Let the Orienting Begin!

Josh's course orientation started this past week, so we are officially on our own - if you don't count my helper and driver who both also started this week.  We are still in temporary housing, but I have seen the new house (it actually does exist) and we hope to move in before the end of the month.  Mid-month would be nice, but likely that would be pushing things a bit.  We're comfortable where we are, and other than really wishing K had not had a growth spurt, we had enough stuff in our suitcases to last us.  It's a bit ridiculous when I realize that I packed my suitcase in December.  December, people.  Makes you wonder how much of that extra stuff is really "necessary".

The orientation that is going on is actually only for the foreign officers and their families - the regular course has not actually started for the Bangladeshi officers.  This portion is mostly focused on allowing all of us to become familiar with what Bangladesh has to offer and showing us some of the sights.  While this is not terribly convenient for us since we live in the city and the bus to take us around departs from the school in Mirpur (about 35-45 minutes away by car) I think it's a great opportunity to get out and see things that I otherwise would miss.  The school is providing air conditioned transportation and food for all of us, so why not get out and see what's out there!

This past week, we participated in an evening excursion to the Bashundhara City Complex and the following day boarded another bus taking us to the National Martyr's Memorial and Nandan Park.  The mall was very reminiscent to me of shopping in both S. Korea and China.  Stores are grouped by "theme", so if you're looking  for nail polish (as I happened to be), all of the cosmetic stores are in one area.  Convenient for the shopper, but I have to imagine that this increases competition.  I can't help but wish that stores in the States were organized this way.  It would save so much walking around!  We browsed through the sari stores (I'm going shopping for one tomorrow and hope to be able to provide some insight later), but I haven't yet decoded what makes a casual sari casual and a fancy sari fancy.  We also made it up to the food court for some fast food - it all tasted good and no one was sick the day after (this is really the definition of successful eating out).  We picked up some DVD's on the cheap and also browsed Bata - a shoe store - where I almost bought some cute sandals.  The bus brought us back to Mirpur where one of Josh's fellow officers invited us in for coffee.  Sadly, it was already pretty late for the kids and we had to decline.

The following morning, we were on the road with the kids at 7:30 heading back to Mirpur for a full day of sight-seeing.  The weather was warm, but I'm pretty sure we were the only ones sweating.  There was a very nice presentation followed by an opportunity to walk around the memorial and take photos.  I'm pretty sure the entire thing was closed off just for our group as there were other people present, but no one else was allowed near the memorial the whole time we were there.  After taking a few photos of the entire group for the school, we re-boarded our buses and had what I assumed was an early lunch - a tasty spicy burger of some sort (please don't make me try to decide if it was chicken or beef...), an apple, and a pastry - while we drove to Nandan Park.

We all went to the waterpark portion of Nandan first.  Josh assured me the water was very refreshing, but as I'm not a big fan of swimming fully clothed (which probably would have been acceptable) I decided to refrain.  I think several of the officers are here without their families, and they are all very friendly with our children.  It really makes me appreciate that we were able to come here together.  The park had several different playgrounds located in different areas, so we wandered through the park and let the kids explore.  It was certainly nothing compared to a theme park state-side, but it was a great opportunity to spend time with Josh's classmates and their families.  We had a wonderful lunch of Tandoori chicken at the park and got a bit more time to explore the park before it was time to board the buses and head back to Mirpur.  All around, a good experience for us.  The kids both slept all of the way back to where the car was parked.  Once we got home, it was showers for all (we were pretty dirty), dinner, and early bed.

We had our first big thunderstorm today and it has cooled temperatures off significantly, but I have to assume that it will be just as hot after the rain has passed.  I'll just be thankful that it rained today instead of yesterday as I'm sure the tours would have gone on as scheduled and we would have all just gotten wet.