23 July 2009
Tour Our House
This is a video tour of our house in Gaibandha for those of you who have not been able to come and see it.
A Solar Eclipse in Bangladesh
Well, if you weren't in Asia yesterday, you missed one of the seven total solar eclipses expected to occur this decade--only one more left next year in South America. Where we were standing in Gaibandha, the eclipse did not appear to be quite total, at least as far as we could tell, but we did not exactly have ideal viewing conditions. The partly cloudy viewing however, did make for an interesting photograph you can see below.
Omen? Given their mathematical predictability, I don't think anyone could consider eclipses as omens, but this was the same day that Emily left our home here to travel to Dhaka on her way back to the US. I'm sure if Ezra could say her name, he'd be asking about her, but we'll just have to wait for that.
Omen? Given their mathematical predictability, I don't think anyone could consider eclipses as omens, but this was the same day that Emily left our home here to travel to Dhaka on her way back to the US. I'm sure if Ezra could say her name, he'd be asking about her, but we'll just have to wait for that.
14 June 2009
Bangladeshi Consumers Have To Be Sharp
I've been meaning to put this on the blog for a while just because I think it is so funny (and scary), sort of like those dumb horror movies.
I wanted something to keep in my office to heat up water to make tea or instant coffee (the only kind of coffee you can buy outside of the big cities). So, I found this nifty gadget in a shop in the market of Gaibandha. It works great and does just what I wanted it to do, which is heat a small amount of water quickly. How it does that trick is the interesting part.
As you can see in this next picture, the whole contraption is basically just a plug that goes into a power socket, and two bare electrodes that stretch into the water. That means that it is just running an electric current right through the water in order to heat it up. If you were to touch the water while it was doing this, in addition to getting a burn from the boiling water, you would also get electrocuted. And, not even a warning sticker on that thing... [there was a small note on the box, now thrown away, that users should not touch the water while heating].
[For Engineers Only] If you notice, there is also a different in the corrosion between the two electrodes. I could ask you which is the anode and which is the cathode as there is obviously some difference in oxidation and deposition going on between the two, but it is a 220V AC line, so what it really means is that there is a DC bias in the power supply, and that I normally plug in the heater in the same way each time. Oh, and yes you can clearly see the hydrogen and oxygen bubbles from the electrolysis of the water when you first plug it in, before it gets hot enough for the steam bubbles to obscure everything else. It is also funny to think that this thing won't work with distilled water as it is an insulator (unless you leave it sitting there long enough for some iron ions to work their way into it), luckily for this thing, the water in Gaibandha is loaded with iron and other minerals.
Then, it gets even funnier. The "Lipton" logo label is not real, the company that made it, Dhaka Plastic, is not associated with the Lipton tea company at all, they just put that on there so people think about having tea and needing this little contraption. How many more water heaters they sell because of that I don't know.
So, you can get all kinds of things here, even stuff that would be outlawed in the U.S., meaning that you can make good use of your money, if you are also smart enough to not get killed by the things you buy.
I wanted something to keep in my office to heat up water to make tea or instant coffee (the only kind of coffee you can buy outside of the big cities). So, I found this nifty gadget in a shop in the market of Gaibandha. It works great and does just what I wanted it to do, which is heat a small amount of water quickly. How it does that trick is the interesting part.
As you can see in this next picture, the whole contraption is basically just a plug that goes into a power socket, and two bare electrodes that stretch into the water. That means that it is just running an electric current right through the water in order to heat it up. If you were to touch the water while it was doing this, in addition to getting a burn from the boiling water, you would also get electrocuted. And, not even a warning sticker on that thing... [there was a small note on the box, now thrown away, that users should not touch the water while heating].
[For Engineers Only] If you notice, there is also a different in the corrosion between the two electrodes. I could ask you which is the anode and which is the cathode as there is obviously some difference in oxidation and deposition going on between the two, but it is a 220V AC line, so what it really means is that there is a DC bias in the power supply, and that I normally plug in the heater in the same way each time. Oh, and yes you can clearly see the hydrogen and oxygen bubbles from the electrolysis of the water when you first plug it in, before it gets hot enough for the steam bubbles to obscure everything else. It is also funny to think that this thing won't work with distilled water as it is an insulator (unless you leave it sitting there long enough for some iron ions to work their way into it), luckily for this thing, the water in Gaibandha is loaded with iron and other minerals.
Then, it gets even funnier. The "Lipton" logo label is not real, the company that made it, Dhaka Plastic, is not associated with the Lipton tea company at all, they just put that on there so people think about having tea and needing this little contraption. How many more water heaters they sell because of that I don't know.
So, you can get all kinds of things here, even stuff that would be outlawed in the U.S., meaning that you can make good use of your money, if you are also smart enough to not get killed by the things you buy.
On The River
Seeing as most of Bangladesh is a river delta, much of the romantic and nostalgic images that Bangladeshis have about their own country are associated in some way with the river or water in general.
Fish and rice are considered the traditional foods. Canals and ponds for irrigation, transportation, and drainage of flood waters are everywhere. The least expensive way to travel from town to town is still by ferries going up and down the major rivers waterways. The smallest fishing boats are still row boats. Sails used to power the larger and heavier boats, although they are almost totally gone now, replaced by gasoline or diesel engines. Traditional folk songs in Bangladesh often speak of fish and boats and life on or near the river.
Recently, as part of my job, I had the opportunity to travel on a boat up the river to another village outside of our project area and visit a few sites along the way. You might find some of these pictures interesting.
This is a mobile hospital boat visiting a village along the river. A few of these are around in different places in Bangladesh, and as you can probably imagine, are more useful during floods and and other disasters when reaching people in need of care is difficult.
Re-boarding our boat after a visit to a "char", an island in the middle of the river that is constantly being eroded and shifted by the river's movement and floods.
These nets are common all around Bangladesh, even in ponds and canals far from the rivers. They include a net and a long bamboo lever system for moving the net around, either placing it on the bottom and raising it up, or pulling it through the water to catch seafood. Often, they are fishing for minnows and other small fish that they will eat in a spicy curry sauce (extremely nutritious, but not exactly my thing). But, they can also use them to catch larger fish and other tasty things crawling along the bottom.
This is a small traditional fishing boat used on the rivers of Bangladesh.
Our ship had a young capitan, but luckily the chief accountant for our project could help him steer the boat out of the dock.
At a stop along the side of a river, we walked a short distance to visit a flood shelter, passing through this jute field along the way. Jute is a plant grown for its fiber, which is often used in rope and carpets (like hemp). You can also eat the leaves like mustard greens when it is young and tender.
This is a larger boat, similar to the one that we were riding, but used for cargo. In this case, it is carrying a load of straw (dried rice stalks) used as animal feed.
This is a picture of a village along the side of the river, with their fruit trees, crops, fishing boats, and hay piles for their animals all visible.
Fish and rice are considered the traditional foods. Canals and ponds for irrigation, transportation, and drainage of flood waters are everywhere. The least expensive way to travel from town to town is still by ferries going up and down the major rivers waterways. The smallest fishing boats are still row boats. Sails used to power the larger and heavier boats, although they are almost totally gone now, replaced by gasoline or diesel engines. Traditional folk songs in Bangladesh often speak of fish and boats and life on or near the river.
Recently, as part of my job, I had the opportunity to travel on a boat up the river to another village outside of our project area and visit a few sites along the way. You might find some of these pictures interesting.
This is a mobile hospital boat visiting a village along the river. A few of these are around in different places in Bangladesh, and as you can probably imagine, are more useful during floods and and other disasters when reaching people in need of care is difficult.
Re-boarding our boat after a visit to a "char", an island in the middle of the river that is constantly being eroded and shifted by the river's movement and floods.
These nets are common all around Bangladesh, even in ponds and canals far from the rivers. They include a net and a long bamboo lever system for moving the net around, either placing it on the bottom and raising it up, or pulling it through the water to catch seafood. Often, they are fishing for minnows and other small fish that they will eat in a spicy curry sauce (extremely nutritious, but not exactly my thing). But, they can also use them to catch larger fish and other tasty things crawling along the bottom.
This is a small traditional fishing boat used on the rivers of Bangladesh.
Our ship had a young capitan, but luckily the chief accountant for our project could help him steer the boat out of the dock.
At a stop along the side of a river, we walked a short distance to visit a flood shelter, passing through this jute field along the way. Jute is a plant grown for its fiber, which is often used in rope and carpets (like hemp). You can also eat the leaves like mustard greens when it is young and tender.
This is a larger boat, similar to the one that we were riding, but used for cargo. In this case, it is carrying a load of straw (dried rice stalks) used as animal feed.
This is a picture of a village along the side of the river, with their fruit trees, crops, fishing boats, and hay piles for their animals all visible.
13 June 2009
At The Office
Alison and I spend most of our work time in the office, probably about 65% for her, and 95% for me. It isn't exactly the same as your office in the U.S., but there are more similarities than differences. If you are curious, we thought you'd like to see a couple photos of the office where we work in Gaibandha.
This is the exterior of the building. By American counting, Alison's office is on the second floor on the left side, while mine is on the third floor on the right side (they count the European way where the 1st floor is the floor above the ground floor).
Here is Alison hard at work on Sunday morning. The work week here runs from Sunday through Thursday.
Here is my office, a corner office with a private bathroom. If you forget about the air conditioner not really working, and the power dropping for a minute every 3 hours while the generator starts up, its the nicest office I've had so far in my career.
This is the exterior of the building. By American counting, Alison's office is on the second floor on the left side, while mine is on the third floor on the right side (they count the European way where the 1st floor is the floor above the ground floor).
Here is Alison hard at work on Sunday morning. The work week here runs from Sunday through Thursday.
Here is my office, a corner office with a private bathroom. If you forget about the air conditioner not really working, and the power dropping for a minute every 3 hours while the generator starts up, its the nicest office I've had so far in my career.
12 June 2009
Chocolate Awakening
As the saying goes, "better late than never," so I am posting a few pictures of Ezra's 2nd 1 year-old birthday party. We were in Dhaka at the American Club and our friends Becky and Scott graciously hosted the party and got Ezra a giant chocolate cake (well, giant from a baby's perspective). Ezra also got a chocolate cake for his 1st party at our house, and he liked it but was pretty tame about eating it. As you can see below, he wasn't holding back the second time. He literally dove straight in and Jeremy and I could hardly hold him back. He was a happy boy!
10 May 2009
Free Time
Life with a 14-month-old can never really be described as one having a lot of relaxing free time, but... The fact of the matter is that we do tend to have somewhat more free time here in Bangladesh than one does in the States, and many fewer distractions. Our commute is a 5 min walk down a little side street to the office, we don't spend time driving anywhere to shop, there are no TV shows to schedule our lives around (there are lots of Bangla TV shows, we just don't have a TV), the work day is generally an hour shorter than in the States, and we have hired people to help us with our cooking and cleaning.
Once you get used to and more comfortable with being hot most of the time, you find that you have a lot more opportunity to get through books, and other tasks that you used to not find time for, or at least were easily distracted from. In general, I find that I am probably about 2-4 times as busy as I was during my Peace Corps service, but there, I had no electricity or mobile phone or internet to coordinate new things to do. And still, one finds the opportunity to do things you might not otherwise find the patience to do back home, like read thick books.
So, what do we do with our free time? Well, we worked out a little routine together to remind us all of home. It took Ezra a little while to learn the footwork, but in the end we were pretty impressed. Hope you enjoy watching the clip below.
08 May 2009
Fun with Water
Ezra really loves playing with water, in the bath, in plastic water bottles, and in buckets. He loves it to the point that he wants to have the water running the whole time during his bath until his little tub is practically overflowing. We let him go at it in a bucket and basin on our deck one weekend. Here is some video of him playing, although he seems pretty business-like about the whole thing.
Part Boy, Part Monkey
Ezra has been walking for several months now, and can just about break into a run, but how he developed his excellent climbing ability, I am not totally sure. He climbs up everything, if we let him, and sometimes we just play "spotter" to see how far he can really go. The video below shows how he can just climb the window bars seemingly without thinking about it and as if he has been doing it for months. Hope you enjoy watching it (and don't get too nervous).
Geckos...and first words
Just like most babies, Ezra has been babbling for a long time. He actually makes a variety of interesting noises, some sounding like animals such as monkeys or dolphins. He has been repeating the standard monosyllables dada, mama, nana, etc. for as long as I can remember. And for the last few months, he has been expressing an emphatic "ooooohhh" at everything he sees (especially birds, bugs, and plants when exploring outside). In fact, he seems to have a better eye than us for these things, as often he is saying "ooohh, ooohh, ooohh" and I don't even see the bird in the tree until it flies away.
Although it is fun to hear him say "dada" (by far, the most frequently expressed word) and "mama" (this one is still rare), he doesn't yet say it for us. Instead, he picks up a toy and says "dada" while showing it to us (like he's telling us what it is). He also says "da-deee" (i.e. daddy with emphasis on the last syllable) which is also super cute, but again, he calls most of the things he sees or touches either dada or dadee. Our nanny knows a bit of English, and she kept saying, "no that's not dirty" to Ezra. So finally I asked her why and she said that Ezra was saying "dirty". Well, in her accent, dirty sounds a lot like daddy, but not at all to us (which reminds us why our Bangla sounds "right" to us but not to them!).
So, on to the real point of this post - Ezra has finally said his "real" first word. That is, he finally said a word that is not just a combination of easy sylables he knows and he used it in the right context. I mentioned that we have a lot of bugs now but didn't mention that we also have a lot of geckos. And when I say a lot, I mean there are probably about 20 living in our house (and they are making more - we have seen the tiny babies!). They make a very distinctive (and sometimes quite loud) sound and crawl everywhere, including upside down on the ceiling. They are usually near the light fixtures or in the vents to catch bugs to eat. The Bangla word for gecko is tik-tiki (pronounced: teek-TEE-kee) because the geckos make a sound that sounds like the word for them. When we first arrived in Bangladesh, it was one of the first Bangla words we learned because we saw them all the time and the word is easy to say and remember.
You may have already guessed where this is going. Ezra has heard us saying "tik-tiki" whenever we hear or see a gecko since he was about 6 months old. He also hears the staff in our house saying the same word. So, when spring came and the geckos were again in full force, Ezra was constantly seeing them and saying the famous "ooohhh". Until one day, about 3 weeks ago, I was pointing to one and saying "tik-tiki" - and Ezra repeated "tik-tiki". We were stunned. It was great that all 3 of us (me, Jeremy, and Emily) were together to witness it. We stared at each other in disbelief....until, he said it again. Since then, Ezra has been faithfully saying tik-tiki every time he sees or hears one. Actually, he likes them so much (who can't like a gecko?), that now we catch him saying tik-tiki and looking at the ceiling when he wants to see one.
So, Ezra has begun taking and ironically, his first word was the same as one of our "first" words here. His second clear word was "babu" (yes, another Bangla word), which means baby. This is another one he hears constantly because everyone is calling out to him. Some have claimed he says other words, like hello, but I've yet to hear them. But any way around it - Ezra is a very expressive little boy.
Although it is fun to hear him say "dada" (by far, the most frequently expressed word) and "mama" (this one is still rare), he doesn't yet say it for us. Instead, he picks up a toy and says "dada" while showing it to us (like he's telling us what it is). He also says "da-deee" (i.e. daddy with emphasis on the last syllable) which is also super cute, but again, he calls most of the things he sees or touches either dada or dadee. Our nanny knows a bit of English, and she kept saying, "no that's not dirty" to Ezra. So finally I asked her why and she said that Ezra was saying "dirty". Well, in her accent, dirty sounds a lot like daddy, but not at all to us (which reminds us why our Bangla sounds "right" to us but not to them!).
So, on to the real point of this post - Ezra has finally said his "real" first word. That is, he finally said a word that is not just a combination of easy sylables he knows and he used it in the right context. I mentioned that we have a lot of bugs now but didn't mention that we also have a lot of geckos. And when I say a lot, I mean there are probably about 20 living in our house (and they are making more - we have seen the tiny babies!). They make a very distinctive (and sometimes quite loud) sound and crawl everywhere, including upside down on the ceiling. They are usually near the light fixtures or in the vents to catch bugs to eat. The Bangla word for gecko is tik-tiki (pronounced: teek-TEE-kee) because the geckos make a sound that sounds like the word for them. When we first arrived in Bangladesh, it was one of the first Bangla words we learned because we saw them all the time and the word is easy to say and remember.
You may have already guessed where this is going. Ezra has heard us saying "tik-tiki" whenever we hear or see a gecko since he was about 6 months old. He also hears the staff in our house saying the same word. So, when spring came and the geckos were again in full force, Ezra was constantly seeing them and saying the famous "ooohhh". Until one day, about 3 weeks ago, I was pointing to one and saying "tik-tiki" - and Ezra repeated "tik-tiki". We were stunned. It was great that all 3 of us (me, Jeremy, and Emily) were together to witness it. We stared at each other in disbelief....until, he said it again. Since then, Ezra has been faithfully saying tik-tiki every time he sees or hears one. Actually, he likes them so much (who can't like a gecko?), that now we catch him saying tik-tiki and looking at the ceiling when he wants to see one.
So, Ezra has begun taking and ironically, his first word was the same as one of our "first" words here. His second clear word was "babu" (yes, another Bangla word), which means baby. This is another one he hears constantly because everyone is calling out to him. Some have claimed he says other words, like hello, but I've yet to hear them. But any way around it - Ezra is a very expressive little boy.
18 April 2009
A Bug's Life
Well, it's bug season in Bangladesh. The season is a combination of spring and summer in the US. The heat is as strong as the summer, but it's just starting to rain occassionally (it's been totally dry for months) and all the plants are blooming like spring. Except for the heat, it's a lovely time. Any inch of this country that wasn't covered with plants before, is now fully green (the majority with rice paddies). In fact, our yard was "cleaned" before we moved in - which means all the plants were ripped out and the ground left brown and barren. Now, there is grass (magically) and plants everywhere. And along with the plants, rain, and heat...came the bugs. There are many bugs we can't identify because we've never seen them before (actually, the mosquitos are so big, we can hardly believe they are mosquitos). But, there are many familiar types: ants of every size, flies, dragonflies, butterflies, moths, bees, wasps, roaches, centipedes, and giant spiders (yes, I know the last 2 on the list aren't actaully bugs). Ezra has learned the Bangla word for mosquito ("mosha") and swats for one anytime he hears the word. Actually, he doesn't know the difference between mosquitos and any other flying bug, so he swats at everything equally.
On another note, we were recently at the home of a friend and saw "A Bug's Life" playing in Bangla for her 4 year old son. Since we have no Bangla tutor and are always looking for ways to learn more of the language - Emily bought the DVD for us to watch. It's amazing how many English movies and TV shows are available here in dubbed Bangla and it's no wonder everyone knows a lot more about our culture than we know about theirs.
On another note, we were recently at the home of a friend and saw "A Bug's Life" playing in Bangla for her 4 year old son. Since we have no Bangla tutor and are always looking for ways to learn more of the language - Emily bought the DVD for us to watch. It's amazing how many English movies and TV shows are available here in dubbed Bangla and it's no wonder everyone knows a lot more about our culture than we know about theirs.
21 March 2009
Trip to Comila, Moinamati, Sonargaon, Dhaka
During our two-week break, we had a chance to visit several interesting sites to the East of Dhaka and in the city, including some Buddhist ruins from the 8th century. Here are a few pictures.
Star Mosque in Dhaka
Bangladesh National Assembly Building
Ahsan Manjil (The Pink Palace) in Dhaka
Shrine at Lalbagh Fort in Dhaka
(Constructed by the son of Mughal Emperor)
Old Capital Building in Sonargaon
(Capital of Bengal before British arrival)
Hindu Guru (holy man) at Durga Temple in Comila
Excavation of 8th Century Buddhist Temple and Monastery near Moinamati
Ruins of 8th Century Buddhist Temple at Monastery near Moinamati
07 March 2009
Trip to Sylhet, Jaflong, and Srimongal
Finally getting a chance to take some vacation from work for all of us and take the opportunity to get out of the house and around Bangladesh while Alison's parents were here, we took a four day tour through the northeast part of Bangladesh known as Sylhet. The division of Sylhet contains several towns and cities, including the main one of the same name, and is also home to several national parks, a numerous tea plantations, citrus plantation, and pineapple plantations as well as other things. The terrain is hilly, wooded, and rocky in places making it very different from the part of the country that we live in. It reminded me a little of Guinea, although this area is one of the wettest in the world, with some places receiving more than 4 meters (156 inches) of rain on average every year.
Enjoying six-layer tea in Srimongal (a different flavor in every layer)
Hiking through Lawachara National Park (near Srimongal)
Don and Diane in front of their Eco Cottage in Srimongal
Ezra enjoying some fried rice in Sylhet (hands and spoons are just too slow sometimes)
Jeremy, Alison, and Ezra at Madhobkunda Waterfall
Boat ride on the Jaflong River
View of the Jaflong river and across border into India
Taking the train from Srimongal back to Dhaka
Birthday Party Number 1
We recently got back from our vacation around Bangladesh with Alison's parents (Don and Diane) [much more on that coming later], but before we left, we celebrated Ezra's first birthday at our house in Gaibandha. Here are some pictures...
Ezra waiting for this party to get started...
Ezra calmly enjoying his cake
The family
Ezra trying out his drum featuring (you guessed it) the Bangladeshi group "Gangstar"
Ezra opening more presents (with Bonnie's help)
08 February 2009
The Move to Gaibandha
So, what happened to January... and February...
January has been cool here (in the 50's at night and 70's during the day), often with a thick layer of fog especially in the mornings, which will occaisionally block the sun for days at a time (rather depressing). In February, the warm sun was back, there is no rain and there are clear skies everyday, and the evenings cool off enough to want to sleep with a blanket.
This is where Gaibandha is located
And here is a picture of our new house
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