The Glass is Always Half Full, Even When it is Half Empty

Man oh man! Where do I begin? It has only been three days since I last wrote, but I feel as if an eternity has gone by!
 

This past weekend was non-stop and full of fun, adventurous things! shopping, rickshaw rides in the rain, pedicures, trips to the local market, yummy local cafés, going to a tailor to get pants made, the American Club...my mind is going off in a million directions! Instead of talking through my weekend in chronological order I am going to share random stories, thoughts and experiences that have made me feel an array of emotions lately.


 

To kick off the randomness of this post, I REALLY have been craving a fresh, crisp salad! In Bangladesh it is not advised to eat any raw vegetables, so a salad was just simply not in the cards for me. Or so I thought! I went to dinner with my friends Nofi and Nick Saturday at the American Club and guess what?! They had fresh, safe to eat salads! I got a large Greek chicken salad and thoroughly enjoyed every bite. Craving satisfied :)

 

I also have been craving peanut butter! Not the crappy hydrogenated Jiffy kind, but REAL natural peanut butter. Saturday I didn't feel like making the 15 minute walk to the local market I usually go to, so I decided to check out the small market at the end of our road that I kept hearing about. I was enticed by the shelf filled with various international chocolates at the entrance of the store, but managed to hold out and continued looking around. The shelves were filled with many foreign items as well as packaged goods and various kinds of rice. I made my way over to a small refrigerator and started searching through the random items inside. A grey container with clear plastic packaging tape over the lid labeled "peanut butter" caught my eye. I asked the store keeper if it was good and he proceeded to tell me that it was homemade and all the foreigners loved it! Without knowing what it looked like or what the heck was inside, I decided to give it a try. I already had an episode of food poisoning once since I've been here and I'm still alive, what's another go? I brought the odd grey container back home and dipped a spoon into the homemade nut butter and WOW was it good! Who would have thought? Another craving satisfied.

 

Backing up a bit... on the way to work while we were stuck in traffic on Thursday I noticed a man carrying a bunch of chickens in a large, round, weaved basked on his head. The chickens heads were all bobbing up and down in every direction 360 degrees around the basket stacked maybe 3-5 layers (of chickens!) high. I really couldn't tell if they were dead or alive!  Shocked by what I was seeing, I asked the people in my van what was going on. A man who has been living here for three years answered my question by telling me that they were all alive and were tied around the feet so that they couldn't fly off. I was blown away!! There is always something interesting to look at here, that's for sure.

 

Today (Sunday) at work, I managed to finally figure out some more details about my trip to Matlab! Tomorrow is another hartal day so I will not be able to travel. No worries though because the guest house in Chandpur is booked until Tuesday night anyway. Therefore, I will be traveling early Tuesday morning to the field site where I will remain for the next week and a half to two weeks. I am SO ready for a change of scenery! The fast paced chaotic life in Dhaka has been exciting but I'm more than ready for some sunsets over rice paddies and everglades! Bring on the rural area of Chandpur!

 

While following Dr. Sayeeda for rounds today, I found myself speaking in Bangla to many of the patients; saying hello, asking them how they are doing, what their names were, how old they were. The conversation would go perfectly fine until those three questions were answered and the patient tried to continue talking to me, in which I then no longer understood anything they were saying. I would then tell them, "Ami Bangla jani na", or "I don't speak Bangla", which absolutely threw them off. When they got confused and asked me why I was just speaking Bangla to them and then all of a sudden couldn't, all I could manage was to tell them that I only knew a little. From there on out, I chose to share smiles instead. After all, I think we can all agree smiles are better than confusion. They also ward off blank stares! Imagine that. I also got to thinking that no matter the difference from one culture to the next, a smile is always understood. Smiles know all languages and relay kindness and understanding no matter the circumstance. "A smile is the universal language of kindness".

 

Recently, I have been missing home quite a bit. I wouldn't necessarily label these feelings as "homesick" because I feel that word is too strong. My heightened senses are fading back to normal and I am becoming more and more comfortable with my surroundings. Walking down town to the market is no longer an adventure, but a trip that is filled with familiar sights and sounds. People pointing staring and talking, chaotic roads with no rules constant honking and people everywhere, rickshaw walla riding head on at me in the streets waving and asking me if I want to ride their rickshaw, beggars running over to me expecting money, naked children playing on the streets next to their tin-walled homes, vendors shoving books and flowers in my face that wont take "no" for an answer, goats and wild dogs roaming the streets, random people taking pictures of me, men riding on mopeds and motorcycles holding their babies on the front while their wives sit sideways on the back, young Bangladeshi men trying to impress me with their choppy English, dirty streets filled with compost trash and human waste, the absolute need to eat hot steaming meals to avoid sickness, and the tangible pollution that constantly forms a blanket over the city. Many people say you go through waves, so to speak, when you spend a lengthened amount of time abroad and I am most certainly experiencing that. Though I am getting used to things, I still have an immense appreciation for Bangladeshi culture and life. Though chaotic and crazy, It works. It is unique and I love it simply for what it is.

 

One of my favorite quotes of all time comes from a popular singer/songwriter that I love. I remember reading this a few years back and being in total awe of each word. Funny how I have turned to it years later as refuge for my frustrations and how closely it relates to how I am feeling at the moment:

 

"The next time you don't understand someone's style, language, or way of being, I invite you to pause and be grateful for having eyes and ears to see and hear them. Then take a moment to celebrate their interests the way you would hope they celebrate yours. You don't have to share their beliefs to be genuinely stoked for them. The world is a party waiting to happen. All you have to do is shout "Surprise" and give them some applause for doing their best with what they've been given"

-Jason Mraz

 

 

Cheers to another day in this beautiful life we share. Celebrate life today, every second of it.

 

Smile! :)

-C.