Monday 5/27: Woke up to strong winds (for Bangladesh) and lots and lots of rain. Cyclone Remal made landfall last night around 8. It really hit hard! Yesterday Trevors said the wind had already started up for them. Them and Doyle’s have been out of power for the past two days. Their IPS system runs until the batteries go dead then they hook up the generator until the batteries are charged up. Jared decided to cancel clinic. I was glad he did! With the amount of rain that was coming down we weren’t sure if the water pump on the pink city Main Street was going to keep up with the downpour and he wouldn’t be able to get back in. Mid morning a hefty piece of tree crashed down on our internet cable. It didn’t seem to affect the internet any. I love to look out the window and watch the palm trees waving in the wind. Layton was going stir crazy with not being able to go outside. I let him go under the carport but didn’t want him to go where there wasn’t a roof. He played with rice on the floor for awhile, built knex and then was quite bored. I mixed together shaving cream and water beads in a fix and mix bowl and oh did he have fun!! He played and played. Shania sat in her booster seat and ate snacks and laughed at her brothers antics. We were going to go out and about for awhile to get out of the house but around 1 the wind really picked up and the rain intensified. The news said this cyclone is a slow moving cyclone and the weather will continue until tomorrow afternoon. Jared didn’t think it was safe to be out and about so we stayed home. Made brownies and popcorn chicken.
Tuesday 5/28: Didn’t sleep very well last night. Guess we aren’t used to the sound of howling wind anymore. The gusts were up to 50 mph. After 1.5 years of hardly any wind here this seemed quite blustery to us. I was so nervous about coconuts crashing off the trees and hitting the house or the trees themselves toppling over since they look like tall toothpicks and all of a sudden during the night we did hear a big crash. I ran to the children and they were peacefully sleeping and Jared went down stairs and here one of my shelves had fallen off the wall😂 what scaredy cats we are! The wind died down significantly this morning. The trees look so weary and worn. Some of the big branches on the coconut trees are just hanging down limply. Absolutely no cell service whatsoever. Jared went up to the roof and was able to get just enough service through Banglalink on his personal phone that he called Miriam and told her to cancel clinic. We lost power a few times during the night but it never lasted longer than 30 minutes. We are so fortunate. At least Half of Bangladesh has no power at all. Trevors and Doyle’s still are out of power. By lunch time the rain had quit. We went out on a drive. Lots of trees are bent over. The river by pink city was up quite high. Branches down everywhere. Went to Herfeys for lunch. Felt so good to get out of the house for awhile! Came home and napped. The sun came out and the heat and humidity made a roaring entrance!
Wednesday 5/29: Trevor’s and Doyle’s both have power back! Off and on… Went and got some new passport photos taken. Stopped at the tailor and got my dresses. They fit perfectly! Just need to add shoulder pads. Sumita made pilau rice, fried eggplant and chicken curry. Layton was disgruntled that the rice wasn’t “normal” rice. I told him he needed to learn to be more flexible. Shania had to have a bath when she was done eating! She ate lots of eggplant. Jared worked on paperwork the rest of the day. He has to submit a bunch more papers to the NGO office for security clearance.nAlso got a coat of paint done in Shana’s room. Tried the take the children outside so they could run off some energy. Wasn’t long and we were back inside… just absolutely HOT. It’s not that it’s so warm today just the humidity makes the air so thick it feels like you would need a knife to cut it! We were all getting kinda crabby at each other by supper time so after supper we all had to have some alone time. 😊
Thursday 5/30: Nothing of importance seem to happen today. We had singing in the evening. Jared went and picked up the passport photos afterwards. Shania’s picture turned out hilarious. She had a perfect little pout because she was about to start crying when the guy took her picture 😂 I’ve been reading in the news about the damage from the cyclone. The Sunderbans (a large forest) really got hit bad. Lots of deer and a few bears got killed.
Friday 5/31: We had just finished breakfast and Nathon called and said “I’m bringing some food I’ll be there in a bit.” So we had breakfast number two! It was so good! Much better than cereal. Dim, Ruti and Dal bajhi. I had told him once how much I loved that. On the way to church he told us about his job during the cyclone. Some of them had to work for 2.5 days straight to keep the internet servers for Grameen up and running. Sounded stressful. He says he’s still not caught up on sleep. Doyle and Amayllis came to church too. Jared was thankful for Doyle’s help with the service. Doyle’s came into Dhaka as soon as their power came back on. Krystal stayed at the guesthouse with the boys because they have some eye infection and they were worried it might be contagious. After lunch we came back home and took naps. We were so tired, why I do not know! Nathon hung out in pink city the rest of the afternoon. We asked him if Cyclone Remal was a normal cyclone or was this worse than usual? He said “very bad.” Amaryllis came over and played with Layton which I was grateful for. Layton was certain death was imminent if he couldn’t play with her. There’s been some big emotions at this house lately with the small fry. Krystal and I sat out by the gate and visited awhile until the mosquito fogger came by. We did not eat supper. We still were so stuffed from breakfast still this morning.
Saturday 6/1: The day was kinda laid back. Jared got the last coat of paint up in Shana’s room. I did the usual things… laundry, make lunch etc. Jared and Layton went on a long scootie ride. in the evening Doyle and Jared hauled some furniture upstairs to the guesthouse and then hauled some downstairs. We decided to all go out for supper. Went to the coffee shop beside Herfeys. They serve American food! Pasta, pizza, Burgers and can you believe it NACHOS. Some girls came and asked me if they could hold Shania. I don’t mind as long as they stay right beside me. They said “where are you from?” I told them we were from the states. Their eyes got big with longing and they said “madam WHY are you HERE if you are from America?” I told them my husband has a job here with a three year contract. They shook their heads. They can’t figure out why we would leave a place that they dream of moving to. Even Nathon says that sometimes “why are you here since you live in America and have it so nice there?” One day I told him “when God tells you to do something you jump.” He said “that’s right!” 😊 Doyle hung up a bunch of things in the guesthouse. New mirrors, hand towel hooks, clocks etc. The guesthouse is slowly coming together!
Sunday 6/2: Jared had clinic. The children and I cleaned out the pool and swept off the veranda. There was still twigs and so many leaves from the cyclone. Layton freaked out because he found a dead bird in the midst of all the rubbish. Shania started walking some this afternoon! Every once in a while she’s been taking a few steps but she can crawl so fast that she just always resorts back to that! Lately when ever Jared sits down in the living room she always goes and sits on his feet and starts to jump. She wants “ridey horsey.” Whenever a random dog comes into our yard she growls at them. This afternoon Layton was bored so he took apart an old fan that’s been laying around here. He said “mom you never know, I might just discover something fun inside this motor.” 😂 Later I heard him muttering “this is not working out.” Jared and I have been so hungry for Applebees lately. Kinda weird the random places and food that we get hungry for. We always love their strawberry lemonade so I figured out a recipe that tastes almost the same! Jared spent the rest of the afternoon doing bookwork. Jon told Jared that he had lost his glasses and that’s why he hasn’t been able to work on some of our paperwork lately. He says he got new glasses now so he can start working on it. Ahhhh…. Bangladesh. 🇧🇩
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