What's different?

I feel very at home here in Bangladesh and the transition here has been much easier than our move to India. We loved India but we were doing it on our own and arriving with nothing but our suitcases. We also had much younger children with us. I'm pleased we had the experience of India. We had to work hard to make ends meet and find our way around but here in Chandpur, Bangladesh, we have been so well looked after.
We arrived to a furnished home to stay in, no need to buy anything for the house unless we really want to and we'd already had the experience of shopping in markets and catching Tomtom's (Auto rickshaws) in India so it didn't take long to feel at home shopping and travelling in this way again. Some people may struggle with some of the commodities but for us, everything is perfect.  

We have a great sense of purpose here and are keeping busy which is fulfilling. My biggest fear of not getting on with the couple we are sharing the house with is a non issue and I think we are all enjoying each others company and we have enough privacy if we need it.

So whats a couple of differences from New Zealand that I have seen in the last couple of days?

1. Yummy tiny bananas that you buy on the side of the road.


2.Gas top oven for baking.

Village Visits

D.C and our eldest son have been away for a few days in Dhaka. They have been having various meetings with people regarding IT. It's been rather exciting for them with opportunities of companies and people wanting to help. I can't give you the full details yet but only because I don't really know the facts. There's a guy also over from England that's a real mover and shaker, D.C had been in conversation with him before we arrived in Bangladesh. Yesterday they went to a village which was a 3.5hr drive away. I believe they are wanting the village to pilot free wifi with the end term goal of getting the e-learning platform available to remote villages so that education is available to all. Mobile phones are everywhere now which can be used as a great learning tool. BTW, the trip back to Dhaka took over 5 hrs for them due to traffic. I think they head back to Chandpur tomorrow.

This is morning tea on the way to the village..

Meanwhile, I've been here in Chandpur with our 3 other boys. We are back into homeschooling again. Fortunately internet access is great and although there is the odd power cut it's not too bad. The boys also manage to catch up with friends and play some online games with them. It's so much easier these days to move to a new country and keep in contact with family friends. It must have been very isolating and lonely years ago, hats off to those that did it pre internet, we have it easy.

I've also been asked if I could start auditing the accounts for the schools so I've had a couple of meetings regarding this and another meeting today. Things are much more paper based with excel spread sheets so I just need to sort out their process and then get stuck into it. I need to audit from 2011 to 2019 so I think that's going to keep me from being idle.

Swim time

Once the boys have finished school work they usually want to swim in the pond on our compound. I love seeing them have good old fashioned kids fun. They climb the tress and jump in. They don't care that the pond is green.  There is so much fish life in here that the water quality must be ok plus many others have swum here over the years. There are water snakes but we have been assured that they swim away from you and are not poisonous, we trust that the locals know best.

Catching a Tomtom (electric rickshaw)

Today was a first of a few things for me. I think the biggest achievement was catching a Tomtom (electric rickshaw) with my eldest son into town without assistance, giving directions in limited Bangla and even better, getting to where we wanted, Oh, and working out how much to pay the driver was relatively easy too. We were over charged a little but not by a huge amount so we let it go and decided to be generous.

The people here are very friendly, many want to know what country we are from and they enjoy trying out their English on us. Equally, we enjoy trying out our Bangla on them. Things have changed a lot since we were here 24 years ago. People used to stare a lot more. I think the rapid arrival of mobile phones and access to the world means people are more aware of other countries and cultures now so we are not so freaky looking.

I also went to the market today with our lovely cook. I thought she was just showing me where to go but I ended up buying fish and chicken. There's nothing quite like seeing a chicken running around and then on your plate for lunch. 

DC to Dkaka

Dc was off on an early start to Dhaka to have a meeting with someone from Microsoft. Microsoft want to offer some sort of assistance to the schools we are working in. Face to face meetings are important in this part of the world and building relationship and trust is vital. I'm not sure yet how many days he will be away but we are happy and settled back here in Chandpur.

The trip to Dhaka takes about 3 hours by boat I believe. The Launch (ferry boat as we would call it) departed at 6am from Chandpur. DC text me along the way with the description that it was 'pretty magical in a polluted sort of way,' and I know exactly what he means. He said it was quite a chill way to travel and I'm sure that it is compared to the roads.

Cyclone Bulbul

Some may have heard that Cyclone Bulbul was hitting Bangladesh. Although we had rain and quite intense wind, the cyclone did not hit us and we are safe and sound. We did lose power for most of the afternoon and evening but it's been restored this morning.

26 people lost their lives due to the cyclone and there has been a trail of destruction left in the costal regions. Our thoughts and prayer go out to those affected.

Sickness

It was like something out of a comedy movie with not enough loos to contain the amount of vomiting and diarrhoea. One running outside to vomit as another headed upstairs in search of a loo since two were in use downstairs. Ok, so maybe I'm making it sound a little more comical that it was but in all honesty the Emmy award goes to DC for choosing to come down with it a little later and being the cleaner of vomit on rugs and in beds for the night.

It was inevitable that at some stage we would be hit by sickness as our bodies adjust to new surroundings in a new country, new water, new food, new bacteria. Let's pray that's out of the way now and we can get on with things with a slightly toughened resistance. 

Off to Chandpur and a birthday

Heading to where we would be living for the next year was exciting but equally exciting for our then 7 year old was that he was turning 8 and getting a birthday road trip.

Our no.3 daughter video called for present opening time and watched master 8 open his somewhat limited presents. He was thrilled with what he got even though we had to go last minute shopping the night before. He spotted a huge lollipop which was actually a container shaped like a lollipop filled with many small lollipops. Daughter no2 had sent a present over for him of a ball on elastic. He used it all day and was very happy and content.

After lugging suitcases down some flights of stairs we all squeezed into a people mover and headed off to Chandpur. Bangladesh is very lush with green vegetation and this is something very different from where we were in India. Driving is always a little hair raising but the Bangladeshi people are excellent defensive drivers. The roads were a little windy and narrow in places and the birthday boy felt a little queasy. All in all it was a pretty good trip. The lady we are staying with says she always prays before every road trip in Bangladesh as every road trip is an adventure filled with near misses.

When we arrived and drove through the gates of the mission compound, I was staggered by the beauty. The place is a little oasis of trees and ponds. On the compound is the house we are now living in which I believe is about 150yrs old. There are also several other homes that various staff members live in and a boys home that has 50 resident boys. We had stayed at a house 24 years ago across the pond but we can't work out which one it was now as there a few more now than when we were here last time.

Here's a shot of our house. We are staying in the lower level and the couple we are sharing with on the top level but we share a kitchen and laundry.

Our boys were thrilled to find out that they can swim in the pond. The colour is not appealing but apparently it's safe to swim in. Son no.2 was out swimming that afternoon.

A lovely lunch was put on for us and a carrot cake for son no.4 birthday...

Ok so it wasn't really a carrot cake but at least he got some candles to blow out.

A day at school

On our second day in Dhaka we all went to the school DC will be helping out in. Bangladeshi kids are so beautiful. After a brief assembly and singing of the national anthem DC went to work with our eldest Son to sort out some computer stuff. Our  two young boys were given a corner of toys and puzzles and our second eldest and myself found ourselves doing book repairs for the library.

I managed to make a fool of myself very quickly. Morning tea came around and all the children were having snacks. Some noticed that we didn't have any food and began offering us food. A man then came to offer some fresh cut fruit. I took a piece, dropped it, tried to save it but ended up hitting the entire container and knocking it all onto the floor, Oh the shame!!! Everyone was really good about it and had a good laugh.

The teachers I observed were doing a great job and the kids were so excited about learning.

Our eldest son ended up reading to one class room..

Touch down

So here we are breathing the air of Dahka, Bangladesh, hearing the car horns tooting and the call to prayer (which happens to be directly outside our bedroom window.) DC and I woke up on our first morning to the call of prayer and gave each other a happy, contented, 'we are here' kind of acknowledgement. Everything feels so familiar even though we are in a different country from India, the smells and sounds are the same and there is something comforting in that.

In our first 12 hours of being here we have been served a special Bangladeshi breakfast followed by a business meeting where we were all invited. We were taken to a very flash cafe that had opened a week ago by the Aunty of the lady conducting the meeting. I was not expecting our first outing to be to such a flash place and for us to be served quite such outstanding western food. The lady we met with was a beautiful muslim lady. She wants to serve God by showing love to those less fortunate, just as we do, by helping in education. It was really interesting talking about our different faiths and how it is our faith that makes us want to do what we are doing.

After the meeting we arrived home very full and found a special lunch had been prepared for us. This meant we had to find more space in our stomachs. To be honest though, the lunch was such delicious Bangladeshi food that it was not hard to squeeze in a bit more.

DC has now gone to the school here in Dhaka with our eldest boy to do an audit of their ICT setup. I think He is thriving on being able to help in his area of expertise.

Back tracking now.... We left NZ a couple of days ago to some sad farewells but also great excitement. We went to Sydney first where we spent some time with our eldest daughter and showed the boys some sites of Sydney.

We then had a night and day in Singapore which was wonderful and has helped us slowly get our body clocks closer to Bangladesh time. There was a water park attached to our hotel which was a real treat for us all.

Now we are staying with the couple that we will be living with in Chandpur. They have been wonderful to us and all my fears of wondering if we will get along with them have been vanishing. Here's a few shots of the apartment.

Last but not least, I have talked to my parents and one of our daughters today and it makes us feel so much closer to hear each others voices. Our daughter was really enjoying hearing the sounds in the background and the call to prayer. She's going to love coming here for a visit. I hope to talk to more family tomorrow.