Middle School Camp - The Soccer Field

I chose to do a separate blog about the soccer field at camp because it was such a unique experience for me. The soccer field was located outside the campground but just right across the street. For some reason that I cannot remember right now, BJ and I did not walk with the rest of the students and teachers down to the field. Which means that I had NO IDEA where it was. Imagine my surprise as I walked down the steep driveway from the camp and witnessed THE ENTIRE VILLAGE watching our students playing soccer on the field! Talk about being in a fish bowl! Apparently our city kids where quite the attraction for the village folk! I just had to snap a few pictures of the audience. Pardon the crookedness of some of the pictures...BJ had fallen asleep on me and I was trying to take pictures without disturbing him.

Most of the spectators were men.

A village school was located just near the soccer field. The school let out while our kids were playing so all the village children joined the crowd.

A group of young ladies stopped to watch the excitement.

The boys playing tug-o-war of some type (Brian could tell you more details about the game...I just take pictures).

I was very happy to see the girls participating with gusto!

This little girl was standing all by herself on the complete opposite side of the field. I don't know why she was alone but she looked so sad. My heart went out to her.

As we were leaving the soccer field, this very elderly woman came running up to me and BJ with her arms outstretched. She was so excited to see a little American baby! She stroked his hair and tried to talk to me (but of course I did not understand a word so I just smiled). I am SO thankful that BJ was asleep because I'm sure he would've freaked out that someone he didn't know was touching him!

(PS...BJ has gotten a lot more used to having strange people touch him. He is such an attraction here that people just come up to us on the street and try to pinch his cheeks.)

Middle School Camp

Back in January the Middle School went on their annual overnight camp in a village about 2 hours south of the city. It is an opportunity for the city kids to see the countryside and a chance for the students to bond with one another. Brian was one of the camp directors (in charge of activities). BJ and I also had the opportunity to attend the camp as well! Here are some pictures of our Middle School Camp experience:

BJ blowing Daddy's whistle to get everyone's attention.

The theme was "Amazing Race", refering to the race of life. Brian was one of the speakers during the lecture segments.

One of the games was to use a rickshaw to transport your entire team from one side of the courtyard to the other. How fun!!

And what fun would camp be without relay races?! (Did you notice Daddy holding his little helper?)

How many kids can you fit in a hula-hoop?

An "aerial" view of the courtyard.

Here are some pictures of the actual campground. It was absolutely beautiful. I was a little concerned about mosquitos (and malaria) but, honestly, I saw more mosquitos in the city than I did here!

This is the home of the camp caretaker's family.

This particular dog lives on the camp compound. However, EVERY dog here looks exactly like this one (or they are brown and white).

The mommy and baby cow. If you look into the trees you can see the building where the conference room was.

So many people to feed means so many dishes! Nothing like sun-dried dishes!

While Brian was mostly involved with the middle school students my attention was focused on BJ. Here are some snapshots I was able to take of BJ and the fun we had at camp:

BJ walking with 2 of the middle school girls. They loved him!

BJ and a middle school boy playing soccer.

Just taking a stroll.

Playing in the rubber tubes.

I HAD to take a picture of BJ with the cows. He loved the "moo", especially the baby. At one point the calf left his mother's side and literally chased me and BJ. After that we didn't get too close to the cows:) Oh, BJ really is smiling in this picture!

BJ and the photographer looking out the window.

One of our first family pictures since we've been here.

Badminton Tournament

Badminton and Cricket are HUGE here. We see cricket matches in the open dirt areas all the time. I even saw a badminton match going between two neighbors, using the wall between their properties as the net!! There was a badminton tournament scheduled for MS Boys and MS/HS Girls in January. This was Brian's first event as Athletic Director at the school. BJ and I joined in the fun after his nap. Here are a few pictures of the action:

MS Boys waiting for their matches.

More boys (and a teacher)

This tournament is a rare opportunity for the girls to participate in sports.

The girls tournament was postponed because only 9 girls showed up from the 25 that signed up!

One of the hazards of having a tree in your badminton court.

I love how BJ copies Brian!

If you're wondering why I didn't take any pictures of the boys playing badminton, this is what I was doing....

Gotta love the playground :)

Adjustments

Today is February 1. We have been here exactly one month. This past month has been an experience that we will never forget. We have had A LOT of physical/cultural adjustments to make (and are still making) that we wanted to share with you. Some adjustments we expected, some adjustments we were expecting but really didn't turn out to be an adjustment at all, and some adjustments came out of the blue.

Expected Adjustments:

1. Time Change. I remember in the Fall when the clocks turned back an hour. I remember being concerned that BJ would wake up extra early and therefore I wouldn't get enough rest. Let me tell you...I will NEVER be concerned about a measily 1 hour time change again! This 11 hour time change was a piece of work. They say that you need 24 hours to recover for every hour of adjustment. That pretty much summed it up for us. It took about a week and a half for BJ to get on track. The first night we were here BJ didn't go to sleep until 4am (local time) and only slept til 8am. He took a 4 hour nap in the afternoon (we had to wake him up) and then fell asleep at 8pm. I thought he was down for the night. Nope. He decided to get up at 10:30 and stay up til 1:30 in the morning! Whew...what a rough few days! Thankfully, BJ and I didn't have much planned for the first few weeks we were here so we were able to take naps at odd hours (and even more than 1 nap a day if needed!). However, Brian had to be at work just 2 days after we got here. He was just exhausted!

2. Transportation. I'm not going to lie to you...the traffic here is terrible. People drive where they want to drive, when they want to drive there. Some streets are terribly narrow (like the road we live on) and two cars can barely squeeze by each other. You'll have a traffic jam just because 2 cars are having a stand-off to see who will back down first! There are rickshaw drivers who are very slow, mini-taxes and motorcycles darting in and out, and cars that drive fast (well, faster than I would like them to). There are no traffic lights or stop signs. At busy intersections there will be a "traffic guard" who will walk into the middle of traffic and put his hands up to stop traffic, which allows for the other direction to go. Would NOT want his job. Being a pedestrian is also eventful. It's like frogger trying to cross a street. They say you can just put your hand out and the cars will stop (like the traffic guard does). I really don't want to try that! We normally just wait until there are no cars in site and dart across the street. You can usually run faster than a rickshaw and even minitaxis. Oh...did I mention cattle?! There will be the occasional cow, goat, or horse being walked down the street as well. BJ likes that :)

3. Language Barrier. Before we came here we knew that English was spoken in the school but not elsewhere. Although we were aware of this I don't think I truly understood how great an obstacle language barriers can be. It's very difficult to have a conversation with someone when you have no idea what they are saying! And English and Bangla are nothing alike! I can't even guess at any words! We are starting language school next week so at least we'll learn the basics needed to function. It is very common, however, to be walking along and hear "hello!" or "how are you?" being shouted. Those who know English are very excited to try it out:)

4. Clothing. I was actually looking forward to wearing the cultural outfit. The ladies look so pretty! I have purchased a few outfits to wear out in public. The outfits consist of 3 parts: shalwar (pants), kameez (top), and ornah (scarf). The shalwar-kameez is comfortable; the ornah takes getting used to. It's a little hard to wear the ornah properly while carrying around a toddler. BJ thinks it is great fun to pull my ornah off and run around with it. And I am constantly forgetting it when I go out (I tend to remember once I walk outside...so I get my exercise walking the 4 floors up to our apartment to get it!). It is nice to be able to wear my American clothes inside our home:) Brian and BJ are able to wear their regular clothing here.

5. House Help. I don't particularly care for cooking and cleaning. I do it because it needs to be done. I was looking forward to having someone to do all of that for me! And honestly, I LOVE it!! It's wonderful having food on the table that I didn't prepare and then the dishes magically get cleaned. The bathroom and the floors get cleaned daily. Even the laundry is washed, dried, and ironed!! Lovely! The adjustment comes in having people always in our house. Our cook and our bearer are married and fellow believers. It took BJ a good week before he would say hi to them. It still gets a little awkward when I need something from the kitchen (because I have no idea where anything is and sometimes I have a hard time communicating what I need!). But as the days go on it does get easier. BJ has played soccer with both our help and says "good night" when he takes a nap. He even signs "I love you" to our cook. So sweet!

Unexpected Adjustments:

1. BJ sleeping in the same room. BJ has been sleeping in his own room since he was 4 months old. On the occasional vacation we would all sleep in the same room but we were thankful when we could go back to our own rooms. Coming here we figured we would be sharing the same room with BJ for a week or so. Well, it's been a whole month now and we are still sharing a room. Why? Because BJ has learned to climb out of his crib!! Before we came he had NO idea how to climb out. The crib he slept in while we were at the guest house was designed for an infant (it was only 15 inches deep). The first time he was put in the crib he quickly stood up and put his leg over the rail. The floors are concrete here so we were scared that he would climb out, fall, and hurt himself. We pushed his crib up against our bed. Every night from then on he would climb out into our bed at some point. Fast forward to our new home....we were waiting for our crib to be delivered so BJ slept in our room in a pack-n-play. When Brian and I went to bed one night we found BJ sleeping in our bed! We are currently having a crib made by a carpenter that is deep...very deep! It should be here Saturday. I can't wait for our own room back!

2. Our daily routine. When we lived in the US, BJ and I had a set schedule for the week: Monday was food shopping and the toddler gym; Tuesday and Wednesday was cleaning, other errands, or spending time at home; Thursday was library and the park; Friday was Ladies Bible Study; Saturday was time with Daddy; and Sunday was church. I assumed that we would very quickly fall into a new routine here but I have realized that it takes a bit more planning and a lot more creativity. At least once during the week BJ and I go out with a friend and run errands for an hour or two (picking up household items that we need). We also visit Brian at school about once a week (they have a playground in the back!). We have a small yard with a swing set that we use sometimes. I still attend a Ladies Bible Study on Fridays. (The weekends are actually Friday/Saturday here and church is Friday night.) In the very near future BJ and I are going to have playdates/Bible study with another mother and 2-year-old boy. I also am researching about helping out in an orphanage once or twice a month. The biggest adjustment with our routine is that I can't just get up and go...I need someone who speaks the language to go with us. But that's okay because it helps me develop friendships quickly!

Not really adjustments at all:

1. Food. As we were preparing to come here we prayed that BJ would be able to get the nutrients he needed to grow and develop according to God's will. We knew that there would be digestive adjustments and that the food would be much more spicier. I'm am pleased to say that we have recovered from a brief time of adjustment and are ENJOYING our food! Granted, we really haven't tried any Bengali food. We are blessed to have a wonderful cook who makes us whatever we want to eat. We have had chicken nuggets, french fries, ravioli, chili, fried chicken, granola, french toast, pancakes...the list goes on and on! Mind you, EVERYTHING is made from scratch. And the meat is fresh. Real fresh. Yummy!

2. No car seat! This is BJ's favorite adjustment :) He LOVES not having a car seat. It's not really such a big deal here since the cars barely go 10 miles an hour. BJ loves just being able to sit like a big boy. He can even lie down and fall asleep if he wants! He is NOT going to like being restrained in a car seat when we get back.

3. The Weather. It is absolutely beautiful here! It's about 75-80 degrees during the day and 60-65 degrees at night. It's perfect! I'll let you know in a few weeks how I feel about the weather. It typically gets very hot very quickly in the middle of February. (Brian probably has a different perspective on the weather since he sweats bullets everyday teaching PE!)

And then there's the religious adjustment. This is a predominantly Muslim culture. Several times a day you hear the "call to prayer" blaring from the mosques. You will witness men praying on the side of the street, in the corner of a store, any place they are at that moment.