When we arrived, we walked through a maze of small corridors until we got to the man's home. I'm not quite sure how we/the orphanage knows this man, but he seems to like us and even invited the Waid's last year for Eid. [Speaking of Eid, I'm not sure how I feel about this, but I didn't see a single dead cow. Not saying it would have been a pleasant experience, but it would definitely be something to check of my Bangladesh To-Do list.] He ushered us into his house through a strong iron gate at the front. We took off our sandals and sat in his sitting room. Well, I'm not sure if it was a sitting room because it also had a big double bed in it... But we sat there nonetheless.
Apparently we had gotten there a little early because they didn't have all the food ready. Instead, they brought us apples and oranges, bottled water, and a weird cornflakes mixed with peas snack. And the food kept coming. Next the brought out little pieces of chicken, deepfried potato wedges, and deepfried cauliflower. They also brought out some dessert items: chocolate- and vanilla-y looking TimBits (which were practically made of pure gritty sugar) and a cheesecake replica (ugh so slimy--but I said, "mmmm sooo good!" nonetheless lol).
The whole time, the man sat with us, bringing in different family members every so often to introduce to us. We met his sons and daughter, sister-in-law, mother-in-law, and wife. By the way, another weird thing in Bangladesh is that when you are invited over for a meal at someone's house, they don't eat with you. They just watch you eat, encouraging you to eat more and more. That's what the old grandma was doing the whole time. "Cowl, cowl, cowl. Tume cowl." That means eat eat eat, you eat haha. And then the man's older son brought in two of his friends and while we were eating, they took pictures of us white girls on their camera phones.
A definite highlight came when I noticed the henna (called mehendi here) on the sister-in-law's hand. In the best Bangla I could manage, I told her how pretty I thought it was. When she offered to do it to my hand, I said no because I didn't think it would go over well at the orphanage since mehendi is a Muslim and Hindi practice. But when Mrs. Waid saw my hesitation she told me to go ahead with it anyways. She told me to just tell everyone I had been at a party and not to make a big deal about it. She knew that I really wanted to have an authentic henna tattoo at some point :) So Polly grabbed a tube of henna and did a random decoration on my hand. I don't care--it looks beautiful to me! It's so much cooler than getting a henna tattoo at the Lynden fair by a blonde Caucasian woman! lol
We were all so full from all the food given to us in the sitting room so we were astonished when we were led into the dining room where more food was sitting on tables. They gave us full plates of rice palau (the most amazing rice you will ever have in your lifetime--it's THAT good), cut vegetables, and a hardboiled egg. I love being in Bangladesh with Elle because we seem to compliment each other really well--aka we both hate mushrooms and eggs. We both pretty much cleared our plates, but when they saw we were getting "low" on food, the man of the house came by with another couple spoonfuls of rice. As we protested, patting our bulging bellies and saying "nah nah," he dished us more saying "cowl, cowl." So much food... And when Polly came by to see if we need refills on anything, she saw that we didn't eat our eggs. She stabbed the egg with a fork and lifted it to Elle's mouth as if she was going to shove it down her throat. I laughed so hard and grabbed my camera. She laughed as I took a picture and when she found out I wasn't going to eat my egg either, she thrust the fork under my nose... Ick. lol but we laughed and got some good pictures of it all :)
After they finally let us stop eating, we went back to the sitting room, well, to sit. As we were about to leave, the boys wanted a picture with us white girls. We obliged but didn't know they wanted one boy at a time with us. So three pictures later, then Polly jumped in the picture, then the daughter, then the women in the family, then the whole family. It was a regular photo shoot :) But all in all, they were so accommodating to us, generous as can be, and I would definitely go back again--even if just to have more rice palau!
On the way back to the orphanage, we saw some booths set up by the place we walk to to pay our cell phone bills. When we asked Papri what it was, she said they were having a fair--not for Eid, but I guess the Hindu's wanted to join in on the festivities and have a party like the Muslims. We didn't have any money with us so after grabbing some from our room, Papri, Elle and I headed back to the fair. Like I said, I usually get henna done at the fair, so this was a nice coincidence :D
This fair was really nothing more than booths set up in a square with the road as one side. The booths sold cute hairclips, costume jewelry, toys, and other cheap knick-knacks. I bought hair clips and Elle bought a big ring and then we headed into the middle to see the food being sold. Don't worry, I definitely didn't try any--but it kinda looked like fair food. Sugary, fatty, and twisted into a cool shape. We also saw the balloon man on his mat. I bought a big blue balloon that looks like an apple and when you shake it, the sand inside makes a cool noise! Elle bought a balloon on the end of a bamboo stick and after you blow it up a little, the air exits through the bamboo making a sound like a duck. It's pretty annoying but in a strange way, still really awesome! So needless to say, pretty good day :)
Tis all for now, and if you read this post before it was done, I am sorry for that. I can't be online and talk on the phone at the same time. Mom was calling me and she def takes priority :) lolami tomake bhalobashi :)
I love the henna on you ladies. It looks cool. The "fair" is more than I thought when you were explaining it to me. Are the sellers travelling around the country, stopping where ever they want?
ReplyDeleteJehanna - find out how they make their rice. Is it with coconut milk? I wonder what they use. Wish I could have enjoyed the henna with you! :-)
ReplyDeleteOnce again - great post!!! Glad you had so much fun! Love you hon!!