So I'm a few days late on the Easter wishes, and a couple days early on the New Years wishes (Bangladeshi New Years anyway). This week has been a bit of a blur mostly because I spent over an entire day just lying in bed. No, I'm not just lazy. I mean, I am - but in this case, I was sick and spent the entire day lying there. While I thought it was ridiculous, we are still on anti-malarials from our recent trip to Sri Lanka, so I was supposed to go see the doctor. Naturally, all he told me was that there's probably nothing wrong with me. I could have told him that over the phone and skipped the visit ;) Anyway, I'm crossing my fingers that now that my fever has gone away, it will stay away.
This past weekend, I went sari shopping for the first time with my upstairs neighbor who has been here a bit longer than I have (and happens to speak Bangla as an added bonus). The next time I'm feeling unhappy, I'm totally going sari shopping. It's probably the easiest way to feel ridiculously gorgeous! Naturally I bought one and next we went to the tailor - which was another "experience" for me. I've heard there are some tailors who speak a lot of English and some who don't speak a lot of English - and you tend to pay accordingly. So for someone who "speaks your language" and understands each and every thing you're trying to tell them, you pay top dollar. For someone who speaks only basic English, you can get a much better price. Naturally, as my neighbor speaks Bangla, we went to a tailor who speaks basic English. Well, that's not even totally true. The guy in charge speaks quite a bit of English and is very easy to understand. The people who work for him have varying levels of understanding. And really, I don't have much room to complain since essentially all I can say so far are "hello" and "goodbye" in Bangla. That's something I intend to work on.
Since I was having a sari made (and not having some sort of western wear produced), I felt totally comfortable dealing with someone who might or might not understand everything I was saying because essentially, this is their style of dress. They know better than I do anyway what it should look like and what they need to do. Experience number 1 with my neighbor who speaks Bangla was excellent. Trip number 2 after another field trip to New Market was a bit sketchy and while I have no idea if I will get exactly what I want, I'm sure I'll be happy with what I get. Trip number 3 (yes, I visited the tailor 3 times this week - please don't judge) was very quick and short. They have acknowledged that I speak no Bangla and we have moved on. Maybe one day I'll surprise them and actually know a few words. The downside of visiting them so often? A trip of 4 km each way took almost 2 hours each time. I can't even really describe traffic here. Oh yeah, google maps says it should take 12 minutes to get from my house to the tailor. Nice. Clearly google is not familiar with Dhaka.
Easter was interesting this year. All of our Easter stuff is in boxes in storage here in a warehouse awaiting our move to our house, so the egg dye kit, easter baskets, eggs, etc are all just sitting there (before you ask, I meant plastic eggs). The DAWC (Dhaka American Women's Club) hosted an egg hunt on Saturday which we took the kids to. It poured rain. So that was fun. We waited for a break in the storm and then headed home. Sunday is a workday here, and Josh was in class, so the kids and I went to Easter mass by ourselves and sat in a virtually empty church (probably a first for me on Easter). The priest mentioned that the vigil mass had been standing room only - a bit more what I'm used to - but it went until 1 o'clock in the morning which would have been a bit late for me. Josh stopped by the mailroom on his way home and was able to pick up boxes full of Easter stuff for the kids mailed from the states, so they still got baskets and toys, and way too much candy. In the end, all was good.
Our field trips this week with Josh's class included the previously mentioned trip to New Market - similar to a Namdaemun experience for those who have been there - as well as a tour of the Ansar Academy and BKSP. The Ansar is similar in ways to the National Guard. There are different level of participation. On the most basic level, there is the VDP - Village Defense Party - which actually has very little to do with defense. There are 32 men and 32 women per village who receive training from the government in some sort of useable skill - weaving, sewing, auto repair, electronics, etc. There is no service obligation associated with this. I think (and this was not directly stated, so I'm extrapolating) that in an emergency situation, these people would be called upon to assist. On higher levels, the participants assist with varying types of security. Anyway, it's an interesting program. Our visit to BKSP was relatively short, and K was kind of done by the time we got there, so I missed much of the brief, but it's essentially a sports training academy of sorts for those who show an affinity.
Have to leave shortly for family photos at the school, but I hope to share photos of my saris once I pick them up from the tailor.
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