Thurs. Apr. 2

 Lonnie and Annslie met Kobid in Khulna City.

bank: Christina’s legal work/bank account for extended visa. Still unsuccessful.

Hunt for Octane: one place said come back at 3:00 we don’t know if it will be Octane or Petro

Lunch at Mambo’s with Kobid

Picked up Octane booster in case only Petro is available

Headed back to fuel stations. stopped at one with long line of motorcycles. drove to the front of the line. No Octane, but they put twice the rationed amount of Petro in, 2,000 Taka, which got the tank to 1/2 full.

On to the place that said, come back at 3:00, long line of motorcycles + 5 cars. Got in the car line and they filled the tank with Octane🤗🤗 We never know when and where we’ll be able to get fuel hopefully we can continue to get it!

On the way home, he stopped at the veggie and fruit market that we frequent.

It was entertaining to hear him relate his experience

“Where is Madam?” “Sit,sit!” “What do you need?” “Madam always gets this!” “Where is Madam?” And then he would holler to a neighboring vendor for boro size peyag (large onions),….

Back at the house I was Sure glad Lonnie had Annslie as putting a load of laundry in and getting lunch on by noon was “pedal to the metal” in between taking care of Gentry. I did find out that it works quite well to plop Gentry in an empty laundry basket so he can be supported and upstairs with me while I do laundry, etc. without dragging anything up there or out of the girls’ room😊 and Dipti always seems to enjoy taking care of him if I need free hands for a minute.🧕🏾

Wed. Apr. 1

 This last month, Lonnie took seriously shedding the pounds that he’d put on since coming to BD. His program was very effective! No extra Taka 💵 needed maybe less used, no special drink to buy , or only certain kinds of food allowed. Message if you are interested in more details😅 He invited his family to join him for this next month as he felt like he needed some moral support for his continued effort and I’ll see if his method works for me. Can’t hurt, might help..

Tues. Mar 31

 At 1st recess Christina needed to come with us to the bank. Another(normal for acquiring legal documents in this country, but wearisome!)attempt at securing a bank account for her, for legal purposes. Unsuccessful. The man at the bank asked Kobid if Lonnie was angry about this situation. Kobid told him,”yes!” 😂 So, the man calls for Lay’s Sips(chips) as a peace offering. Btw, if Kobid tells us somebody’s angry in the future, I might take it with a grain of salt, if their emotion is the same level as Lonnie’s “angry”😜

  Picked up a few groceries and went to our favorite biryani joint on the other side the city for lunch. 

Back at the house, the girls finished school, skipping music and health since it was also Miss Christina’s turn to cook supper and we’d been gone a few hours of the day.

Sunday Mar 29 Annslie is 3! 🎂

 Annslie’s Cake Day(as she has been calling it) has Finally arrived! 

5:00 pm birthday party, we invited our employees, S.S. van driver, and Kobid(for interpreting purposes). Dipti brought her diabetic husband Uttam, night guard Shunil came with his daughter in law Shumi and grandson. 

Day guard Tulshi gave Annslie a long haired, stuffed dog with a heavy bottom, 

Dipti brought her 6 Nic Nacs(imitation Kit Kats), 

Shunil brought a bagful of candy and snacks, daughter in law Shumi brought the decorated layer cake that we’d ordered… white cake, the frosting had a yellow hue, a paper butterfly perched in the piping on the top edge, a few pearls and Happy Birthday Annslie written on the top

 Kobid brought her a small tub of chocolate icecream.

A living room full of our Bangali friends visiting, my heart was full💗 but just a bit daunting to Annslie, she climbed up on the bench next to Tulshi, her favorite Bangali

Christina and the girls made some spiced cha ☕️ 

We turned out the lights, lit the candles, sang Happy Birthday during which Annslie started crying… was all a little much for her.. and then she wouldn’t blow out the candles so we gave her some time, Lonnie held her and started sending little puffs at the candles, blowing out 2. When she saw there was only 1 left she quickly blew it out cause she does love to blow out candles! Then we filled the plates with cake, icecream, and chanachud (a spicy, crunchy mix). Annslie helped me serve them, starting with Tulshi and Dipti. Nee-tie, our S.S. rickshaw van driver reminded us we needed to pray 1st(he very faithfully reminds us at any occasion involving food). 

After the food we had Annslie open her gift from Maddie.. the quiet book I’d helped her make. And then Shunil said he needed to go, Hindu prayer time. Shumi was not in a hurry to leave tho and lingered, taking a picture of our peach colored hibiscus tree 🌺 But Shunil was insistent. Everybody else took their leave also.. We told Kobid, if he didn’t have anything else going he could stay and play Carrom. Tulshi came in also and Lonnie and I played against those 2 with plenty of interruptions for Lonnie and I. We both spent partial games playing the other side as well.

After they were gone, we let Annslie open the rest of her gifts. 💭 We had varying opinions on whether we should let her open them in front of the natives.. We didn’t know what they would think of More toys and books when we already have more than any of them! But, maybe they would enjoy trying to play the fishing game too or listening to Kobid translate a children’s story about a mudskipper in the Shundorbans..?.?.?

Sat. Mar. 28

 Fuel is still in high demand. Lonnie took Shanto into Khulna looking for Octane for his bike. Unsuccessful.

Then he took the rest of us into town for groceries and hamburgers and fries at Mambo’s.

Bathroom break at Artisan for the toddler.. a good chance to get some clothes shopping for the littles in😊

Maddie and I finished up the quiet book project for Annslie’s birthday

Fri, Mar. 27

 Today is a Hindu festival so the 1st S.S. is pretty slim and the 2nd is canceled..

Went home and made BBQ meatballs, mashed taters, and stir fry veggies.

After the 4:00 service, those that had showed up, came over to discuss Easter plans. Gopalgonj invited our cong. for Easter Sun. service and lunch. Do we want to invite them for our Good Friday service? One wouldn’t think such a simple question could spawn such a complicated discussion🤯

Served cold sweet tea, popcorn and Christina’s Sour Cream Coffee Cake from breakfast. Sent the last pc. of cake home with Shanto for Shotti. She had stayed home with her goat, as it was expected to kid this evening.

Thurs. March 26 fun day at Gopalgonj

 After a very fun and exhilarating week for the girls and I, we headed to Gopalgonj to pick Miss Christina up and have a fun school day for the children. 

Lonnie was put to the max taking care of the 2 littles this last week and let me know that if I had to teach the girls we would have to just go home. So, Miss Christina has job security👍🏼 

It didn’t help that Gentry is teething + has some kind of respiratory illness going on. Lonnie did get him on antibiotic as this has rocked on for so long with him not being able to kick it.(fast forward, he took several doses just fine, and then he started throwing up every attempted dose😏. We then fell back on the onion poultice. I grew up using onion for many ailments but as an adult have found it’s usually the last thing I try🤦🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️)

At Doyle’s, the girls were turned over to the teachers where they went over year end program, did an Easter art project, Spelling Bee,..

Sheema cooked us up a yummy Bangla lunch of chicken curry, shobji(vegetables), and dhal(lentils).

Then the teachers and children went out and had a water balloon fight. 💦 

5:00 we headed back home