I'm Coming to America!!!!!

Fishermen Dragging in their Nets at the Sundarbans

Village Life along the rivers

December 4, 2010

Dear friends and family,

I really can't believe that I will be boarding a plane for America in a few days.  I leave on December 15, our last day of school before a long break.  I can't wait.  I have been so nostalgic for Christmas music.  I downloaded a few tunes and do have a live tree that I decorated with lights and little brightly painted stars and elephants.  It's not the same!

Since I last wrote, I have been to the Sundarbans, a Scottish ball (had a long dress made at the tailor), and have been volunteering to serve breakfast to slum children at a Mother Teresa Sisters of Charity Home.  The photos I have attached are from your trip to the Sundarbarns.  I have lots of shots of that very relaxing cruise to the Sundarbans. We saw wild boar, monkeys, 7 ft. long lizards, eagles, kingfishers, and dolphins.  The twelve of us on the boat got along really well for four days and nights.  We even took mud baths in the Bay of Bengal and went swimming in the ocean.  Food on board was excellent, prepared in Bengali fashion by some of the nine crewmen.

School continues to be wonderful.  The people of Bangladesh continue to be gentle and kind.  All is well, but I'm missing home.


Karen

November Eid: The Animal Slaughtering Time

This man is one of many hoping to sell oxen as Eid approaches. 

Setting up residence with the prized oxen

Can you see the head of the ox at the front of the truck as it approaches market?

As the November Eid approaches, animals of all kinds arrive in Dhaka to be sold.  Muslim tradition holds that on a particular day and time, animals are slaughtered and butchered.  Meat is shared with family, friends, and the poor.  My neighbor told me that on Eid morning last year she was awakened by a repetitive, clanging sound on the street.  She looked out her bedroom window to find the butchering in progress.  Seeing all the animals at the market reminds me of the county fair.  There is an obvious difference, though, and I am glad that I will be out of Dhaka when the killing begins. 

Cows, oxen, and even camels can be found in homeowners' garages now as Eid draws near.  Such an interesting time of year!!!

It's November Already!!!

This picture reminds me of The Kite Runner

These girls are in a school bus coming home from a day at school.

Dear Ones,

I can't believe that it's November.  I will be coming home next month!!!  Everything is going well in Bangladesh.  We are entering a milder season, compared to the hot, humid summer.  It is called early autumn.  There are fragrant blossoms appearing that the children have brought to school.  They remind me of plum blossoms.  Lovely.  It's sunny now and the livin' is easier.

I will be going to the Sundarban region in southern Bangladesh on Monday night.  Twelve of us will be sharing a boat on a four day trip to the mangrove forests.   This is another Eid holiday.  I will write about that next; it's very interesting.

Much love,
Karen

October Holiday: I Stayed Home

October 23, 2010

Dear friends and family,

We have just finished a week's vacation, due to a Hindu holiday.  I have experienced the satisfaction of a well-spent vacation before and the accompanying jitters about facing the real world of work the next day, but nothing compares to this.

It feels as if I have been given a genuine peek into the beautiful  hearts and souls of people of poverty within walking distance of my rather posh neighborhood in Dhaka.  Every day during vacation I would venture out walking to some new place.  One day I climbed some rickety stairs to what appeared to be a beauty salon that sold some homemade clothing.  I had a manicure done on my stubby nails.  It felt good to have both hands in warm, sudsy water even though it was so hot and humid inside the shop that one of the workers had to keep us cool with a huge leaf fan.  I bought a pink sari, played with a baby, and left.  One day I just walked ten blocks and ended up at a green metal door that led to a world completely different from the housing around my school.  I was befriended by a rickshaw driver who bought me lunch...delicious spicy fish, cooked papaya and potatoes, and lots of rice.  He refused to let me pay.  Anyway, I will attach some of my favorite pictures from my day of exploring.

Through the Green Door

A Proud Family

People Working and Playing

Young Woman Waiting for Her School Kids

To Buy or Not to Buy...

I vote YES for this salesman.  Courteous, honest, hardworking... 

And a double YES after seeing his hard working crew...I DO want some of that lovely cane furniture.

But, oops!  I almost said YES to the fisherman at my corner, but my maid came running and told me, "'No, ma'am, that fish is all bones.  You won't like it."  She spoke in Bangla to the man.  He may come back with a fish without so many bones.  They were good looking fish with clear eyes and pink gills.

Thumbs UP!!!!

Thumbs Up??  How does he do it?

Greetings from Dhaka on October 16th, my second day into the week long holiday.  I will always be baffled by the positive, loving spirit that the people have all around me.  A home next to the railroad track?  A cheerful spirit?  Yes, the two go hand in hand in the slums of Dhaka...at least as far as I have seen.

"All I really need is love in my heart, food in my belly, and love in my family."  ...words from a children's song that seem to hold true in Bangladesh.

Love to you all,                                                                                                    
Karen

Time for Adventure!

Look at the love in the grandpa's eyes!

It is the start of a week-long holiday in honor of a Hindu goddess who established good over evil.  I have decided NOT to join the throngs of expats who are leaving Dhaka.  Instead, I have begun to take a close look at the people around Dhaka.  It is a mind-baffling experience to see the wide variety of living conditions within one city.  I went to shop for cane furniture and ended up not only looking at the beautiful furniture.  I took a look in the back of the shop only to see  very poor families living several generations to a hut, practically on the railroad tracks.  They were lovely people!  They welcomed my into their homes!

                                                  

My Apartment and Shipment Arriving

10-10-10

Wasn't it fun to write today's date?

I am sorry that I haven't been more faithful with my blog.  Some of you have asked for a picture of my apartment.  I will post one that shows how engulfed everything is by the huge, white space that is my apartment.  I am slowly adding things that make it feel like home.

Speaking of home, I will include a picture of my grandma's wooden rocker being delivered by the long-awaited shipment from home.  That Homebound truck was greeted with shouts of joy by all the "newbies" here at AISD who were waiting since July for the arrival of whatever they sent from their homeland.


All is well here.  The weather is starting to become cooler.  Hooray!!

Love to you all,
Karen

Help Me Decorate This Home!!!

My Grandmother's Rocking Chair Arrives from America!

A Thing of Beauty in the Middle of Dust

                                                                          

A Homemade Toy

September28, 2010
Dear family and friends, I really would you like to see the amazing thing these people put together for a child.  Using just a rough stick and a metal circle stuck together with a dishsoap bottle and a nail stuck through the wood.  He was rolling it around the street, as happy as could be.  

Love you all,                                                                
Karen                                           

Walking Around the Lake on Eid Morning

September 12, 2010

Dear family and friends,

I really enjoyed walking around the lake on Eid morning.  Everyone was in a festive mood, dressed in their finest.  These girls were adorned in "jewels" and were happy to see their image in my camera. 

The streets were almost vacant during the Eid celebration this weekend.  I thought it would be a good time to learn to drive on the left side of the road with the steering wheel on the right side of the car.  I did just fine!  I don't know if I'll drive again unless it's holiday time because the streets get crazy.

I'll post a couple pictures that capture the spirit of Eid. 

(This was not posed! )

Traveling to visit family at Eid

Off to another week of school after my first holiday in Bangladesh.  It will be good to get back to school.

Much love,
Karen                                


                                                          

School

September 9, 2010                                              

Hello everyone,

Many of you have asked about school and what it's like.  Here is a picture of a first grade classroom.  The teacher is having a child put his head in a "I am thinking..." bubble to explain his reaction to a book.  I work in all three of the first grade rooms.  You will be amazed that there are only 12-15 students in each room with a full-time assistant.  I float from room to room providing learning support.  The school is wonderful!  It's the bright spot of living here, without a doubt.

The classrooms are much like that back home with a few exceptions.  Our school is a PYP school, so our learning is inquiry-based.  We don't use textbooks in the primary setting, but use lots and lots of literature.  The woman whose picture is shown has just published a book about teaching literacy.  It's entitled A Castle in the Classroom and is going to be available through Amazon Books.  We use continuums and report cards to report to parents.  The school gives MAP tests, beginning in second grade.

One of the really amazing things at our school is the recycling.  There is no Styrofoam.  Kids take their trays and real silverware and sort out their leftovers into various containers, including "compost."  The compost is collected and stored for use on school gardens.  Students are taught early on about the importance of not wasting anything.  If we print at all, we use paper that has been already used on one side.  Teachers can get journals of all sizes for students to write in, either with lines or blank.  Every class gives homework.

Even though we do have drinking fountains in the school, fresh water is brought into each classroom in large coolers.  We use glasses that are collected each day and washed.  Students all bring water bottles from home, too.

All students, even high school kids, have a snack break.  Elementary students have a morning recess and a noon recess as well.  Students have access to a large sand area, water table, soccer field, basketball, swings, slides,tether ball, etc.

A highlight for kids is the student-led assembly every other week.  Students play music on drums or some other instrument accompanied by a pianist as the student body files in.  We start with the school song.  Everyone with a birthday during a specific amount of time comes forward and are treated to a rousing "happy birthday" song.  They file off the stage, receiving a pencil or something.  The principal announces which class is awarded the school mascot (a large stuffed tiger called Tigger), and the class in charge shows something that they have learned.  We leave after singing a final song.  If someone is leaving, another song is song and his/her teacher says a farewell.  Parents are invited.

I hope I have given a little snapshot of school.  It is a very great place.  I wish you all could visit.

Eid starts in two days.  Everyone is greeting each other with "Eid Mubarak."  If we as foreigners initiate the greeting, it brings smiles on the Muslim faces.

I have a four day holiday right now.  I am staying here in Dhaka, just relaxing.

Have a wonderful autumn.  One of the things I really, really miss is the change of seasons in Minnesota.

Much love,
Karen

Hark Hark the Dogs Do Bark

September 3, 2010

Dear friends and family,                                            

The rest of that familiar line of a nursery rhyme is kind of the truth.  The beggars are in full force right before Eid because the wealthy do come by and give out money.
I was walking home one evening and approached by this family.  We "communicated" for about fifteen minutes and then just burst out laughing and we couldn't stop, all because we knew how silly it was to keep repeating each others' phrases and not really understanding a thing.

Now when I see this same bunch,  laugh.  You just don't know when you give to the poor if the money will go to an organized "mafia" or if it will go to buy food for the family.  A friend from church said to give if the spirit says "Give."

I am off to go shopping with my maid.  It is Saturday and the shops will be crazily busy.

Love you all,
Karen

So Many Colors!

Hard Bargaining

September 4, 2010

Hi everyone,

Sonja and I had a fun day shopping for clothes for her Eid festival.  She'll make the six hour trip back to her village to be with her family for Eid next week.

After we found a couple of traditional outfits and sparkly sandals for her, we looked at fabric for curtains in my apartment.  She is the one wearing glasses in the picture.  She talks very confidently with all the salesclerks, not letting them charge me a taka too much for my fabric.  I have to learn how to bargain, but I'm not good at it at all. 

Sonja and the driver are both Muslim and could not drink or eat all day and I was dying of thirst.  They dropped me off at the American Commissary (after a thorough check for explosives in and under the car) and I bought a few groceries and drank some water.  Had to!  I don't know how these people make it all day in the heat without a drop of water.

Anyway, we had a very productive day.  She took me to where she lives in Dhaka, a stark contrast to where I live.  I am thankful for an air conditioned apartment.

Love and hugs,

Karen

A Kid on Top of a Mosque

September 1, 2010

I just have to share this picture.  I love it.  I asked the people outside of the mosque before I took the picture, but they were all so happy to have me photograph it. 

Got to get to bed.  Good morning to my friends back home,

Karen

Holiday Time

September 1, 2010

Dear Ones,

This is the first time in over thirty years that I won't be experiencing the back to school jitters of beginning a school year in America.  Best wishes to my friends back home and to my grandchildren just starting back to school.

I'll have to say that I feel more settled in every day.  I have even decided to join in with a trip at holiday time in November.  I'll be going on a four day cruise to the Sundarban region of southern Bangladesh.  There will be twelve of us along for the adventure.

Tigers actually live there.  I can't imagine what it would be like to see or hear a tiger!  We cruise on a boat, explore by foot and by rowboat, and sleep onboard the vessel.

I plan to stay here in Dhaka for our first holiday, which begins next week.  It's my wish to help with a program that educates the population of street children who work.

Miss you all,
Karen

August 27, 2010

Dear friends,

I am missing my family and friends back home.  I was sick all day, wondering if I should reach for that antibiotic that my travel doctor told me to take if I needed it.  Then something sparkling in two different shades of blue caught my eye through the hazy netting over my bed...the Swedish birds from home. I'm so glad I packed them.  My mom gave me the dark blue one,  Tatiana the littlest one, and I bought the other.  They remind me of home.  I put the antibiotic back in the drawer and decided once more to be brave.

More notes from the bed:  Sometime in the late afternoon someone sings/calls out from the mosque into some sort of sound magnification system a call to prayer.  All hammers stop pounding in the construction site.  All is quiet.  The same thing happens when the specific time comes for the fasting faithful to eat and drink water.  Again, all is completely silent and the streets are bare. 

Happy birthday to my littlest grandson and happy tenth anniversary to his wonderful mom and dad.

Love and thanks to you all for giving me strength,
Karen

Beautiful Smiles

apnar nam ki?  (What's your name?)

 

This is what I should have said when the girls allowed me to take their picture.  I was dropping Adrienne off at her apartment on Friday and these girls were sitting on the ground playing a game with a stone.  

A Surprise Flower

August 23, 2010

Greetings,

One of the first things I did (I had my driver do!) when I got here was to buy some potted plants.  I gave him some money and asked him to get a few.  When I came home there were six huge clay pots with green plants in them.  I have had them in my apartment for some time now.  Some have become crinkly, but I still like them. 

I came home to find that one of my plants had blossomed.  I think that is a wonderful sign of beauty amidst all the struggle that people go through here on a daily basis.  Life is hard here in Dhaka, but there is beauty here too. 

Love,
Karen

Dreaming in Dhaka

August 22, 2010

Dear ones,

I am fascinated by so much in Bangladesh that it is sometimes overwhelming.  It was amazing to me how quickly I started dreaming about the people here and even their speech.  I thought the stuff of dreams happened over years of time, but I guess not.  The rhythm and sounds of so many languages just drift through my head all the time.  Bangla is the language spoken here.  People greet you with words that mean, "Peace be with you."  I have found that something like a salute makes people respond with a warm smile and a kind of glow that I have never seen before.

I am going to send a picture that shows the construction workers that labor daily right outside my office window at home.  First, load upon load of concrete is carried in baskets on the heads of young men as they walk up stairs balancing their loads and finally dump the wet, heavy contents onto the "floor" of the level of the apartment they are building.  The picture shows the way heavy loads are carried by foot on the ground.  They do all this in the blasting heat and humidity that make me whine.

I love you all and miss home,
Karen

Dreaming in Dhaka

Hi everyone,

I didn't realize how quickly the human mind begins to collect images that are brand new and translate them into dreams.  I began dreaming almost from day one about my principal, complete with her Australian accent.  "Teacher dreams" happen here, too.  My teacher nightmare actually did come true here on my third day of teacher workshops.  The power had gone off during the night and my alarm clock had fallen to the floor (broken).  My cell phone was new and the alarm ring was set at zero.  So, I slept the "sleep of the dead."  (My sister Caroline's description of finally falling asleep after traveling overseas.)  I was awakened by incessant LOUD pounding on my thick wooden door.  People were concerned.

I am going to post a picture I took right outside the beauty salon of rickshaw drivers just waiting for business.  The guys in the picture were happy to see their image on my camera.

More later.

Love always,
Karen

Rickshaws

I keep wondering what Dhaka would have been like with no cars.  Just rickshaws.

Construction

I can't believe how everything is done here by hand. Construction amazes me. These young men have put cement down load by load, carried on the head in a basket. Now they are climbing up the steel rods to start the next step. I can see the progress right out of my office window.

This picture shows Bangladeshi people going home to their villages for the holidays.

August 17, 2010

August 17, 2010
 Dear Family and Friends,
Life in Bangladesh continues to get better and better. The people here make it good. School personnel are just fabulous and make life as easy for us as possible. For instance, the painter came to my office today to ask about the colors I wanted to paint my apartment. They are starting tomorrow. Any ideas??? I go back and forth. I finally decided that any color would be better than a cavern of starkwhite, so I did an initial pick of colors one night when the power had gone out and I was choosing by candlelight. The power does go off several times a day, even at school. There are back up generators, but it is definitely darker, even at school.
The students at school are from as many different nations as you canpossibly imagine. We did a survey in one first grade classroom and found that many of the six year olds speak more than two languages. So, you can imagine how English might be hard for them right now. I am having a hard time learning names of the students in the three classes that I'm in. There are no names that are common to me, excep tmaybe an Annika or two, spelled in different ways. Most children are very well behaved. They bring their snacks for lunch and I notice such a variety: shrimp in rice, rolled up meat in a type of tortilla, fruit and veggies, and occasional junk food.
I share a maid and a driver with the woman across the hallway. She has never had our maid do cooking. Today I asked Sonja our maid to cook a Bangladeshi dinner for two and to set the table, even though it was just going to be me. :) I just wanted to see how she'd do. She had fried something like eggplant with spices. That was amazing. But she also cooked a type of broccoli medley, rice, and shrimp curry.  For dessert there was fresh mango. She makes an ice tea with spices she grinds with a mortar and pestle. I was pretty impressed. Now I just have to find a person to have over and a place to buy a bottle of wine. That's hard to do here.
I had been trying to swim, but lately I have been enjoying going to the gym at school right after school. There is a very sweetBangladeshi Christian woman who takes her time with me and teaches methe machines. She keeps insisting that I need to bring water and asks about my children and grandchildren with such a warm smile.  The opportunities to do charity work here are presenting themselves. I don't think I'll have to travel far by rickshaw or any other way to get involved. I did have one rickshaw ride on a very empty street.The traffic here still freaks me out unless I am in the back seat with my driver at the wheel. No, I am not driving. The younger teachers are, but not me.
Well, if you've read this whole post, thanks. I really want to hear from all of you. I hope to see many of you at Christmas.
Much love,
Karen

Our First Photos

A Tour of our campus (American International School Dhaka)

Our Tennis Courts and Pool 

A view out of our apartment building.

A small image of our local street.