My Space

Now that I have my own space and my own home I am finding that I am really.... really... bored. Yep 4 concrete walls and no furniture. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee.....!!!!!!! I have read all of my books and then some and can only try to memorize so much Bangla. So I have had to come up with various strategies to keep sane. These include but are not limited to: Banging my head on the wall, talking to myself, counting mosquitios, and inventing things. One thing I invented was belly dance jump rope. Its really dumb. Another thing I invented was sticky oat cakes. They are tasty with peanut butter and jelly.

So I have been slowly furnishing my home as well. I had a local carpenter build me a big ass desk, a kitchen table and a clothing rack. I am finally out of my suitcase 100%. I have the bed already too which is nice. Also I was adopted by an ex-pat family in Dhaka the head scientist for the ICCDR'B (which is program here to fight cholera) and his wife. They sent me a huge box of house hold stuff: mugs, towles, plastic spatulas, spices, teas, various kitchen gadgets, English books , a calender and other things you take for granted in the US that make your life simple and easy. I could definately not of afforded the stuff on my volunteer living allowance of 100 dollars a month. Yikes!

The Americans in Dhaka take pity on us volunteers and buy us things like real food and alcohol and books. So thats nice. There are also a lot of British and Japanese ex-pat families that take us under their wings too. They are fascinated by us infact since we live beyond the diplomatic enclave in Dhaka with its private security force and bomb walls. Mabey we are just crazy loco. But we have great stories from the field.

So yes settling in.... probably will be settling in for a long time. I have been getting more and more into teaching and my class is progressing nicely. My students are so dedicated and I feel refreshed and alive and envigorated after I finish each class. I truly do love to teach and am finding that I am good at it too. Two days ago I just sat idle in class while the students worked cooperatively in groups. It was awesome! The model is that students should do the work in class not the teacher. The teacher does most of the work outside of class. This is experiential learning. Hands on. Practical application and communicative approach. And for a pretty green teacher such as myself it seems to be working out rather well. It will be a shock to come home to American kids who don't give a crap. ITs all perspective though isn't it.

Oh yeah I have also developed a taste for fish. Its really good here and the meat... well frankly the meat terrifies me so I eat fish and eggs. I am going to experament with some chickpeas tonight .... there is a Bangla dish called "kitchuri" which is like a bunch of veggies and chickpeas and boiled eggs and onion and spices mixed together and it is oh so yummy.

On the topic of cooking well it is a pain in the ass. EVERYTHING has to be made from scratch including grinding of the very spices you need. Speaking of griniding my local house hold shop keeper said he was gonna get me a mortar and pestle but if I go to get it he will make me drink tea with his whole family and I am SO not in the mood for that today. Tomorrow perhaps.... Yeah so cooking.. it takes forever. Its really dumb and it annoys me, bit if I don't do it I will die. So I have no choice. And I don't know what half of the food and spices are in the market. Some of the stuff is local only to South East Asia and rarely available in the West. But I have discovered that by adding onions and garlic you can make most things tasty. I know I have to smell so terrible but I really dont care.

I also found a shop that sells embroydery supplies and I have decided to work on embroydery projects and make a quilt. Yep. Domestic I know but its either that or the other aforementioned distraction devices and my head hurts! I also want to see what kind of art supplies one can get here because I am interested in holding some art classes.

Also many of you know but many do not. I am planning my first holiday sometime in the Spring to Thailand. There I shall do really bad things like lay in public on the beach in a bikini and drink alcoholic beverages. Bwaahahahahaha! Also because of stress I have lost 21 pounds. Mabey its worms but I think not I just have hardly any appetite and I walk between 1 and 3 miles a day. Thats in addition to running around in circles in my apartment for an hour while making barking noises.

I am still accepting donations to ease my mental boredom. If you would like to send me a package please always send some of the following:

books
400 speed 35 mm film
nice pens in various colors (preferably pilot brand)
spiral note books
music
granola bars
magazines
teaching supplies... crayons, markers, pictures... whatever.....


Hope you are well I am alright... just plodding along and taking things as they come.

M