Fri. Feb 27

 Stayed home from S.S.’s with Maddie, as she wasn’t feeling well..

Cajun Chicken Pasta lunch

After our 4:00 church service, Kobid Brother came in and started playing a game of Carrom until inspiration hit to go look up Louis’s who haven’t been showing up recently. Kobid gave them a call and yes, that would be fine.. and thus commenced another very Bangali experience..

Louis’s live in Khulna City in a Catholic community… Louis, his daughter Lisa, and 1 of Lisa’s friends, met us out by the street where we parked and led us down the alley to their home.. a low income, 3rd world situation, and quite hard to explain. A concrete housing community and when we walked thru Louis’s gate 

the 1st thing was his easy bike(his occupation as a driver) parked 

and then right there was a hand pump for their well water,

And then their shared kitchen. There was even a table there with one end against the wall and a bench along another wall from the corner. Right in the middle there somewhere you could look up and see the stars in the night sky but roof covering most of the area… the “kitchen”… very small, very scarce supplies, dirt floor, a double mud oven(so she can cook her rice and curry at the same time👍🏼) btw, she says she made the mud ovens herself☺️. There was a counter top gas 2 burner but fuel is expensive… Purnima sat on a low stool and was busy cooking.. Bangla noodles, chips ..she had dried potato slices in the sun and now she was deep frying them for homemade chips which she served with her homemade salsa.. This lady loves to preserve food and she pulled many different delicacies out for us…dried mango bars that she’d mashed mango spread it out in the the sun to dry…We could still see the print of the basket on one side😉.. and then she cut it into strips.. another was her “specialty” pickled crab apple with chili for a strong sour/spicy experience with a tough stringy/mushy texture that’s just too much for these Americans🤦🏼‍♀️ one of those instances where we really compliment on the more palette pleasing dishes!.. and then she asks point blank if we like the pickle and here have some pickle and we try to politely tell her that we really enjoy her strawberry infused prune dish and point out how Annslie is Really enjoying those mango bars, and your chips and salsa are Quite fine!🙃

“Coffee”  was served, single serve packages of instant coffee/creamer/sugar that you add to hot water. “Coffee”  is considered uptown, but Lonnie always chooses hot tea if it’s an option😉

So, I mentioned, there was a table but that is not where you serve guests..?.. and to continue the tour of their abode…

There were several rooms off of this kitchen and down a little hall where there was a wash room at the end. Each of these rooms is a home.. Louis’s married daughter Rosy and husband + 1yr old claim one room(They were away this evening).. We congregated in Louis’s room which is unlike most, in that it has a couple pcs of furniture as he is also a carpenter and built the living room set at the mission house also. Which makes me wonder, where he does that? And is that a thing of the past? Anyway, the girls all sat on their bed. Their fridge was in there also, which is a common place for such here. The other rooms are a bit shared also, as in, Rosy’s room is where Purnima’s treadle sewing machine is (she sews her and Lisa’s clothes/kameeze sets) and another room that a “brother” claims, is where Lisa would pull toys out of. Purnima(Louis’s wife) is also very talented in making quite designed rugs and quilts. She showed us several. One had an elephant design😊

The chickens were put in for the night already and what a surprise! They were right inside in a lower cabinet that made up one wall of the kitchen!😅 5 hens and a rooster weren’t making a sound 🐓 

After visiting them, we realized what a trek they have to come to church. It was a good 30 min drive and they come by easybike which would take longer..