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