The normal packing out routine with keeping the washing machine going, cleaning out the fridge, and loading the van.
🛣️ 4 hrs later, Tulshi🧔🏾♂️and Toby🐕🦺 welcomed us back to Feda Palace.
The report was that the power had been off most of the day. Oh, yes, we are back in the village.
It did come back on, got the water filter changed that had turned black during our absence, and the laundry going, in preparation for Fellowship weekend.
Throughout this week there was maintenance to be tended to. In the middle of the night, the water heater rusted through and quite a puddle was happening. Another day the reverse osmosis line had sprung a leak and was spraying away. Rickshaw driver friend Syed Ali came by every day bringing bananas for the girls, taking Lonnie out for cha, washing the van, sweeping the cobwebs from the car port ceiling, scrubbing the slippery mildew from the drive and it’s greenness from the concrete perimeter wall, sweeping the yard, etc. He’s a village-y character but has a way of adding a sparkle to our days in the city.💙
Today, Lonnie wanted to look up a hydroponic supplier he’d found online. It was a dry run(on a rainy day;)
Next stop, North End, for lunch and coffee bean restock. We opted to go to the location where they do all the roasting. They were roasting today:) So that was fun to observe the pristine environment through the plate glass wall https://maps.app.goo.gl/ojiLWv1QFT8j1sSz9?g_st=ic We can almost forget we’re on the other side of the world in this setting. ☕️ 😌
We hit the “airport” UniMart yet
Back at the house, while Annslie napped, Lonnie went to Dumni to look up his friend Habib. Hard times have hit them but also a happy time as the birth of their next child is getting quite near after a recent late term miscarriage, their 1st child is autistic..
When he got back, we met Brian’s and the teachers at Herfy’s for supper. Then they all came over for the rest of the evening. We served Basil seed drinks in little cha glasses. These Basil seed drinks were quite a bit different from what Naton served us last year😅 these were apple and mango flavored and chilled! Made all the difference in the world🙃
Then Brian tuned in to his friend’s funeral back home. A very sad death, a 42 yr old father in a truck accident. After the opening by Brian’s uncle Ron (former BD missionary) they went home to finish listening. It was getting late, as it does when listening to services from the other side of the world..
The big girls stayed in Pink City with Kaylee and the teachers
Appt time 10:15
We thought we’d given ourselves plenty of time but….
Let’s say, my respect for the man stationed in Dhaka that deals with the government officials on a much more regular basis, just went up a notch or 2 after our morning.
These folks/system can be plain impossible!! Very frustrating!!
For starters, last time we’d come we were told, “you have to have an appt before you can park in their gated, guarded parking lot.”
Well, here we come today with our scheduled appt and attempt to turn in to park. But, “Oh no, that parking is only for officials!” So we drive around a bit and everywhere there is “No Parking” and we are waved on. So we finally decided that Lonnie will drop Annslie, Gentry, and I off and I’ll try to get in while he endeavors to find a place to park as we do Not want to miss this appt! I got to the outdoor registration and they started asking me for all sorts when Lonnie had said they told him all we needed was our passports and our appt email, I believe. Well, Lonnie had the email on his phone and I knew he was probably having some levels of stress trying to find parking so I wasn’t too eager to call him and have him share that with me. I pointed out Gentry’s name and appt time on their paper but then they wanted his government birth certificate Not the hospital birth certificate! I told them that’s what we’re here today for!!😡 if I was a foul language using person this would’ve definitely been where I’d have used it🫣
They did let me in finally😌 I hadn’t gotten too far into the depths of the facility when I was told I had to leave my phone in a lock box! I can’t do that! I don’t feel up to what’s ahead of me by myself and the 2 littles and I don’t know how it’s going for Lonnie and if they’re letting him in etc. But. I put my phone in the box and taking the key, I pushed the littles in the stroller down the next concrete corridor… winding around thru the place asking where to go next, till we came to a room full of people. And that’s where Lonnie caught up with me. Wow. Was. I. Ever. Glad. To. See. Him.
We were escorted to the far end of the room, past many observing eyes, to an area that had a picture of Trump hanging on the wall. I took note of how quiet the place was with all those people in there! I’m guessing, somewhere over a hundred people.. But then in our smaller area there were a few babies and a couple of children which naturally helped ease the frigid quietness. We didn’t have to wait long to get called the 1st time to go give the paperwork we’d brought along. And then we had a little longer wait till we could go have our interview that would start the passport process. During that time I observed an 8? yr old girl telling her dad something about Trump, pronouncing it with the r rolled😅 Can you do that;)
The man doing our interview was such a breath of fresh air…soft spoken, fluent English, and such a kind demeanor, it helped put me at ease a bit. He wanted to know why we didn’t have family photos. He asked a lot of questions since he didn’t have photos to verify. He easily accepted Lonnie’s answers and replies.🤍
Wow. Was that ever freeing to have that appt over with!
Back out at the curb I waited with the littles while Lonnie went to get the van. We bought a bag of popcorn and “chips” from somebody walking past.
Back to Pink City to get the girls. Then to Gulshan 2 Chef’s Table and UniMart. https://maps.app.goo.gl/uwcTXz9N9ZvuoqDC9?g_st=ic
At Wok Way we got our favorite ginger teas, fried rice, Kung Pão chicken. Lonnie went to a different vendor to get his plate of sushi. We all enjoyed his sushi also
I went down to UniMart to start shopping while Lonnie and the children hit the frozen yogurt yet.
Supper at Brian’s
Kaylee and Miss Aleigha spent the evening teaching Maddie and Jaira how to embroider💗
I watched the children. Annslie and 4 yr Bennett, who is Downs, played very nicely at times and it was sweet to watch, although at other times Annslie thinks she’s the police and ends up sitting on a chair for an extended amount of time..
In the afternoon we went to get Gentry’s test results. And then get in with the pediatrician to get them read. I stayed out in the van with the children while Lonnie went in. He had to wait an hour to see the Dr and then get in the pharmacy line for the prescription. The results: nothing was detected. So continue with probiotics and zinc and watch his diet closely, introducing new foods one at a time. I’m still detecting blood in every diaper but it feels like the tide has turned and incrementally he is improving.
We went on to do our Jamuna Park Mall supper and shopping.
Takeout: one of the few places we’ve found so far that has hamburgers we can enjoy https://maps.app.goo.gl/oRow9sqeHNnSmPkG8?g_st=ic
Kid’s Paradise for an umbrella stroller and 1st pair of shoes for the boy. https://maps.app.goo.gl/WcNDhMm8UceEmnch6?g_st=ic
Mr. D.I.Y. Such a fun store that has many small practical/fun things for nice low prices👍🏼 https://maps.app.goo.gl/gh7zaQaxhQ8aVUX79?g_st=ic
Wholesale Club: that lovely place where we find a few imported products that have a way of adding sparkle to life https://maps.app.goo.gl/oRow9sqeHNnSmPkG8?g_st=ic
Back at the house later that evening, the big girls and I listened to Miss Shana’s wedding in Scenic Ridge, OH.
We Finally got to Dhaka’s New Market😅 with Brian’s and the teachers https://maps.app.goo.gl/4ZY6e8nnrbvjYC8b9?g_st=ic at the entrance we were enticed to try fresh dried mango and a pc of cheese. The cheese was round white loaves(think artisan bread loaf size) it was a very dry texture and a stouter taste than what we were interested in.
Took note of the watch displays in front of, almost literally, every other dhokan! Then we came to a place where you could shop “inside” under a roof area. Which was a great thing, as before long, it came up a good little rain. We enjoyed shopping for kitchen items, Bangladesh scenes paintings, .. the men did some of their own browsing. Lonnie found a shirt like he’d been looking for and after the rain stopped they found a cha stand close to where we had parked. Us ladies hit the fabric, kameeze sets, and ornas real quick yet and then headed out to the vehicles.
We took the littles home for naps and a quick little lunch
Early evening we went back out with Brian’s and the teachers. First to a park they wanted to take us to
https://maps.app.goo.gl/zTTijqDA4sMNoqJr6?g_st=ic
The 1st sizable expanse of green grass we’d been on in a good little while, maybe even since coming to this side of the world!
They had personnel stationed by the big trampolines to keep the big children off with an age limit of 6!? That wanted to make my girls upset because it looked like something they could enjoy and I wouldn’t have even deemed it safe for the little people because the springs around the edge were not even covered!
But then we checked out the maze. That was definitely a highlight! Like a corn maze but it is shrub hedges. So fun! And perfect for Maddie and Jaira😊 and then the teachers and Lonnie came and found their way thru it too.
The sun was setting as we made our way back to the vans and on to Neela Mkt for kabobs.
Gentry spiked a 103* in the night but by morning it was back to normal. His diapers still have blood but it’s decreased. We are waiting on test results but it’s the Bangladesh weekend, so they said 3 days.
We got to church a little late, but they waited on us🙃 Naton(the Dhaka interpreter) has gotten a job that keeps him from being available for Fri service. So Brian and Lonnie kept it simple and short with Brian interpreting as best as he could.
We decided today would be a good day to take the dad’s to a special place for upcoming Father’s Day. We enjoyed a Bangali style steak dinner at Woodhouse Grill https://maps.app.goo.gl/N7ixC41qFGArmPER7?g_st=ic
This afternoon, Lonnie and Brian met up with our former Brother, Shurav, for a nice visit.
Brian’s and the teachers came to the guesthouse for the eve. The chips I used for nachos didnt stay crunchy😏 and we pulled cookies out. But we enjoyed each other’s company😉👍🏼
1:30 AM found us on the road for Dhaka.
The world was not completely dead, although it was greatly reduced. Just a pedestrian here, a dokhan still open, an easy bike still going from point A to point B, a repair? shop still going strong,…when we crossed the 1st river going out of Khulna we encountered lots of oncoming traffic, mostly trucks, using up most the road 🤯
We rolled into Pink City shortly after 5 am. Thank goodness(and thanks to your $ contributions, a field secretary that deemed this upgrade necessary, and some missionaries that put forth some real effort🤍) for a lovely guesthouse house waiting. Gentry’s diapers were not getting worse and were not as dramatic as the one that sent us up here. We opted to not go to the ER, but unloaded, made beds, and crashed for a couple hours till our pediatrician would be in her office.
The big girls stayed at the house and walked over to Brian’s after breakfast dishes were done. When we got to the hosp., we were informed it would be another 45 min till the Dr would be in. And as is so often in this country, there was interesting people watching to do🫣so that time passed quickly. At the visit, stool samples were ordered, a discussion of his diet, probiotics-zinc-and diaper rash cream were prescribed to be picked up at the pharmacy on ground floor.
We stopped at Apon (grocery store) for yogurt on the way home.
A relaxing afternoon
Lonnie took the stool samples in.
Miss Aleigha sent some Dee-Licious fresh-from-the-oven black currant muffins home with the girls. (Earl Grey Blueberry Muffins H&H Aug-Sep 2024)
