Winter in Chittagong has brought a nice break from the unrelenting sweatiness that defined me for the first few months here...but it has also brought HUGE mosquitoes. I have never seen anything like these guys before. So I have taken to my mosquito net and hoped for the best. Fingers crossed that dengue is definitely not on my January list of things to tackle! (Incubation period is a few weeks).
This last month has also brought new friends and new WELCOME adventures outside of the city. A couple weeks ago I joined the Access Academy students on their fall retreat at the new campus site. It's a plot of hilly land about 20 minutes away from our current city location. Building has minimally started, with the completion date TBD. It may be a while. But it's a beautiful piece of property, and the AUW students who inhabit it one day will be very lucky. I'm definitely planning to return to see it. It's so exciting to image what AUW (and furthermore Chittagong) will become!
The retreat was a lovely time with students. We ate delicious barbecue chicken, played an "amazing race" game, and sat around singing songs to live guitar music. One of the songs was this one, the AUW student anthem. It's beautiful and so telling about the students' experiences here. Take a listen!
Last weekend I visited the farm of a nice Bangladeshi friend. She first drove us to a (by Bangladeshi standards) quiet beach and then into beautiful hill country before taking us to her farm for a candlelit dinner on top of a roof. It's so easy to feel trapped by the dense traffic of the Chittagong streets, but these places are in reality only about a half an hour away.
This week kick started my Christmas spirit. I excitedly signed up for the student Christmas carol choir and has so much fun practicing and performing! It really brought me back to the high school choir days and substituted for the fact that I can't listen to a 24-hour Christmas songs only radio station here. On the line-up were such American classics as Winter Wonderland, Joy to the World, Jingle Bells, and...Feliz Navidad. The show also featured carols from the students' home countries, a very entertaining nativity play, and a surprise visit by "Santa" who brought the house down with Mardi Gras style candy throwing. I also sang "O Holy Night" with a small group of faculty. See video below.
Yesterday I also threw a surprise party for my Pearls with the assistance of two WorldTeach friends. I baked up a storm and brought all da goods to school. Then towards the end of our class I told them someone important needed to talk to them (ostensibly about plagiarism - our neverending topic of conversation these days). Then I went upstairs, collected my friends, and we burst in the classroom yelling "SURPRISE!" Nail painting and lots of eating ensued. So much fun. We also attended a "high tea" yesterday, an end of the semester gathering for faculty. Instead of scones we had deep fried potato balls, but I'm not complaining.
This weekend will feature lots of grading after my students turn in their final essays, but some fun too. Tonight we're going to a formal (aka delicious) dinner party that is being thrown for us by a Bangladesh friend. Then tomorrow I'll go to the International Food Festival of Chittagong!! Followed by helping out with a Midnight Pancake Breakfast for the students. I better start getting hungry.
Then on Monday I'll give my final exam and soon after depart for Dhaka. I'll spend two nights there before leaving for Bangkok Wednesday. This teacher is ready to see her sister and for a break! And it will be a nice, long one. I'll be in Thailand about three weeks before spending a week in Burma.
Merry Christmas from Bangladesh, yall!
This last month has also brought new friends and new WELCOME adventures outside of the city. A couple weeks ago I joined the Access Academy students on their fall retreat at the new campus site. It's a plot of hilly land about 20 minutes away from our current city location. Building has minimally started, with the completion date TBD. It may be a while. But it's a beautiful piece of property, and the AUW students who inhabit it one day will be very lucky. I'm definitely planning to return to see it. It's so exciting to image what AUW (and furthermore Chittagong) will become!
The retreat was a lovely time with students. We ate delicious barbecue chicken, played an "amazing race" game, and sat around singing songs to live guitar music. One of the songs was this one, the AUW student anthem. It's beautiful and so telling about the students' experiences here. Take a listen!
Last weekend I visited the farm of a nice Bangladeshi friend. She first drove us to a (by Bangladeshi standards) quiet beach and then into beautiful hill country before taking us to her farm for a candlelit dinner on top of a roof. It's so easy to feel trapped by the dense traffic of the Chittagong streets, but these places are in reality only about a half an hour away.
This week kick started my Christmas spirit. I excitedly signed up for the student Christmas carol choir and has so much fun practicing and performing! It really brought me back to the high school choir days and substituted for the fact that I can't listen to a 24-hour Christmas songs only radio station here. On the line-up were such American classics as Winter Wonderland, Joy to the World, Jingle Bells, and...Feliz Navidad. The show also featured carols from the students' home countries, a very entertaining nativity play, and a surprise visit by "Santa" who brought the house down with Mardi Gras style candy throwing. I also sang "O Holy Night" with a small group of faculty. See video below.
Yesterday I also threw a surprise party for my Pearls with the assistance of two WorldTeach friends. I baked up a storm and brought all da goods to school. Then towards the end of our class I told them someone important needed to talk to them (ostensibly about plagiarism - our neverending topic of conversation these days). Then I went upstairs, collected my friends, and we burst in the classroom yelling "SURPRISE!" Nail painting and lots of eating ensued. So much fun. We also attended a "high tea" yesterday, an end of the semester gathering for faculty. Instead of scones we had deep fried potato balls, but I'm not complaining.
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| A pic of me with some of the lovely Pearls. Check out the rest of my December adventures in the slideshow below! |
This weekend will feature lots of grading after my students turn in their final essays, but some fun too. Tonight we're going to a formal (aka delicious) dinner party that is being thrown for us by a Bangladesh friend. Then tomorrow I'll go to the International Food Festival of Chittagong!! Followed by helping out with a Midnight Pancake Breakfast for the students. I better start getting hungry.
Then on Monday I'll give my final exam and soon after depart for Dhaka. I'll spend two nights there before leaving for Bangkok Wednesday. This teacher is ready to see her sister and for a break! And it will be a nice, long one. I'll be in Thailand about three weeks before spending a week in Burma.
Merry Christmas from Bangladesh, yall!
