Merry Christmas and happy holidays everybody! I hope everyone is passing (or passed) these days with friends, family, and egg nog. I had a nice one here in Rajbari, but I have banana trees, not evergreens, to look at. In case I don’t get back to the cyber café before the New Year, have a happy and safe new years as well. Here they call ( Read more... )

Dad, thanks for updating the website address. I don't really understand how to edit or add pictures from here. With the dialup, I don't think it's possible ( Read more... )

Today there was definitely some "heavy tension," as Bangladeshis say when speaking English (heavy used as an adjective meaning "a lot"). A lot volunteers from our group have opted for early termination (there are about 15 to date now). The reasons are various, of course, and each volunteer has probably a lot more reasons that I or anyone else ( Read more... )

First: my dad was able to take the cd of pictures that I sent via post and put them on a photo program, because I haven’t had much luck from here (dialup and power failures are a bad combo). So, here it is! Sorry in advance for the poor titles…words that seem foreign are most likely place names, like Nilphamari. It also has a hoaky title of “ ( Read more... )

So much for the badminton court project. Not only have Ben and I discovered local politics have stalled an irrigation project on the road for some time, but also the kids took it upon themselves overnight to dig a hug trench which has effectively done the absolute opposite of draining the playing space. They have dug around the edges and ( Read more... )

In order to pass the time without going crazy, Ben and I have taken up the wonderful pastime that is badminton. All the kids play and it’s probably second only to cricket in popularity, so whenever we play we usually have six other kids with their own rackets playing in the same road. The small road outside my house is where we play, right next ( Read more... )

In Bangladesh, cell phone use is growing at a very fast pace, and more and more people use them like beepers to make sure the person they know is doing ok. The general procedure is to dial the number and after one ring hang up so that the person’s phone displays a Missed Call with the name. Receiving a missed call means that you may be expected ( Read more... )

I arrived permanently in Rajbari a few days ago. There are so many things to say, so many places to start. Maybe I’ll start with my host family, since they have given me a new home for three months. My host mother is named Munmun (moon moon), about thirty years old, with two twin girls who are 1 year and three months. She is really cool, very ( Read more... )

Eid mubarak! Or, "happy happy day" which is what both those words translate to from Arabic. Eid-el-fitr was nuts. By nuts I mean, just too much food. The month long fasting is over, so yesterday was the time to celebrate. People woke up early, the kids and men got all dressed up in new clothing and punjabis, and went to the mosque to pray. ( Read more... )

Happy halloween...it's strange to be here for halloween because 1) no one knows what it is, 2) the temperature still feels like summer, and 3) I don't hear any trick or treating. I did however get to eat candy corn because there was a welcome to Peace Corps party thrown by an ex-pat family in Dhaka. This weekend has been jumping from air ( Read more... )