Happy Hanukah!

I think we lit candles before anyone else I know! of course, we needed YouTube to help us sing Maoz Tsur! Looking forward to soufganiot and holiday celebrations in Israel next week.

meanwhile, my week in dhaka...

finishing up classes. students are finishing up papers. racing to get them to me by Tuesday, when we leave town. there are still 2 weeks left for them in the semester -- a week of prep for finals (no classes) and then finals from the 24-31 of Dec. Since both of my classes are writing classes, a final paper is ok instead of a final exam.

this morning it would have been nice to know that water aerobics was cancelled but I guess they just figured everyone knew there was a school event today, so the pool wouldn't be available. got a good 30 minute walk home instead. I'm so kvetchy about getting beeped at -- I know the drivers use the horn instead of the brakes when they approach corners. this even makes sense to me for rickshaw drivers: who wants to lose the momentum with an unnecessary stop at an intersection? but cars, they don't have to push those pedals so hard to move from gas to brake. also the cars who approach me from behind, I guess they really want to make sure I don't make any sudden moves, like dashing into the middle of the road from walking on the side, so they beep 3 or 4 times as they approach. just me walking on the side, and them driving down the middle. it's not a conversation.

today's plan: go to Bangshal and find a bike. I'm starting to wonder if we shouldn't just get the *local* too fancy bike for $150 -- since this jaunt is going to be 1-2 hours by cab and who knows what we're going to find there. I think I'm getting less adventurous. certainly less interested in seeing new neighborhoods when the cost is hours and hours and hours in traffic jams.

also today - Matan has to try on hiking boots so that we know whether to get them here or in Israel. If they are very expensive here, we'll get them there. In any case, we'll see what's here and wait to see what's there.

there's a party tonight at HEED that I should go to, but I feel very awkward since I haven't been back to the language center since the end of the script class. I was going to have tutoring, but never did call since it's been a pretty overwhelming last 3 weeks or so. I guess it's also that the people I studied with are not there anymore, so it's mostly people I don't know.

conference tomorrow on being Bengali in the outside world. should be interesting. skipped 2 days of conferences yesterday and today -- feeling a bit lax about not going, but also just needing a weekend.

anyway -- doing pretty well. seem to have reduced the bug issue, the washing machine is ready for us to use when we return, and I'm feeling fine. didn't do much cooking this week (one pizza? bacon cheeseburgers? brownies? is that really it???), so it's a good thing we eat meals at school. and take away from the American club... sometimes...