Winter Sights

Come with me for a morning walk around my neighborhood and I'll show you what winter in Bangladesh looks like…

The mornings are quite foggy and some days the fog never quite goes away. It can get down into the 50s (F) so everyone tries their best to bundle up.

                           Even the goats get an extra layer.  Some look quite stylish!

 During the mornings and evenings, those who live in the roadside slum huddle around a small fire to stay warm.  Winters can be quite hard on the poor.

This fire is cooking 'kejur rosh' (date palm juice, tapped from the tree), to make into syrup or cakes of brown sugar called 'gur'.  In my opinion,  it's as good as the maple sugar we get in Maine.  

 

Women use this date palm sugar to make 'pitas'--a favorite winter breakfast.  Many set up a roadside business.

Venture to the outside of the city and you'll see these wonderful brightly colored mustard fields in full bloom.  They smell wonderful too!

Two Birds

Jan caught this shot one morning of our parakeet (His name is 'Birdie') communing with another bird from the wild who had flown up to the veranda
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Bangladesh poetry often uses the 'caged bird' image. Most notably, the poet / philosopher named Lalon for whom the caged bird was an image of the soul imprisoned in the body. In his songs he would ask the questions of when the caged bird would be set free and where would he fly to.


 Rabindranath Tagore wrote a song- a dialogue between a caged bird and a bird of the wild. Written below is my translation. Birdie and his friend may indeed have been holding this discourse when the picture was taken. 

 

Caged bird lived in a cage of gold

Forest bird in forest nest

One day they met; Hear now their thoughts-

What sort of life each one held best.

Forest bird said, “Caged Bird Friend.

Let us in the forest meet.”

Caged bird said, “Enter friend

my cage of sole retreat

Forest bird said, “No,

I will not be chained earthbound.”

Caged bird said, “And what-

Shall I just fly around?”

Forest bird sat outside singing

All the songs he knew.

Caged bird sang his learn-ed songs-

Each in their tongue, the two.

Forest bird said, “Caged bird friend,

Sing tunes from forest pages!”

Caged bird said, “Forest Friend,

I’ll teach you songs of cages.”

Forest bird said, “No,

Learn learn-ed songs? I beg your pardon!”

Caged bird said, “And what!

Shall I sing wild songs from the garden?”

Forest bird said, “See how rich blue sky

Beckons without border?”

Caged bird said, “My four square cage

Has such symmetric order!”

Forest bird said, “Fly to the clouds

See yourself set free.”

Caged bird said, “Tie thyself down

To safe security.”

Forest bird said, “No!

How can you fly in there?”

Caged bird said, And what?

In the clouds, is there a chair?”

Fondness grew between the two

But they remained apart

Beaks through bars desired touch

Eyes, each other’s, sought.

Unable to be understood or

understand the other’s heart.

Feathers flapping, two lone and lone

Called out, “Come nigh!”

“I cannot shut myself in jail,”

the forest bird did cry.

The caged bird said, “See, alas,

I have no strength to fly.”

Kids' Day Out

We decided it's about time for a fun day out for our Morningstar kids. After all, most schools were on summer vacation (known locally as the 'mango-eating holiday').  We decided to take just the older class (ages 8-12) on this first trip.    We would take them to the zoo.

 

They all arrived at the school ON TIME (funny how they managed to do that for once!) all dressed in their finest.  We packed all 16 of us into two 'auto-rickshaws'--a motorized 3-wheeled scooter with passenger seats and a roof.   They rarely get to ride in these so that was enough to get them smiling!

There's actually not much to see at our zoo....the Bengal tiger has died and the lone lion looks like he's on his way out as well....but that didn't stop these kids from having a great time.
  

They marveled at the owl...

Giggled on the swing (first time for most of them)...

Bonded with their teachers...

and with each other.

They marveled at mushrooms

and monkeys

 

(and 12-year old Bulbuli learned the hard way why we told them "DON'T put your finger in the cage!"). 

By the end they we were all hot, tired, and hungry...

but still smiling. Special day out indeed!  Can't wait to do it again...in two weeks...with the 4-7 year olds.  Stay tuned!

Nepal

A six day trek to the top of the world or at least within sight of the top- one of the perks of living in Asia.

There were seven of us, ages ranging from 25 to 70 and the ‘over 60 crowd’ outnumbered the young whippersnappers. (Jan is still in the young whippersnapper group, being well under 60.)    

The first day was grueling: an 1150 meter ascent which was to take 3-4 hours. We had a late start as we had to get our trekking permits and take an hour long bus ride out of Katmandu. We traveled uphill from 11:30 to 7:00 arriving at our first village just before dusk. We learned that we would have to add 50-60% to the trek time found in the guidebook.

 The second day was only an 890 meters ascent in  altitude and 970 down. The trek was northbound towards the large mountains which we weren’t going to climb but the guidebook promised jaw dropping views of them on the third day. Unfortunately, the jaws did not drop because the clouds had. We only saw the hills we had been climbing.

 

 By the fourth day, we were actually getting used to the long uphill and sometimes downhill hikes. Our 70 year old Swedish grandmother, Karin, was our inspiration as she pressed on day after day. 

 Of course, none of us were a match for the Nepali people. These women with 50 pounds of wood piled in baskets suspended by harnesses on their foreheads, easily passed us up.  

The fifth day was a two part miracle. First, we arrived at our destination early even though we had added an extra leg to that day’s journey and arrived just before a huge downpour of cold rain. This was at the highest point in altitude where the temperatures were the coldest. First blessing: to get in before the rain. Second blessing: the rain of that afternoon cleared the skies so in the morning we woke up to the jaw dropping views that we had missed the day before. 

 The sixth day, the guidebook had us going down the mountain for the final leg. If you had asked us on the first day- that grueling uphill ascent- if we would like to add an extra day to the hike, I expect that we (at least the over 60 crowd) would have vetoed it with a resounding ‘NO!’ but by the final day, things had changed. The guidebook gave us an alternate route which pressed us on to another village before we descended to the valley on the final day.

 The most delightful part of that day was the lodge. Each lodge had a common room where the cooking and eating was done and this final lodge was no exception, except that the room on this last was simple elegance.  After our wonderful home cooked meal, a British lady and her daughter who were trekking the same route, taught us a new card game which was loads of fun.

A Local Shopping Experience

 Sometimes we get visitors who want a tour of the city.  It always helps me see things from the eyes of a newcomer.   I decided to take my camera along on this last trip so that you too can see a bit 'Shaheb Bazaar'.  Come, let me show you where I shop.  Too bad I can't give you the sounds and smells as well to give you the full affect.

                                        

    We pass lots of fruit stands. The selection may be limited but there are always neatly piled pyramids of apples and oranges.                                

    

And plenty of flowers.

A hardware/ cookware shop: pans, knives, buckets....

Toupees, combs, scissors, hair oil, socks...

And a girly store:  bangles galore,  hairclips,  nail polish...

There are lots of little-girl dresses to choose from, often with lots of frills and lace. 

As in any other country,  the women love to go shopping together.

. And where there is shopping,  there's always a place to stop for a quick bite to eat. Below are 'fushkas' -a favorite roadside snack here.

This was just the roadside shops.  There are mazes behing the streets filled with stall after stall selling cloth, saris, chadors (blankets), burkas...
And then of course there's the 'kacha bazaar' where we buy the meat and vegetables.  But that's for another day. 
Most certainly we're hot and tire by now   so we hail a rickshaw or 3-wheeled 'auto-rickshaw' and weave our way home through the crowded streets.  

Game Day at Morningstar School

February is the month for having picnics and special game days at the local schools,  so my Bengali co-teachers suggested we do one for our little Morningstar School as well, even though we've only been holding classes for just over two months.

I let them take the lead in the planning, while I kept wondering in my head---will this really work?  After all, our 'school' is an open air school.  We have no building,  no place of our own.  We are located right near the roadside slum.   Won't we attract an unmanageable crowd?

But we forged ahead and planned the games---

1. Pass the pillow (music plays as the pillow is passed. When it stop, whoever has the pillow is out).

2. ball toss 

3. race

4. chicken-fight (one legged,  try to knock each other off balance).

5. Hari banga (blindfolded, try to hit and break the clay water pot).

I tried my hand at 'Hari Bhanga' but ended up hitting the ground at least 3 ft away from the pot and gave everyone a good laugh.

My co-teacher Mira, on the other hand, went straight for the pot and broke it first try (I still think she was peeking--or maybe I'm just a sore loser?). 

 I also wanted to show appreciation to the parents for sending their children to the classes, so they each received a bar of soap.  Where I come from we can't imagine soap being such a treasure but when I pulled out my little bars of Lux soap I was mobbed ---hands coming at me from every direction.    My co-teachers chastised me later for not letting them do it by calling forth each student name by name.  One of many lessons learned that day!  (We've started our list of things we'll do differently next time).

 I fell into bed exhausted that night but it was all worth it.  Joy and laughter on these children's faces---priceless.