I've actually moved away from Bangladesh, and realize I need to change the title of my blog, but it's all happened rather quickly to me this week. I have a few more things to say about life in Dhaka before I'm ready to move on in this blog! Here are the best things that happened to me this year:
Sathy
Sathy worked for my family and was incredible. She would take care of me when both Mom and Dad were working; make food I liked like kichuri with vegetables, rice and lentils mixed together; and make sure the house was nice and clean so when I did things like chew on the window grates, I wasn't getting sick. She was a beautiful woman who cared about me, worked hard and loved God, and I will miss her influence on my life.
Babygroup
In Dhaka, there are a whole bunch of parents who want their kids to get out and play and have a chance to socialize, but realize that there isn't a lot of space for it. They have organized babygroups, most from 10-12 in the morning before lunch and nap times, in their homes to let us do that. Last year Mom took me to a bunch of babygroups so she could meet other parents and talk. This year, I was much more social and started to own the groups for myself. On Wednesdays, a group of my friends always came over to my house for playtime, snacks and general frivolity. I loved these kiddos and am still talking about them even after missing the groups for a full week.
Family Time
In this picture I may not look like I love my family, but I do, and I loved how much time we had together in Dhaka. With no car and no malls and no crazy agendas like people seem to have in the West (as my parents call most of the rest of the world), we had a lot of time together even though Dad worked more than full time and Mom volunteered with a youth group and at the school and worked with a few students. We'd all do our grocery shopping together on weekends and ride a school bus or a rickshaw (like we're doing in this picture) home together because one person couldn't ever carry all of the vegetables and fruit alone. Mom would take me to Dad's after-school practices because it would give me a chance to run around with an extra football and then we could walk home together. Dad would bring me to the American Club while Mom was helping with youth group and we'd get to play on one of the only swings in Dhaka together afterwards. They'd take turns putting me to bed after family dinners because everyone could pretty consistently be home in the evenings with no extra distractions to keep us busy.
Dhaka, there are many things about you that made Mom cry and made normal life take a long time and a lot of work, but I'm thankful for almost two years of time to learn some Bangla. hang out with Sathy, play with some great friends, and see my family all together as much as I did.
Aww, great post Bowman. Good reflections -- and now you'll have this to read when your memory doesn't work very well. :-)
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