A Little Update
I'm home from my two-week trip and feeling like I should be updating this blog. I think I invested all my writing energy in an email to my siblings and their parents, so I'll be copying some of that email into this space. I'll try to do some editing to make it suitable for this more public place, but if something surprising or inappropriate slips through you have an a priori explanation.
This answer to Clara [who inquired about pictures] turned
into a trip report which grew and grew . . .
At the last minute I left my camera at home. It's a bulky thing that I didn't want to tote along. I arranged to have pictures from Joel's camera, and those are not yet in my possession. I concentrated on soaking up the experience and recording it in writing in a theme notebook that I took along.
I had a good 8-hour night last night and woke up in time to get to church by 11:00. We went to Lowells for dinner and I'm hoping to get another good night tonight. I have studiously avoiding napping today.
The hours of travel were actually more than 48 hours as calculated from the time I left Joel's house until the time I arrived at our house--maybe more than 50 hours. There was no need to reset my watch since we're exactly 12 hours apart now since we're back on standard time.
My flight schedule went like clockwork, and I had ample time to make each connection, without hideously long layovers. In Houston, we benefited from access to the United Lounge, courtesy of Marvin. That was one of our longest layovers, and the relaxed space and good food were very nice. All the flights were mostly very smooth, and the security checks were all less arduous than the one in Wichita before departure. Turkish Airlines offered great amenities--good food beautifully presented, and a nice little comfort pack (ear phones, socks, slippers, eye shields, ear plugs), along with a pillow and blanket for each passenger on each flight. All together I had four flights with them.
The route home took me through Istanbul, Frankfurt, and Chicago. I didn't leave the airport in these cities, of course.
Being in a foreign country during the election was interesting. Both among the expatriates and the national Bangladeshis, dismay with Trump was overwhelming. It's easy to see why when productive, hard-working people who have always viewed the US as a friendly, welcoming place full of opportunity for immigrants suddenly feel ostracized and villianized by a US public figure. A Hindu (who feels ostracized by the Muslims in BD) was the only person anyone seemed to have heard of who wanted Trump to win (serves those nasty Muslims right must have been his line of thinking). I read an opinion piece in an English newspaper, written by a Bengali working as a journalist in the US. His take on the election is that the US's reputation abroad has been severely--perhaps irreparably--tarnished by the tone of the campaign cycle. This was published before the election, so I can only imagine what the same writer might say in a followup column.
I was impressed by J__ and H____'s facility with Bangla, although it's fair to note that I'm not very well qualified to discern the level of skill involved. Christy is gamely learning how to navigate between J___'s place and E's by rickshaw, giving the right directions at the right time, etc. I think she's a good fit for the place. Arwen had her 4th birthday celebrated while I was there. I baked a cake and H____ decorated it in the owl design Arwen wanted. It was a beautiful pink and blue owl. Lucia is uttering her very articulate, tiny-voiced sentences as competently as ever, e. g. : "Will you please pass the salt, Daddy?" She turned two last summer.
The time in the Sunderban was a marvelous blessing. Our cruise ship accommodated our group of 26 with no room to spare, but enough room for all. The food was fabulous and generous, and the captain of the ship was a veteran of 26 years, and very competent. We had just a hint of drama with the development of a tropical depression in the Bay of Bengal that threatened to turn into a cyclone (hurricane in this part of the world). We anchored at the mouth of a river, within sight of the Bay of Bengal, on a day when the drenching rain was unrelenting and when the wind rose and the tide came in while the little boat was away from the cruise ship. Most of the people had gone to trek for an hour across land to swim in the Bay of Bengal, and after an hour, trek back (during which time the weather worsened), so the return trip in the little boat was pretty exciting. The boat rode low and the waves rode high, and the man steering the thing made grim sit-down-and-be-quiet motions to anyone who turned a questioning eye in his direction. Christy thought the journey was the highlight of the trip. The captain became agitated until everyone was safely on board again (jerked aboard by every available boat employee), at which point he pulled anchor and headed upriver, away from the Bay. The weather improved as the day wore on, and, near sunset, the little boat went out again, idling along the shore without anyone getting completely soaked. It was perfect!
We had a picnic on the top deck of the boat on our last night on board. Only the wheelhouse, complete with a real "ship's wheel" to steer with, created an enclosure up there--except for the rails around the edge, of course. If it hadn't rained earlier, I think this area would have seen a lot more use.
We saw no tigers (few people do), but we did see tiger tracks on the shore during our early morning boat ride. We also saw Wild Boars, Spotted Deer, and Monkeys--some of the other larger animals in the Sunderban. Most of these we saw from the cruise ship anchored in the river.
On our way to the Sunderban, we took a 12-hour train ride through the countryside--a wonderful way to see the fields and farms of this productive land. Poverty was evident also, but here, it was not the only thing visible, and the trip in an air-conditioned coach with friends all around us was very pleasant. Present also were several law enforcement officers, apparently called on specifically to protect our little party on the the journey. They took their job very seriously, carefully guarding both entrances to our coach. We crossed one of Bangladesh's three mighty rivers on a bridge 3.5 miles long. Our mighty Mississippi is dwarfed by comparison. Even minor rivers in Bangladesh are wide and navigable by ocean-going vessels.
In the city where our train ride ended and our boat ride began, we attracted a crowd when our guide was accosted by three? officers who demanded to know why we were there and where we were going and generally protesting at not having been properly informed in advance so that they could provide good protection for us. Our guide explained apologetically that things have become very difficult since the terrorist attacks in July--an event audible from the apartment of some new friends I met while in BD. From our perspective, becoming a spectacle is more unsettling than simply being able to move about quietly without much notice.
I experienced Dhaka traffic at its best? or worst? Thankfully, the times when it ground completely to a halt, we were in an air-conditioned taxi with a friendly, capable driver who passed the down time by creating origami figures for the little girls--after inviting Arwen to ride in front between him and her daddy on the console (no safety restraints in this part of the world). Riding in a CNG (a three wheeled golf-cart-sized compressed natural gas motor driven roofed-cage vehicle), and riding in a rickshaw were the other ways we moved about, besides walking, of course. J____ routinely bikes to work, and most people avoid the buses if possible. They never actually stop, it turns out, so if you want a ride you embark and disembark while the bus is in motion. Traffic moves without benefit of stop signs or traffic lights, and I find it completely amazing that it doesn't end up as one mass of crumpled wood and steel. People on bikes dart into narrow spaces between two buses moving parallel to each other down the road. The buses come up behind a CNG and follow so closely that I could have easily touched the one behind us through the grate. There's a reason that all the CNGs have steel mesh guards over the front and back lights. Ours bumped into another on one occasion and the people in the other CNG shouted and our driver sped away as fast as traffic allowed. Pedestrians cross these chaotic traffic streams and survive!
J___ and his family live on the top floor of a 6-story building on a relatively quiet street. The bottom floor is a garage with about a dozen spaces for vehicles. J____'s family is apparently the only one in the building who doesn't own a car. All the cars I saw are nicer than ours. Their living space (three bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen, utility area) is reached by an elevator. It's a modern home with tile floors, hot running water and a tub in one bathroom, and two other bathrooms with showers besides. A generator kicks in any time the electricity goes off, but not all the lights and fans are operable on generator power. Four verandas with a steel grate (horizontal bars, actually) all the way to the top offer some outdoor play area, along with the rooftop area. I didn't compare the living space to ours, but I would guess that theirs is bigger.
We met wonderful friends of our family members in BD. Anyone who loves to do British English would have had a heyday as many of their friends are dyed-in-the-wool Brits by language, although some of them come from down under. These are bright engaging people with big hearts and many skills to offer the people they've come to love and serve.
I'd better quit. I hope to hear a report soon about Paraguay and about Africa [places other family members are traveling to]. Safe travels! Thanks for your prayers for me.
One more thing: While I was in BD I emailed Hiromi and asked him to remind me to do the Sunderban river cruise again whenever I'm feeling stressed. He responded by saying "You might need a sponsor for that!" Details . . .
At the last minute I left my camera at home. It's a bulky thing that I didn't want to tote along. I arranged to have pictures from Joel's camera, and those are not yet in my possession. I concentrated on soaking up the experience and recording it in writing in a theme notebook that I took along.
I had a good 8-hour night last night and woke up in time to get to church by 11:00. We went to Lowells for dinner and I'm hoping to get another good night tonight. I have studiously avoiding napping today.
The hours of travel were actually more than 48 hours as calculated from the time I left Joel's house until the time I arrived at our house--maybe more than 50 hours. There was no need to reset my watch since we're exactly 12 hours apart now since we're back on standard time.
My flight schedule went like clockwork, and I had ample time to make each connection, without hideously long layovers. In Houston, we benefited from access to the United Lounge, courtesy of Marvin. That was one of our longest layovers, and the relaxed space and good food were very nice. All the flights were mostly very smooth, and the security checks were all less arduous than the one in Wichita before departure. Turkish Airlines offered great amenities--good food beautifully presented, and a nice little comfort pack (ear phones, socks, slippers, eye shields, ear plugs), along with a pillow and blanket for each passenger on each flight. All together I had four flights with them.
The route home took me through Istanbul, Frankfurt, and Chicago. I didn't leave the airport in these cities, of course.
Being in a foreign country during the election was interesting. Both among the expatriates and the national Bangladeshis, dismay with Trump was overwhelming. It's easy to see why when productive, hard-working people who have always viewed the US as a friendly, welcoming place full of opportunity for immigrants suddenly feel ostracized and villianized by a US public figure. A Hindu (who feels ostracized by the Muslims in BD) was the only person anyone seemed to have heard of who wanted Trump to win (serves those nasty Muslims right must have been his line of thinking). I read an opinion piece in an English newspaper, written by a Bengali working as a journalist in the US. His take on the election is that the US's reputation abroad has been severely--perhaps irreparably--tarnished by the tone of the campaign cycle. This was published before the election, so I can only imagine what the same writer might say in a followup column.
I was impressed by J__ and H____'s facility with Bangla, although it's fair to note that I'm not very well qualified to discern the level of skill involved. Christy is gamely learning how to navigate between J___'s place and E's by rickshaw, giving the right directions at the right time, etc. I think she's a good fit for the place. Arwen had her 4th birthday celebrated while I was there. I baked a cake and H____ decorated it in the owl design Arwen wanted. It was a beautiful pink and blue owl. Lucia is uttering her very articulate, tiny-voiced sentences as competently as ever, e. g. : "Will you please pass the salt, Daddy?" She turned two last summer.
The time in the Sunderban was a marvelous blessing. Our cruise ship accommodated our group of 26 with no room to spare, but enough room for all. The food was fabulous and generous, and the captain of the ship was a veteran of 26 years, and very competent. We had just a hint of drama with the development of a tropical depression in the Bay of Bengal that threatened to turn into a cyclone (hurricane in this part of the world). We anchored at the mouth of a river, within sight of the Bay of Bengal, on a day when the drenching rain was unrelenting and when the wind rose and the tide came in while the little boat was away from the cruise ship. Most of the people had gone to trek for an hour across land to swim in the Bay of Bengal, and after an hour, trek back (during which time the weather worsened), so the return trip in the little boat was pretty exciting. The boat rode low and the waves rode high, and the man steering the thing made grim sit-down-and-be-quiet motions to anyone who turned a questioning eye in his direction. Christy thought the journey was the highlight of the trip. The captain became agitated until everyone was safely on board again (jerked aboard by every available boat employee), at which point he pulled anchor and headed upriver, away from the Bay. The weather improved as the day wore on, and, near sunset, the little boat went out again, idling along the shore without anyone getting completely soaked. It was perfect!
We had a picnic on the top deck of the boat on our last night on board. Only the wheelhouse, complete with a real "ship's wheel" to steer with, created an enclosure up there--except for the rails around the edge, of course. If it hadn't rained earlier, I think this area would have seen a lot more use.
We saw no tigers (few people do), but we did see tiger tracks on the shore during our early morning boat ride. We also saw Wild Boars, Spotted Deer, and Monkeys--some of the other larger animals in the Sunderban. Most of these we saw from the cruise ship anchored in the river.
On our way to the Sunderban, we took a 12-hour train ride through the countryside--a wonderful way to see the fields and farms of this productive land. Poverty was evident also, but here, it was not the only thing visible, and the trip in an air-conditioned coach with friends all around us was very pleasant. Present also were several law enforcement officers, apparently called on specifically to protect our little party on the the journey. They took their job very seriously, carefully guarding both entrances to our coach. We crossed one of Bangladesh's three mighty rivers on a bridge 3.5 miles long. Our mighty Mississippi is dwarfed by comparison. Even minor rivers in Bangladesh are wide and navigable by ocean-going vessels.
In the city where our train ride ended and our boat ride began, we attracted a crowd when our guide was accosted by three? officers who demanded to know why we were there and where we were going and generally protesting at not having been properly informed in advance so that they could provide good protection for us. Our guide explained apologetically that things have become very difficult since the terrorist attacks in July--an event audible from the apartment of some new friends I met while in BD. From our perspective, becoming a spectacle is more unsettling than simply being able to move about quietly without much notice.
I experienced Dhaka traffic at its best? or worst? Thankfully, the times when it ground completely to a halt, we were in an air-conditioned taxi with a friendly, capable driver who passed the down time by creating origami figures for the little girls--after inviting Arwen to ride in front between him and her daddy on the console (no safety restraints in this part of the world). Riding in a CNG (a three wheeled golf-cart-sized compressed natural gas motor driven roofed-cage vehicle), and riding in a rickshaw were the other ways we moved about, besides walking, of course. J____ routinely bikes to work, and most people avoid the buses if possible. They never actually stop, it turns out, so if you want a ride you embark and disembark while the bus is in motion. Traffic moves without benefit of stop signs or traffic lights, and I find it completely amazing that it doesn't end up as one mass of crumpled wood and steel. People on bikes dart into narrow spaces between two buses moving parallel to each other down the road. The buses come up behind a CNG and follow so closely that I could have easily touched the one behind us through the grate. There's a reason that all the CNGs have steel mesh guards over the front and back lights. Ours bumped into another on one occasion and the people in the other CNG shouted and our driver sped away as fast as traffic allowed. Pedestrians cross these chaotic traffic streams and survive!
J___ and his family live on the top floor of a 6-story building on a relatively quiet street. The bottom floor is a garage with about a dozen spaces for vehicles. J____'s family is apparently the only one in the building who doesn't own a car. All the cars I saw are nicer than ours. Their living space (three bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen, utility area) is reached by an elevator. It's a modern home with tile floors, hot running water and a tub in one bathroom, and two other bathrooms with showers besides. A generator kicks in any time the electricity goes off, but not all the lights and fans are operable on generator power. Four verandas with a steel grate (horizontal bars, actually) all the way to the top offer some outdoor play area, along with the rooftop area. I didn't compare the living space to ours, but I would guess that theirs is bigger.
We met wonderful friends of our family members in BD. Anyone who loves to do British English would have had a heyday as many of their friends are dyed-in-the-wool Brits by language, although some of them come from down under. These are bright engaging people with big hearts and many skills to offer the people they've come to love and serve.
I'd better quit. I hope to hear a report soon about Paraguay and about Africa [places other family members are traveling to]. Safe travels! Thanks for your prayers for me.
One more thing: While I was in BD I emailed Hiromi and asked him to remind me to do the Sunderban river cruise again whenever I'm feeling stressed. He responded by saying "You might need a sponsor for that!" Details . . .
posted by Mrs. I (Miriam Iwashige) at
8:14 PM
3 Comments:
O, such delight! I am so glad you could go visit those dear ones...now you can visualize their daily life quite a bit better! Thanks for all the writing and word pictures. I can well visualize those rickshaws and CNG's, and the buses! And the people!
~ Susanna
By
Anonymous, at 11/17/2016
Thanks for the report, Miriam--so glad you had a good time! We were in El Salvador over the election, and what you say about BD pretty much mirrors what we heard/experienced down there. I'm increasingly glad that Jesus is King, not our leaders.... ~Jeanene
By
Unknown, at 11/18/2016
Jeanene, I wondered aloud if the election results were celebrated in any country outside the US, and someone noted that India (see note above about the BD Hindu) and Russia might have been in that category. Thanks for telling us what you observed in E.S. I'm glad you had a chance to visit Jana--for her sake as well as yours.
By
Mrs. I (Miriam Iwashige), at 11/19/2016
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