Last night a real storm came thru! ..Thunder, Lightning, Lots of wind, AND SOME RAIN!! .. our First rain since Nov!! 👏🏼 … it was not enough to settle the thick dust but it’s the beginning of rainy season. A down side, is more power outages.
And the report from Gopalgonj was their maid Sheema’s bathroom blew away and her neighbor lost their roof!
Here, Tulshi has plenty of yard work for the day.
Lonnie made a batch of tortillas so I could make the pinwheels that Jaira had requested for her birthday, but I hadn’t had a chance to make.
Gentry cut his 1st tooth!.. 4 days shy of his 5th month
Woke early with the Bud👶🏼 so ended up just getting my shower and staying up for the day
Sat on the front porch with him and Annslie and WhatsApped with my little brother’s family. We’ve had some hot, muggy mornings but this one was just lovely temps, a gentle breeze, and the birds singing😌
Lonnie needed to be in Khulna for 10:00 doing house shopping with our Southern Baptist friends. One of Lonnie’s acquaintances at the bank had a house to show Lamars.
This day was packed to the brim! One of those days when the 4:00 service comes around and one wonders, can I actually do this? But, we push forward thru the rest of the evening.
Christina’s turn to make breakfast. Baked oatmeal and sausage patties. I fixed the table up a bit with table cloth, bamboo(paper)plates and bowls, fun paper juice cups, printed napkins, and made a bouquet with our hot pink bougainvilleas.
And off to the 1st S.S.
The 2nd S.S. At Chakrakhali. Was a planned Picnic. Something they’ve been wanting to do for awhile and got the details nailed last Fri. Told us we didn’t need to bring pictures to color since they were expecting 50 children. It was 100 Taka to attend. We don’t really know why the entry fee unless it was to keep the numbers down. But Dipti was asking me about the Picnic yesterday saying her younger son, Turjo, would like to attend, but it was 100 Taka! (we did give her Taka for the occasion which got a Very Happy reception!)
On the ride over, we found out about Christina’s ear ache she’s been having so we stopped at a pharmacy dokan only to find out it was for animals. Lonnie dropped us off at S.S. and he and Kobid took Christina to a couple more pharmacy dokans to get something for her ailment. Ear infection was confirmed and they gave her a bagful… antibiotic, ear drops, vitamin C tablets😅 etc,..
Meanwhile at the Picnic, the lady of the house, (Kobid calls her Body which is a general term for Brother’s sister. Btw, actual names here are incredibly hard to learn! Ladies for sure, seem to be rarely called by their given name. Didi, Sister, Khaki (aunt), Bodi, etc. !! so when I ask Kobid what their actual name is, he pretty much never knows.. I did ask her what her name was then but I cannot remember it🤦🏼♀️ so I’ll just call her Bodi for this entry. People don’t know or ask what my name is either. Oh yes, meanwhile at the Picnic, Bodi asks if I would like to put on one of her saris 🥻? I agreed, so we went in to her bedroom and she proceeded to outfit me in an ankle length black thin cotton skirt, skin tight cotton bodice that buttoned up the front with small shirt buttons. And then with the L o n g piece of cotton fabric with a black and yellow small print check design she began the meticulous wrapping process. At the waist were precise folds and a safety pin, then up over the left shoulder with a safety pin holding the final folded fabric in place on the shoulder. She told me to keep the sari. Back out to the front yard, the vet who was waiting for Lonnie to get there( Lonnie always holds their dog for them while medicines or vaccines are given as the man of the house is afraid to) this vet knows some English, and probably just like us trying to speak Bangla, it can be entertaining how the words are used! His comment when I came out wearing a sari, “Exactly! Exactly!” They love to see us white folks in their traditional dress. When Miss Christina got there she agreed to be outfitted in a sari also 🥻. The one pulled out for her was stiffer, shinier and hot pink🤩
The lunch was to be at 1:00 Some of the older S.S. boys had a fire going and were starting with food prep.. I stirred the pot of boiling eggs for Dudjoy (18 yrs old that was doing most of the cooking and overseeing) and then went into the kitchen and helped King Kor and one of his friends peel eggs and cut up potatoes and cucumbers. I’d told somebody that it was Jaira’s birthday so Bodi promptly starts mixing up a cake!🤦🏼♀️
Several games were played.. the 1st one was throwing a cricket ball into a bucket.. the preschoolers started, then middle school, then the teenagers. Dudjoy took a break from cooking and was the one standing by the bucket returning the ball to Taritro(13 yrs old) who was overseeing the line. The successful ones all got a prize 🏆
Then there was Breaking the clay pot with a stick, blind folded. Which, was quite entertaining as the one wielding the stick would sometimes march straight to the people on the sidelines, the people screaming and scrambling away, as someone would guide the batter back into the arena. They would also quietly move the pot after the blind fold was on! Bodi, all sudden passed the phone to me as she needed to go, so there I stood videoing the game..
The day was warming up, the loudspeakers were blaring music… Lonnie would go turn the volume down or switch songs every once awhile🫣 Gentry fell asleep sweating away in his stroller parked directly in front of the loudspeaker (I’m not sure why that’s where he got parked, hopefully his hearing isn’t damaged)
The humongous pot of curry is cooking. Lonnie helped stir with a l o n g handled paddle, Very Carefully, as it was full to the brim! One of the ladies was standing there ready to push the pcs of chicken back in whenever they got close to the edge, but Lonnie said she quit reaching when the pcs never went over the edge😉. It was also incredible to watch one of the ladies taking the flat, metal lid, no handle, that fit perfectly over the kettle, off of the boiling pot of curry, Barehanded!! And then there was not a good place to set it right away!
Bodi brought out the cake (no frosting) and it was time to celebrate Jaira’s birthday. Everybody gathered around, 🎶 happy birthday 🎶, and then it was time for the ceremonial cake cutting. Jaira was not impressed about being there center of attention, and expected to perform the not familiar Bangali tradition of cake cutting and feeding. She grudgingly obliged.. Bodi gifted her with a very glitzy hair clip..
Time for musical chairs for the ladies..
By this time, 1:00 has come and gone! We are still waiting for lunch! Lonnie finally told them, the latest we can stay is 3:30, to get to our church service in time. It was probably 3:30 tho when they finally seated everybody. Us white folks and Kobid at a table with chairs and the other 50 or so people on a huge tarp on the ground. Oh and by the way, the chicken curry had the whole chicken in it, Jaira was pretty sure everything but the feathers. Thankfully they didn’t put a chicken foot on our plates!
I went inside to the bedroom to take care of Gentry, There was a small group of girls on the bed playing something on a phone. Bodi came in with a tremendous headache to lay on the bed. One of the other ladies came in and fed her a plate of food. Just like they would feed their small children… mushed the curry or lentils into the rice, formed it into a nice sized ball and pushed it into Bodi’s mouth with her thumb.
Nee-tie hurried us home. No time for showers but Lonnie did change into his Punjabi (long traditional shirt for special occasions) per Kobid’s encouragement since I was wearing a sari. And off to church. We were a bit late. And they were singing the 1st song already when we walked in. Annslie slept thru the service!!!(since she’d missed her nap) Probably the 1st time since she was an infant! (She’s still a handful during church😏.)
After church, we invited everybody in for cake and icecream yet
And then, Finally, there was a chance to shower! Bliss.. and change out of the yards of fabric sari!
Some days there’s just too big of a pile up of things that aren’t “right”. Lonnie remembered what one of his friends back home said once…”1-2 household appliances out of order/needing attention, I can handle. But, when it’s 3! needing my attention… it’s too much.”
This morning, 2 of the Things glaring us in the face were the fuel shortage in the country and being able to get away from the house in our van, due to the new bridge project’s detour continually sloughing off into the deep ravine making the road too narrow to be passible by gari(car). Our current route away from the house with the van is thru the village which adds 20-30 min and is barely passable with the path being very narrow and one never knows what and when will be oncoming traffic. Plus, once the rains start, going thru the village will no longer be an option. In the past, we have parked our van on the other side of the new bridge project, but with the country wide fuel shortage that doesn’t seem wise.. considering fuel siphoning being a possible too great of temptation..
It was decided to go on a fuel hunt today.. we checked our normal gas station, “next fuel shipment, Sunday afternoon.”
We met Kobid Bhay(Brother) at New Mkt. Stopped at the bank to check on progress of legal work for Christina’s visa and went to check another gas station for fuel. I don’t remember if it was this one or the next station, Kobid had a discussion with the station personnel and got back in with 2 more stations that were recommended. We pulled up to the next station, no line. Experience says, that’s not a promising sign. But when asked if he had octane he gives the common side head jerk meaning, Yes!!!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 Can you give us a full tank? Another head jerk.“anytime you need, come”🤗🤗 Whew! What a sigh of relief! A stressor relieved🤍🤍Kobid says the station owner is a very wealthy man, etc,etc..
I forgot to write about our 1st native birthday party that we were privileged to attend!
The home where we have our 2nd Sunday School in Chakrakhali. Their one and only son, Taritro, turned 13 yrs old and we were invited for supper and the evening.
Culture here, begins with dessert. 2 round layer cakes today. One was white confetti made by his mom with a big T drawn in the frosting on the top and the other was a chocolate layer cake made and decorated professionally by a friend.
Oh, and to put you into the setting.. we walk in from the road on a brick footpath shaded by jungly growth on both sides, we sit on hard plastic chairs in a dirt yard swept clean, in front of their concrete home.
So, we gather around the small cake table for pictures and 🎶 Happy Birthday 🎶 and then the traditional cake cutting. The birthday boy with maybe his mom guiding his hand to cut a small pc of cake. They feed each other pcs. of cake and maybe a close friend or 2. Then everybody gets a small pc of cake.
Then supper is served on flimsy plastic plates… rice, dhal, and curry.
After supper a musical instrument combo.. small tabletop piano with accordion on the back (I s’pose there’s a specific name for the instrument, maybe I’ll learn it yet.. ) and tabletop drums were bought out. Taritro’s mom is a music teacher so one of the guests this evening was a 7 yr old student of hers. She played and sang a song for us and one of the little boys also played and sang one. They asked us if we had a song to contribute. We quickly pulled one up on our phones and commenced to sing but about the same time a gathering next door was really cranking up and what they had going on drowned ours out… so much so that we could hardly visit.. I kept hearing the word “America” so I asked Kobid what was going on!? He explained the neighboring gathering being one that all religions come together. There was a women expounding.. and that was the 1st we heard of Trump being associated with the overthrowing of Iran’s leader…
Taritro and his friends were busy preparing for a kebab BBQ. They were putting the 1st skewers of chicken over the fire at 10:00 so no we would not stay.. besides they’d already served us supper..
Sat eve Lonnie was not feeling well and spent the night with a flu bug
Jaira got a touch of it also
Our washing machine has been giving us fits! We babysit it All day to get one load washed!
After trying different things and many trips up the stairs to get it going after throwing a code again..
Thurs. Mar. 5 Lonnie went into Khulna City and bought a new washing machine. He found one, same make as what we’ve been using but 12 kg capacity instead of 10 kg.. that sounded great to me!
Fri. Mar. 6 stayed home from S.S.’s with Gentry. He has come down with a terrible junky cough again and just seemed pretty miserable… not sleeping well at night..
After 4:00 service Kobid and Shomid came in for snack and Carrom.
Sat. Mar. 7 Tulshi wondered if the car was full of fuel. Said people are not being able to find fuel..
So on our trip into Khulna we stopped at the gas station 1st, expecting to get in a long line if what Tulshi said was true.. no line, no Octane!😳 We had just under 1/2 a tank, so went grocery shopping, stocking up extra so we could go a little longer before coming into town for supplies again!
Talking with the missionaries from Dhaka and Gopalgonj…fuel shortage and rationing there also.
Wed. Mar. 11 Lonnie had eye camp in Koyra, 3 hrs south near the Shundorbans.
