Living In Season

One of the best things about living here is having access to fresh produce year round. The variety changes with the season. During the winter we can get things like cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, green beans, bell peppers, carrots and tomatoes. Most of those are no longer available here in Mymensingh, though you may find them at a well stocked super market in the city. Now we are blessed with a lot of different gourds - anything from corrolla, a bitter gourd, to laow (front left), a fat watery gourd. There are new varieties of spinach, lots of eggplant, long green beans (at least a foot) called borboti, pumpkin-like squash, green papaya and okra. Being here and not having access to my favorite vegetables all year long and not having a large enough freezer to put them away for later has actually been a good thing. I have been challenged to improvise and try new thing in new ways. For instance, laow works very good in place of zucchini, as the boys and I discovered when we made chocolate zucchini muffins this morning. Green papaya is pretty good mixed with other squash in a Ragout dish. It's been really fun to go through my recipe books and figure out how I can improvise the currently available produce into that recipe. Who know, maybe another cookbook will come out of this. Either way, I am enjoying living in season. I have really been inspired by Simply In Season, a delightful cookbook put out by MCC. If more of us would live in season we could support our local farmers and there would be less of a need for things to be shipped in from elsewhere. When I think of all the fuel needed to ship things in, the energy needed to either can or freeze things, not to mention the loss of flavor that goes with that, I am challenged to make at least small steps toward change. I have never been a radical when it comes to things like this, but being here, seeing lines of desperate people who wait for hours simply to buy rice at a fair price, has really made me think. The poor here spend 70 -90% of their income simply on rice and many have cut back to one or two meals a day. The middle class is not far behind. When I think of the relatively cheap bags of rice stacked up in our grocery stores back home, where most people can afford to buy as much as they want, let it sit in the cupboard for a year and never appreciate the sweat that went into each grain, I know something somewhere has gone terribly wrong. Some people blame it on the ethanol movement, some on the growth of the meat-eating middle class of China and other countries. They say that the grain needed to fill an SUV tank with ethanol would feed one person for a year. They also say that that it takes 700 calories of animal feed to produce a 100 calorie piece of beef. While these are important factors to consider, it is also important to realize that our lifestyle, our choices, have a global effect, whether we are the ones with the SUV or not. Jesus taught that our neighbor is not necessarily the person next door to us, but is the person with the greatest need. We are all connected. We all have choices to make. And we all have the ability to bless others with our choices. We didn't reach this crisis overnight and we can't make it go away overnight but big changes start with small steps. How will you love your neighbor today?

More Celebrations

The staff here treated us to some sweets in honor of Bengali New Year. We were served plates full of rice, sweet yogurt, 2 kinds of mishti (literally "sweet") and bananas.


And here is the Job Creation (known as JC) staff that we are privileged to work with! They are a great bunch and have done so much to help us feel at home here.


And here we are at the river again! We left the house early to enjoy as much of the cool breeze possible before it got really hot. The boys spent a couple hours in the water and are slowly making friends with some of the children from the area. Here you can see the Mymensingh town side of the river and below is a sample of the other side.


I sat on this side of the river and read a book while the others splashed away. The morning flew by and we made our trek back to the point where a boat would ferry us back to the other side. A different boat came to pick us up and this guy wanted 30 taka to take us across. Now we came in the morning, after some bargaining, for 10. But this guy had heard that we paid 30 a couple of weeks ago and wanted to get in on the same good deal. We finally agreed to 15, with the help of a local bystander. As we were pulling in at the other side, I could hear 2 guys on top of the bank discussing how much we paid. "Did they pay 10 taka?" The reply was, "No, they paid 30 taka." Earlier in the morning an elderly man in tattered clothes came by asking for money and Austin decided to give him some. Later, when we were leaving, a young girl asked, "Aunty, aren't you going to give me some money?" I just looked at her in shock and said, "Why should I give you money?" I'm beginning to realize we can't do anything in this town without everyone finding out about it! What is really strange is to wake up during a power cut at night and hearing people discussing you down on the street.

So, how did I get from celebrations to our lives being an open book? I guess its just all part of life here!

Celebrations

In case you are wondering why you haven't heard from us for a while, we have been busy celebrating! Austin and I took a trip to Bangkok for a week, to celebrate our 10th anniversary. The boys stayed with Grandpa Millers and had a great time. They made numerous trips to the soccer field where they watched Grandpa's games and did some kicking around of their own. They had some Bangla classes in the mornings, while Grandpas were at language school, and seemed to really enjoy it. I was surprised to come home and hear Riley counting in Bangla! While they were having lots of fun in Dhaka, we were exploring Bangkok. I have never seen so many shopping areas in one place; you could say we shopped till we dropped and then we stopped for coffee and shopped some more. It was nice to be in huge air conditioned buildings where no one stared at us or desperately tried to get us to buy something. We bought a scooter for Pruitt for his birthday and huge water soakers for each of the boys. The first 3 days was the Thai New Years Festival called Songkran, which largely consisted of rubbing white powder on people and throwing lots of water on each other. The first night we bravely ventured and were dripping before we reached the end of the street. The next couple of days we ventured out early and found back alleys to sneak through and mangaged to stay pretty dry. That suited me quite well. The last night, however, Ausitn wanted to live it up a little more so he went out and bought ice cold bottles of water so he could reciprocate the fun! Things quieted down the last few days of our stay there. We went out when we felt like it, drank freshly squeezed orange juice, bought fresh watermelon and pineapple from the fruit vendors, tried some spicy papaya salad and lots of other good street food. Other times it was Big Macs and soft serve ice cream or blizzards or soft pretzels. We pretty much lived it up and enjoyed things we can't get here. It was such a good week for us but we were ready to get back to our boys again. We got back in time to celebrate Pruitt's birthday. It was a hot day and the power was off for several hours, so Austin took them up on Marland's roof and let them cool each other off with their new water soakers. I think Austin would like to have Songkran every day! Pruitt wanted pizza so we went to Pizza Hut ( I still can hardly believe there is a real Pizza Hut in Dhaka and it is quite good). When they found out it was his birthday, they had him stand on a chair and the waiters all stood around him and did this quirky birthday rap for him. He just giggled and giggled! We went home for cake and ice cream and then packed our bags to come home to Mymensingh the next morning. So now we are home and back to reality. It's over 90 degrees in the house and we are pretty much sticky all the time but it was sure nice to have a break!

The Best Friday Ever (According to Jensen)

As the heat settled upon us this morning, we headed for the river. We had a boat take us to the other side and took a walk along the fields and sand till we got to a fairly open stretch of sandy beach. The boys had a nice long "swim" in the refreshingly cool water. It was actually shallow enough that some boys from the other side walked across and joined our boys in their play. Our boys weren't quite sure about it at first but ended up having a good time. We decided it would be a great way for them to learn some Bangla.


It was so refreshing to be out in the open and relatively left alone, quite unusual for here. I was quite happy just to soak up the sun and the breeze and the quiet (well, as quiet as it can be to have a bunch of boys in the water!). As we set off for home a good while later, Jensen remarked that this was the best Friday ever!

A Great Day

Riley has developed this quirky habit of waving one of his hands when he talks. Some times I think that little hand is going to fall off, he's putting so much into it! He embraces life, that is for sure! When Jensen accidentally stepped in cow poop recently, Riley wasn't content till he had stuck his finger in it. Today, when he was "writing" a letter to his Grandma, he described that time as a great day. I'm just glad not every day is that "great", though each day is great in it's own way.

Austin spent the day in Dhaka, doing some job-related research. So the boys and I had a quiet day. It was too hot to do much outside but, thanks to their creative minds, they found enough to do inside. At one point I looked at Riley and Pruitt who were playing Uno together, and I wondered how they grew up so fast. Today was one of those days when I was amazed at the wonderfulness of my sons. Not that they are perfect, far from it. But too often I see only the work and how much they still have to learn and I miss savoring the awesome gift of living today with my children. So today I tried to savor them and ended up being able to listen better and laugh more often. The water still got spilled 2 times in a row, the ketchup was poured out in abundance and the toilet still got missed, but, hey, it was a pretty "great" day.

A Patchwork of Color Spun From a Thread of Hope

Yesterday we had the privilege of visiting a partner project, Sabalamby Unnayan Samity (SUS). SUS is a unique and remarkable NGO; it is self-sufficient and does not rely on donors to keep it going. We were able to drink tea with Appa (a term of respect that literally means older sister) who helped start the project and I was touched by the love and concern she has for her women. When she heard that I am a housewife, she said it was good and that in my country it is a respectable position. But here it is not, in the sense that housewives are not given much dignity. Her vision, in starting the project, has been to empower women to discover the dignity that truely is theirs. SUS now employs over 200 producers, mostly women. Here is a glimpse of a few of them and what they do, starting with spinning cotton thread which is then woven into yards of cloth.

Here a young lady is patiently applying hot wax to make a design on what will eventually be a very colorful sari. Below is more batik being done.

Here a large piece of fabric is being dyed. They make all their own dyes, many of which are vegetable based. In another room they have a group of tailors, sewing anything from lampshades to cute little dresses. Another room had a group of women weaving stools and tea strainers. Unfortunately for you, most of their products are sold here in country. I was thrilled to find some lovely blue and green pieces of fabric which I hope to sucessfully have made into salwar chamises. The boys were thrilled to find some cute fabric lizards which they thought about putting in Grandma's living room, to see if she will think it's real.

It took us a good 45 minutes to drive out to the project, giving me time to enjoy the emerald patchwork quilts of the rice fields. At times the fields gave way to towns, filled with throngs of people, some ancient concrete buildings, lots of smaller tin structures, tiny streets bulging with shops, rickshaws, tea stalls and much much more. We stopped in front of a large pile of watermelons while our driver graciously scoured the local shops for plastic bags (which were technically outlawed a number of years ago - go Bangladesh!) for Jensen who was having the worst case of car sickness ever. It took him a while to find a shop that had them, giving us ample opportunity to observe the tide of people moving past, as well as to be observed by many friendly faces. Then we were on to the open fields again. Aah, those lovely green stalks, waving in the breeze, speaking to us of hope and of harvest. Reminding us that change is possible. Muddy fields can turn into emerald quilts if given the right seeds and blessed with rain and sunshine. Hopeless lives can become beautiful things if given the right seeds and blessed with love and dignity.

Kite Flying

While I was blogging the other day, Austin took the boys out and they had a kite flying lesson in a field with a couple guys from the office and a lot of onlookers.

Pruitt's attempts turned out to be quite successful and he came home with a huge grin on his face!

Later in the day, as the heat started to increase again, Austin made watermelon shakes. They were a big hit!

Across the River

The boys have been begging us to take them to the other side of the river, so they could explore. Here are some pictures of the trip we made on Friday afternoon. What an amazing difference! City on the one side, open country side on the other.

This whole area will be under water during the rainy season, but for now it makes a great place for cows to feed and boys to play!

Here they are, gathering mud to throw into the water.

No, this was not a mistake. This is a little frog the boys found - can you find it?

Blessings

It's a beautiful Saturday morning and I have a quiet house for a few hours while Austin and the boys are out exploring somewhere. So I have time to write and think about my week. It's been an up and down week. By the end of the week, I was just plain tired of trying to make the best of things, tired of trying to find my niche, tired of asking hard questions and not finding any answers. But I had an email from a friend that encouraged me to look back at the ways that God was present. So, instead of telling you all the things that got me down this week, I 'm going to think back to the times when God showed up.

We had a really smooth week of school, in fact, when we were talking about things we are thankful for, Jensen said, "school". The weather has been a bit cooler and we haven't had as many power outages during the night. We've gotten a fresh supply of coffee and have been sipping Nicaraguan coffee every morning. The shelf I ordered for my oven to sit on has arrived, so my oven left its humble position of sitting on a dining chair and is now on a nice black iron shelf and I have more shelf space for other things too. April 15 is no longer a deadline and, to my utter amazement, we already have our refund. I have a wonderful husband who is there for me and is willing to wrestle with me through the hard issues. We had out-of-town visitors over for coffee and cookies yesterday and had a wonderful time chatting. Later we took a boat ride across the river and found an isolated spot where the boys could run around. Then we had dinner at a local roof top restaurant. And I was able to hear a story - of a girl who was married off when she was 11 years old, completely ignorant of what was going on. Her first child was born the next year. By the time she was 19, she had 4 little ones. When the youngest was only one month old, her husband died. Her in-laws, who she was living with, told her to leave. So she took her children and went home to her parents and managed to find a job. She has made it through the years by working here and there but it has been very hard for her. Now her children are older, so she doesn't worry quite as much, yet she continues to sacrifice for them. She just picked up her monthly salary and gave it all for a test fee so her daughter could continue her education. You have heard of this lovely woman before if you have been reading my blogs, for she is our helper. She shared this with me after I told her about our 10th anniversary coming up. She only had 8 years with her husband. I am so blessed.

The Local 7 Eleven

Here you have it, one of the many local shops, called a dokan. The closest one is just several houses down from us and we can get anything from potatoes and onions to packs of noodles or laundry soap. Sometimes it's nice to live close to such conveniences. Other times I wish I'd have to walk down a mile long lane to get to anything. Why, just yesterday afternoon I walked into the kitchen to get a hot pad so I could check the pie I had in the oven, and was shocked to see a lady standing on her roof, which is no more than 2 feet away, staring unashamadly into my kitchen. It's the second time she has done it. One of these times I'll have the courage to ask her what she is looking at. I just wanted to scream, "Leave me alone! Don't you have any shame?" She quickly walked on as soon as she saw me.

Another occurance lately has been the power outages, called load shedding. There is a much higher demand for electricity than there is supply, so we take turns doing without for a while. As the weather is getting hotter, more people are using fans, as well as pumps to irrigate fields, which means we have more frequent power cuts. The hardest time for me has been at night. Being a light sleeper, I wake up as soon as the fan goes off. If I'm lucky enough to doze off while it's off, I'm sure to wake up when the loud but welcome whirr begins again. When this occurs during the middle of the night I get irritated but try to just roll over and tell myself it will be over soon. But last night it seemed like a very long time and some very loud and obnoxious young guys were walking up and down the street, laughing and carrying on. I was very aware of the fact that I live in a city and am surrounded by people who are so very different from me. I was still irritated when I woke up this morning. I fixed myself a cup of coffee and went out on the veranda just as the sun was coming over the palm trees and I relished the thought of finally getting some quiet. But that was not to be. Two little children came running down the street, chattering very excitedly and stopped in the alley just below our house where they attempted to climb the neighbor's fence. (Good grief. If I wanted to climb a neighbor's fence, I'd do it quietly.) Needless to say, I abandoned my favorite spot.

So, there it is. My "quiet" city is not always quiet! Not that I really have anything to say, when my boys are running around the house, playing tag and running races in very loud and excited voices. In fact, they have probably popped in 6 times since I started writing this, asking if I'm about done. (You see, Riley gets to play a computer game when I'm done and they all plan to sit and watch). I pity the people who will some day move in to the empty apartment beneath us. I'm sure they will think the roof is falling on them. But then, like my next door neighbor told me when I asked her if she was bothered when the boys run on her side of the roof, they are used to it. Oh, if only I could just be "used to" such things. But no, I love the quiet. Yet I live in a noisy household, in a noisy city in a noisy country. God has a sense of humor, although it doesn't feel very funny at the moment. So I am going to sign off, let my boys have the computer, and shut myself in my room and think of a way to cope with it all!