too much homework to be writing on the blog

about 50 verbs to figure out for Bangla class, and papers to grade and at least one more article to read before class tomorrow. trying to remember why I assigned so many articles?

long, long day today. woke up grumpy since I'd been awake in the night for about an hour and then finally fell into a deep sleep only to find I hadn't set my alarm and we're off, late from the beginning. no time to do homework over breakfast. and it's raining. so, no, Matan, the clothes I washed 2 days ago are still damp out on the porches. (maybe need an indooor rack for when they're 80% dry so they don't keep getting a bit wet?). rickshaws are less available in the rain, so getting wetter before 8am. wet ride -- wish I had a picture of me peeking over the umbrella covering my lap and knapsack. rickshaw-whalla claimed to know where he was going. so untrue. he knew where the neighborhood was. after that it was up to me.

I can go into class grumpy and come out ready for the rest of the day. not sure why since it's not about understanding it all. but only 3 students and a very wonderful teacher. at tea-time we chat about modems and plans to travel and how work is going.

after class I go to the bank. we need 10 taka notes (bills?) desparately since we seem to go through them pretty fast. there's always a shortage, so people hoard them. they round up or down to give 20 taka change or 50 taka change. a couple of weeks ago I got a whole stack of new 10 taka bills from the bank. felt like monopoly money. but Matan and I have been taking 4-5 each, every day, and they're getting used up (we had 100!). so. none to be had today. got 20s instead.

Korean bakery to try something new. rolls were ok. too much margarine in them (pre-spread?). ok for breakfast.

work. much work. still, got to talk to Shaked on Skype before I really got started or all the people came in. my officemate came in and "met" her since he appeared in the background as we were talking! his dad had a second stroke and was getting out of the hospital today -- except that my officemate had signed the check in green ink and they wouldn't release the dad until he came and wrote a new check. not only foreigners get frustrated here.

then the embassy calls to say there's an envelope from cellos2go, would this small envelope be what we're waiting for? since my 12:30 meeting got cancelled, I take off for the center. should be 15 minutes there and back. yes. right. it's pouring and traffic is standing still. an hour and 15 minutes later I'm back. I took a CNG this time so we could zip over there fast, but we just stood still on busier roads, where the rickshaws aren't allowed. if I was really productive, I would have been doing bangla homework. but I'm not.

back at work. yummy lunch from the cafeteria. lots of rice and chicken baryani. spicy stuff.

late afternoon. finally writing more quizzes for tomorrow's class. maybe with repetition the idea of doing the readings will indeed get through.

finally, my ride got postponed and my aqua aerobics missed to go to a "reunion" -- after the summer, the staff and faculty convene for a light snack (this is light?) and meet up with everyone they haven't seen all summer. I am still wholly unused to the idea that I get introduced to all the provosts and vice-presidents of everything and passed from one to the next as the prized fulbrighter in the English dept. met some really interesting people and hope to connect with them in the future. one in particular talked about getting our sons together -- his grew up in the US and it's his first semester back after about 10 years. he's 15 or 16 and not really happy that this is where his family is now.

ride home. yea. then a quick clearing out of the knapsack to go out. take the material and two shirts as samples and go to the shopping center near home to order 3 new shirts. hope this works well. not outfits this time. I don't like the baggy pants with no pockets version here.

next -- on to pick up the laundry and talk. I didn't realize I'd be getting a ride home, so we waited until the driver was back. with a little tweaking this could be the solution to the Tuesday night ride for Matan since she said this was a good night to pick up laundry as the driver would be there. hmmm.

home by 8pm. quick think about supper since Matan's due at any minute. no, his rickshaw driver didn't show so Matan called. he got a ride with another rickshaw driver that's based at the school. there's still a lot of traffic at that hour, not that it's moving very fast...

and now to get to the homework. ah, but we have internet at home. it's getting kind of late and I'm getting pretty tired.

(have not forgotten that I promised to tell you about the students. and the bugs. many bugs are dead now).