Monday 7/17: At clinic today Jared saw a 6 year old girl. Her legs were so skinny he thought they were a bit bigger around than his thumb. Obvious malnutrition… she also had cerebral palsy. Dr Elizabeth referred her to a children’s hospital here in Dhaka. Spent the day getting ready to leave to go to Kulna tomorrow. Made a cookie sheet of bars, some baked beans, then packed up and got the freezer stuff ready to go in the morning… all the buns, hot sauce, boxed Mac n cheese, yogurt, meat etc that the other ladies needed me to bring them from UniMart. Did laundry and made sure nothing wet was left laying around so that it won’t mold while we are gone. Jared was taking off his leather belt this evening and he noticed that there was mold on his belt!!🤢 welcome to a tropical climate.😂 Both the children woke up from their afternoon naps on the wrong side of bed. Grumpy and owly… Layton went down and played with the kids for awhile and that seemed to help his frame of mind immensely. Shania got a dose of Tylenol because it seemed like her gums were bothering her. She just crams her little hands in her mouth and chews on them like it’s going out of style!! She only wanted mama this evening so I spent the rest of the evening walking around with her until she fell asleep.
Tuesday 7/18: Left the house at 7 or so and stopped and picked up Doyle’s and their luggage. Headed out for Kulna! They are harvesting jute in the villages now so was fun to see the big shocks of dried jute out in the fields. Some would have their jute bundles layered over a bridge banister to dry. It was so neat hearing what all Krystal recognized from 10 years ago! The kids did so well with the drive. Layton and Amaryllis sat in the back with the luggage. I just am not a fan of the no seatbelt thing here… if it’s just us then he wears it but when the car is full it’s not really an option. Got to Trevor’s a little before 12. Unpacked everything and then headed to Santos for lunch. I had a fun surprise when we got there. I thought Sotti was wearing something familiar and here it was one of my shifts from when I was pregnant with Shania!! It fit her perfectly, the tailor had to shorten it but otherwise it was like it was made for her! Lisa gave her two and then Pinky got one and one of their friends got the rest. They were so excited and thought they were “onek sundor.” (Very beautiful!) it made me really happy to see them so excited about my old dresses! Santo made chicken biryani and oh my was it ever good!!!! It’s pilau rice mixed with seasonings and the meat and/or eggs are usually mixed in with the rice. He put 1/2 kg of onions in it so no wonder it was good! Lots of big chicken pieces too.. Had egg curry on the side. Santo used to cook for a school years ago so he enjoys it. At revivals the beef curry was exceptional. Later we found out that Santo had tasted it before it was served and told them to add more salt and to cook it longer!😀We all ate and ate until we were stuffed. Santo just sat and watched us all eat with his giant smile on his face. Us, Kelly’s, Trevor’s and Doyle’s all sat on their cement floor with their family and all ate together. Santo’s rice pot was huge! After lunch, Doyle’s boy Jonas climbed on top of the lid on it and sat down on it. That really made Santo smile! After we got back to Trevor’s us ladies went on a long walk through the village and by the river. The walk did my soul good. Quietness… lush green grass, a quaint brick path, talking with the ladies as we walked, no harsh Muslim prayer call, no constantly dodging people and motorcycles, no strong diesel smells or mosquito spray… I enjoy our bustling city but to get out to the village once in awhile is a real treat! Anyways… The brick path abruptly ended into muddy trail but Lisa was not to be deterred😂 she trekked right through the mud while the rest of us opted to walk through the steep slimy ditch. Some kind village ladies offered that we could wash our feet at their pump so we cleaned up and continued down the brick path. While we were cleaning our feet, I happen to glance up and there was probably 20 ladies and children just standing there watching us!😂 Felt like Dorothy from Wizard of Oz and followed the yellow brick road! Saw where Trevor’s have their Sunday school. They have a huge group of children that come. I found it interesting that it was right by a bunch of Hindu idols. For some reason seeing the Hindu idols just leaves me feeling bothered and hollow. How could one find solace for their soul, praying to an idol that has octopus looking legs that is perched in a brightly colored house that is open on the front with metal bars protecting the gods? I suppose if a person left a big enough bag of sugar by the front of the building maybe one would feel a sense of relief or yet abit of trepidation and all you could do is to hope that the gods would be pleased enough to honor your request of forgiveness. After supper the moms put all the weary children to bed and then the adults stayed up and sang and talked until late.
Wednesday 7/19: After breakfast the men had their CSI meeting. Much uproarious laughter occurred and I wondered if they got any business done?!😂 Lisa pulled out all her big black totes that they used to pack their belongings in when they came here. Each kid got one and then they took them out to the backyard and filled them up with water. We hardly heard a peep from them after that! They played and played in the water. Us ladies took the opportunity to sit and visit while the house was quiet. Had fun discussing the latest wedding details that we had heard about from home and just any little detail about clothes and food from the states.😀 The children were all so happy we delayed lunch just so they could keep playing. Eventually they all came in tired, hungry and sunburned!! After naps the kids all went back out to the big sand pile across the road from Trevor’s and spent the afternoon digging huge holes and making sand castles. Needless to say Layton was asleep in no time at bedtime. He told me that while he likes his friends in Dhaka he was sure glad to be with American children! We all did the “put the kids to bed and stay up late” trick again.
Thursday 7/20: We all had breakfast together this morning before heading out. Layton was in tears that I wouldn’t let him go play in the sand again. Doyle’s went with Kelly’s to Golpagange for the week to get aquatinted with their new habitat. We got home around 4:30. The drive went well. Dhaka traffic wasn’t too bad but maybe we are getting used to it? Stopped a few times for awhile but nothing terrible. While we were gone both of the political parties had huge marches. They went down part of our road. The paper said traffic was stalled for hours so very thankful that we were able to come and go without being hindered by that. As soon as we got home Layton went straight to his Lego table and began to build. A man’s got to work while the sun shines!😂 Jared and I rested for awhile and then resumed our duties. Jared did some paperwork and I worked on the laundry. After supper Layton went down to ride bike with his kids. It was pretty quiet so I went and looked over the veranda to make sure he was doing ok. He was down there drawing a hopscotch game and taught the other kids how to play it!
Friday 7/21: Headed to church this morning. Jared was worried his thoughts were too scattered. I told him not to feel bad because he hadn’t had much peace and quiet the past week to prepare! Natun and Jared visited for quite awhile after church again. They talked about the Hindus and their black magic. It amuses us that when Natun talks about the Muslims and Hindus he lowers his voice and talks quietly, almost like he is afraid of being overheard. We had quite a hilarious happening after we got back to our apartment. Collected our wits and cooled off and then headed back down to get in the car. The driver that parks in the stall in front of us usually leaves his car in neutral then Jared and the guard just shove it out of the way when we need to leave. Jared went to give the car the ole heave ho and here the driver had put it in park. The caretaker called the owner of the car to notify his driver to come move it for us. Meanwhile we trekked back upstairs because we didn’t want to wait out in the heat. Soon the guard called Jared so we went down. The driver was away so the owner of the car was trying to figure out how to put the car in neutral. He was frantic and said “BOSS! I can’t get my key.” Jared finally just went and climbed in the car and put it in neutral and got the key out of the ignition for him. It struck me so funny to see this owner all frantic and then to see Jared climb inside this car that was designed for a tiny Bengali man. We held our laughter in until we were out on the street. I asked Jared if most of the owners in Siza Court truly do not know how to operate a car and he said he was pretty sure most wouldn’t! We got our groceries and ate lunch then got back home. Naps were had by all.
Saturday 7/22; Sumita came to clean. She hasn’t been here for over a week. One of her family members had an operation so she needed to go to her village for a week. Unfortunately I didn’t sweep and mop once while she was away so the floors were quite a mess. I’m glad we don’t have white tile floor like the Kulna and Golpagange houses! Bangla vegetables for lunch with some stir fry meat. Layton has finally started eating vegetables here. Spent the rest of the afternoon sitting under the fans or anywheres that’s cool. It hasn’t rained for several days so the heat is picking back up. Jared worked on audit paper work for quite awhile.
Sunday 7/24: Just a usual day today… Jared had almost 40 patients at clinic. Spent the day indoors other than taking Layton out to ride bike to burn off some energy!
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