Access disappeared last night so if you're used to seeing me there, that would be why I'm not showing up. Odd to me how I've gotten used to contacting and connecting with local folks on plans. No official word, but rumours on google have two leading causes -- one, the caricature contest with cartoons of the prophet Mohammad, and the other that a hacker was arrested recently (not sure how this would result in the national shutdown).
Very disturbing to feel cut off.
Other news -- mostly spending time with Shaked -- lots of it at the pool at the American club. Nice to just relax with her. Sometimes we even see a lot of the people that I'd like to be seeing before we leave! She has several site visits this week and a report to write before she leaves on Friday.
Matan is mostly involved with school at this point. His first exam starts today, but other than that one, they'll be starting Thurs and going through next Tues. I think he enjoyed prom very much.
I'm working on the Century courses. I think the new one is in good shape. Just quizzes to write now. Today I'm going in to finish clearing the office. Last week I was just too sick (yup, again), to complete the task. Finished the teaching and I think it went well. Put together some work on peer review that I'll be able to use in the future, esp as soon as I get back to regular access to a scanner.
Last night we were invited to my officemate's family's for dinner. Both of the kids came with me, though Matan had been sneezing all day and finally fell asleep there for most of the evening. The hospitality was awesome, the welcome really wonderful, the food fabulous. I would love to have spent more time there and really get to know his family. Shaked is going with his younger sister to a street theater production tonight. Yes, the transportation is difficult (I just got a cab for the evening -- it's what I said I would do occasionally when we didn't rent a car, but our earlier experiences with cabs pretty much put us off this option). Tonight his sister is going to come by CNG to pick Shaked up at our apartment and then accompany her to the park where the play is being performed. And then back again -- so she'll be spending hours on the road. Mabye Shaked will bring some pictures! Anyway, I was just so glad to meet them and be welcomed into their home.
Haven't really started packing yet, but got the suitcases out. Gave most of the books I brought to the English Dept library and most of the linens, etc, will just stay here. They're pretty much used up. Not sure what to do with the clothes I've outgrown -- don't really want to bring them all back!
Amanda wrote a great list on her blog about what she will miss. Maybe I need to start my list, too!
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
bubbles and brainstorming
Ok, this I'm posting so I remember where to find it in the future. Working with students who were brainstorming to write about Mary Oliver poems. This site was fun for showing them how to have thesis, topics and evidence to support their claims. I think it will work well in my online composition class.
mantra in 11 words
from Penelope:
One thing at a time. Most important thing first. Start now.
(not endorsing the rest of her post, but crediting this part).
One thing at a time. Most important thing first. Start now.
(not endorsing the rest of her post, but crediting this part).
out of town
Shaked has gone to Jessore by bus. About 6-8 hours west towards Kalkuta. She called from a ferry on a river and when she got to the seminar hotel that is hosting them. I'm glad she's not travelling alone.
Wish I'd gotten out to see more of Bangladesh countryside. Yet trying to remember that most weeks I was not very energetic by the time we got to the weekend.
Finishing teaching this week. Last parent-advisory committee meeting today at Matan's school. Thinking about packing and stuff to leave behind.
Here's a good article on digital Bangladesh.
Wish I'd gotten out to see more of Bangladesh countryside. Yet trying to remember that most weeks I was not very energetic by the time we got to the weekend.
Finishing teaching this week. Last parent-advisory committee meeting today at Matan's school. Thinking about packing and stuff to leave behind.
Here's a good article on digital Bangladesh.
Friday, May 21, 2010
catching up
So far behind on the posting. Mother's Day -- lovely dinner at Tracey's house with other women from the American community and many teenaged kids! Flowers from the hostess to the guests!
Then there was a very, very hot week that I worked mostly at home since I wasn't feeling very well. By Wed, I went back to work at the office and was getting very excited about Shaked's arrival. We would go out to lunches as long as we weren't teaching...
(short elevator lines while students are still on break!)
Shaked arrived late last Friday night (no pictures!) and we had Saturday before her internship really started. Saturday, she wasn't ready to wake up and come to water aerobics at 8am...
She and Matan and I went to the American club for lunch, and some keeping her awake time, and then came back to the apartment. We went over a notebook I have of first impressions and information since she was really in shock about the heat, crowding, just the different place that Dhaka is! She found an introduction from a book I have, maybe I'll add it later.
However, in going over this notebook, we realized she needed to get a vaccination that Matan and I had before coming here. So that became the priority. The travellers' clinic wasn't doing vaccinations this week, so my public health guru, Tracey, recommended a doctor who took us Sunday morning and got her caught up. Later that day she had her first meeting with the people from the company where she's interning. They have prepared an intensive itinerary for her including meetings with IT folks from different NGOs, a visit to Jessore (a six hour bus ride from Dhaka), report writing and interviewing. She's really been immersed from the start!
(maybe even our 5 flights of stairs get a little overwhelming!)
I also started the summer semester of teaching here this week. New students, new classroom, but a familiar syllabus. It's kind of fun to hand out the assignment sheet for the first major essay and know that I'll be done with this two-week stint filling in for their regular teacher before the grading comes up! Also a chance to meet and connect names with a cohort of students I've seen around, but not ever taught. Two of my new students have already seen Shaked and me riding a rickshaw and waved and yelled "Is that your daughter?" because, of course, I told them she had just arrived!
At Dhaba, a restaurant on Road 11, Banani, where I love the fuska. Ok, I pretty much love fuska anyplace.
We ate at Sajna twice this week -- once I asked my embassy contact people, the ones who have taken care of me this year, Shaheen and Katie, to join us to meet Shaked. Didn't know that the department was planning the farewell luncheon for there later in the week!
Raining today which will make getting the laundry dry a challenge. Wouldn't matter much except that Shaked needs to take the clothes when she leaves tomorrow... Mangos on the roof. Must take pictures of the lychees.
Then there was a very, very hot week that I worked mostly at home since I wasn't feeling very well. By Wed, I went back to work at the office and was getting very excited about Shaked's arrival. We would go out to lunches as long as we weren't teaching...
(short elevator lines while students are still on break!)
Shaked arrived late last Friday night (no pictures!) and we had Saturday before her internship really started. Saturday, she wasn't ready to wake up and come to water aerobics at 8am...
She and Matan and I went to the American club for lunch, and some keeping her awake time, and then came back to the apartment. We went over a notebook I have of first impressions and information since she was really in shock about the heat, crowding, just the different place that Dhaka is! She found an introduction from a book I have, maybe I'll add it later.
However, in going over this notebook, we realized she needed to get a vaccination that Matan and I had before coming here. So that became the priority. The travellers' clinic wasn't doing vaccinations this week, so my public health guru, Tracey, recommended a doctor who took us Sunday morning and got her caught up. Later that day she had her first meeting with the people from the company where she's interning. They have prepared an intensive itinerary for her including meetings with IT folks from different NGOs, a visit to Jessore (a six hour bus ride from Dhaka), report writing and interviewing. She's really been immersed from the start!
(maybe even our 5 flights of stairs get a little overwhelming!)
I also started the summer semester of teaching here this week. New students, new classroom, but a familiar syllabus. It's kind of fun to hand out the assignment sheet for the first major essay and know that I'll be done with this two-week stint filling in for their regular teacher before the grading comes up! Also a chance to meet and connect names with a cohort of students I've seen around, but not ever taught. Two of my new students have already seen Shaked and me riding a rickshaw and waved and yelled "Is that your daughter?" because, of course, I told them she had just arrived!
At Dhaba, a restaurant on Road 11, Banani, where I love the fuska. Ok, I pretty much love fuska anyplace.
We ate at Sajna twice this week -- once I asked my embassy contact people, the ones who have taken care of me this year, Shaheen and Katie, to join us to meet Shaked. Didn't know that the department was planning the farewell luncheon for there later in the week!
Raining today which will make getting the laundry dry a challenge. Wouldn't matter much except that Shaked needs to take the clothes when she leaves tomorrow... Mangos on the roof. Must take pictures of the lychees.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
sigh.
We're getting more ready to leave. I'm deep in the preps for classes that will be taking place in Minnesota, not in Bangladesh. Even though there is a little more than a month left in our stay here, I'm solving problems that will come up in June and July, and answering student emails from those future classes.
Next week, Shaked will be here! She still has a final and a paper, so she's not quite ready to think about packing up. She took her dorm room apart and sent the contents to a storage unit, so she's down to the suitcase and mr. bunny. She'll leave on Wed afternoon and it will take nearly 2 days to get here. She'll spend almost a day in Singapore on the way.
A Dhaka newspaper ran an article today on the Children's Literature conference. If you use a magnifying glass and know what I look like, you can see me in the picture.
Another link to an article on global warming and the threat in particular in Bangladesh.
Looking ahead -- I'll be teaching next week for two weeks as the new semester opens here. Hoping to travel with Shaked outside of Dhaka as I haven't seen much of the countryside. I suppose I should have taken each of those professor's business cards and called and visited and thus met far more people. I'm trying to go easy on myself and remember that many days were just exhausting to get to work by rickshaw and home again. Dealing with laundry and cooking and trying to pay attention to Matan's progress, as well. But now I do wish I'd done so much more.
Returning to MN as program chair in Women and Gender Studies -- it's official! Kind of exciting to think about what I'll need to learn and do.
Not sure what the summer will bring as we re-integrate. On the one hand, I do very much like this feeling of living outside the familiar, and yet, learning that I don't do it easily or push myself beyond a certain comfort zone.
Next week, Shaked will be here! She still has a final and a paper, so she's not quite ready to think about packing up. She took her dorm room apart and sent the contents to a storage unit, so she's down to the suitcase and mr. bunny. She'll leave on Wed afternoon and it will take nearly 2 days to get here. She'll spend almost a day in Singapore on the way.
A Dhaka newspaper ran an article today on the Children's Literature conference. If you use a magnifying glass and know what I look like, you can see me in the picture.
Another link to an article on global warming and the threat in particular in Bangladesh.
Looking ahead -- I'll be teaching next week for two weeks as the new semester opens here. Hoping to travel with Shaked outside of Dhaka as I haven't seen much of the countryside. I suppose I should have taken each of those professor's business cards and called and visited and thus met far more people. I'm trying to go easy on myself and remember that many days were just exhausting to get to work by rickshaw and home again. Dealing with laundry and cooking and trying to pay attention to Matan's progress, as well. But now I do wish I'd done so much more.
Returning to MN as program chair in Women and Gender Studies -- it's official! Kind of exciting to think about what I'll need to learn and do.
Not sure what the summer will bring as we re-integrate. On the one hand, I do very much like this feeling of living outside the familiar, and yet, learning that I don't do it easily or push myself beyond a certain comfort zone.
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