Sun. 30 Pink City supper with Josna, Sumita, Naton

 Language today had a HUGE homework assignment in preparation for the final test of this 1st book. 

6:30 supper at Jared’s with Sisters Josna and Sumita and interpreter Naton.

We found out later that Josna and Sumita had showed up at Jared’s at 4:30!

At 6:00 Naton was standing outside of the classroom here visiting thru the window with Miss Shana😅

He had 2 young girls with him that he referred to as his nieces, but said they are his cousin’s daughters. One is 21 the other 17. I told them to come in out of the heat, which they did. They had Layton and Shania with them too. Naton said he could see Jared’s and Josna and Sumita thru the living room window having serious conversation so he decided to come over to the guest house😅

 Before long Josna and Sumita walked up too!

So they were all sitting in the living room and I still needed to shower and finish getting my family ready for the evening😅 so Lonnie and the girls came down while I showered. 

6:30 we all walked over to Jared’s.

Brianna had made these natives their favorite American food- Stromboli, crunchy cabbage salad, watermelon, and choc cake with choc frosting and icecream. She’d had me bring sweet tea.

Naton is very jovial and kept the evening lively😊

By 8:30 Naton and his 2 “nieces” were climbing onto Naton’s motorcycle and Jared and Layton drove Josna and Sumita to the Pink City gates where they caught a CNG back to Farmgate.

We walked home thru the festive atmosphere of the night before Eid decor. Green and red “Christmas” lights strung in the main median, red and green flags strung in the intersections and at the end where we turn right to our road there is this outdoor concrete stage with concrete steps all the way around against the back block wall of Pink City. A place to have celebrations for varied occasions. 12? yr old Neighbor girl Alishbah was there with other girls her age playing with sparklers.

Back home I had my homework to finish. Lonnie studied and we both started on our exam for tomorrow. The firecrackers were popping. Lonnie went out to check out the goings on and a neighbor man haled him and gave a couple containers of Eid food. Lonnie tasted just a tiny since we weren’t sure if it was “safe” to eat (like ingredients washed and prepared in a clean enough environment to not make us sick). He said it was very sweet. Was yellow in color and looked like some kind of tapioca pudding.

Finally had to get Annslie to sleep but Lonnie stayed up and finished his test.

Sat. 29💕Annslie is 2🎂

 Lucky came to clean this morning. 

She came in exclaiming “Onek gOrom!” (Much Hot 🥵) we were able to converse just a bit😊

Laundry

Swept roof areas

A hot day. The girls all put on their swim clothes and played in the water on the roof top. The sun was so hot up there, reflecting off the white tile. But they thoroughly enjoyed the water, sliding around on their knees or one girl manning the house while the others ran thru ending in a slide 💦 

Leftover pizza and pineapple for lunch.

Made cupcakes, Cajun chicken pasta, and cut up fruit for salad for supper. Jared’s and Miss Shana came for Annslie’s birthday supper. (They are her latest favorite people💖) Miss Shana brought a big bowl of fresh cucumber salad 😋

Fri. 28 Day of Worship

 Church with the Sisters at the clinic. Biti(sp?..that lives in the City here) was there also. 

Lonnie shared today- “Do you ever ask God ‘Why?’? I do. I asked God, ‘Why did you send me to Bangladesh?’ I was impressed to read Psalms 83. I couldn’t figure out why this chapter, til I got to the last verse. ‘That men may know, that thou whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.’” Expounding further on things we go thru in this life being for the purpose of this verse.

At the end of the service is prayer request time. Biti asked for prayers for a sick relative then Jared announced their new replacements that plan to come middle of July. It’s not easy for these people to let those they’ve learned to love and have been a part of their life, go back to America, sometimes never to see them again this side of eternity! 

Enjoyed visiting.. it was enthusing to be able to understand a few words here and there of the Sisters and Brianna’s conversation

Did I ever describe our interpreter Naton? He is a fine young Bangali man. Somewhere around the 30 ish age range, I believe🤔 he is taller by Bangali standards. He is not scrawny but doesn’t have any extra😅 (slender or slim just doesn’t seem like the word I’d be looking for as in a complimentary adjective to describe a man🙃) He always dresses very smartly, today was an off white, long sleeved shirt (not tucked in) with a short stand-up collar (not folded over) with a tab of buttons that only went halfway down, black slacks, black ankle socks😅, his black shoes were left at the door as is customary. He is very friendly and loves to visit and give 7 yr old Layton a hard time😉

North End Coffee shop for lunch, UniMart shopping-stocking up for the week of Eid, which is comparative to Christmas in America, when much of Bangladesh is on holiday. And our family had some shopping to do in preparation for spending most of a week down in Khulna before next shopping day.

Made “M&M” Bars- by chunking up a choc bar, Granola, and pizza- for supper with crusts from UniMart

Note: some have questioned why we do our big shopping day on the Day of Worship.?. 

Dhaka is one of the most densely populated areas in the world with 23,234 people per square kilometer or an estimated 8.5 million people. 

So with Friday traffic being a little less, it just takes less time to travel and the stores are not as full, which means getting back home at a decent hour and the whole shopping trip taking less hours!

Thurs 27

 Language this morning

Part of our homework assignment  these last 2 days has been to practice common conversations.

Maybe those of you who have been thru these classes can tell us how you did that exactly 🤔 studying vocabulary is one thing, but a whole page of conversation?!

In the afternoon made a batch of loaf bread.

Caught up with former Ann Arbor house parents Murray and Marguerite Baerg Swalwell, AB 

They know some of the current and future missionaries of this field. And it’s always good to hear from them😊

Wed 26 🚩 easy😮‍💨 language les.

 Paninna started language class by letting us know this is an easy lesson… if she tells us that in the future, I will be forewarned….

  While it is true we didn’t have a new tense to learn with all the rules and exceptions to the rules. And no 12 or so sentences to come up with for homework..

BUT! We have 50 new words to learn by tomorrow and practice/learn a common conversation to have with a child. Btw, This example conversation fills a whole page all by itself🧐 not exactly, “a walk in the park“…

9:30-12:30 we did vocabulary flashcards. Bangla to English then turned the stack over and had to come up with Bengali word or phrase.

To the clinic for lunch of Josna and Sumita’s delicious cooking. The meat dish was fish this time! A first for us here..I didn’t detect any strong fish flavor just yummy fish steaks and only a few bones to pull out! Battered and fried eggplant, curried (whole, boiled) eggs, along with the normal fare.

Tues. 25 singing eve🎶

 This morning while washing dishes, Maddie commented, “Mom, I can’t wait till we have singing at the clinic again!”😊 

“Well, you are in luck, it’s tonight!”

Maddie: “ I like that song that says, ‘Dhonno, dhonno, dhonno’.”

Made a stab at Cajun chicken pasta for lunch… no Cajun seasoning and no cream… but must’ve been some good enough substitutes. Jaira’s comment after lunch, “Mom, you should make that pasta stuff again sometime!”😌

4:30 at Jared’s to ride along to singing with Josna and Sumita. Biti was there to add some good volume and Sumita’s brother’s wife’s sister sat in the circle also. Those concrete walls with open windows rang with the singing.. just beyond those walls, the street vendors would walk by carrying their wares on their head singing?/hollering? out their offer of merchandise.

Miss Shana found the song Maddie was thinking of🤗

Pg. 147 in the Bengali hymnal “Ki Mohanondo Upostit” to the tune of The Great Physician.

Jaira thought “This Little Light Of Mine” would be fun to sing. No notes to keep us in line with the Bengali words but Sumita started us off (and kept us going when the syllables got tricky😉)

To Herfy’s for supper… crispy chicken wraps, nuggets, fries,.. Lonnie tried giving an employee extra taka for plenty of ketchup packets! I put in my 2 bits with “BiS!(20)” he came back with 8… maybe they had already put plenty on our food tray, cause when I counted, it was actually 20 altogether! And we did have enough, even if we used every single one!

Mon. 24 Baking and bats 🦇

 In the afternoon the girls worked on cleaning up the kitchen, I took Annslie to find Lonnie. He was one street up and over where a house is going thru an adding on process. The plan was to leave Annslie with him but soon saw that he was busy helping form up for a concrete wall and would not be to watch the toddler and work with the men. We watched a bit. Miss Shana stopped by on her way home from the dokan and shared one of her choc covered choc icecream bars with us. Took Annslie home with me and endeavored to mix up a batch of sweet roll dough with the toddler right there dropping a rubber band into the batter, grabbing the edge of the mixing bowl for a better look 👀. None too  soon Lonnie was back taking over the toddler and I was was able to finish mixing the dough. 

A couple hours later I was stationed on my low stool in front of the oven keeping close watch as it’s still a guess what the oven temperature is and close to the end I turned on the top coil/broiler? to see if I could brown them a bit. 

We tried the 1st ones.. SUCCESS🎉

Then made a trip over to Jared’s to return the borrowed cakes pans filled with cinn. rolls to share😊

The sun was down and it was a pleasant evening so we continued to walk. At one point a colony of bats was making quite a ruckus in a tree right next to the road. I don’t know how Bangladesh does it, but the bats 🦇 here are XXL😱 with wingspans like that of a crow or hawk. Story writers… they are perfectly paired with the abandoned concrete houses here in Pink City. I say abandoned, but a rickshaw van is seen parked amongst the trash in the carport, laundry has been seen hanging on an upstairs rooftop area, somebody on the front steps one day… rubbish everywhere, no windows or doors,…

Sun. 23

language class 8:00-9:30

The plumbers arrived to take care of the leak.

Homework, to the tune of drilling holes in concrete walls etc.

Picked up Annslie from Brianna’s and walked down to the dokans, finding bananas and potatoes. Back home to slip in the kitchen when the plumbers stepped out to get lunch started. They were done before lunch and was impressed with as good of job cleaning up after themselves as they did, after some of the stories we’ve heard😌

Sat 22 an occasion to celebrate✨

 A busy day!

Started off with biscuits and gravy with scrambled eggs.

Lucky arrived to clean.

The plumber mistri came by to get to the bottom of a water leak that was a slow drip from the doorway going from the kitchen out to the laundry room.

I did laundry and mopped both rooftop areas waiting for the sun to come out and the internment sprinkles to disappear.. eventually hung the clothes inside and on drying rack.

Borrowed sewing machine from Brianna to do a little altering.

To Jared’s at 4:30 … He thought we needed to celebrate that they got replacements and can plan on going home this fall and a teacher was placed for us🥳

Dhaka replacement- Brian and Kaylee Friesen Roblin, MB 2 boys- 2 yr old and newborn🤗

Khulna teacher- Christina Yoder, Henderson TN🤗

Gopalgonj’s teacher coming is Aleigha Froese also from Canada

Interesting note- these 2 teacher girls have some unique connected dots with Gopalgonj missionary wife (Krystle)…

Krystle was in Nigeria, as a child with her family, and her school teacher and a neighboring post teacher were these girls’ mothers!! And so continues the cycle of life but what a coincidence? That these 3 (of all the missionaries and teachers placed and the timing and all!) all end up in Bangladesh at the same time!? You think God just smiled when he was overseeing the pcs of this part of the puzzle or do you think it was just time and chance 💭…

Anyways, we went to a Bangladesh steakhouse for supper. So up the elevator of another one of these high rise buildings. 

Note on the elevators: we ride elevators at least once a week and if we do anything additional, twice a week. Told Layton he will have taken many more elevator rides than any of his chums back in KS!

Back to this steakhouse- it wanted to make me laugh seeing these Bengali waiters in Stetsons😅 it was definitely Bengali style steakhouse and since we are still in the month of Ramadan the menu was restricted, only 3 options to choose from and all were like sampler trays.. And no hot bread with butter for appetizer … they normally serve a soup but not this month…

After supper we ladies and children headed down to street level where a dessert shop had been spotted 😉

https://maps.app.goo.gl/tippZjaANFAjzqw2A?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

We came home carrying our white boxes with satin handles and our pcs of choice✨

Ours was the caramel cheesecake😋

Fri 21 Day of Worship

 Not getting going when I knew I should and then throw in power that wouldn’t stay on…Cold cereal breakfast + a few other shortcuts and we actually made it over to Jared’s only a few minutes late!!

At church (clinic) we visited quite a while before Naton(interpreter) arrived… We ladies and children usually gather in the little room next to the kitchen where the fridge, etc is, sitting on low stools and the table while the men sit in the front room where church is set up. I think they finish tying up/organizing their inspiration and are finalizing their text.??..😅🤷🏼‍♀️ 

Lonnie’s opening was on the five wise and five foolish virgins. Expounding on the vessels being like our hearts and the importance of what we fill it with. Just like oil and water don’t mix, neither things of the world and that of the Holy Spirit. 

Jared had the message on not worrying about our future while Lonnie stood in the doorway keeping Annslie quiet.

After church the ladies and children went to find the kittens that we had spotted on our way in. One was very shy but the other one let us hold it🥰

To Farmhouse Burger for lunch. https://maps.app.goo.gl/HF73fnVJbJcJopGJA?g_st=icWe were the only ones there and they were out of several of our 1st choices off the menu which is not strange during Ramadan but they also mentioned they have a big order coming tomorrow. We were happy with what we were able to order tho 😊

Miss Shana + I tried the Mumbai Chicken Sandwich

“Prepared with masala fried chicken, scallion yogurt, mint chutney & pickled onion” the menu described.

It was a hit and would definitely order again!…I am still adjusting to the flavor of this beef over here…

With our favorite fries- hand cut with voodoo dust

We ordered ranch for dip but the ketchup was good this time and the coke was cold ✨🤗

Jared’s dropped our family and Shana off at North End Coffee https://maps.app.goo.gl/NxurWY2z3md8J1iX8?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy(there’s only 9 here in Dhaka within 13 km of us and plenty beyond the North End chain!) while they went to get started on their UniMart trip. We could forget we were not in America while there! Spotless and bright with the aroma of coffee in the air, it just exuded an American(home) vibe and I would have gladly stayed there a few hours🫣 it was peaceful and inviting..brown leather chairs around small round white marble? tables.. But we got our drinks to go. And the man behind the counter brought out a small drink for Annslie (that we had not ordered) a half size hot choc, she was impressed🥰 I’m afraid she’s gonna get spoiled over here! 

We walked to UniMart just up the street. We didn’t need a lot since we’d made a run the other day. We shopped the 2 grocery levels then checked the 3rd level out… clothes and shoes..

Annslie fell asleep on Miss Shana’s lap on the way home and she successfully got her into her pak n play without waking🤗

We took a walk after naps. down Rd 1,2,&3 both sides of the Main Street. The houses and their yards are all very interesting to check out. Also their pets. There was a prettiest little brown puppy, looking very clean and well cared for and behind another gate was a beautiful German Shepherd! A small group of young children were playing down one road. There was much chatter and giggles amongst them and when we got close, a dash past us😅 On the way back past them , when we were right beside them I told ‘em “Hi!”. One replied and then they giggled and ran off like as if they were a bit shy of these white people..

Pulled out leftovers for supper and the girls worked on cleaning up the kitchen.

Thurs 20 celebrate🎉

 Paninna couldn’t come till noon again today so I was able to bake cakes, make frosting and hot hamburger dip for the eve.

After language class and school was out for the day we went to Jared’s for a pizza party. It was Miss Shana’s incentive party for behavior, they’d gotten all the way around the classroom with their paper chain🤗

Pizza Hut pizza was delivered and Miss Shana had made blue Gatorade slush. After lunch they made Ice cream In A Bag and played hide n seek in the house. It was sprinkling outside..

Lonnie and Doyle went out for coffee to visit about things concerning the Khulna post and an upcoming initiation trip there for our 2 families.

Frosted the layer cakes-choc Bavarian and funfetti with cream cheese frosting..

Oh and btw, we got so serious about using up those 90 eggs, Lonnie had to go get more today already!!?!

Brianna brought veggies and dip, Krystle brought watermelon and punch..

So the 3 youngest and Rafael, whose 5th birthday is the the day after Shania’s, all got candles in their pc of cake, the light was turned off, 🎶 Happy Birthday dear children 🎵, the cakes blown out and cake and ice cream commenced.

The children had a high o’ time, a tote of school books was positioned in front of the stairs to keep the 1 yr old safe, and visiting amongst the adults….

Wed. 19 “Distraction evening”

 School, language class, lunch at the clinic.. more yummy rice, beef curry, vegetables, limes, cucs,dhal served up by our Sisters Josna and Sumita.

 The suspense of waiting to hear if there will be replacements for Jared’s/if they will be able to go home early fall was a bit wearing on the Regehr mental. Told them they should come over for a “distraction evening”

Made barbecue meatballs, mashed potatoes, Brianna brought frozen peas (I was Very happy to find out those are available here And they were a very delicious sort🤗) we had saved the last pan of flan and Lonnie and Jared polished it off mostly all by themselves🫣 the rest of us had fresh choc chip cookies that Brianna had brought. After supper Miss Shana worked in her classroom and the rest of us visited and sang.

Tues 18 1st family outing

Sometime after our weekly shopping trip, we planned a an early birthday party for the 3 youngest of each of the families on the field. 2 of them share a birthday and the other one is 4 days later! What a coincidence! We needed to celebrate! Since Doyle’s were in the city this would be a good week. I agreed to make the cake for the occasion. Thus, a trip to the store for cake mixes, candles, etc. 

Which became our 1st single family outing since we arrived in Bangladesh😊(just over a month!) Definitely  an occasion! We put Annslie’s car seat in our white minivan with leather seats. Filled our water thermoses. Gathered snack bag (never know how long an outing will end up, think traffic holdups..always want to be prepared), UniMart bags(they provide burlap/cloth bags for $taka so if they get left at home, you have to buy more at checkout😏), mosquito zapper (for the swarm in the van). And we were off! Sitting in the front seat next to Lonnie it felt a bit vulnerable with those big clear windows 😅. Annslie seemed to enjoy being back in her car seat for the 1st time in a month😄(and the rest of us for sure enjoyed it😜)

We  tho’t the Wholesale Club in Jamuna Park would be a good option for a couple different reasons but we ended up driving 20 min further to UniMart where we were able to find the groceries we were after!

Oh, yes.. and Lonnie also learned that it’s best to back into the parking spot in those parking garages.. after pulling in, and the low bumper cacthing the parking curb. An observing Bengali, with hand motions, advised us to reverse and then stayed there til we got out and saw the damage. Lonnie is pretty sure that scrub on the bumper was already there tho..🤷🏼‍♀️

 Our UniMart stop turned out to be quite the experience due to being there over 6:00 when the natives break their fast of the day, now during the month of Ramadan, by eating Iftar. I was in the dairy section when I noticed one of the store personnel had spread pcs of cardboard right there in the aisle and was sitting cross legged there with a tub with food on it!? I did not catch on right away what was going on.. a bit later going down another aisle there at the end was a group gathered around their tub of Iftar. We saw several other groups gathered at the end of aisles. 

We were havin a bit of a time finding what we were looking for but not one of those, usually ever present personnel, was available! So we browsed for a bit til we saw personnel up and about but then they were all on a mission-to go wash their hand. We did eventually get some help. 

Then turned toward home and Lonnie got his 1st experience with Dhaka night driving.!.?.!!.. all the pedestrians, rickshaws, cngs, motorcycles just that much harder to be aware of🤔.

Mon. 17 📝Test and guests

 Sitting at the breakfast table eating Kellogg’s honey almond cornflakes. Absentmindedly reading the cereal box.. When all sudden it hit me!..

 “Good to eat with warm or cold milk”.?!. Something doesn’t sound quite right here! Gotta find out where this stuff comes from! …. Made in India. That figured. Didn’t think it could be from America if the box advertised that warm milk was a good option!!😅

  Paninna wasn’t able to come till noon. That can be nice, so I can get a few things accomplished in the morning.

Made the 2nd batch of flan for the evening.

Put a load of rugs in the washer.

And did some studying.

Heated up leftover enchiladas for an early lunch for Lonnie, Annslie, + I. And cut up a pineapple.

Tried to get Annslie down for a nap early so Brianna wouldn’t have to babysit. No luck. Paninna had already arrived before I got Annslie over to Brianna’s. She started with checking our homework, so wasn’t a big deal.

Today, Les. 10 Test Day😳

She told us to take our time, “you have an hour “

She would answer vocabulary questions but that was it!

It definitely stretched us to do that test!🤯

We didn’t ace it… but she said the test was so we could see what we needed to work on..

6:30 supper at Jared’s for the occasion of Kurt & Janie Nightengale and fam.(Mackay,ID) coming thru on their way back to America, after serving a stint in India just north of Bangladesh. 

Brianna had made a yummy supper of beef barbacoa tacos, glorified cabbage fresh salsa LaHacienda dressing, Mexican rice, sliced fruit.

We pulled out the flan bout the time the next crew arrived. Jared was stiff competition for Lonnie on the amount of times they went back for more😂 it was a 1st experience with flan for the Nightengales and the folks from Gopalgonj were stuffed from their supper so there was plenty!

 Gopalgonj missionaries came into Dhaka this afternoon bringing his folks and youth boy brother that are headed back to Nova Scotia Wed. eve. They wanted to spend a bit of time with the Dhaka folks and also meet up with Kurt’s as Krystle(Gopalgonj missionary wife) had been a teacher in Bangladesh during the term that Kurt’s had spent in Bangladesh. A nice eve spent visiting😊

Kurt’s were planning to leave the next day by bus and spend the week visiting former and current posts! Brave family! I imagine it’ll be quite the adventure!

Sun 16🦎 🐕 🐈🌴🌕

 🎶 Gecko here, gecko there! Geckos all around….. 🎵 Maddie and Jaira’s version that they’re teaching Annslie😉

The other day at the trampoline park, Annslie spotted one and tried her level best to step on it😅

They make a “tick, tick, tick” sound. So we are more often aware of their presence by their sound than by seeing them. On the bathroom window is where we see one the most…

On the subject of animals, there are Lots of dogs around, which Annslie is plum tickled about🥰! They do not seem to have a ferocious side but this mom is not very enthused bout the toddler petting and hugging on them🤔 just never know what all that fur is hiding🤔.. Maddie or Jaira was asking the other day, when a 3 legged dog with tail wagging Happily, was at our gate, “Who do these dogs belong to??” It’s not apparent who their owner is and they seem to just claim Pink City.?. The cats are the same way.. sometimes there’s one napping on the van roof in the carport or when we walked home from Jared’s last night there was one curled up on our gate post.

Speaking of the walk home last night.. when we got to the intersection where there was a break in the trees, there was the moon 🌕 hanging there perfectly in that open path between the trees😌 we stopped a bit just to revel in the beauty of the moment.. Lonnie commented that the moon was here but not for the folks on the other side of the world.. I did not follow his thought there for a minute because of the saying that we all see the same moon.. but then had to remember that it was 9:30 in the morning back in TN. And you don’t necessarily see the moon at that hour…

  Language class-

Learned: here-there, this-that, these-those,

Suffix for people, things

“          “       “          “     In the plural form

10 fruit names 

Parts of the body (11)

And about 11 more misc. words 

Lonnie and I took a walk down to the dokans. Came home with treats from the icecream freezer😌

Lucky came to clean.

Lonnie and I migrated to the front porch to be out of the way. We proceeded to do vocabulary flash cards .

Our porch furniture… brown plastic chairs😉

And, btw, it appears like Spring is over.. warm, muggy mornings and evenings. Goodbye open window weather, abar dEka hObe(see you again👋🏼)

Random bit: was delighted to see a patch of Japanese irises blooming here in Pink City✨

Iris is the TN state flower, for those who might not understand my sentiments… Japanese irises are a small version, but irises none the less..🙃

Made enchiladas for a late lunch. 2:00 to be precise. Late lunches are a norm here with having lunch after the school day is over…Miss Shana supplies morning snack every day!

Maddie n Jaira played in the alley between our back fence and the Pink City outer wall. Making a “fort” they said. Using a huge fallen palm frond for one border, scraping the ground clean, finding treasures… several discarded clay bowls,..

So, the other day when Lonnie came home with 90! eggs, I found out a couple days later,when I was telling Brianna that we had plenty of eggs and she should come by our place before she puts eggs on her shopping list next time, that Jared had brought her 90 eggs the same day also!🫣

Thus, it’s time to make a couple recipes of flan for starters. Borrowed Brianna‘s bread pans for lack of flan  or Bundt pan. Did a trial batch to see how this oven etc. would do. Bake time was 3x longer than normal, but the oven temp is just a guess, hoping to get a thermometer for it..

Veggies and dip, apples, French bread with butter and jam 

Sat. 15 ahhhh…..

 Who doesn’t love Saturdays?!

Crepe breakfast with fresh strawberries, spray cream, and tried something different on our favorite syrup recipe to try to get it to taste a little more like we’re used to.. result: better

  We thought today was cleaning day so made sure everything was picked up and put in place and then found out Lucky would be coming tomorrow.. the tidying was not a bad thing😉

The plumber mistri came to replace the water pump on the roof.

I got some laundry soaking.

Then mixed up bread.

The plumber finished his job and I got the laundry started.

Made pizza with crusts from UniMart and beef pepperoni. It’s been a good little while now since we’ve had “normal” pizza! So, we thought this was Pretty good!! Jaira was not sure about this pepperoni tho… definitely different than what she’s had the 9 yrs of her life…Jaira and I went for a walk looking for flower bouquet material. I’ve been hankering for a bouquet for my table… So, started in our yard then meandered down the street out to the main street of Pink City here where there is a median full of options. We happily started snipping here and there making sure we didn’t botch any plant. We turned around and started back and Jaira decided to make her own bouquet so started collecting sprigs. This friendly man walked by and talked to us, but we just couldn’t get what he was saying… which isn’t strange. He soon walked on and bout that time one of us found another suitable sprig. The man came back and tried again to tell us something. This time we got it.

No cutting…. For the (now I can’t remember the word he used🤔)….. he let us know our flower bouquet that we had was ok. Gave us a thumbs up👍🏼. But no cutting. He never quit smiling. And I tried to relay to him that I understood now👍🏼

 I didn’t know if it was ok or not here… But had decided it must be because it’s very common for a man to pick a flower (not with a long stem) for the toddlers. And the other day Aleebah had picked a flower along the street and given it to Jaira,etc.. so we decided it must be ok. So a whole bouquet with stems must not be ok even if picking a flower is fine….?..  understandable…

We Are enjoying our bouquets!.. maybe even more so knowing we won’t be allowed to go gather another one!

Maddie was itching to mix something up in the kitchen. So I guided her thru mixing up tortillas and shaping it into balls. 

Later she pressed them while Lonnie fried and I gathered the laundry from the rooftop, got it folded and put away. Jaira kept the toddler entertained and then they both showered.

We were invited to Jared’s whenever Naton (the interpreter) arrived. We got over there round 6:15.

Naton had brought Iftar(what the Muslims break their fast with at the 6:00pm prayer call now during Ramadan). It’s seasoned, spicy puffed rice with other bits(the spice and “other bits “ vary with the cook? This one had scarce bits of diced tomato, cuc, and cilantro also bits of sweet pastry, like funnel cakes, etc Naton also brought a Special drink. He served us large glasses of it! But only the most determined got it down. It was made with a fruit seed that made you think tapioca with a speck of black crunchy seed in it. So a bit thick as in the consistency of the drink, mostly flavorless, clear,  and room temperature 😝

Fri. 14 Day of Worship

 Something crossed the toddler’s will on the drive to church and we were all well aware of a very healthy set of lungs for Way too long. The fellow toddler was quite traumatized I’m afraid. I’m thinking we’re gonna need to find some ear plugs for our fellow travelers for occasions like this or Jared’s will suggest we take our own ride! After we arrived at the clinic, we met one of Josna and Sumita’s friends from their village who’s got an office job here in Dhaka. (And the fellow toddler was seen still covering her ears even tho the squalling had subsided upon arrival)

During the service, the fact that, the days are starting to warm up, was not able to go unnoticed.

For lunch we went to North End coffee shop. I thought I could go there every “Sunday” for lunch😋 roast beef croissants with a tiny white pitcher of red dipping sauce that had horseradish in it. We got Peach Strawberry Fizz for a specialty drink.Then “Freddos”=blended frappés with an assortment of desserts, all very satisfactory!! Date bars (moist with crunchy oatmeal and brown sugar streusel), soft chocolate cookie with a few small square white choc chunks, and a brownie which was definitely was headed towards fudge. The choc desserts were the perfect shade/taste of choc, on the darker side🤤

On to Uni Mart for our weekly grocery shopping. The children enjoyed the play area provided while we shopped. Wonder when Walmart will provide a play area…?… but then, UniMart doesn’t provide a pickup or delivery service…

  Annslie fell asleep on the way home with a successful transition to her pak n play.

Lonnie and I did our language homework from yesterday.

WhatsApped with a few folks from the Western World💛

Soaked/washed fruits, veggies, herbs from shopping afternoon.

Toddler playing with her dolls and finding songs on her daddy’s phone

A couple with their nose in a book

Veggies and ranch dip

A good day to y’all on the other side of the 🌎 

Thurs 13 🎂

 Birthday time in the L Koehn family again, Jaira turned 9🥳

I fixed the table up a little more special, and Lonnie and I made crepes for breakfast. We’d even picked up some spray cream for the occasion✨ Jaira commented that it was the Best breakfast since we’ve gotten here😉 we sang Happy Birthday and she opened her gift that we’d brought along from America. Grandma Frase called and talked a bit. Then the teacher and Layton arrived for school.

 Maddie and Jaira were wearing their new kamis sets that we picked up from the tailor yesterday. The fabric Jaira chose is a red and white kamis design and Maddie  chose a lavender with a bit of  white in the print. Both are beautiful on them🥰

Lonnie and I worked in the yard (Lonnie sweeping leaves with a straw broom and I swept the concrete paver walk in front of the house and down one side and scrubbed the outdoor tiled place around the water spigot. Oh, and it was time to get a load of laundry out to the line on the rooftop so I cleaned the 2nd story outdoor area while I was out there too) til Annslie was ready to go down for a nap.

After 1st recess we joined the school in a little birthday celebration singing Happy Birthday to Jaira and eating confetti cupcakes that Miss Shana had made🥰

 Ms Paninna arrived at 10:30 for language. Today was a review lesson. A cupcake was shared with her also. She started by taking a picture of it 😉 and then asking how all the colors? Miss Shana had just mixed sprinkles in the batter.(She had asked Jaira yesterday what her favorite kind of cupcake was😉) anyway Paninna’s cupcake was slowly eaten over the course of the class time.. and it provided inspiration for example sentences😅

12:30 we loaded up with Jared’s and went to Herfys fast food for lunch. Chicken nuggets, strips, wraps, burger, fries and then icecream cones. We tried to make balloon animals from a kit I’d brought along while we waited for our food to be brought out.

Then to the trampoline park but they were closed till later in the afternoon. So home, where we took it easy til 4:00. Bout 3:30 I went into Maddie’s room where the girls were sprawled on the bed reading and making sticker scenes on one of those reusable designed boards that come with coodinating stickers to make scenes.

I asked them where The Chunky(Annslie) was? They didn’t know. “ She’s not been with you?”😳  We found her downstairs in the classroom where she’d been hanging out with Miss Shana, playing with play dough, getting a fresh hairdo,.?. She loves Miss Shana (and Brianna!) but the fellow toddler can get a bit jealous if they’re holding Annslie 🙃

Back to the Trampoline Park where we bought 30 minutes of fun and exercise! Our family had never been to the likes before, but it was thoroughly enjoyed by all!! 

They sold a large variety of gummi candy in bulk which each family got an assorted bag of. They told us you can buy gummi candy in the stores but it’s pretty waxy and flavorless.. this stuff is top notch and a bit on the pricey side so the bags were not filled very full. Other concessions were available but only Miss Shana got a mojito drink..

Pulled smash tacos out of the freezer for supper. Jaira caught up with her birthday messages. And even a 🎵 Happy Birthday🎶 from her class back home 🥰 A big Thankyou for each one!✨

Wed. 12th

 Language class

Learned table conversation, more vocabulary, and part of our homework was to use our learned table conversation with our hosts at the clinic at lunch time😳(btw, our teacher’s husband showed up at the clinic at lunch time! I don’t know if he knew our homework assignment and was checking in or not..?!..)

Josna and Sumita outdid themselves again! The rice was a little more special this time with little bits of veggies in it and maybe a bit of spice also.?.  Chicken curry with the usual cucumber slices, lime wedges, and cooked veggies (today’s mixture had cauliflower in it), then Dal but was different than we’d had it so far (Shana and Brianna said this was the “normal” they cook it and is definitely preferred!)… the lentils were soupier and had little bits of tomato and cilantro leaves in it.. more flavor😋 and then Josna brought out the 3rd course! A homemade yogurt made in a shallow clay dish! Wow. Scrumptious. Fit for a king.(that’s willing to get the fingers on his right hand yellow from eating the curry without utensils😜) She did bring out bowls and spoons for the dessert😊

  Brianna, Maddie, toddlers, + I walked to the tailor to pick up the girls’ 3 pc kamis sets from. While we waited for the tailor to get back from? We watched a man on the street below butcher a chicken for a customer. Squatting there on the edge of the street, over newspapers spread out. He skinned it, cut it all up in pcs, putting them in a plastic bag then cleaned up the mess even sopping up/scrubbing a mess on the ground that hadn’t stayed on the newspaper! I marveled how he was able to keep the feathers off the meat pcs( at least from my point of view 2 stories up), without any water! He scraped off his hands, best he could, and received the payment.

Back at home Miss Shana worked in the classroom, Maddie washed breakfast dishes while Jaira read to her for moral support, Lonnie left with Jared shopping for replacement water pumps for both houses, I worked on trying to get Annslie to go down for a nap-finally succeed at quarter til 4🤔. Preparations for a birthday girl tomorrow. 2hrs later, Lonnie was back and we all walked to a dokan just outside Pink City gates in search of fruit for breakfast. It was dusk and we could see the almost full moon even with quite a layer of smog hovering.🌔✨

The girls got their showers early so they could try on their new kamises 🤩

A light supper of veggies and ranch, chips, watermelon, toffee? ice cream bars/popsicles.

Tues 11th

 Paninna(language teacher) arrived while I was finishing up combing Annslie’s hair. She wanted to know what I sprayed on her hair. Do you use it every day? I told her it is hairspray and yes, Annslie has such fine hair, I use it every day. I asked if they sale it here in BD? I guess it’s kind of hard to find and she mentioned that when you go to get your hair done they will use it, but it’s really strong. She took a picture of the front of it.. I told her I could get her some from America. And she’s like,” oh, but that would only be for 6 months- a year!” She sprayed some in the palm of her hand and dabbed it on her hair with her finger (never saw hairspray applied that way before 😉) and says, “Sometimes I need something like this.”

Today we learned the verb endings and sentence structure for future tense. 

Got our homework done in good time. Was proud I finished before Lonnie this time (by just a hair)😜 but then I the remembered I had some sentences from yesterdays homework that I needed to correct😏 

We walked over and got Annslie from Brianna’s. Stayed and visited a bit..

Annslie had a late night last night, didn’t get her to sleep till midnight because of a late nap… domino effect😏 so we fed her a little and she was soon sleeping..  Lonnie + I caught a little cat nap too. Then time to start lunch. School went clear till after 1:00 and I was just getting lunch going. So got pretty late.. Was enthused to try the smash tacos that Sheila had just told me about! They were a hit with my family😊

  Did some flood irrigating in the front yard..

  Made more tacos to use up the thawed meat while the girls cleaned up the kitchen.

Showers and to Jared’s by 4:30 to go sing at the clinic with Josna and Sumita. Was not too peaceful of a scenario with the toddlers, didn’t sing too long.. but enjoyed the little that we did sitting in a circle in the front room of the clinic there. Sumita has a strong soprano along with Jared. Lonnie and I join in with tenor and alto. Most of the songs we sang today were familiar hymns, but always in Bangla. Was happy to notice today, for the 1st time while we were singing, that I was picking out Bangla words that I know now🤗

A 3 yr old patient and Mom joined us for singing. She is from Gopalgonj area and knew Kelly and Lanae Friesen?, previous missionaries (Hazelton?) Showed us a picture of their family on her phone!

Miss Shana stayed home to prepare supper. She’d volunteered to cook for us all🤩 Butter chicken and naan bread! 

Mon 10th

 Language class 8-9:30 

Today we learned the verb endings and sentence structure for present perfect tense ( in English it would be using has or have with a verb). In Bangla it is their past tense. Also verb endings + sentence structure for saying “I need ——-“ and “I need to do ———“

Was a fairly intense lesson, definitely struggled!.. they have 6 verb groups with different rules for different groups. And then the different sets of groups that share the same rule for the ending vary with present, future, and past tenses🤯

Walked just outside the Pink City gate to the roadside shops/vegetable stands (dokans) got some small new potatoes, popsicles and toffee icecream bars, cabbage, and watermelon. Back to homework and lunch prep… new potatoes with meat and cheese sauce, veggies and ranch, + watermelon.

Laundry

Maddie made snickerdoodles

Enjoyed hearing from Sheila, Mom, Monica S., and Carla😊

Sun. the 9th

 Language class 8:00-8:30 and homework til noon.

Lonnie and I took turns going thru the  s t a c k  of flash cards in the afternoon. 

Miss Shana invited us for 6:30 supper 

She had made tomato soup by roasting the tomatoes and veggies then blending them. Grilled cheese to go with and veggies with ranch dip. Some yummy bars with choc chips that we’d bro’t back from Khulna for dessert.

Update on our time versus CST

 Bangladesh does not observe Daylight Savings Time so now we are only +11 hrs instead of +12😊

And don’t hesitate to message! I’ll read it when I see it!

We love to hear from folks afar. We only have Jared and Brianna + crew here in Dhaka to visit with(in English with shared culture)

Sat. 8th 3 wks in BD

 S l e p t  i n.

French toast for breakfast.

Lucky showed up to clean. Told her I need the whole house dusted also every week in addition to the floors and 4 bathrooms.. I was happier with her job today👍🏼

Leftover chimichangas for lunch.

We worked out in the yard. Technically, it sounds like the yard man should be doing more, but Maddie got enthused with leaf cleanup and carefully swept the side yard with the straw broom and then was hauling the piles from the front yard out to the road side, scoop by scoop. The trash pickup truck and guys came along about then and smiled as they saw Maddie working and brought their small tarp into the front yard and made short work of the leaf pile.🤗

3 of the neighbor children came by. They speak pretty good English. The oldest girl 12 years Alibah, brother Arab 10, and little sister Aleena 1. After a bit they invited the girls to come play badminton. So we grabbed our rackets and followed them down the street to their house. They have a badminton court across the street. Their dad’s friends come play in the evening with lights. So, the girls got their 1st badminton lessons😊 Definitely will take some practice with coordination and all! The big sister showed us their Big, fluffy/long haired white house cat with blue eyes named PuSi! She also Loves their chickens! 19 of them complete with baby chicks and 1 very healthy looking, Large rooster with shiny green tail feathers. She told me, “he bites people! Bites hard! If I go into the house he will bite you!” I asked her if she needed to go in? She didn’t. But I thought maybe we’d slowly make our way back to the street😉

Later the children were back and wanted the girls to come play in the intersection just a few houses down. An 11 yr boy was with them this time.

Lonnie left with the van on a “driving practice/ men’s shopping” with Jared. And we came back to the house to put Annslie down for a nap and Jaira to hang her laundry up on the roof.

After awhile Aleena with her big sister were back and wanted to talk to me. I had commented on the fine, fancy drawing on the back of her hand and wrist that had appeared in between 2 of the times of being with her this morning. Had asked her how long it took to draw? She said 10 minutes. So she was bringing the fine tipped paint tube by to show me what she did it with. Says it just washes off. I told her, sometime when she does it again I’d like to watch! It was an intricate design.

  She said her mom was making chicken nuggets. I questioned her, did she buy them and is heating them up or making patties with ground chicken? She says, “ grind the chicken, dip in egg, dip in bread crumbs, it’s easy, I make them.. my mom is making them to break our fast tonight.”(Ramadan) She smiled and said, “I’m fasting too” says younger brother Arab is fasting also! 

Maddie got enthused with more outdoor cleaning. Armed with bucket of water and rag, she washed the globes on the gate post lamps, and then started in on the gates themselves. Our friend says, “Layton likes to clean too!”

Miss Shana came by to work at school a bit.

Lonnie got back. I had asked him to pick up 2 or 3 doz. eggs. He came back with precisely 90 eggs🤦🏼‍♀️ there was a communication glitch with the man at the dokan, I guess, and he ended up with 3 Flats with 30 eggs a pc.!

Supper, dishes (from the whole day cause we’d had to let the water tank fill back up after doing some flood irrigation in the yard.), Language homework, get the laundry off the roof top lines (a beautiful evening up there looking out over the lights and sounds of Dhaka with a breeze cooling things down. Jaira wondered if they could sleep up there, then she remembered the mosquitoes😏).

Thurs. 6th

 Laundry.

School for the girls.

Lonnie, Annslie, and I had an early lunch. Got Annslie down for a nap and Ponnina arrived at noon for language. We worked on the different endings for the different verb tenses and sentence structure.

This lesson has a homework section and our teacher told us, “from now on, we do a whole lesson each time I come!” 😳 we do need to make some progress….😏

The girls went to Jared’s for lunch and they did art there too… painted canvas boards. Then Miss Shana gave them scootie rides, but it didn’t last long cause the fuel was on E.

Fri. 7th (Day of worship)

 Zucchini muffins for breakfast

9:30 at Jared’s to go to church.

We discovered this week that Annslie has not just 1 , but 3 molars all making their entrance😵‍💫 so ibuprofen before we got to the clinic. Also hoping to help us with staying in the service🫣… last “Sunday” I was not able to get in on any of the service😣. It did go well and we sat in the Whole service🤗.. this momma was busy keeping a steady stream of entertainment… kudos to all you moms who have your 2 yr olds sitting calmly or sleeping thru the service and some of you even without any form of entertainment🙌🏼

Lonnie’s opening was from Proverbs 25:11  A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.

Jared’s message was on The Judgments of God.

After the service, Josna and Sumita walked with us to the tailor where Brianna and Shana picked up their dresses and we got Maddie and Jaira measured for their kamises.

Then we left and went to a shopping center that has a different UniMart than the one we had shopped at. Got lunch at Crisp(the 1st place we tried was closed due to Ramadan) This place was fast food-we got popcorn chicken, chicken nuggets, rice bowl, French fries, mojito and lemonade,+ soft drinks. On to UniMart. Groceries on the 1st level then up the escalator to household items on the 2nd level. 

I don’t think I’ve mentioned the unique aspect to the shopping here.?. There is personnel standing all thru out the store just waiting to assist you! At the fruit and vegetables they are right at your elbow as soon as you’ve made your selection, they take it and go weigh it and close the bag with a sticker that has the price on it. Or standing by the grapes, “Try! Sweet!” One day Brianna was with me and I was shopping for a plastic organizer basket. There were 2 men at our service on this occasion. I reached to check out a basket on a top shelf and they just smiled at this American women helping herself🤪

Back at house, got all the fruit and veggies soaking in vinegar water. 

Made chimichangas for supper and fresh salsa.

Wed. 5th

 Language class 1st thing in the morning. Today we only did review.. good, because we needed it. Bad, because we needed it..

Lonnie and I went thru the laminated flash cards here at the guest house and pulled out all the words we’re suppose to know. It is quite a stack, it seems like, by now-190 words, phrases, and sentences. That afternoon and evening we did flash cards! Bangla to English and then vice versa.

Lunch at the clinic. Josna and Sumita had made a dish new to us, grated vegetables made into a small-ish, thick round patty fried crisp and brown on the outside. Along with boiled eggs curry, chicken curry, rice, vegetable mix… De-lish!

I had to try making snickerdoodles again after my fail in Khulna. We enjoyed the results this time😉

Made a double batch of tortillas this evening.

Our trip to Khulna Mon -Tues. Mar. 3-4

 Some legal matters needed addressing so therefore, a trip to Khulna was put in motion.

  Jared’s were at our house 6:30 Mon morning.

We traveled most of the 4 hrs thru a blanket of fog, so did not get to enjoy the changing scenery for a good little while! Made a stop for fuel, toilet, snacks, and a few small, ripe pineapples. The wash rooms had a way of taking me back in my mind to the dairy barn on my Grandpa’s farm in OH…the snacks were bags of chips branded Sun Chips, Lays, and Deetos. The flavors were not familiar tho, excepting the sour cream and onion Lays. 

  Back on the road we feasted our city eyes on Country! Green field plots, animals, country side- Minus all the concrete high risers that usually are towering on all sides of us!😌

Near Gopalgonj, at a fuel station, we met Doyle to give some paperwork. 

Then on to our future home in Khulna. The road narrowed to not much more than a car width, dirt road..

And soon we were at the gate of Khulna mission house. The guard, Tulshi, slid the gate open. Toby, the dog, made a beeline thru the escape route. We drove up to “Fida Palace”, as it is inscribed over the carport entrance.. We piled out. The men unloaded the van, then headed to the bank to get Lonnie’s signature on the account. 

  It wasn’t noon, but we were hungry. Brianna started heating up her gourmet grilled hamburger patties with homemade buns. We ladies and children sat down to lunch. 

Then we went for a little walk, but Toby was along picking a fight with all the neighbor dogs so we soon turned around, after buying some eggs from a little dokan for breakfast in the morning.

Back at the house, naps were taken, children played and eventually the men got back after a mostly unsuccessful run.

6:00  Two rickshaw vans, 3-wheeled bicycle with wooden flat bed, were hired to take us to Brother Shanto’s for tea. We arrived. Sister Shatti, Shanto’s wife, was there at the end of the dirt foot path. Herding her 2 little goats back to the house. Right next to the footpath is a chicken wire? fence bordering their (pond) phukar. Shatti Loves animals and has multiple pets which I imagine we’ll get better acquainted with yet.

We met their 3 boys. Rhidoy is just newly married 2 months to Pinky, a very pretty-sweet looking girl✨. They currently live in the same household as Rhidoy’s family (which is not a strange thing here). Shanto’s moved out of their bedroom and let Rhidoy and Pinky claim that space. That is the room we gathered in, sitting on the bed, some on a bench, and a few plastic chairs.

Rhidoy and Pinky’s wedding gifts lined the shelf up by the ceiling still in their boxes waiting till they have their own abode. 

Shatti and Pinky busied themselves in the kitchen adjoining. They brought out small glass dishes of a little crunchy snack. The names of these dishes, maybe I’ll get them yet. But this particular dish was just too spicy to make a very big dent in (speaking for myself).

  Can’t recall the name of the 2nd brother just now, and then there is the youngest one, Spondant, preteen or young teenager? I’ll find out for sure yet. He was very useful to have around as he knows pretty good English and did some interpreting for us🤩

2 more courses were served. Another small glass dish, this time something sweet. Tiny beads of fried dough.

And then cha(tea). The tea was thoroughly enjoyed by all! A lot like Southern sweet tea, hot. At the clinic, it had been served to us with powdered milk in it and we appreciated it made without, much better!

Visiting was mostly between Jared’s and Shanto, light hearted and smiley. Lonnie showed them, on Google maps, our home in Tennessee and the horse shelters of his previous job. They tried to pronounce our girls’ names and had us repeat them several times! Spondant, knowing just enough English questioned Madison’s nickname.. “ Mad?”(Maddie) and Shanto never did get Annslie, adding a vowel between the s and l “Anns i lie”  or Anjolie.

  As we stepped out the door, darkness had fallen, someone directed our attention to the sky. The stars were bright!! And the moon was fully visible!! A first in our 2+wks of being here! It was a wonderful feeling😌 I had subconsciously resigned to not seeing the likes for the next few years because of the smog.. so I was very happy (ami khub khuSi)and it was like, my world was gonna be alright after all😌

Caught the rickshaw van back to Fida Palace. It was a lovely evening ride in the night air (think back of the pickup rides from my youth days without the roar of an engine😉) there was a hint of cool and was glad I had Annslie’s blanket along and my lightweight orna wrapped around my arms was not a bad thing.

Tues

The morning air was absolutely beautiful and cool..

After breakfast the school children went upstairs with Miss Shana and had school. Jared’s, us, and our toddlers went for a walk, making a circle around/thru the village behind “our” house. 

I wish I could give you a good picture of what this village is like…It is unlike anything I have seen in pictures or maybe to experience it in real life it’s just so different from a view that a picture can give.?.💭 

Just a narrow, dirt walking path, also used by motor bikes. With abodes,phukars (ponds), or dhokans(little roadside shops) right. next. to. the. path. They also have a school and a mosque all right there! Lots of dogs, goats, cows, people all going about their day. Dogs taking a siesta on the road, goats grazing by the path, we stepped off the path as a small herd 8? cows were herded down the path, and people…on the bottom step going down to their phukar getting a morning scrub, gathered at a dokan visiting, little boys on bikes, people busy in their yards drying grain, making poo sticks (for their cooking fires),etc. etc. a lot of living outdoors unlike America where it’s mostly within in the walls of our homes seems like….

Back at the house, the men left on a business run. Brianna and I spent time outside with the toddlers.

Then Brianna started lunch prep and I worked on mixing up a batch of Snickerdoodles. There was a bit of a scrounge hunting down the ingredients and a run down to the dokan for 2 eggs.. my cookies were not a success story probably pretty crazy to even try it but it seemed like just what we “needed”…they would’ve been fine, 

but the moral of the story: do not use from unmarked jars.🤦🏼‍♀️

The jar of white powder was sitting right next to the 2 unopened containers of cream of tartar so, to be economical (is that the word I’m looking for?) we used the opened one without a label🫤 a terrible taste was left in your mouth when you took a bite, we decided it was probably baking powder in the unmarked jar..😝

The men got back. Lunch of grilled chicken wraps. Then Miss Shana and the school children went to find a dokan that sold ice cream. 

The rest of us worked on packing out and making the place ready for the next use.

2:30 we were on the road again, back to Dhaka.

This country is currently observing Ramadan this month, and we came into Dhaka just as it was time to break fasting. So vehicles stopped by the roadside, occupants enjoying food and drink again. And We. Never. Had. To. Stop. Once.!! Jared’s said this was one for the books! Making the return trip in 4 hrs versus 6!!

Random detail

 Orange jasmine also known as Chinese box is currently blooming in our yard here in Dhaka, very strongly scented like honeysuckle or lilac? Also a papaya tree with mature fruit amongst the other trees surrounding the guest house here..

  Around Dhaka and in the median of the Main Street in in Pink City are lots of bougainvillea! Mostly magenta in color and I’ve noticed a white one, here in the median also.

Sun. March 2

 Laundry day!

Also, my 1st stab at baking over here!

And was caught off guard again without my recipe so made French bread by memory🥴

 When I did get my recipe, I had only put 1/2 the amount of yeast and salt that the recipe calls for but my loaves were already shaped by that time and didn’t have any problem rising 👏🏼 the right amount of salt does make for more palatable bread tho!😜

For our sandwiches at lunch I made a honey mustard sauce to compensate for the salt lack…

  Time to take care of the dusty kitchen shelves! It’s all open shelving so takes more to keep up with. Still in the dry season doesn’t help matters I suppose. Also the deep freeze needed a good scrubbing.

Listened to Dales funeral..

Annslie wouldn’t nap all day! 🧐

The girls played in the water on the roof top again till supper time

In the evening, Lonnie helped me make a double batch of tortillas.

Tacos for supper.

Sat. March 1! 2wks in BD

 At breakfast this morning Jaira said she was ready to go home now. I asked her where she would go? Grandma’s? Kelsey’s? Cause Alan’s are living in our house now.. She was just quiet..

 School today cause we plan to take an overnight trip to Khulna Mon +Tues.

Brianna was feeling under the weather but Jared offered to watch the toddlers while we had class. Ponnina is usually here at 7:45 but at 8:00 Lonnie and I got our books and started on some needed study while we waited for the teacher to arrive. She never did arrive so we wish we would’ve known that, we would’ve listened in to Dale Wenger’s memories from home..

Lucky came to clean floors and bathrooms.

Mid morning Lonnie went and got Annslie.

I made lunch for everybody.

Lonnie washed the van and went student driving with Jared.

Then he played a little Cricket with the neighbor boys in the street. Jaira observed and had just as much fun 🤩 

We tried out our new tortilla press this evening.. It took us a bit but we were able to turn out some decent tortillas😊 a bit thicker than we are used to but maybe we’ll be able fine tune them yet.