Schools out (well sorta)

kEmon achen?

Well if you want to revisit primary school, I can recommend language class! You remember that gut wrenching feeling, just before a test because

• you have tried really hard to learn, but you feel like nothing has gone in (Jeanette) OR
• you have been really slack, and your past is about to catch up with you (I wonder who this is)

Well, we have recently been there (we are waiting on the T-shirt), complete with the ritual telling off by the teacher, because we are not making good enough progress

OTOH – we (5 students + teacher) had lots of good times, laughing at each others pathetic attempts at grasping the grammar, proper pronunciation, practicing pronouns, postpending prepositions (?), wrestling with words and generally getting the hang of a new language.

Interspersed with this frustrating but hopefully not entirely futile process, was the interesting infomal insights into the Bangla culture and life that Susan (our teacher) was able add.

During class we have gone through various role playing exercises including conversations with the hypothetical Rickshaw Puller (Wallah). You will say this / he will answer with / the you will say .....

Unfortunately the Rickshaw pullers don't go to the same classes, so when we astonish them with our grasp of Bangla, they just stare at us blankly, gesture with their heads to get on. AND THEN act surprised and offended when we pay them much less than they demand at the end (although we pay what we initialy offered – AND we pay Bideshi (foreigner) price). C'est la vie.

We also had an interesting time trying to explain the meaning of POETS day to one of our tutors who was very good at formal English but had no idea about Australian slang. In the end we gave up because we really couldn't explain PO to a nice Bangla boy!

Because of Public Holidays and other disruptions, we will not be able to take our exam for nearly 2 weeks, so we will probably have forgotten every thing by then, but the locals are very helpful, especially when we have opened the conversation in their language, and they cut us a lot of slack.

BTW – the opening greeting was

• kEmon achen → (How are you ?)

and the response is

• bhalo achi → (I am well)

ach + 'i' (1st person present tense) or + 'en' 2nd person present tense
bhal + 'o' (1st person present tense)

Stand by for more riveting adventures from Steve (& Jeanette) of Bangla.

A big mistake

Wednesday, I made a big mistake! I said (out loud) "This is the best day I have had in Bangladesh. I feel like I am getting some where! I got something done! I might just be able to do this!"

OK way too much confidence in Jeanette!!!

Anyway had Australian guest for dinner. Had a great time.

Mrs Banu's tooth was still sore but I got the message that it was very sore and going to be pulled out by the very good big doctor after the boy/child doctor was not good and that she had taken most of her medicine. emailed Jeff/Leah for some advise which they gave and was helpful. Going well.

I wanted her to go... she did dishes but asked us to turn off the water that was boiling in 20 mins. For those of you that have not lived here... our water has to be boiled for about an hour (I think) then filtered then put into bottles for us to drink. Mrs Banu does all that! (we drink it!)
Anyway she asked us to turn it off and left.

We continued chatting and enjoyed some Australian chocolates (MAJOR treat)...

All of a sudden I had to go to the toilet quickly!!! Ok I am in Bangladesh... ;-)

Guest left. I crashed into bed.

Slept really well with a/c on most of the night. I came out of our room into the living area on my way to the only hot shower in the
apartment and could smell a horrible smell ... told Steve ... he came out and said "it is very humid in here!"

YES we had forgotten to turn the water off. The lovely pot Leah had bought had boiled dry! I felt like I had really let Mrs Banu down! I was trusted to turn the gas off and I boiled it dry!

Steve goes to turn Marvin, (the depressed computer), on... one small blink and all of a sudden nothing happened! Electricity is on.... oh no Marvin is dead! It is POURING with rain!!! my tummy still feels bad so I decide to text country office and ask for a vehicle.

Could not face brekkie. Checked out money in bank and how we might get a computer... send email seeing if Graeme could bring it with him when he comes from Australia! time would be of the essence!... and read my daily Psalm... as recommended by Harry!.. well my day wasn't as bad as David's!

Go down stairs ... steve is in mourning but handling very well.
No vehicle Oh Well... failed communication again!! BUT the rain has stopped PTL

Trip quite pleasant. Rickshaw wallah chooses route B but it works well without us having to direct which is always nice. Language school 2 classmates and regular teacher away but we seem to make some progress.

During class Steve says "Marvin is dead ..." several times. Deep Mourning ...

my tummy still motamuti (so-so)

Come home Steve tries to turn on Marvin ... he blinks 3 times! Steve thinks may be we steamed him over night.
Marvin goes into our bed (sick children always prefer mum and dad's bed!) and Steve turns the air con on. I am skpying with mum and roger and ask for miracle ...
Marvin gradually gets further & further through his boot process, until He is resurrected!!!

Ok So what do we learn....

1. Don't be over dependent on Jeanette and Steve (nice people that they are)
2. Keep reading the Good Book
3. Pray
4. Depend on DAD
5. Bad things happen but they are often followed by good things!
6. Nothings is a bad it seems
7. LAUGH .... at the situation, but mainly at yourself

I hope you enjoyed this reading the errors of our ways!
We still hope we can save the pot!

Jeanette
PS this is written in the dark to send later ... the power is off :-) :-)

Quote sent by Kyle Moyle after reading this

as Mother T said " A Xtian should always smile"

A day in the life of our intrepid sojourners.

This started as a email to a friend showing how we need to live one day, one hour, even one moment at a time here and trust that a bigger force is helping us along the way!

I was telling her about my day this Monday and it just seemed to keep growing as I replayed the day in my head onto the page! so I thought I would blog it, to show you what life is like for us, and to encourage you to take things as they come and trust!

From the original email “The nice thing is the expectations on us here are not unrealistic. Our organisation and expat friends all encourage us to “take it as it comes”.

Today we were expecting our driver to pick us up from language school ... usually we get a rickshaw but today we were getting picked up.

It had been raining heavily all day so, that was going to be good. We came out ... No driver. Ring up ... oops boss forgot to tell him... OK try CNG (baby taxi) ... couldn't find one ... Steve is stressing ... pain in tummy and had it with beggars ... so decide may be we need a walk ... that was working and pleasant enough (smells excluded!) except 1 road 1/2 flood... OK we go another way. I (Jeanette) was trying to navigate as I am not as sure of my bearings as Steve is, so this was training!... then it starts full on monsoonal rain. We go into a shop to get out of rain.

Turns out to be a very nice supermarket. I try on bangles. The ladies here are really into them so thought I would go with cultural values. Find out I get about 10 for less than $1.. Tried one on because I have big hands... break it.. “no problems madam”... from shop lady helping me (unlike Australia there seems to be 1 assistant per 5 costumers so being white I get all the help I need) I got a little cut so she went and got a bandaid and put it on for me. We find some Parmesan cheese ... $10 ... most stuff is cheap here ... unless imported. (I will get mozzarella when I make pasta as a treat because it is more like the price at home... if I can find it next time I go looking!!!) Brought some breakfast cereal (it is worth it to have the type of breakfast we are used to) and a small Cadbury chocolate. It was cheap ... about 60 cents but made in India so we got a small one to see what it is like. The 150 gm Cadbury is from Singapore! Got a few other bits and headed for "the German butcher"

We ring our driver (who we have found out is at our house) to get us from the German butcher but not sure if he understands.

The German butcher is not really German but sells meat from his home that has been killed to our standards and has much less bone. The shop has NO signage ... in fact it is just in a house and is closed 12:30 – 3:00. He also sells pork, bacon and ham!!!! Muslims do not eat any meat from pigs.

It is starting to rain again but we walk on. The paddles are warm! Walking up the drive way I am not sure if I have the right place but I am following another Bideshi (foreigner) I go in and it is a house with lots of freezers. I am pointed to the shop itself in the next room. It has a small counter and I am shown a list of the meat sold by another employee. I am served by a Bangladeshi who speaks good English. As he confirms what I have ordered to a Korean lady sitting at a table next to me adds, on a calculator, my bill! She also tells me they are out of German bread today. Obviously, I am new and may not know that they sell wholemeal or seeded bread. They have a range of other things like tinned tomatoes that Bideshis love. No sign of a European butcher ... although I have been told there is one. Many customers are Bangla. I wonder if they work for Bideshis.

When we come out a man insists I shelter under his big umbrella ... that is what he is there to provide but Steve is being hasselled by a beggar, the rain is very heavy again ... and the driver has not arrived.

We are next door to an international school. We know several of the teachers there so Steve shelters there. A friend see us and offers for their bus to drop us off because it is going that way. We take offer and Steve rings to driver to tell him to go back to our house.

We come home and have ham and toast... even though our house help would like to get us Dahl and rice mixed together again. (She makes Dahl by the gallon and doesn't understand that we keep putting it in the fridge - We hide the ham from her) I check email and Steve is keen to put on shorts (he must wear long pant NOT pants, in public).

Our house help is having trouble with a tooth and tells me the little doctor was Bhalo na (no good) but the big doctor was khub Bhalo (very good). He needs medicine but it is getting better... unfortunately I have learnt at language school today that the bangla word for pain sounds a lot like our word for better so I am not sure if she is trying to tell me in English she is feeling better or that she is still in pain in Bangla ... I think from the context she is feeling better. She did tell me how much it all cost so I think she was hoping for some money!

Steve has a tummy pain and I am just exhausted by the heat and extra high humidity so we both go and have a sleep... I have just gotten up... remembering I had put the kettle on but forgotten to turn it off (Mrs Banu did) .. and it is only 2:30!

Life here is different ... simple things become an adventure... but we are mostly happy and learning lots. ... and very glad that the expectations are for us to do, what we can, when we can, without pressure.

That really is the way it has to be.

Josh - Just passing through!

Wednesday, we got a phone call from Josh to say he would not be at Language Class - because he was in Hospital!
Yes - he had finally succumbed to D & V (Repeated Involuntary evacuation of both ends of the Alimentary Canal) and was being ministered to by a drip! Since his phone can't make International calls, we relayed news of his situation to folks back home.
We visited with Josh on Thursday (as did many others, mainly BideSi - foreigners) and found him to be in good spirits and along the road to recovery. He had had many tests (nice little income earner for the hospital) but not much medication.
We talked to him today (Friday) and he is expecting to be discharged today.
Ahh - the adventure of it all!

2 1/2 Weeks - In BaNla

It seems we are seeing Bangladesh from the Symbiosis car we are driven to Mymensingh and the fish farm in or from a rickshaw.
It is still a bit like watching a video especially in the a/c van, although that is having engine troubles so it goes much slower and does not respond well when Shobuj (show-booz, our driver's name, it also means green) wants to overtake! The photos on this blog show some of the things we see from those view points.
The Rickshaw stories continue.
We have paid from 15tk to 40tk to the same place.

Sunday (the first day of the working week) it poured with rain on the way to language school. Gratefully I had bought an umbrella on Saturday but our legs got soaked. Our wallah went a slightly wrong way but that meant we could direct him over a road he is not supposed to cross and he could take us the whole way. I gave him 50tk as I thought he would be likely not to get much work in the rain. When we stood dripping waiting for class the other students told us about a plastic sheet he should have had to keep us dry.

Friday we went to the Australian Club and had wallahs waiting for us. That time we were a real convoy with 4 rickshaws in all. Our hosts had just returned from Australia and knew the wallahs well but got confused between 500tk notes and $au50 and over paid by an extraordinary amount. They are sure the boy will make good with free rides. Not loosing face is very important here. “Koto debo” means what will you take (fare). One wallah told his friend the fare we agreed on... so we were sure he knew what we were giving him.

Monday someone called out to our wallah, “Debo? 250?” he called back “100” We had agreed on and ended paying 30tk. Saving face is very important in Bangladesh. We had decided to pay 30 tk min. for that length trip. Rice has become expensive and they have families to feed!
We catch them when we can, rather than walk. It is a way of spreading the money around in an under employed economy

Tuesday I went shopping with Mrs Banu (our house help). That was an experience. She chooses our food very carefully including eggs one at a time which she washed carefully when we got home. (This is due to bird flu) We walked down but we caught a rickshaw home with the heavy shopping. She happily let the boy carry our things to the rickshaw and did not pay him. She did not negotiate a price for the Rickshaw at all and got cross saying aste aste (which we learnt today means slower) when he went in front of a car. Tuesday was raining so the guard on the door at language school (every building has a guard) bargained a price for us for a CNG (Compressed Natural Gas). It was more expensive because they are drier! CNGs are three wheeled baby taxis powered by compressed natural gas. They are used for medium length trips. There is a limit to how far a riskshaw wallah can cycle and of course he needs to be able to get back home without losing too much time or money. Our first attempt to get one didn't succeed! Josh Telfer (SAust friend/relative who arrived on our flight with us and is studying language at the same school) is becoming a master of CNGs. He catches buses too but I am not sure I will ever get up to them! Last week we have began the adventure of learning a new language. The verb always goes at the end of the sentence (except when there is a negative eg “Ami bangla jani na” Jani is the verb for know but the na means I don't know it!) These verbs are then changed according if they are first or second person as well as according to tense. I am also learning that English is far more complex than I had realised!
Tuesday when I shopped with Mrs Banu (who is illiterate and does not speak much English) I tried practising a little; fellow shoppers and shop workers a like were most helpful and even gave me cooking lessons as well. It is not all easy. The weather is so exhausting. No cool changes. It does not even cool down at night. We are sooooo pleased we have an a/c in our bedroom. We are always sticky. My shalwa (pants) end up sticking to my legs as I walk by the time I get up the steps. We have fans on all the time so things blow off the table... that is unless to power is off with load sharing which happens at least once a day for about an hour. But that is a forced rest so it is not all bad.

One day this week we came home and the light did not come on. Steve just said power must be out ... and we continued on as if it was normal ... because it was! So the adventure continues!

Lean on me.

Sit back, relax and imagine I'm singing - OK, so imagine Anne Murray is singing our Anthem.
The words are are so beautiful, I thought I would share them with you.

Lean on me - Al Green & Performed by Anne Murray or Steven Tyler

Some times in our lives, we all have pain, we all have sorrow.
But, if we are wise, we know that there's always tomorrow.

CHORUS
Lean on me, when your not strong, and I'll be your friend,
I'll help you carry on. For it won't be long, 'till I'm gonna need
somebody to lean on.

Please, swallow your pride, if I have
made, you need to borrow. For no one can feel those of your
needs, that you won't let show.

You just call on your brother when you need a hand, we all
need somebody to lean on. I just might have a problem that
you'll understand, we all need some body to lean on.

CHORUS

You just call on your brother, when you need a hand, we all
need somebody to lean on. I just might have a problem that
you'll understand. We all need someone to lean on

If, there is a load, that you have to bear, that you can't carry,
I'm right up the road, I'll share your load, if you just call me.

Take care, Steve