Getting ready for the big holiday

It feels good to be back in the big city with Scott and with a calm office.  Henry and I left for Gaibandha the same day Scott's parents left Dhaka.  On the last day they were here Dada and Henry wore their matching shirts we had just had made, along with Gigi wearing a similar shirt.  Definitely a kodak moment.

Henry and I stayed up in Gaibandha for a week while I worked long hours and Henry did the usual of playing by the pond, throwing rocks in the water, pointing out all the big trucks, and entertaining everyone with his Bangla.  With the pure Bangladeshi diet up there, instead of an American breakfast and dinner when we’re in Dhaka, he started eating even more vegetables and showing that he knew how to eat with his hands properly – tearing piece of tortilla and pinching it around food to make a delicious bite.  In the photo here you can see his dinner plate with pumpkin, lentils, and the 'dinosaur eggs' made of rice mixed with vegetables which in this case was red spinach.  

He also showed off all the leaves and rocks he found.

 

Playing tablas with a student who lives up in Gaibandha:

We’ve been preparing for Christmas.  We enjoyed a Christmas party at the club last weekend (where I took the picture below of Henry playing with sand) and just finished decorating our tree today.  I bought the tree from a garden when I was walking home from a meeting last week.  No rickshaws were available at the time so a boy who works at the garden helped me bring it home.  Notice that he's wearing a heavy winter coat; I was sweating.

Henry helped out with cleaning up after the decorating, after he made a bit of an extra mess.  He still loves sweeping.  He'll take advantage of any chance he can find to run and fetch the broom.

 It’s getting cooler here.  I finally feel a chill when I go on a morning walk; I think it might be about 50 degrees at that time.  Of course, any temperature below 80 degrees brings a chill to a Bangladeshi’s bones.  Even the cows and goats must feel a chill because they have started wearing coats.  To keep warm, just about everyone has been lighting little fires on the streets and in homes using leaves, garbage, wood, anything you can name every morning and night to keep warm….The drop in temperature has quickly been reflected in the air quality – made worse because ALL the brick kilns are up and running for the winter.

Here are a few more photos from trips outside of Dhaka:
What more selection could you ask for?

 Photos from one of the community group meetings Scott's organization helps to organize

 Gigi enjoying herself:

 A scene where an interview was conducted with a rural farmerby some of Scott's employees

 The mini packets of seeds Scott's organization helped to launch:

 Rice harvest and processing: