Leaving Bangladesh on December 27th was something like wading through a sea of white. The international airport was flooded with devout Moslems preparing for their pilgrimage to Mecca. Due to this, the normal flight schedule seemed to have been severely disrupted. There were also lines and lines of young men about to jump on planes to work for a labour company in some other country. David and I were quite amused by their line-up strategy; they were parked about three feet from the immigration door, and with literally no space between them, they were squashed like sardines in an imaginary tube! We were relieved to find out that we could circumvent this line and walked through immigration with no trouble at all. Our next serious concern was to find our gate number, since we had seen no mention of our flight on the display screens and our boarding passes didn’t say anything either! Read More »»

It has been quite a different kind of Christmas this year for David and I. It was our first Christmas by ourselves. Last year we were able to celebrate with both our families in Canada and Brazil. This year we celebrated with people from all over the world! Our Christmas dinner on the 24th was a wonderful time. We snacked on popcorn and chips and tried not to give too much to the Waddell’s dog Shishu, before sitting down for a decadent meal, complete with traditional Christmas Crackers. David and Toby (the youth pastor) were new to this European tradition, so we had to explain it to them. Basically a cracker is a little round package filled with gifts that is closed off at the ends with a little gunpowder, so when you pull the ends it makes a bang and the little gifts usually go flying everywhere! We all helped to hold all the ends and pulled together, then picked up the pieces, put on our paper crowns and read the cheesy Christmas jokes that are included! The meal was great, and we enjoyed the fellowship with old and new friends! Read More »»

On December 23rd, David and I got ready for a day of mammoth shopping. Yup, we geared up with a supply of water, plenty of taka, a backpack to stash our stuff, and of course some goodies to keep us going! Several CNG’s and taxi’s passed us up, not wanting to make the trek across town to the fair grounds. Finally we found an honest CNG driver who would use the meter (very unusual) if we would pay him an extra 10 taka. We hopped in and made it over to my old “hood” in no time and only had to pay 60 taka (less than a dollar)!

Standing in the women’s entrance line, I pushed my way to the tiny window and asked for two tickets. Considering that the entrance fee is only 20 taka, I think it’s more about crowd control than making a profit! We made our way through the big gates, trampling over millions of entrance tickets. This trade fair is set up every year with several Asian countries participating. You can find almost anything there; carpets, appliances, clothes, jewelry, handicrafts…..and the list goes on! So we set out to explore; making our way around the giant circle of stalls. David bought me some absolutely gorgeous pashmina shawls, and we rounded out our buying with some ties, nose rings, marble glasses and a carpet. Read More »»

“There’s more to Christmas carols than just Jingle bells, Rudolph the red nose reindeer or We three kings of Orient are. This was the obvious conclusion of anyone who had a chance to attend an evening of carols at the International School Dhaka on December 2. Ranging from carols of medieval times, to traditional and international carols, there was something for everyone.”

The choir above is Cantemus, the one Taara and I are a part of. Read the rest of the article at The Daily Star’s site.

I love riding rickshas; there is just something about riding in an open-air carriage, nothing separating you from the outside world, feeling the air tousle your hair as you whistle down darkened streets, pulling a shawl round your shoulders to guard against the frigid air. (I know most of you won’t believe that it gets that cold here….but in December a shawl is a necessity!)

Of course, most of the time we hop onto a ricksha in the sweltering heat of mid-day, and spend most of the ride clinging to the side as the ricksha wallah dashes and weaves through traffic. For many commuters, rickshas are an affordable and relatively quick way of getting around. For buses, trucks, cars and CNG’s that also ply the streets, I’m sure rickshas can be the bane of their existence! As a result, they are left to the mercy of the bigger monsters! Many times my ricksha has missed the broadside of a bus by mere inches! (thus the title for this post!) Read More »»