Today was Friday, the holy day, the day of the monsoon. Despite staying up super late last night, I was up at 6 a.m. I cannot get my sleep schedule on track at all! I read in the morning, then went to breakfast, came home, and read some more while it poured outside.In between the storms, I took some pictures from my balcony of the men at the mosque, and the people begging outside.
At 2 p.m., I went to an area called Banani – just to check it out and see a different part of town. While I walked around, I was stared at constantly… as I am very obviously western and white, and therefore stick out like a sore thumb. I gave some bananas out to kids and took some pictures, even though I am incredibly self conscious about taking my camera out and taking pictures of people. I’m not really pleased with the pictures, but until I have enough vocabulary to ask people permission to take their photos, this will have to do.I got home around 5, just in time for it to start monsooning again. I doubt monsooning is a proper verb, but there’s really nothing else you can call it – raining just doesn’t fit the bill.
I watched a pirated movie (Blades of Glory) with my roommates, which they had bought for about $1.25, until it was time for dinner.
When we went to leave the apartment for dinner, the guard tried to stop us because it was raining so hard. (All of the buildings in Baridhara have guards. They’re really more like doormen, as they don’t have weapons or anything, but since it’s the diplomatic sector, I think more precautions are taken.) We went anyway, and were glad we did, because we had the best dinner yet: some sort of fancy rice with cardamom, mango pickle, spicy chicken and potatoes, and curried vegetables. It was awesome, and we all kept telling Milan, the cook, over and over again how much we liked it (hoping that he would cook it again).Our dinners are long because we all tell our stories of what we did during the day and the people we met, etc. Now it is nearly 10 p.m., and I am beat. Khoda haphej ‘til next time!
2 comments:
Norren,
Hope you are getting my notes, school is not exactly fun here this summer. We are going even faster than ever with no breaks in between, we can't catch our breath! I am just gritting my teeth and trying to get through to the end. It sounds like you are on super over load also. Wow, I can't imagine being so totally wrapped up in a new culture and language. Thank you for letting me see this experience through your lens. I can actually imagine myself taking these exploration trips with you. Can't wait to see you in person, miss you.
Hi sweetie!
Sorry I've not commented in the last few days. Glad to read all ofyour adventure. You might want to change your entry to read the cafe is 700 sq ft, because 7000 is cavernous! :>)) Please send some rain to the US southern states! My poor Alabama is in a drought. :>(( So with the doubled over pain, are you also loosing weight? I wish I had a drastic weight loss program like that! (hee hee ;P) We miss you terribly!
terri
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