Monday 6/26: Immediately upon awakening this morning, the question of the day was… “Mom, how do crows not get their feet zapped when they sit on a electric wire?” No clinic this week due to Eid. During the first Eid no patients came. Jared had a lot of things on his to do list for this week so the timing of no clinic worked out well. The children and I went and stocked up on veggies and fruit today before Eid starts and the dokans all close. Jon came over and helped Jared with some things related to Kelly’s work permit, then they headed to the visa office. Layton was invited to a birthday party this evening for one of his little friends. Him and I went and we could not find their apartment so we came back home. I felt so bad for him, he had been looking forward to it all day! Jared forgot to ask them what their apartment number was and their phone number so we had no way of finding it out. We rang several door bells on the floor where we thought they lived but no luck. Layton was in tears so I told him the next time he played with him in the courtyard we could give him his present then and ask his dad for his phone number! Natun came over this evening. It was so enjoyable. He talks great English. He really liked my chocolate cupcakes! He wanted to know all about Kansas. I told him there were more cows than people. He threw his hands up and said “What?! How can this be?!”😂 He wondered if in America there were vendors all along the street selling food like here in Dhaka. Jared told him the closest thing to it would be a food truck maybe? Or a farmers market? We had a good laugh because yesterday Jared texted him and told him he needed to go the visa office for Kelly’s papers so Natun should wait to come until later afternoon. Natun messaged him back and said “ok, please find USA visa for me too.”😂He is going to help Jared sell Elwood’s Mahindra Scorpio. It’s a white elephant car in Dhaka so not sure if they will get much for it. He stayed until late. It was so fun talking with him. He explained all sorts of Muslim traditions to us. Makes one’s mind whirl…
Tuesday 6/27: Woke up to two big Brahman bulls and a goat in the courtyard. Yesterday Jared saw quite a few rickshaws loaded down with hay and straw. Sure enough these cows had big tuffs of hay for their victuals. The goat spent the day voicing its grievances to us all. Jared wondered if it had a sense of foreboding as to what was coming. Mid afternoon two more bulls arrived. 3 were tied by the trash barrels and one at the far end. One lucky cow got to eat his meal out of a rice pot. We went down to ride bike and here were two more cows out in the street. The birthday boy (from yesterday) gave Layton a container full of Spider-Man birthday cake. Jared quick went down and got his dad’s phone number and apt number so next time they invite us we aren’t stumbling around like lost bedesis! I put some chocolate cupcakes in the container and sent it back over there with Jared. For once I had something on hand to give them! I’m not very good at keeping sweets and such on hand for hospitality gifts. Not long later another neighbor lady rang the doorbell with fruit and chocolates. So zip went the rest of the cupcakes! She wondered if we would want to eat some of their beef when they prepared it for Eid? Jared said “sure!” After she left I said “Jared, are you sure that’s safe to eat?!” He said “why not, it will be fresh meat and cooked right away!” It was cool and rainy all day. we very much enjoyed the coolness! Had a quiet relaxing day… felt good after everything that we’ve been doing the past week. This afternoon I was thinking that if you had told me two years ago that I would be LIVING across the seas and have BULLS in my front courtyard and partaking of the neighbors Eid goodies I would have thought you were crazy! God sure has a sense of humor.
Wednesday 6/28: Three more goats have joined the Siza Court zoo. This morning it poured rain… was a roar for awhile. I just love going onto our back veranda and looking at the rain pouring through the mango trees. Been thinking about putting a chair there so I can just sit and enjoy the sight. For a minute one can forget the bustling city and it feels like we live in a lush green forest. Lisa and Lanae say this type of weather is the rainy season. Sounded like last year they never really had this. Kulna in particular is very dry. Empty ponds and such… Sumita came to clean today instead of tomorrow. She said she didn’t want to be out and about tomorrow when everything was “onek moyla” from the slaughtering that will happen. We went to the clinic for lunch. Josna made pilau rice, beef curry and vegetable mixture. It was so good to have beef curry again. Josna always manages to find such a good beef for the curry. Apparently you have to tell the butcher “no fat or bone” otherwise that is just what you get! Josna’s pilau rice just cannot be beat! We stayed and visited awhile since the rain continued then we splashed home. I told Jared that I’d like to get a sample of water off the street and put some in a pitri dish and see what type of organisms would grow! (Something we did in Microbiology class in college.) Along the sidewalk men were selling grass tufts and hay bundles for the Eid animals. The street traffic was significantly less today. (The other day when Layton and I were out the streets were jammed and sidewalks were full of cycles.) When we got back to our courtyard the cows were gone. I asked the guard where the cows went. He said it was too cold for them out in the rain so they had to move them “bhitore.” (Inside) I didn’t ask where they put them. I asked Josna why the people were spending so much money on cows and goats when they could buy cheaper meats like chicken and fish. Apparently now for this Eid, four footed animals are the requirement. Now by the end of the day the animal count is up to 5 cows and 8 goats.
Thursday 6/29: Today is the 2nd Eid. It is the bigger of the two Eids. (The first one was back in April when the Muslims all fasted for a month.) Jared did some research and this is what he found out… It celebrates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Since God sent a ram in a thicket for Abraham to sacrifice instead, Muslims butcher animals as their sacrifice. Part of their meat is consumed by the family that kills the animal, while the rest of the meat is distributed to the poor and the needy. Sweets and gifts are given, and extended family members typically visit and are welcomed. A lot of people from the cities will leave and travel back to their villages. It reminds me of our Christmas at home! (Minus the butchering.) Woke up to the sound of pounding and banging. The slaughtering had started. It was pouring rain, so they were cutting up the meat in the garages. Everything was kept very clean. They were constantly sweeping and hosing off the courtyard. We watched off and on during the day. Very intriguing. A man dressed in white would go around and slit the throats of the animals. I had always imagined that it would be utter chaos and animals would be bawling. It was all very organized and quiet. Some families were down in the parking garages watching the slaughtering and processing of their animal and other families it looked like they had hired a butcher and the butcher and the driver were doing the grunt work. Layton got an A and P lesson on the organs of a cow. Mid afternoon some beggars came to the door and asked if we had any meat for them. Jared told them we didn’t butcher any today. Then later the trash lady came and wondered if she could put meat in my freezer to store. Well right then we were in the middle of defrosting the freezer so we told her no. Later in the evening the neighbor across the hall came and brought us some cubed beef. We want to have Lucky make beef curry with it!😀 After dark the courtyard had a strong aroma of bleach. Today it was so humid outside that nothing would dry on the clotheslines so had to bring it all inside to put under the fans to dry.
Friday 6/30: The sisters had plans today with some friends so church is tomorrow instead. The traffic was wonderful today in Dhaka. So drove around abit. Went to Mohakali to find the travelers clinic where we will take Shania for her baby vaccines. It’s a clinic that has American vaccines for NGOs. Went to Lola’s for lunch. UniMart was closed so we went to Schwapno. They are a much much smaller grocery store than UniMart but I was still able to get the most important things I needed. While we were there a man was checking out next to us and we noticed he was wearing a K-State shirt. We just stared. He looked like a Bengali, so wonder if he knew about K State or what?! Since we’ve just been at home the past few days we went to North End for awhile just to stay out of the apartment a while longer. Love that place. It’s always so cozy. Even though Jared and I still aren’t coffee drinkers we like to go get their shakes. Barely got home and the rain started. It was a downpour for most of the afternoon. It’s so fun to see rain like this for hours. In Kansas the deluge never lasts long so this is quite fascinating to us. It just pours straight down literally like the Heavens have opened. (Some days when I’m feeling poetic I stand on the veranda and wonder if the pouring rain is like Gods grace washing over us.) We noticed today that wherever animals were slaughtered in the courtyard there was white powder sprinkled. Not sure if it was bleach powder or a deodorizer powder. Noticed this several other places too while we were driving around.
Saturday 7/1: Lucky came to cook today. She told me last time she came that she wants to buy her own vegetables at Farmgate when she comes to cook. I never can find good enough ones it seems like that she approves of. So I was very very happy to have her come up with this idea. I had thought about asking her if she would do that but I didn’t want to be a bother to her. So I told her just to tell me how much money she spent and then Jared would pay her when she comes to cook. Went and did some tract work at the guesthouse this morning. Someone wanted 500 tracts. The humidity today could best be described as “smothering.” Mid afternoon the Heavens opened. Around 4:30 we left for church. The downpour had reduced to a heavy sprinkle, so decided to walk. We turned down the street by Ec Number Gate and ways down there the street was flooded with about 4 inches of water so we hiked up our pants and sloshed through. I was glad I had decided to wear a kameeze instead of a dress. Layton had the time of his life sloshing through the water. All during church he was so antsy because he wanted to leave so he could splash through the water again. By the time we had church and visited with the sisters and took care of some things at the clinic, the drains had caught up and the street was back to normal. Layton was so disappointed! Apparently on Green road where Pizza Hut is, the water was up to the tops of the rickshaws tires.
Sunday 7/2: Left the house at 1130 for the US Embassy again. This time for Layton’s passport renewal! We left super early because wasn’t sure if people would be flocking back into Dhaka after Eid. It took 20 minutes to get to UniMart.😂 so had a lot of time to spare. Got the rest of the things I needed that I couldn’t find at Schwapno on Friday, then Layton ran off some energy at the play place. Didn’t take too long at the Embassy. When we left the line of people outside the building was very long… Jared thought they must be applying for visas. Since we are Americans and had an appointment we could go straight inside. After we were done there went to Chefs Table and got some smoothies. Made it home in record time. Hardly any buses out. Noticed there wasn’t a line at the gas station so went and filled up the van. Usually the line is clear down the street so Jared goes at 6 in the morning. When we get home it’s going to feel strange to be able to go places whatever time of day we want and not have to plan around rush hour or holidays or other unknown factors.😀 Unless Goessel has rush hour.😂
Some Eid statistics we found in the paper… 2 million animals were slaughtered in Dhaka during Eid which created 18,000 pounds of “waste.” A little over half were cattle and the rest goats.
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