Monday 8/14: Sumita came to clean this morning. We visited quite abit. She wondered what our house was like in America. I told her it was “choto.” (Small) I told her Layton slept on the couch most of the time and she wondered if we would need a new house since we have two children now instead of one. I said no we would make it work! Jared was busy at clinic. Spent the rest of the afternoon just doing laundry and the usual mom things. It’s so humid now that I have to hang everything under a fan to dry. Doyle’s and us spent awhile up on the roof this evening. Talking and watching the planes fly over. It’s so fun seeing on FlightRadar where they are coming from and where they are going… The guards have started locking the door to the roof around 7, not sure why all of a sudden they are doing it so early! We like to go up later in the evening to see the lights and feel the breeze. Jared is thinking of seeing if they will let us have a key for that door.
Tuesday 8/15: Clinic was canceled today. It’s National Mourning Day. Sheik Hasina’s (prime minister) father and family was assonated in Danmondi in 1975 on this day. Her and her sister were both away in London visiting at the time of the assignation so they are the only remaining living family members. Dr Elizabeth wanted clinic canceled… Jared tried to convince her to still go ahead and have it but no luck. She didn’t think anyone would come. He spent the morning at home. Had the AC mistri come and look at the AC in our bedroom. It’s more of a heater than an AC. Glad it gave out now when it’s a bit cooler than when it was 115*. We slept quite well last night though with two fans going so maybe we are more acclimated than we think! The mistris thought it was a leak in a radiator hose so they hauled it off to their shop. Jared told them not to spend too much because it is still the original one that Carl put in! Before lunch Jared ended up running to the clinic to tend to some matters with a patient and to give Josna more grocery money. (CSI pays for their food expense since they cook for us and the patients.) In the evening we had singing and then went to Parktown for supper. We walked from the clinic to the restaurant in hopes that the children would wear off some energy and sit nice and it seemed to prove effective. We ordered five plates of fries, one for each child so they could have something to eat while we waited on our main entrees to arrive. The poor waiter looked at us like we were crazy. He said “five?” I think he thought we had gotten our Bangla numbers mixed up. Finally Jared pointed to the word “fries” on the menu and held up five fingers! Oh we laughed… then by the end of the meal every single plate was wiped clean of fries so I wondered what the waiter thought then?😂
Wednesday 8/17: Had lunch at the clinic… Josna made shrimp curry and egg curry. The egg curry was sweet, I love it! Josna’s black eyes just shown when she saw Jared taking three helpings of the shrimp! Then Amaryllis and Rafael both wanted 2nd helpings of rice and that made Josna’s smile even bigger. 🥰 In the afternoon the AC mistri called and wondered if he could bring the AC back? We weren’t expecting it back until next week. They installed it and boy howdy does it work well! It had our bedroom chilled down in no time.
Thursday 8/17: At noon us and Doyle’s headed out and set forth to have fun on the city. We boarded the metro and rode clear to the end at Uttarra North. We had some problems getting our metro passes to work on the way there, but on the way back they worked fine. Found out we didn’t need one for Jonas, Rafeal and Shania! The cars were pretty packed until almost at Uttarra. We got off and noticed some neat little cha dokans and restaurants along the road there by the metro station. We went and sat in one of the restaurants and all got some cold Cokes. Doyle noticed a sign advertising the Metro Rail Information Centre. We hired two easy bikes to ride on. Layton was so excited because he’s been wanting to ride on an easy bike! They are much more tipsy than a CNG. Uttarra is clear on the very north end of Dhaka so they have easy bikes there. I had to smile because Jared had to sit up front with the driver. He totally dwarfed the small little Bengali man that was driving. Another thing we noticed is how much quieter it is there than in Monipuripara. Fewer apartments, people and vehicles. They have cows and goats in the medians. Got to the information centre and what a pleasant surprise!!!!! It was a clean building with AC in it. And of all things there was a TRASH CAN by the door. I felt like I had stepped into another land. The trash can alone made my day.😂😂 Plus the men working there all spoke English! We watched a short film on the metro rail history and progress. Then they had a metro rail train set set up that was running. The kids loved watching it go around and around! But the best thing of all was they had a real life sized metro car set up that the kids could go play in. You could go up front and see where the conductor sits! Layton was in his element! Figuring out what switches did what. There was a hand held mic hanging by the dash and he said “Amaryllis, this is what you use in a combine!” When we were leaving he said “I had so much fun I just couldn’t help myself!” I was thrilled that he had so much fun. Sometimes my heart just aches that he is cooped up in this apartment and courtyard so much. It’s why we go to kulna and Golpagange so frequently so he can get out and play in the grass and dirt for awhile instead of being cooped up in this concrete jungle. Anyways… the metro wasn’t nearly as full on the way back. We were all able to have a seat instead of standing. We noticed the first car of the metro was for women only!! Got 4 rickshaws for on the way home. On the way there we took CNGs. Got stuck in traffic. Being stuck in traffic in a CNG on a hot day makes one either go insane or get sanctified I’m not sure which!! So we decided rickshaw on the way home would be better because then at least you can feel the breeze as you’re going!
Friday 8/18: Had church this morning… Beforehand Jared told me “the well is dry.” But he had some inspiring thoughts on “where is our treasure?” Had fun visiting with Natun and the sisters. Natun told me that between Jared, Doyle, and Krystal, I’m the only one that is a thorough bred American. After church we all packed up and headed to Danmondi. Gulsan was having a large political march so we didn’t step foot over there. Wouldn’t you know it… we stopped at the guesthouse to get Doyle’s and Jared said “this AC isn’t working, what is going on?” Sure enough the van AC was broke AGAIN. Never mind how much money we put into getting it fixed when we were last at Kulna. Jared and I literally look at things and they break here. Very frustrating. Anyways… like Lisa says “only in Bangladesh.” We went to Herfeys for lunch. The kids used the play place to within an inch of its life. Went and found a neat coffee shop called Prezzi! It was really cozy in there. It overlooked the main street so the kids played I spy and counted all the CNGs that they saw! We sat and visited for quite awhile there. Their menu was very American. They had cinnamon rolls, cheesecake, brownies, lots of different kinds of soups and sandwiches and even salads! We noticed they had several kinds of poutine even so we will definitely go back to try that as that’s one of our favorite foods. It’s always so neat to find new places to eat at. The building had a small Artisan on the lower level so I bought some more dresses for Shania. I’ve been looking for drool bibs for her but no luck. They informed me they wouldn’t have socks in stock until November.😂 The little dresses I find her here look just like little mennonite dresses. Maybe abit more lace and trimmings! I have to be careful though because sometimes the dresses have buttons for pretties and they are GLUED on instead of sewn on. She tried to pull them off and right now everything goes in her mouth. So I just take them off right away. Anyways… We headed to UniMart. I might also add that the horn on the van has quit working as well. This makes for a very handicapped van in Dhaka.🫢 But never fear, Doyle and Jared hung their heads out of the van windows and made enough racket and noise to make people well aware that we were coming. It appeared to satisfy the inner little boy in both of them. Got our groceries there, seems like we always somehow leave with a cartful. We made our way back to our apartment with the men loudly “honking” out the windows.😂 When we got home I was holding a sleeping Shania and carrying groceries with my other hand. All of a sudden what should I hear but “didi!!!!! Bossssss!!!!” I had been spotted by the trash lady. She came a running and grabbed the bags and hauled up them up the steps. I was once again instructed to not carry bags and “babo” at the same time.😂 I do like to keep her guessing at what next ridiculous thing I will do while I’m holding my baby.
Saturday 8/19: The car mechanic came and picked up the van and its grocery list of woes. I really hope nothing else breaks this week. Currently we are flushing two toilets using a bucket. Jared is going to look at them and see what the issue is. Did several large loads of laundry. Sprayed our bed down with bug spray. We keep waking up with chigger bites all over us. They itch worse than mosquitoes. Spent the day getting things ready for tomorrow. Going to start kindergarten with Layton. I know it’s ahead of his class at home, but he needs something to do so figured we would just work at it at a relaxed pace. He’s very enthused!! Doyle’s came over in the evening for dudh cha.
Sunday 8/20: Jared was busy at clinic today. 30 patients… did kindergarten with Layton until Shania woke up from her morning nap. He needed to go ride bike and get some steam out so called our class quits for the day! He had fun telling Jared the number rhymes when he got home from clinic. The rest of the day was busy with the usual mom things… laundry, making food, etc. The car mechanic brought the van back and it appears as though the AC might actually be working now.🫢
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