The Five Senses in Bangladesh

Being in Bangladesh is such a different experience than being at home in the US. The sights, sounds, tastes, and smells are all new. Dhaka, the capitol city where we are, is very noisy. During the day and night we hear doorbells chiming, cell phones ringing, black crows cawing, prayers chanting, horns beeping, beggars calling, and construction workers pounding. Right outside our window a construction team is demolishing a villa by hand with sledgehammers. We hear this even in the middle of the night.
I will ask Angela to post some photos of the city so that you can see the sights for yourself. Sometimes you don't see temporarily becausae of the power outage. Yesterday at the grocery store the power went off. Everyone has generators so you still get some light and fans.
The streets often smell like garbage or animals. There are markets with live chickens, and we've seen goats and dogs on the streets. Homes smell like spices from cooking.
The food here is quite different from ours at home. For breakfast, people generally eat some sort of bread or rice with tea. They often have sweets at the end of the meal, usually sweetened yogurt or a rice pudding. For lunch, the servants prepare a full hot meal. The most popular meat here is fresh fish, but the Bangla people also enjoy chicken and mutton. Rice is usually served with every meal along with dahl, a yellow sauce made with lentils. Often a flat bread is also served. The cooked vegetables include spinach, potatoes, okra (called lady's fingers here), and a guord type of vegetable unique to this area. Raw cucumber is often served. Dinner is very similar to lunch. Kebabs are very popular. This is spicy chicken or beef prepared wtih yogurt. Some people like to squeeze fresh lime juice onto their food. In the afternoons people enjoy tea and a snack such as cookies, crackers, other sweets, or kebabs. Visitors are offered this same sort of snack when they come. Fresh fruits and vegetables are not very common in my experience. I've had to request them for my meals. The people here prepare a delicious fruit salad made with any fresh fruits such as banana, mango, papaya, grapes, apples, and pomegranate. They then season it with pepper and a spicy salt plus a little sugar. It has a very unique flavor. Most of the foods here are quite spicy. The people here usually eat with their hands. They fill the plate wiht rice and use their hand to mix all the other sauces and foods. By the end of the meal the plate is totally clean. There is always a box of tissue on the table for you to wipe your hands. (I always use a fork, but sometimes I have to ask for one.) Beside each dinner plate there is usually a smaller plate to place the bones from the meat. For meals, people drink plain (room temperature) or cold water. For special times they drink Pepsi or 7Up or a spicy yogurt drink. I've only seen Coke here a few times. When you go to a home for dinner, you sit at the table and eat first while the host family stands around the table to serve you.
People don't go out to eat that often. We've been out many times since we've been here. So far we've had almost no American food. It's mainly the same foods I described above. Buffets were popular during the Ramadan period. Now you order off menus. The American restaurants are KFC and Pizza Hut. We've eaten the breakfast and dinner buffets at the Sheraton Hotel which has some American foods along with the Bangla foods. There is a Swiss ice cream place here, too, which tastes like home. My favorite place to eat is called Cafe Mango. It's a cute cafe by Someira's university. It has a slight American feel, and it reminds me of some of the restaurants in downtown Athens at the University of Georgia. We've been there twice, and I've had a cashew chicken salad, fresh yogurt with fruit, and chicken kebabs wrapped in bread. I've even seen a few Americans there. It's near the embassy where many foreigners live including our missionary friends from America. Yesterday we learned of a new tradition-getting tea from stalls on the side of the road. Young boys bring tea in cute porcelain type tea cups to you. You stand and visit, return the cup, and then leave.
Many American foods do not seem to be available here such as our baby supplies, broccoli, celery, zucchini, chocolates, and many name brand items. Someira explained that the name brand items you do see are not actually from the US but from a plant in Dubai or other nearby area. They are not the same quality as what you get in the US.
We'll be excited to return to our familiar home and also be able to share our experiences here with Kalina and all of you!
Please continue to pray for us. We're waiting again-this time for Kalina's supplies to arrive from America (the package is still missing) and for the fingerprints to be processed. Thank you!
P.S. I've heard that some are having difficulty posting on the blog. We do have some email access here. The computer is just slow and sometimes we lose power. If you can't reach us, we know we'll talk to you when we return. We feel your prayers and thank you for your love!