The weather has definitely gotten colder than I ever thought it would here. The seloar pants of the traditional outfit are NOT very warm at all and I didn't think to bring leggings over here. Luckily, I brought over a couple long sleeved shirts and one big comfy hoodie. In the mornings, it's amazing to look out the window and not be able to see even 50 feet in any direction. It takes so long for the fog to burn off and some days it just stays round the clock. I really had no idea they would have a resemblance of winter here. But surprisingly enough, it has helped me get into the Christmas spirit the last couple days. Christmas lights have even been set up on a couple trees on campus but check out the picture below and you'll see why we laugh every time the lights come on.. Yes that is a big tri-coloured fluorescent bulb on the top of the Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Special eh?
Last week I put "Jehanna Shaelah is trying to find some Christmas spirit but unfortunately it jumped the last plane heading home" as my Facebook status. And that's really the way I felt... The beginning of this last week was probably the hardest time I've had in Bangladesh on a personal level. The combination of visa troubles and the Christmas season starting sent me into a dark depressed mood, unable to see the many blessings all around me. I'm so thankful for my roommate Elliot helping me through my hardest night when tears were the only thing I could use to express myself. She made me say five things I'm thankful for or am glad for. She was my number one thing right then and there. But slowly as I whispered four more through the tears, breathed a couple deep breaths, things began to come into perspective.
The next day she dragged me downstairs to the kitchen. We were going to make the treasured funfetti cake Elle's boyfriend sent with her. We ended up only making half the cake because we didn't want it to go to waste. We laughed, took pictures, and made every effort to really think about how many blessings we have here. Plus, the cake turned out pretty amazingly! We ate it at dinner with the Waid's and Josiah as they had just gotten back from Dhaka. Mr.Waid took my visa back to the embassy to see what could be done but as it stands right now, I have to be out of Bangladesh by January 3 (I plan to apply for an extension but I thought my current visa would take me to the beginning of February). Josiah and I are going to call the Canadian embassy to petition that Canadians get the same kind of visas as Americans--in a nice way, you know. He is trying to help me as much as he can because he knows that in a couple months he will be in the same situation.
Even though it seems like we don't do much here, we are always pretty tired. It may have been the cold but on Thursday we bounded back down to the kitchen with hot cocoa packets in hand. We wanted to make hot chocolate, curl up in fuzzy fuzzy blankets and watch a movie in our spare time before conversational English. Mm. And that's exactly what we did. We piled back on Elle's bed and watched 21 on my computer. Again, sometimes it really is just the small things in life that help you work your way back to happiness.
Today for art we came ready with a special surprise. Mrs.Waid bought us red and green food colouring in Dhaka and we found a yummy sugar cookie recipe online--we were going to have a Christmas party. Last night we got the dough made and put in the fridge to chill overnight, then this morning we rolled it out and used a cup to made circles. Unfortunately, there's no Walmart around to go buy tree-shaped cookie cutters or sugary sprinkles. C'est le vie. We made it work. I whipped up the icing then separated it to add the food colouring. I had just finished with the red colouring and headed to the sink to wash off the bit that had dripped onto my thumb. Shati's helper Patool was washing the breakfast dishes so I thought I'd play a little prank. I ran up to her and showed her my thumb saying "owie owie!" She freaked out and ran to grab a towel but I ran my thumb under the water before she could put the towel on. She doesn't speak any English but I communicated to her that it was just a joke--not sure how funny she thought that was.. But we both laughed :) lol
The cookies weren't all baked by the time art was supposed to start so we had Brittni go ahead of us to start singing Christmas songs with the kids. The kids have fallen in love with English Christmas songs and though they already know Silent Night and Away In A Manger, we have added Oh Little Town of Bethlehem and Hark the Herald Angels Sing to their repertoire. Then Elle and I headed up with our special surprise and sheets of white paper. Before decorating the cookies, we gave the kids each a piece of white paper and explained how to make snowflakes. The kids were so timid to cut their papers so again Elle and I had to help them get started but they were so excited to see the tiniest knick turn into a repeated decoration on their snowflakes. When they were finished we used every little nail, tack and corner around the room to display their wondrous works of snowy art.
Then we handed each kid a cookie and put either a pot of red frosting or green frosting and told them to share the colours between tables. They didn't make any particular patterns--they were just amazed to see how the frosting could be spread over the sugar cookie. The night before Elliot and I took a mortar and pestle to a bag of milk candies. We were trying to make "snow" to put on top of the icing but the humidity here is so brutal it came out pretty chunky. But the kids still LOVED it. We got so many cute pictures of our kids decorating and pretending to take huge bites out of their cookies--we had so much fun.
So today I'm thankful for cookies and cake for helping me get out of my SM depression. I was told everyone goes through hard times away from home but I really didn't understand what they meant--I do now. One day at a time, one piece of "paper-bag happiness" at a time, and every breath as a prayer... That's how I hope to survive my time in Bangladesh.
I mean it when I say,
ami tomake bhalobashi
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