Eating out solo!!

Well, I just ate out for the very first time BY MYSELF! Up until now, I've always been w/ other people who did the ordering, etc.

So I went to a little dive near the Bogra office and ordered Naan and Dhal (that's flat bread, kind of like you'd get at an Indian restaurant, and lentil/potato curry with plenty of kick!!). What i actually got was bread, curry, cucumbers, and a fried egg! Well, close enough...especially since I LIKE the cucumber and fried egg!! Anyway, i ate all this, plus a small glass of milky, sweet tea and asked for the bill. Are you ready??? (...drumroll...) about $ 0.45 (30 Taka). Sweet!!

(Now I wait a few hours to calculate the "real" cost....just kidding!!)

Well...((burp))

First Weekend in Bogra - Durga Puja Festival

Well, I survived my first weekend in Bogra, where I'll be studying Bangla, the official language of Bangladesh! Apparently I got here to Bogra just in time for a big Hindu celebration called Durga Puja (Background story here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durga_Puja). Durga is a war goddess w/ 10 arms and is featured in the video clip below. Hindus only represent around 10% of Bangladesh's population, but this is one of their biggest yearly festivals. We were invited to join in the festivities by one of the Bogra office employees. When we got to his house, we were treated to all kinds of sweets, chick-pea dahl, naan (bread), etc. It was a great time and a wonderful cultural opportunity.

So tomorrow the language teacher arrives and I start learning Bangla. Please pray for me that this old brain will accept yet another language into it! And that I'll learn as much as possible about the language and culture before heading to my assignment in Mymensingh. Thanks all!

To Bogra

I got SO MAD last night at my computer that I'm ready to switch to a MAC! I'm not just saying that - I'm totally ready.

A simple thing that always worked before: getting on Yahoo Games server to play chess with my daughter, Miranda. It kept saying that I had an "old version of the client in my cache" blah blah blah. I'm actually savvy enough to know what that means (how would your average user know??), so I proceeded to automatically and then manually clear IE's cache. But nothing worked. Same message, time after time after time. I even went so far as to uninstall and reinstall Java and Flash. No luck. I tried Firefox instead of IE. Nope. In fact, now it won't load Yahoo Games at all, much less take you to the individual game rooms.

I had been waiting several days to talk to the girls and play chess. I was SO frustrated w/ my Dell, Windows and Internet Explorer not working (Yahoo Games doesn't work on Chrome), that I went to bed early. It was one of those days where it's so bad that you just shut your eyes to make it stop!

Oh, did I mention that I used to own my own computer business, and that people called on ME to fix THEIR computers??? Don't bother calling anymore - I'll be on a Mac!

You know, this brings up an interesting point, or lack thereof. For my Christian friends who believe that God is in all the little details of our lives, I could easily determine that this is God's way of telling me that it's time to switch! And if that's true, then wouldn't it follow that God is in favor of Macs in general and that we should all be using them??

Or, if you're more like me (less like yourself?) and you are more in line with the (still Christian) view that "the rain falls on the just and unjust alike", then I guess we'd conclude that I just had a bad day and that God doesn't really care what kind of computer I use.

Either way, I'm pretty p.o.-ed at Microsoft right now...and it's not the first time. Goodbye, Mr. Gates - I'm in search of a real computer! Imagine, as someone posted recently at PC World, that your car ran on Windows - would we stand for a blue screen of death on the day of the big meeting? Would we still buy the car if the A/C and radio only worked if they were turned on in the right order?? Sheeeesh.

I've gotta go - today's going to be an adventure! I'm travelling to Bogra for language study. 5 hours on a nice bus, bad roads. Probably more like 7 hours from door to door! Oh, and this is my NEXT-TO-LAST MOVE in the suitcases!! Yeah!! It's Bogra for 3 months and then on to my assignment in Mymensingh.... se Deus quiser! (God willing and the creek don't rise - loose translation)

Larry Jones

(posting from *GULP* a Windows machine...possibly for the last time!!)

Dkaha Streets

Dhaka - Day 5 or so

So I decide to go out to the market for the first time by myself. No, i don't know much Bangla yet, making the outing a little bit scary. But hey, you can't just stay in the Guest House the whole time, right? So I get my phrasebook and map in the back pocket. My cell phone in the left front pocket. My video camera in the right front pocket. I've got money, keys, everything I need. I take a deep breath, walk to the front of the flat, and....open the bathroom door instead of the front door to go outside!! Aughhhhh!

Yeah, like I'm going to find my way back to the flat after the market!!

This first video is a typical street scene from Dhaka, but if your sound is turned up, you can also hear the Muslim Call to Prayer from the Minaret (tower) down the street:

Here's a local market, outside:

And inside, where they sell quite a variety of fish:

Not much to say to tonight - mostly, I just wanted to get these videos posted. I'm in Dhaka for some orientation, which is going splendidly! I'm really enjoying my time here so far! On Wed or Thu of this week, I'll travel to Bogra (about 5 hours by bus), where I'll spend 3 moths in Language Study. Then, finally, I get to settle down in Mymensingh, where I should be for the next 3 years or so. (It'll be nice to finally get OUT of these suitcases!!)

Feel free to comment below or drop me a line sometime! --Larry

Updates and Train Stations

UPDATE: Visa approved and obtained - Bangladesh, here I come!! (Mon night departure from Richmond...)

Train Stations

Well, another Joneser moment.... I recently had an hour layover in Philadelphia's 30th street train station. So after a quick lunch and a check of my email, I was off to the bathroom before catching the next train.

The first stall I went in was small, so I left my big rolling suitcase and carry-on just outside the door. I don't like to do that. You never know who's looking for easy opportunities in these places. But I also had to pee.

So I go in and soon realize that there's no toilet paper to wipe off the seat (yes, I like to sit down and pee most of the time instead of standing up - I don't know why). Anyway, I look under the divider and the handicapped stall next to mine is empty. So I quickly exit the skinny stall, grab my large suitcase, and head for the bigger stall, which I'm thinking is GREAT because I can put my bags inside w/ me!

The only thing is - I had forgotten that I had already unzipped my jeans in the first stall, so when I got to grabbing the luggage, twisting around, finding the handle, .... my pants had fallen nearly to the floor. So there I am, my hands full w/ luggage trying to get the handicapped stall door open...with my pants around my knees! A guy in a suit was coming in the bathroom - I couldn't even look him in the eye! I just shuffled into the new stall and breathed a sigh of relief as I locked the door behind me. Why me, O Lord??