It has been a while since I've written about normal day-to-day life here...
Yesterday "Littles" was home with a cough and fever. He played some with lego, watched some cartoons, played Mathletics. My mother-in-law came over for coffee and we had a good time of connecting again. Then I filled my great big insulated bag with cinnamon rolls, maple cookies and chili soup to refill the freezer over at the MCC's expat team house which we all call the Bat Cave. I threw together some lunch, which Littles nibbled at and then we played a couple games before he took a long nap. Before I knew it, the other 2 were home from school and ready for a snack. They then made a lovely chocolate cake (with a little oversight and a lot of cocoa on the flour). The three of them spent the evening at their Grandparents' place while Austin and I had an evening out. We spent a good bit of the evening delivering some boxes of Sacred Mark soap across town to the most wonderful little shop in the Westin called Pebbles. Pebbles sells the most beautiful knitted creations - toys, sweaters and blankets for little ones, all hand made here in Bangladesh. And now they sell our soap too! We took in some lovely red basket soap sets, wrapped in heart strings, for Valentine's Day. But first we had to go around the back of the hotel and carry our boxes through security. The Bangladeshi guards all looked at us as if we were crazy to do this ourselves. ( We live in a country where people will call the servant to turn on the fan, even when the switch is within arm's reach. A generalization, I know,but I have seen it happen on more than one occasion. And in saying this, i am not trying to "dis" my host country. I just find it humorous at times and maddening at others). We opened our boxes and and the guy waved his little metal detector over it. It kept beeping and he couldn't figure out why. Later Austin told me it was the guard's watch that kept getting in the way but he never seemed to catch on. They waved us on and showed us where to go. Can't say I've ever entered a 5 star hotel through the back entry and it was interesting. We found our way to Pebbles, turned over the soap and I oohed and aahed over all the baby stuff, wondering what my new nephew would like, falling in love with all kinds of girly stuff and wondering when this family is ever going to have girls for me to go crazy over. But I digress! From there we did a bit of grocery shopping at one of my favorite little import stores and then took a nice long walk to a Mexican Restaurant. I had forgotten to buy lettuce for the special lunch I had planned so we walked to the market and loaded up on fresh produce - 3 bags for under $5. Broccoli, carrots, sweet potatoes, chinese cabbage, garlic, some exotic looking peppers, ice berg lettuce and green leaf lettuce. We headed back to our side of town in a little cng. Our driver was determined to avoid sitting in traffic and took the craziest side roads and alleys. We bumped through narrow walled alleys and I felt as if I was being squeezed through a birth canal. We went to pick up our boys and found they were all wide awake yet and as full of energy as ever. Littles wasn't' coughing much any more and was quite perky and his fever was gone. No medicine is quite as good as going to Grandma's house! Are we blessed or what, to live on the other side of the world but still 5 minutes walk away from Grandpa and Grandma!
So, that was my Thursday, the last day of the work week. And now it is Friday. We are having a quiet, much-needed day at home. It's my birthday, so I slept in and let Austin deal with getting breakfast on and am enjoying letting myself be pampered. More fun is to come, including that chocolate cake the boys made for me yesterday. Maybe I can post some pics later. For now, I'm counting my blessings and realizing I have a lot of them!
