Monday 4/8: Jared helped the men over at the guesthouse this morning. The crew is all depressed because of how much work has to be done yet. They’ve known for quite awhile what the deadline was but several things have came up unexpectedly that had to be fixed. Jared assembled quite a few lights for Ripon to hang up. I made several dozen cappuccino muffins for whoever needs a snack tomorrow. Mid afternoon Jared went back to the guesthouse to help with some electrical work. Shanto brought the AC mistris over to check out the AC in our living room. It works great except that when it’s on, water is constantly spitting out the front of it. If you sit on the couch that’s under the AC you feel like it’s sprinkling! Layton got enthused to clean his room which I was so grateful for. He said “mom I can’t sleep in a room that’s messy.” Some things I noticed he shoved under his bed to which I turned a blind eye. Decided it was a good to pick my battles. Of course the tale of me crying over the 14 ladies standing and watching me has spread to the rest of the crew. They have found it uproariously funny! I’m glad I can provide them with some entertainment. Naton said “I would have cried to” so at least one sympathetic soul is on my side. 😂 In the evening Lisa and I took a walk again. It was beautiful weather so wanted to walk and talk. They have Christmas lights draped over all the plants in the median on the Main Street here in Pink city now for Eid celebrations. It’s so pretty at night.
Tuesday 4/9: Jared Trevor Ridoy and Naton went to the guesthouse at 6:30 this morning. The movers didn’t show up and said they didn’t have a truck available then when Naton talked to them it turned into just wanting more money. Anyways eventually two moving trucks showed up. They loaded the place up and brought the stuff to pink city. Before hand us and Trevor’s had put all the kitchen things and books into boxes. Jared brought Sumita and Ang over to help us clean. Shanto Ripon and Ridoy said they had cleaned already and that there wasn’t any cleaning left to do. Oh my… let’s just say a Bengali man’s version of clean and an American women’s version of clean is vastly different. Us ladies worked on cleaning until the first load of stuff arrived. We got the kitchen mostly put together. We cleaned and cleaned some more and finally the men thought it was time for lunch. We all went to Herfeys. Went back to the guesthouse and stared at the mayhem. Shanto’s wife Shotti, Antoor and Spondant (Shanto’s boys) arrived at noon. They are in Dhaka now for a few days. Shotti has a sister here apparently. In the afternoon we all split ways for a while. It’s how we keep our sanity intact over here. Trevors went and picked up some more things that the men needed and the Regehr family took naps. Shotti wanted to
cook supper for everyone so she made rice, sobji and dal. I think it’s safe to say that everyone is tired of moving. Layton said “‘Mom the next time we move it better be to our house in Kansas. It’s going to take a bulldozer to make me leave THAT house.” I was so thankful for Brandi. (Trevor’s girl) She just took over bring mama. I came over to our house to check on the children a few times and she had Shania down for a nap, did the dishes and had the house straightened up!
Wednesday 4/10: Well today started off with a bang. Shotti wanted to make breakfast for everyone. She loves to cook! So we went to the guesthouse around 8:30. We hadn’t been there long and Ridoy said “auntie the coffee pot has a problem.” They had put way too much water in and the coffee pot was overflowing. I guess we all just assumed they knew how to run an American coffee pot. Shotti made egg omelette, Bengali tortillas and dal. The egg omelette was an egg that she whisked up until it was frothy and then she added sliced onion and kaj morich. She left some without the peppers which I was relieved about. She fried them in oil and spread them out over the whole pan kinda like a crepe. We rolled them up in the tortillas and then dipped it in the dal. She made the dal really thick. It was so good. Jared and Trevor ate so many! I think it’s my new favorite Bangladesh food. We were trying to figure out what was the most important thing to accomplish at the guesthouse. The men were going to hang up fans and get the washer hooked up. Well all of a sudden someone said “it’s not hot this morning we should go to the zoo!” The traffic is wonderful now because Eid is tomorrow and people have all went back to their villages to celebrate. So we all piled into two vans and took off. No jams I tell you! Not one! Jared and I hadn’t ever been to the Dhaka zoo. We were pleasantly surprised! It was really nice. Lots of huge trees so it was very well shaded. Lots of grass and plants. There was a lot of animals! Elephants, Tigers, Lions, snakes, giraffes, monkeys, hippos, rhinos, birds of all sorts, pelicans, flamingos, Layton said his favorites were the giraffes monkeys and hippos. The animals were really active. We hit it just right and the zookeepers were feeding quite a few of the animals. The snakes were disgusting. Cobras, pythons etc. they had a live rat in the cobra cage and then beside the python cage was a cage of darling little rabbits that were for their lunch. Lisa and I didn’t care to watch the crime scene. The men found out you could ride the elephants for 50 taka but by the time they got back to the elephants the riding session was over. Jared was disappointed. I wanted to ride too but Layton was worried something bad would happen to his mama so I told him I wouldn’t. Since it was the day before Eid all the Muslims were home, so the only people we saw at the zoo were mostly Hindus. It was so enjoyable not having so many people around. A few asked for selfies but nothing like it would be usually! We won’t to go back to the zoo next year at this time again! Around 2 we were all tired and hungry so went to a Burger King that was close by. It’s interesting because here these American fast food chains often offer a side dish of rice with the chicken and burgers. We got home by 4 and all took naps. Ridoy came over later on and worked on the porch wall again. Looked like he puttied the cracks. Brock and Kylie came over for a swim in Layton’s pool that we set up on the veranda. It’s barely big enough for the three of them but they made it work! No one was hungry but Shotti made rice, dal and sobji. Her dal is the best I’ve had! She loves to cook and you can tell it. She spoils her boys so much. None of them like vegetables so she is always quick scrambling them up some eggs or giving them leftover omelette from breakfast to eat with their rice and dal. Shotti is such an interesting lady. She’s kinda quiet and I have a hard time understanding her. She can be quite a spit fire from what I have heard! She loves her goats. She said when she left she heard her goats crying for her, “ma ma!” She had a mama goat loose it’s kid and she said she saw the goat cry real tears so she cried real tears with the goat to!” Ripon got more fans hung up in the guesthouse. We are so enthused with that house! It’s going to make coming into Dhaka so much more enthusing for the other missionaries. The house is big enough that two families can easily stay there at once. There isn’t any grass planted in the yard so it’s just dirt and trees right now.
Thursday 4/11: We’ll today everyone decided to have a “everyone does their own thing” type of day. However stay tuned to see how well that worked out!😂 The Regehr household slept in until almost 9! Shania was awake for awhile during the night so I was grateful for the extra sleep. Jared did random jobs like washing the van and replacing the faucet on the outdoor tap. Trevor was busy getting supplies for the men and doing electrical work at the guesthouse. Layton wanted to make cookies so I helped him make chocolate chip cookies! They turned out really good, the best recipe yet for cookies that I’ve tried here. Everyone oohed and awwwd over them to Layton and it made him feel good.🥰 We put in some of the chocolate chips that Aunt Rebecca sent! Pretty sure that’s why they were so good! Anyways, I used the opportunity of no one coming in and out in the morning to get some things done. Soon Ridoy came over and wanted to use my sewing machine to fix his pants, then Naton came over for awhile, then Brock and Kylie came over to play in the water… It’s Eid today so most places are closed today. We didn’t see much Eid celebrations going on today other than the neighbors were all dressed up in their nice punjabis and the ladies had on their fancy clothes! This evening Trevor’s took the crew to see the airport and the parliament building. We were going to go too but decided it would be best to have a quiet evening at home. When they all got back to Pink City I guess Ripon decided to give Brock a haircut. I was on the phone to Lisa around 10 pm and she said “you need to come look it’s bad.” Poor Brock looked terrified. I saw the leaf blower plugged in and that was the first red flag. Looked like a case of too many barbers. Naton said “Brianna, He looks like someone that would escape from a mental hospital.”😂 Sounded like they ended up giving him a really short buzz cut to fix the damage. Lisa thought her and I should go knock on Ripon and Ridoy’s windows during the night to really egg on their ghost story but unfortunately I value my sleep more than a good scare.
Friday 4/12: Church this morning! We were packed. The Kulna crew, Naton, Miriam, a visitor named Beeti and then Naton invited his two friends that are husband/wife drs. The husband is an anesthesiologist the wife works in surgery at Dhaka Medical Hospital. Naton wanted Jared to meet him. They are Christians! We stayed for a long time after church visiting, having cha etc. At one point Trevor and Nathon were arm wrestling. A lot of good laughs were had. We went to Jamuna for lunch. Only the food court was open though none of the stores were. Some of the crew has been grumping about all the American food they have been eating lately. But they still picked Pizza Hut for lunch😂 Sometimes we want to tell them how tired we get of their rice! After lunch, we took Shanto’s wife and boys back to the guesthouse. The rest went off to try and find a meat market. Shanto and Shotti wanted to make beef curry for everyone. Later in the afternoon Lisa came over and made cookies for dessert for supper. Ripon, his cousin and Nathon were hanging out in the living room, and Jared and Ridoy worked on painting the porch wall. Layton Brock and Kylie were in and out all afternoon. Around 6 Sumita Beeti and Ang showed up. Nathon told them how to get to our place by CNG. Sumita wanted a tour of our house so Beeti and Ang could see it all. Sumita kept telling me how dirty the house was and how I should clean my floors bathrooms and oh my the roof is so dirty! I just laughed and told her that I have been having lots of people working in the house lately not to mention our front door is a revolving door as well. I think she is abit annoyed that I don’t ask her to come clean. I’m just not ready for that. Shanto moved all the furniture out of the living room at the guesthouse and him and Trevor scrubbed the floor good. For supper we all sat in a circle and ate. It was delicious! Shania got fussy and I welcomed the excuse to leave the group and retreat to my empty quiet house.
Saturday 4/13: Trevor left at 6:30 and took the crew back to Golpagange and Kulna. He had quite a day. He drove their old van back to kulna, Doyle brought Whitney to kulna and then Trevor and Whitney brought a bus back into Dhaka. The children and I went and had breakfast with Lisa and the kids. The caretaker of their air b and b begged to make them breakfast. Lisa messaged and said “can you please come and help us eat?” The man made chicken curry, potatoes, tortillas, eggs, sweet noodles, cha and then cut up cucumbers.🙄 Oh my. We left so much food on our plates. What would these Bengalis say if they saw that we just eat cereal for breakfast?😂 I must say it was a relief to have the crew done working here. We are truly so thankful for all they did. It was fun to have them here but all good things must come to an end. Trevors will stay in Dhaka for a few days yet to tie up loose ends. The kids were all back and forth between the two houses all day long. It’s so fun to see them having fun. They never would have been able to play like this when we lived at Farmgate.
Sunday 4/14: This morning Jared cleaned up more construction materials outside. I did laundry and the usual mom things. I had a long list of things I wanted to get done but the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak. I ended up just sitting and holding Shania for awhile. My adrenaline rush from everyone being here is wearing off and now we are TIRED. Jared washed and vacuumed the van out. It looks so so much better in there. It was a fright! Crackers mashed up, toys, water bottles, Shania’s diapers, and who knows what. Brock and Kylie and Layton were in and out most of the afternoon. Whitney wanted to take care of Shania so I gladly took her up on that. Josna came to Pink City in the afternoon and helped clean some more at the guesthouse. It was so good to see her again. 🩷 She exclaimed and exclaimed over Shania’s hair and how long it’s getting. Today is New Year’s Day today here. I dont quite understand it all because they celebrate the “normal” New Year’s Day as well. A bunch of ladies here in Pink City were dressed up in their beautiful red and white saris. Red and yellow clothes are often worn on holidays. The weather has been unusually beautiful in the evenings lately! I have determined I am not going to complain one time this year about the heat. It would be a sin for me to gripe now that we have such a nice place to live that has AC in the living room!
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