us all. She usually does it several times a month on Saturdays but she’s been having to work longer hours at her other cooking job. She made fish curry, the usual sobji mixture, bhat and dhal. She sets the dishes on the table and then we serve ourselves which is nice because then we can have “portion control.” 😂 or at least attempt to. The fish here is full of tiny bones so it takes abit to pick them all out. It was delicious as always! We usually don’t eat until lunch until 1:30 when she cooks so we are more than ready for her “ec number khabar!” Convinced Layton to eat a few vegetables this time as she hadn’t put as much kaj morich (hot peppers) in as sometimes. I’ve been surprised we haven’t had more crummy tummies with the spice here because at home I never made spicy food. Jared said his morning at the clinic was busy. Apparently some old ladies panicked when the street dogs by the clinic started barking at them and they came flying in to the clinic absolutely terrified. The dr finally had to tell them to calm down and stop running.😂 The afternoon was spent baking Layton's favorite cookies (chocolate crinkles) and working on our exam.
Thanks to all who have messaged this past week! For sure the ones who have sent messages for Layton. He really enjoyed them😀
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