Another Picnic

Winter is picnic season here in Bangladesh. People dress up, drive long distances, eat lots of food and sell raffle tickets. We spent this past weekend in Dhaka and went along on a picnic planned by the Dhaka staff. We met at 7:30 a.m. and waited for our bus to come. Waiting is just a part of life here and most people don't seem to mind it. The stacks of boxes in the above photo are breakfast packets, waiting for the right moment to be distributed. That moment was long in coming! The bus finally came, but then we were told there was to be a second bus, since we were too many to fit on one. So we piled onto one and drove a little ways to where the other was supposed to be. Of course it was not there yet. Some of us, who have not yet adapted to this "waiting" part of life, got off the bus and entertained the onlookers. We were told it could be half an hour, it could be an hour, nobody knows. Of course only a chosen few were disturbed by this. By 8:30 the hunger pangs could not be ignored, so we found a little hole-in-the-wall breakfast nook and ate some eggs and parotas (fried flat bread). The bus came around 9:00 and we finally started off for our picnic spot, the Jamuna Bridge. After a couple of hours of driving we finally arrived, only to sit at the gate because our name wasn't on the list for the day. After some phone calls we were let in and found "our" spot, which consisted of a canopied area with plastic chairs under it, grass around it for games and a nearby dusty hill which the children were drawn to like a magnet. We had a nice view of the river and the bridge, which is the longest in Bangladesh. However, due to a high fence and barbed wire, we couldn't actually go to the river. Sigh. We were served tea and given a snack of oranges and cake, an unexpected but appreciated treat. Then we had formal introductions (this included anyone who works for MCC, whether it be the gatekeepers or shopkeepers, director or IT Coordinator, as well as their families. So it was a nice group of people.

Then it was time for games. Jensen made some new friends and played cricket with them, as well as football (soccer). He also won first place in a ball tossing contest and later received a dart board, to the envy of all the other boys. Riley and Pruitt took part in a balloon flying contest, below.

The men and ladies played separate games of hot potato, using a soccer ball, while someone pounded a rock or some hard object on the metal pole for music. Then we had the first ever ( I can only imagine) game of soccer that included men, women, boys, girls, barefeet, saris, high heels and sandals. It was quite exciting! Our picnic lunch soon followed, which consisted of fish curry ( with only 5o bones per piece, but the flavor was delightful), goat curry, vegetables and salad on a mountain of rice. That was followed by the "lottery", where we won 2 bars of soap and toothpaste. Riley was having the time of his life sliding down the dusty hill, which must be why we won 2 bars of soap!

By 4:00p.m. we loaded the buses for our ride back into Dhaka. Riley found a place with his brothers and was soon fast asleep. We had to take this picture as proof to ourselves that they really do get along on occasion! The countryside ended all too quickly and we found ourselves in a congested traffic. At one point we found ourselves sitting beside the road because the driver realized he didn't have his road permit along - it was on the other bus. The police chased us away from that spot and we found another and waited for the other bus to catch up to us. It took 4 hours to get back, by which time "tired" had turned into exhaustion for some of us and the snacks had long been used up. The noisy guest house looked better to me than it ever had before. All in all, it was a good day. I didn't take any big steps in becoming a happy "wait"er, but, hey, I got some time to work on that yet. I did get to see beautiful country side and lots of smiling faces, share in laughter and conversation and be a part of a very diversified group of people. Not quite heaven, but I did see a glimpse of it.