Birthday and Bike rides

A limerick from my Ama/Mom:

-Fireworks! The Badeshi’s friends met,
-Planned a birthday she’d never forget.
-But the blasts made a breeze
-Caught her salwar kameeze,
-Blew her up in the air like a jet!


Henna, My hand to the Left, Mo's to the Right. Mo is my upstairs 15 year old beautiful neighbor and new friend. it was a birthday present.

Maheen and me at my birthday party. We had a delicious fare of ruti/popadem, veggies with curry of course, yummy semolina sweets (I forget the bangla name) and a chocolate cake that I baked. My host family, their in laws and Darren, Reba and Robin brought in my 25th year with me.


This past weekend, I enjoyed going to Pirogatcha with Darren, Robin and Reba. It was a much needed break from the Bangla and the craziness that is daily life in Mymensingh. To get there we took a bus, and I was excited to get my own seat... then we took a "van" which is a flatbedded rickshaw for 45 minutes on a bumpy, muddy, red brick road, through rice fields, bannana groves, pineapple fields, and villages.

We stayed at the St Pauls Mission, close to where new friends Rebecca and Phillip live with their 1 year old. It was such a nice break, to be out in the middle of nowhere, and I am realizing that it is not just north american cities that leave me craving the wilderness--here too I will have to find ways to get away.

On Saturday we went on a super long bike ride, through the muddy roads, more villages, more bannana trees and cool bridges. Have you ever seen a chinese bicycle? Well, they are like the old school bikes...one gear, thin tire, heavy, low postioned handle bars. Well, that's the sort of bike I rode "offroading" through out the villages yesterday. It was so incredibly muddy--which made it hilarious, scary and I felt like I would tumble into the mud at any moment. I did fall off a couple of times which made for some good comic relief for everyone involved. we stopped by a "tourist area" (which by the way, NOBODY tours bangladesh, as far as I can tell--I have yet to see another foreigner that is not an MCC worker) where there were monkeys swinging from trees, and a deer park--which was thoroughly fenced in with barbed wire so the deer couldn't escape and we couldn't get in. I didn't need to see deer, they are overpopulated in the midwest anyway.

After our 13 mile village ride, we went swimming! I can't tell you how happy that made me. I have been wanting to jump into a body of water for about 3 weeks now, b/c it is so blasted hot here. The tricky part? Swimming in my salwar kameeze. hmmm. recipe for drowning if you ask me. I ended up discreetly taking off the pants and tying them around my waist so I could acutally move.

Modesty can kill.

After a long swim we went for a late dinner at Phillip and Rebecca's house. We cooked fish over a fire pit. We had badeshi food and even ate with forks. Living in the village and here in Mymensingh at times feels alot like perma camping, and it's a good thing I like camping...

I have a renewed desire to learn Bangla...which is good b/c starting tomorrow my long 3 hour a day/6 days a week Bangla boot camp starts again.