"I will give you meaning"

I love this phrase that my Bangla teacher says every day after we read a passage (phonetically, we don't know the alphabet yet), but before we've gone over the vocabulary.

We're working on meaning here in so many ways. We don't know the meanings of the words on many of the signs. People say that everything is in English, too, but that's not true.

Yesterday was both very good and very awful. The good: I went to class, I came home and worked well on syllabi and course materials, the maid did all of the wash (!), I paid the landlord for a multitude of expenses (that we will avoid in the future) and talked to him about how this lease is really not good for us. He's not listening. But at least I convinced him that the toilet had to be fixed -- it cannot be blocked up from Saturday until Tuesday without him considering it urgent. He likes to mess with the internet, not so much with what he calls "sanitary issues."

Then I went to my aquatic aerobics at Matan's school. Took 3 rickshaws and walked through the traffic jams. No point in sitting in the sun for those segments. What a pleasure the pool was in the middle of the afternoon. I think I need to get over there for some of the open swims, but just starting with this twice-a-week class.

Saw Matan while I was there and signed a form for wall-climbing that he was going to. Then he was staying for badminton until 8pm. I had called the cab company so that he was going to have a ride home (kind of expensive in Bangali terms at 500 taka; I went back and forth by rickshaw for less than 100). At 8:15, Matan calls to say no one came. I call the company and they promise someone will be there in 10 minutes. This goes back and forth until 8:45 and at 9:00, Matan gets home. I'm pacing downstairs wishing I had the vocabulary to explain to the guard what's going on. He keeps offering me a chair.

It's clear that the driver was the company owner and had come from his own Iftar (breaking of the fast each evening during Ramadan). He was dressed up in white and very apologetic. Matan just wanted to get upstairs and I should have understood that. Instead I talked to the cab company owner since we had not yet met face-to-face and I wanted to resolve possible future trips. Wasn't the right time.

Matan was truly upset. Unhappy, frustrated, probably scared, not sure what his options were. I was so discouraged. I am not used to not being able to just zoom over and pick him up if he needs a ride. (yes, there are moments when I think about those three cars with one driver at home in MN!). He calmed down and had some supper and went to bed.

I had nightmares about parking garages and not finding where I'd left the car, finding a washing machine parked there instead, calling home (to the kibbutz?) to find out which car I was supposed to be finding... When I told him my dream as we were riding in the CNG to his morning pickup spot, he said I worry too much. I don't think so. While we currently don't need rides at 5 and 6pm when he finishes the other days, it's going to become a real issue as soon as daylight savings time ends (I suspect).

Today I asked a lot of vocabulary words about worrying, out late, concern -- pretty good if I got to this point without needing those words! Otherwise, a ordinary day: school, work, stopped at a store on the way home (those classmates of mine know lots about shopping in Dhaka!) and a nap in an air-conditioned room before the electricity went out.

AND our first Iftar invitation from my Fulbright friend. He'll send a car to get us on Saturday night and will return us as well. I'm looking forward to meeting his family and sharing the holiday.