Monday 3/27: Clinic today. Sounded like it went well. There’s been quite a few staying at the clinic lately other than on Friday. Sounds like now during Ramadan that slows down for awhile. Josna sent home all the bed sheets to be washed. Sumita came to clean. Layton was playing hide and seek with himself. #onlychild Sumita came and said “Didi, asun Layton!!!” (Sister come here!) He was hiding behind the door and she was worried because she hadn’t seen him anywhere!!!😂 Spent the afternoon just doing home things. Dhaka Boss did the dishes for me after supper which I thought was the most adorable thing ever.🤍 Elwoods are busy cleaning out their Rajshahi home. I was enthused to get dibs on some games and children’s books.
Tuesday 3/28: This morning after Jared left for clinic Layton and I went to Carebox to get a few things. We noticed there weren’t many people out and plus when we walked along the main road the traffic was a fraction of what it typically is. Jared said clinic was much slower today and at one point there was no one there! It was pretty toasty and muggy today so wondered if people’s fasting was starting to make them feel like not getting out and about. We had a really enjoyable evening. Had singing with the ladies this evening. Sang for quite awhile. When Miriam comes she doesn’t ever want to quit. Finally they all closed their songbooks and said “sesh.” (Finished) Jared and I want to invite Lucky and see if she would come sing too with us. She often sings while she cooks. We were going to go out for supper but Josna and her sister wanted us to stay for “Nasta” (snack) We weren’t about to pass that opportunity up. Josna laughed and said “ for Muslim food.”😂 It was a very intriguing dish. First we had rice flour pita. That is always good. It was fried this time not steamed into cakes with molasses like we’ve had before. Then she cut up eggplant and dipped it in a puréed carrot/dal mixture, (they soak the dal until it’s soft and the blend it) then fried patties of just the carrot/dal mixture, (reminded me of a hush puppy) then slaw made out of onion, tomatoes, kaj morich and cucumbers. It was all shredded very thin. Then a dal mixture. This dal was big, not like the runnier small dal that we have at lunch. More pea sized if not a bit bigger. Then they tore up all the fried foods into small pieces in a bowl, mixed in the dal mixture and slaw and then added several handfuls of puffed rice. Then they broke up some sweet fried things that were quite crisp. Then they stirred it all up and dished it into bowls. When I watched them mix it up I had to think “a bit of this and a bit of that and other things to marvel at.” It was quite a concoction. So many flavors in one dish! It was good though! If we understood right it’s what the Muslims break their fast with in the evenings. It was the same food that our neighbor lady brought over last week. We didn’t eat any of hers because we didn’t know what it was or if it was from a street vendor. That sort of food is being sold all over now. But Josna’s we felt perfectly fine eating because we knew she had made it! Layton’s comment of the day was “Food is so much gooder here than in Kansas.”
Wednesday 3/29: This morning Jared went to KaWran and got a new doorknob for the clinic and some screen to fix the screen doors in our apartment. Some of them have holes where the skeeters like to come in. We like to be hospitable but draw the line at bugs and mosquitoes.😂 Jon came over mid morning to do some paperwork. Right while Jon was over Layton took it upon himself to squirt shampoo all over the teacher bathroom floor and shower. He then proceeded to scrub it and pour water over it all to rinse it. Then he used the squeegee and sloshed it all down the drain. Thankfully these bathrooms have drains in the corners. I wasn’t too happy with this method of entertainment while I was trying to get Jon and Jared’s coffee and biscuits around but he said “but mom it was dusty behind the toilet.” 🫣 Well what does one say to that? Had lunch with the ladies at the clinic. Josna made chicken curry and khichuri. Khichuri is made using pilau rice. A rice that’s more sticky and smaller grained. Then mixed in the rice is a larger dal which turns the rice yellow. It was really good! Hadn’t ever had it before. We are learning that are so many different kinds of dal and even rice. I always thought rice was rice but not in Bangladesh. It amazes me how just a different type of rice or dal can make your meal seem so different. Miriam was insistent that Jared and I both eat a plain kaj morich pepper. I said “next year!” Jared took one and took the tiniest bite. He stuffed it in the bone bowl. Then when they were clearing the table they saw the pepper in the bowl and said “BOSS!” and just howled with laughter!😂 It feels like we are slowly able to have more and more of a conversation in Bangla with them. Feels good! Jared did some work at the clinic and then we came home as it was thundering ominously.
Thursday 3/30: First thing this morning Jared and Layton went to the clinic and finished up their doorknob project from yesterday. So that meant I had a bit of time to myself. It was nice! We are adjusting to being together all the time. We’ve really enjoyed it so far but you know a little space from each other once in awhile never hurt a body. 😃 Had a drs apt at Square so made an early lunch and went. The last few times the dr has always been delivering a baby or in surgery so this time we were prepared to wait. They are really efficient though at getting the patients all seen once the dr is back in the office. Today the waiting room was packed. But it only took us an 1.5 hours at the most and we were out of there. Came home and took naps. At bedtime Layton told me he didn’t think he could sleep because he was so excited that Saturday was the first day of April. He knows we are due in April. I was glad to hear his enthusiasm because he is such a mamas boy.💙 He hopes it’s a boy so that “you can say you have 3 boys instead of two!”
Friday 3/31: woke up during the night to a rainstorm. Electricity was off for several hours. The battery back up ran until it was dead. We had accidentally left all the fans running on high when we went to bed so that’s why the battery drained so quick! So we all piled into Layton’s bed and listened to all the Muslim prayer calls at 3:30 in the morning. Now during Ramadan it seems like there is an extra prayer call at night. We’ve heard that the early one is the wake up call so that they can eat before sunup (around 5:30 AM) Church was enjoyable as usual. Shurov had the opening on instead of wondering when the Lord will return we should focus on wondering if we are ready. Jared’s message was about if we are sleeping like the disciples did before Jesus was crucified. Went and got groceries afterwards. We always seem to get to UniMart at 1:30 or so right when the prayer call is going. There’s a section of the parking garage that is sectioned off for the workers to go pray. It’s not uncommon to meet a steady stream of workers headed with their mats to the prayer spot. They do their prayers and then abit later they all go back to UniMart. Noticed lots of little street vendors selling “iftar khabar.” Restaurants advertising New hours during Ramadan. Open from 4p to 4a was one place. Numerous stores with Ramadan sales going on. The mosques were absolutely packed. In Gulsane the one mosque had a lane of the street blocked off and men with their prayer mats were filling it up. The mosque by our house was just finishing up their prayers when we came home. I wish I could describe the scene. HUNDREDS of men pouring out. Onto the street, sidewalk and everywhere. So many bobbing heads with Muslim prayer caps on. Jared always says being in Dhaka sheds new light on the phrase “floods of people.” It is just something else. Then to think that each one of the throng has a soul that needs to be saved. How do we reach them? I wonder how many would like to live a different way but because of family pressure aren’t able to? Elwood’s came into Dhaka this afternoon. They brought a load of belongings into Dhaka that is getting divided out between our place, Kulna and Golpagange. Had them over for supper. Jared grilled cheeseburgers and I made some bars and then had veggies and dip. Had a really enjoyable time with them. Having people over doesn’t stress me out as much as it first did.
Saturday 4/1: Well this morning was an absolute riot. Lucky called and said she was able to cook. So my boys set off in search of a mugi (chicken) and I set forth in search of the sobji (vegetables). I have started going to the sobji man that parks his wagon right outside our gate instead of the dokane down the street. The sobji mans vegetables are a lot better quality and cheaper. He is always trying to weasel me into things and tells me the vegetables are only available in 1 kg not half kg. Or that I can’t buy 3 cucumbers only a whole kg. What does one need with 1 kg of cucumber?😂 Maybe if you make pickles they would come in handy. Well today I stuck to my guns and told him only half kg of things. After about 4-5 go arounds he grinned and gave me half kg. Then it was the same process when it came time to get potatoes. I told him I needed 1 kg of potatoes. He weighed them out for me using his weights and scales. Suddenly he dumped them all back in the bag and said he could only sell me 2 kg at a time. I said “na na ec kg of alu.” So around we went again until he gave me 1 kg of potatoes. Oh I had to laugh. I may be a bedesi mohila (foreign lady) but I’m not as crazy as I look. I decided while I had an ounce of energy that remained I would trek to the fruit dokan and buy some fruit. I wanted to get a dragon fruit to try as well. An old muslim man did his best to woo me and kept trying to talk to me but I firmly said “na” and marched forth. Even at my slow waddling pace I left him in the dust. He caught up with me at the fruit dokan and came and stood right beside me and tried again to get my attention. I ignored him and the fruit dokan guy told him to leave me alone then looked at me and made the “cuckoo” sign and pointed at the guy. The man muttered “Allah” and walked away.😂 When I paid the fruit man I threw in a few extra taka as my thanks for warding off the offender. I had a good laugh on my way home from my activities and felt sorry for those that haven’t had a chance to experience such funny happenings on their grocery runs!!! Jared laughed when I told him of all my encounters. He was busy all morning and most of the afternoon working on budgets, doing bookwork and printing off financial papers to submit to the NGO bureau to get approved.
Sunday 4/2: Had a baby…. All is well with both of us🥰
I will be taking a hiatus from posting our weekly events for the next several weeks due to our sweet girl arriving.
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