Thanksgiving

(My internet hasn’t been working to well lately so this is posted a day late)

             First part of my favorite season has past and I am still not an emotional wreck. This is a good sign.  Thanksgiving was still harder than I thought it would be. I felt so exhausted from the week that teaching on Thanksgiving was more miserable than fun. I just kind of sat there looking out the window rather then trying to restrain the kids in my class from bouncing off the ceiling. They were especially crazy on Thursday and I just couldn’t handle it. Tuli is helping this new girl learn how to read and so she hasn’t been there to help me out. Our Thanksgiving dinner was really nice though. Heather, Lauren, and I got dressed up in our Sharis and decorated the table with leaves and candles. We ate homemade gluten, mashed potatoes (mashed by hand), stuffing, green bean casserole, and of course pumpkin pie. It was a pleasant meal where we ate far too much but enjoyed ourselves in the process.
             It wasn’t until I woke up this morning that I felt upset that I wasn’t with my family. It was frustrating because skype wouldn’t work and I just wanted to talk to them so badly… so I called. We had 12 minutes of me on speakerphone and different people telling me hello. I couldn’t help but giggle as everyone was showing their uniqueness in the way they spoke to me for their few seconds. Afterwards I walked inside my room beaming and exclaiming how happy I was to have talked to some of my family members.. then I had to walk back out to my porch and cry a little bit.
             Being away from the people you love is so hard when you know that they are all together celebrating. It gives one a feeling of being alone even when there are plenty of people here. I was determined to not let this emotion take over so Lauren, Heather, and I went into town. Going to town keeps us sane. It helps to get off the orphanage compound at least once a week and buy something random in town. We usually don’t spend more than 5 American dollars but it is still worth it to make the journey. Town is about 30 minutes away by rickshaw van. Since the put-put (named after the lovely noise that it makes) is broken we had to walk/get a man powered rickshaw van. I felt so bad for the poor little legs of the man who was pedaling four of us girls into town. (My greatest fear is falling off the rickshaw van into the open sewers that are along the side the road. Let’s pray that never happens).
              Every time we go into town with a different lady that works here we end up going to different little shops and experience totally different things. This week we went in with Oly who works in the office. She was getting food because she was preparing dinner for a pastor who is visiting. Oly took us to the fish market, which is probably the most disgusting place ever. But what do you expect when there are half dead fish everywhere that are dying slowly and smell awful. After that we went through the spice market that has tons of turmeric and other spices, I love the smell of that place. Oly bought us each a shingara (a little pastry with curried potatoes inside) and I’m pretty sure that it made my day. They were so good. Going to town really cheered me up!
              While talking to a good friend of mine today he told me that he was jealous that I got to be here in Bangladesh. It helped remind me of how thankful I am to be here in Bangladesh. I know that soon my family will all be celebrating my return and we will all be in my grandma’s house together. As for now, I am just so thankful that I am experiencing this time in Bangladesh. I thank God for this adventure that he is leading me on.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!