Eeeek - Sorry

Been lacking at the blogging...sorry.

We just returned tonight from 10 days out of town (8 in Bali & 2 in Bangkok). Wow... nice to see clean and modern life again. Lots of pics to share this week - promise- just need some time to upload and post some details from the trip. Stay tuned and promise to improve the blogging frequency :)

Shop 'N Save... oh how we miss you

I laid in bed for too long the other night awake, but dreaming of our hometown grocery store. Sad, but true. I dreamt of walking from the beautiful, large spaced parking lot, through the automatic doors and into the foyer to grab the big-enough-for-a-person shopping cart. The cart was clean enough to sit Ceiba in without di-sanitizing. At the front door, the sale add greeted us and offered oh so many wonderful bargains and beautiful choices. It was a Thursday in my dream, so $10 off our $50 purchase.

We strolled through the produce section, so clean and so fresh. The misters came on with the sound of rainstorms as we walked by picking up pound after pound of crisp produce that does not have to be bleached before eating. The cart was full of bulk mushrooms, mixed greens, vidalia onions, red potatoes, asparagus, tomatillos, sweet potatoes, bing cherries, strawberries, plums and caramel apples at the end of the section for fall before we rounded the first corner.

On to the condiments and breads, all 200 choices of each. Decisions, decisions. And to the end of the bread aisle for bear claws, powdered baby donuts and fresh bagels. Oh, how I've missed you all!

A quick stop for lean, thick bacon and on to the aisles of canned goods, pastas, quick noodle boxes, chef boyardee pizza mixes, fruit cups, and 150 juice choices. The cookies and cereals demand an aisle a piece, with more options than imaginable. We walk down the heavenly coffee and tea aisle in a dazed state.

The fresh meat section of the Midwest is a sight to behold- porterhouses, london broil, filet mignons, pork steaks, roasts, red 93/7 hamburger and T-bones, oh my. A tear is near as I reach for a Puffs kleenex (with lotion).

And on to the fresh deli meat section. "Why yes, thank you. She'd love a piece of cheese and turkey." "Is the slice style okay?" "Yes, it's lovely." We ease a sample meat on a toothpick from beneath the plastic bubble while we wait for our deli meats. And let's grab some giant deli pickles while we're here.

On to the coolers of ready made meals from the deli, cheese and meat trays, spreads and dips. All are more appetizing than the next. I ponder for 10 minutes to decide what to buy. Of course, a Shop 'N Save sub sandwich is a must! It's a near 30 year family tradition to share one in the car on the way home.

Aisle after aisle of chips, snacks, drinks, liquor, pizzas, freezer selections.... cool whip and eggos and Totinos and burritos.  At the end of the aisle are the fresh French, sourdough, pumpernickel, rye breads and more. Do we need a custom cake or cookies? Maybe not today.

But as we round the final bend, the rafters open and a rainbow lights the sky. Doves fly and music begins to play. We have found the pot of gold! The dairy aisle awaits, right before our very feet. Oh fresh milk in 20 varieties, yogurt in 200 styles (whipped key lime pie), fresh juices, sour cream and onion dip - how very much we have missed you. OH SWEET CHEESES - colby, american, motzerella, pepperjack, cottage, cream, cheddar - you name it, we LOVE you. Climb yourselves all in our cart! Butter, butter, butter... not yucky palm oil, you too climb aboard. Ice cream choices as far as the eye can see.

It is a sweet, wonderful dream, so hard to awake from. My eyes open as we near the checkout. The fantasy slips right through my fingers. So sad, but so good while it lasted.

Shop 'N Save, oh how we miss you!

Fluoride Snausages

We can't drink the water in Bangladesh, unless we want to contract about a million unhappy side effects. So everyone is issued a water distiller, which is very nice. It removes all the yuck, but also the fluoride, although I doubt Bangladesh adds fluoride to the water anyway. As adults, we don't need the fluoride anymore, as our teeth are done growing (or so Med promises me), but Ceiba definitely needs it.

A couple weeks ago, we picked up the free fluoride tabs from the Med Unit, in yummy grape chewables. Ceiba doesn't really like them. Every night we give her a gummy chewable vitamin and her fluoride grape pill. Most nights after a few spits out into our hands and back into her mouth, she eats them. Tonight I did the dog heartworm pill in the snausage trick and shoved the fluoride pill into the gummy vitamin. No complaints, but I don't think the trick will work forever. Until she protests...fluoride snausages it is!

Halloween in Dhaka

The embassy community in Dhaka had events all weekend long for Halloween. On Thursday afternoon, the chancellery opened up to trick or treaters and had a door decorating contest. This year's costume was a mermaid, but got covered up by a pink sweater which HAD to be worn.  Ceiba had fun, but isn't about anything scary just yet. She was all manners, only taking one piece of candy at each door. Several ladies shoved a handful in her bag. She went for the "red" piece at every stop, so to look in her bag, there isn't a lot of variety. All things must be red at the present for her- toys, crayons, barrettes, freezy pops.

Then Friday was the Night Carnival at the American International School. We opted not to dress in costume, just too darn hot here, but Ceiba had on a Halloween t-shirt, while Chris & I wore shirts with skulls. The carnival was great! Tons of people, great lights in the trees, a nice variety of games for all ages, popcorn, cotton candy, candy, soda (Ceiba had a glass of orange soda- you'd have thought it was crack!).  Ceiba had the most fun just playing on the jungle gym with all the other kids! It was nice for us just to watch and sit :)

And though this pic doesn't do it justice, the "dunking booth" was classic Dhaka!!! There wasn't an actual booth of water to fall into, but instead, when you hit the target a bucket of water dumped on the guy. Chris and I laughed about that for a while!

Saturday the American Club had a day of games sponsored by the Dhaka American Women's Club, but frankly we were pooped, so hung out in the pool instead. Ceiba is a diving crazy kid lately. We can barely get her to come up for air!

We baked some Halloween cookies! Of course we had to send sprinkles in our airfreight. We LOVE sprinkles!! And yes, we had to eat them all within 2 days, because otherwise they would mold or have the icing running all over the place here in Dhaka.

My sister's family sent a fun Halloween box for Ceiba in the mail! She had an absolute ball opening stickers, candy, books, wings, a wand, etc and reading all the fun post-it notes on everything. Good job Aunt Carrie!!! The string of jack-o-lantern lights were a REALLY big hit, and we turned them on every night. Plus some purple nail polish from Sam, which not only was fun for nails, but was used to repaint the tail of her Dora pony's tail! And the tattoo was a favorite and stayed on for a week. Other kids at the pool even said how cool it was!

Another festive package came from Gma & Gpa later in the week, full of tortillas, crunchy peanut butter (for Papa), books, stickers, soup, Halloween socks and more. Thanks Gma & Gpa!! We love getting mail over here, especially with comfort food and goodies :) I was surprised to not see articles cut out of the Troy newspaper Gpa, hahaha. It's always fun to see Papa walk in the door with mail or a package under his arm.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween and Day of the Dead!

Around the apartment

Have been putting off posting apartment pics, because frankly it's awfully sterile looking at this point. We did get our UAB (airfreight) last week, but won't see the other 6000+ lbs of misc until the end of November and sometime in December (2 shipments).

This will just give me reason to post pretty "after" shots once we've personalized our place later. Sorry to keep everyone waiting, haven't been blogging much lately. Will work to change that!

                                          (above) Kitchen, pantry and laundry 

(below) Kitchen, office (2)

(above) master bedroom, MB closet wall and master bath (only tub in house)

(below) main living area (waiting on a big tv and artwork)

   

(above) smaller living room (Ceiba's play area) by main veranda

 (below) guest room (queen bed to come) and guest bath - sunny faces east

(above) Ceiba's room - (below) our many geckos, called tik-tikis here, outside at night

HOME SWEET HOME!

Far Away

When choosing this lifestyle for our family, we knew there would be moments when it would be especially difficult to be living away. There would be new babies, weddings, birthdays, holidays and deaths when we would not be able to be with family and friends. Always, there would be times when we'd feel very absent from back "home". We just didn't think our absence would be felt quite so soon upon leaving.

Last week, a very close uncle unexpectedly passed away. Though my sister and I talk on Skype every week, she had the difficult task to email me the news, so I would know right away. I know she labored over every typed word, but cannot express how much we appreciated that she sent the email. Two weeks into our arrival, there was just no real way for us to get back to Illinois in time. Our phones are local only, until we get a VPN line to use the MagicJack, and our letters to loved ones will take about 2 weeks to arrive. I know our aunt, cousin and family know our scenario and understand. I know how hectic funerals are and that you never have time to visit with everyone. I know they know how very, very much we love them and hurt for their loss. It's still hard to feel so far away.

Our "park"

There is a "park" just a block down from our apartment. We walked there today. I did not have high expectations, so was not crushed when we found it to be a concrete path around a green lake.  It is an effort of the community to have green space, a place to exercise and a safe place to sit and think. Mission accomplished, and every small step counts. We are so used to beautiful green spaces filled with jungle gyms and swings, that it made me sad to not have a swing or fun place for Ceiba to play. It made my mind stray to that place all Foreign Service parents sometimes go, the "are we depriving our children of xyz" thoughts. I know better. I know that while she may miss (heck we all may miss) many comforts of life in the States, we see the bigger picture. The bigger picture of the opportunity this lifestyle can give us, of the expanded view our minds may grow into and of the important work each person can make for our country's diplomacy. 

Wow, I'm getting too deep. Really I just wanted a swing to push her in. Instead we found a deer in a pen and a questionable slide, but we did okay. Every day that we walk out our door to see something new here, I am happy.

Two little boys were visibly not in school, and from across the lake we saw them swimming in the not clean green water. By the time we came around, they were asking for money and smiling. I know the drill by now; I know we will be asked for money… a lot… by almost everyone we pass on the street. We smiled at them, and I politely said I would not be giving them money. So we played on the slide together instead… and giggled and smiled some more. We bid them goodbye and walked on, where I stopped to take a picture or two with my phone. They ran back up to ask for their picture to be taken. I obliged happily and enjoyed their joy to see themselves in my camera.  Again, our cheery goodbye.

They are sweet boys… little boys without much in this world. I wish I could fix the ones cleft lip and palate. I wish I could give them all the money they want. I wish I could feed them everyday. I wish they had a good, safe home to sleep in and a school to spend their days. I will find a way to make a difference while we are living in Bangladesh, whether to 2 sweet little boys or many more. The need is great, and the available hands and hearts are not nearly enough.

Me + cooking this week = sucks

I have cooked every day that we've been here. It isn't always fancy...usually not...but I am SO trying to cook nice meals. Once upon a time, I actually fancied myself a pretty good cook. Not sure if it has anything to do with being half way around the world or not, but lately I really suck at cooking. Chris snickered and asked "WHEN does she start?" tonight when I said an interview for house help went well. Sadly, I second his words and feel sheepish on my cooking suckiness as of late.

Our only spices are salt, pepper and garlic salt. I only bought olive oil yesterday. We have bought little meat (in part due to the beef anthrax warnings...nice). We cannot consume water from the tap, and no way will I ever even cook with it when we have such a nice distiller and jug cooler. The power goes out about 20 times a day... I sh*t you not.  So some evenings I'm either prepping or at least cleaning up dishes in 90 seconds X however many outages of darkness until the generator kicks on. Man, do we HEART the generator! The previous line "cleaning up", yes we do not have a dishwasher other than me.  And I despise doing dishes! So in addition to the giant task of cooking, I then immediately after eating said crappy dinner, have the giant-er task of cleaning up the mountain of dishes.... and bleaching them. Please don't take this post as a pity party, I am still very much enjoying the ride, just noting the big changes from "the way we were" (I know you want to break into song... misty water colors memories...).

We are actually starting to have fun playing Marco Polo in the dark at the dinner table. Marco!

So I am feeling like a fish out of water in the cooking department and look forward to our new helper starting tomorrow! I hope to learn some local recipes from her. She comes highly recommended and even got a "best Bangla cooking we've had while living there" comment from her last family. She came today and though her English is not great (and by all means my Bangla is non-existent), we got on great. Ceiba even got a few minutes of play time with her on the floor and really enjoyed herself. Let's just say she won't have to try very hard to outdo the pitiful meals we've had this past week. We look very forward to dinner tomorrow night!

Here is a sample of the prep for tonight's dinner. It started well...

 Grapes & crab tonight (top), misc fruit/veg & bakery (middle)

 pizza crusts from Lavender grocery store for 25 taka (about $0.30)

We bought the crab claws for 465 taka, under $7 and enough for 3 meals. They didn't turn out too bad, but the fresh spinach from the rooftop garden that I laboriously washed and disinfected, chilled, tempura-ed and tried to flash fry... total poop. Grapes, naan bread, sweet-leaded iced tea (my signature dish) & leftover macoroni = good. So I guess my batting average wasn't completely terrible. But still, very looking forward to not eating my own cooking tomorrow.

This and that

Our apartment isn't too cozy yet, it's mostly a bunch of sterile furniture and not many personal items. So I'll wait to post house pics for a while. But here are a couple of local produce (after the task of sanitizing it), the shopping circle by our place, the kitchen and the handful of plants who traversed the journey to Dhaka with us.

Nothing makes me feel at home much more than a few plants scattered about the patio. Yes, I could have gotten new plants here, but they wouldn't have had the history that these hold.

We've shopped at local markets, local grocery stores and the commissary, but look forward to finding house help this week to help learn to shop like the locals do. Chris is drinking Cambodian Tiger beer ($0.74/can) and Australian Foster's ($0.95). Old Milwaukee is $4 A CAN! He wouldn't drink it even if it were $0.25 a can, but $4.... that's just wrong.

Beautiful Bangladesh!

We took a day trip to a small village celebrating Durga Puja, a Hindu festival. Much time was spent to (3 hrs) and from (1 hr) the festival. Watching busy life alongside the bus was probably the most interesting way we could have spent the day. The colors in Bangladesh are AMAZING! The genuine smiles and eye contact are wonderful. 

It was a terrific way to see the beautiful sights beyond Dhaka.