105 T-Shirt Party

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The building party was last night and we celebrated the fact that the breeze actually made sitting on the roof tolerable. We paid extra for the "fairy lights" ... I know it looks empty but I only took photos before and after (people that hung in till the very end .... lushes!) (That's Amiee above, David and Tracy/Justin, Ian, and Lauren) We gave out wine and mosquito rackets for different categories of T-shirts. I hosted the teacher kids in my apartment and the Alam served then drinks and food while they watched movies. Overall, pretty successful party.

Building Deconstruction in Dhaka

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Since Bangladesh is basically a swamp that's below sea level they do not a lot of natural rock or heavy elements. Any time a building is torn down the material is completely recycled ... but first it has to be torn down. This is done completely by hand by a group of workers with sledgehammers. Then the rubble is carried in baskets and used to make new bricks, roads, smaller houses, birdbaths, or whatever they need. The problem with this is that it takes for-ev-er and it's extremely noisy ... clink, clink, clink. This is a photo of what used to be a 2-story house across the street ... now it's some stairs. What's even scarier is the fact that they are probably going to build something there soon, which is bad. It could take years, it's noisier, and they sometimes work at night!

Even in our apartment everything is recycled. All paper, glass, electronics, metals, wires, and containers go to some other use. We even have a composing and a small herb-vegetable garden on the roof. We should import some of their recyclers ... our trash in the US would be like gold.

Irrevocable Proof That Carrie Is Gone

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It wasn't going to the commissary on Sunday (when it's closed) or that I was halfway back to school with my driver before I realized that my keys were in my backpack (something I never do) .... it was putting the kettle on to make tea before a building meeting and leaving for two hours. I actually thought an AC had blown when I came back and it took me a few minutes to work out where the smell was coming from. I melted what I had thought were ceramic parts. In my defense, I was talking to Carrie online and the little whistle that's suppose to blow hasn't worked lately. My bearer is going to pick up a new one today and I told him to make sure it whistles (I hope he understood that's why I was whistling to him this morning). I also told him to make snicker doodles.

Surprise Party

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So I decided after throwing another surprise party for Carrie that we'd agree never to do them again (We had an even score before this). In the last week before Carrie leaves Dhaka for New York, I decided to have a informal gathering of friends to send her off. Instead of asking what she wanted, I decided it was easier to plan around her. An elaborate set of covert plans and secret signals were in place and everything went well. Our friend Justin (in the first floor apartment) agreed to store people in his apartment while we went up for a couple drinks to Aimee and Dean's (5th floor apartment) and waited for the all clear. (For clarification we are in the 2nd floor apartment) I had made the suggestion to Justin that we would move up to our apartment after the surprise but the party was already in full swing when we arrived .... so instead we drained all their wine and left them (at around 10:30) with an apartment full of lushes. It was a lot of fun and Carrie swears she had no idea ... even though she commented that our apartment smelled "fried". (our bearer had made samosas and spring rolls).

Happy New Year!

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Happy 1415!

Bangladesh celebrated it's New Year along with some of Eastern India. Mogul Emperor Akbar (built the Taj Mahal) was apparently not happy that the lunar Islamic calendar did not fit with the crop season (many an unhappy farmer paying taxes in off season) and decided to adopt a solar calender. Well it's still very important in Bangladesh and the school was off kilter in celebrating all day (we should have actually had it off!). There was henna, Bengali music and dancers, tasty treats (well I wouldn't go so far), horse carriage rides, and a bunch of street vendors selling all manor of trinkets. The culture dance show was very impressive It was extremely chaotic but fun and colorful.

A Pork Haiku

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Beef pepperoni?
chicken sausages, beef bacon?
I really miss pork!

-MM

The only thing missing on this wonderful vacation.

Borneo - 5 Star Chinese

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Last night Carrie and I went to the fancy Chinese restaurant in the hotel and the whole experience was unsettling from the beginning. I guess ordering went well: hot and sour soup, crab dumplings, beef with black pepper sauce and a kung pow chicken. It's the way the waiters (all female and one to one ratio to customers) stood behind me or off to the side of us during the whole experience. At any one time there were three pairs of eyes waiting for anything to react to. I'm sure the service was great and they are very attentive but it was slightly creepy. Especially because my chop sticks skills leave something to be desired and I could hear them whispering to each other. When the main dishes came they put them in the middle of the table and left. The only implements on the table were a dessert sized plate and what I later learned was a rice bowl. I asked for a 'dinner plate' but instead she pointed to the small plate and served rice into the small bowl. Is it wrong to like want to mix the rice and main dishes together to get that saucy rice? It was all too comical trying to do this on the small plate and I felt completely conscious of all the eyes on me as I made a small mess. Do you shovel rice from a rice bowl in a fancy restaurant? The really strange thing is when we left I was checking out the rest of the patrons' tables and plenty were eating off large plates. I think it was some sociological experiment in dinning. Overall, it was the tastiest Chinese we'd ever had ... we are buying a new wok this summer.

I guess I'm glad I passed on the "double boiled winter melon with fungus".