Fun times in Nepal

We just got back from an AWESOME trip to Nepal!  Hiking, rafting, relaxing, and of course, lots of eating :)  Highly recommend it as a destination and would love to go back.

Instead of rambling on and on about just how great it was, I posted a photo album chronicling all the sites and fun moments.  Check it out!

What "work" looks like these days

Cruising along in Nampula, Mozambique in a nice, big pick-up truck.

That was last week.  This week, I'm busy hobnobbing with community members in Comilla, Bangladesh.

"Yeah, I can touch my nose.  Why do you ask?"

I want to know about their savings behavior and access to financial services, but they have more pressing issues like, if I'm married, why isn't my nose pierced?

What next?

My best books of 2014

This was a good reading year.  There are some great new authors with powerful voices and awesome story-telling ability.

The top 5 were:

In light of what we know—Zia Haider Rahman

I’m not a fan of Salman Rushdie, but his sentiment of a book of “everythingness” captures this book.  It’s less a coherent story and more an experience.  It knows no boundaries, it jumps back and forth in time, travels around the world, and wanders into physics, math and other subjects, but without pretension or sense of effort.  Enchanting to read.  I also had the opportunity to meet the author towards the end of last year, and he was every bit as engaging as the book!

The Rosie Project—by Gene Similian

Bill Gates recommended this book as one of his best reads in 2014, so I figured I’d give it a read.  It is hilarious.  The author puts you in the head of a brilliant professor who has Asperser’s syndrome, and proceeds to take you through his innovative and at times painfully awkward attempts to find a wife.  Through the story, you find yourself wondering if being “normal” is a good thing, and other assumptions we make all the time.  The sequel (the Rosie Effect) just came out, so don’t worry, there’s more!

The Lizard Cage—by Karen Connelly

This book is about as close to a Burmese prison as I would ever want to get.  Set in Yangon, it centers on the life and thoughts of a political activist who is living out a life sentence in jail and his friendship with a young orphan who also lives at the prison. Most of the book takes place at the prison, and at times it's quite dark, hopeless, and brutal.  But despite rarely taking the reader beyond the prison walls, the story is active and it's hard to put down.  I also read Burmese lessons: a true love story by the same author and was less impressed--too personal, too much "true story" that sounded exaggerated, etc.

David and Goliath: underdogs, misfits, and the art of battling giants—by Malcom Gladwell

My sole non-fiction recommendation this year.  Gladwell’s great at rounding up useful anecdotes, research, and theories, and making them digestible.  This book is about "underdogs," and how the odds aren't always as stacked against them as we assume.  Particularly recommend this for people trying to bring about change in big institutions, when you don't have hard power on your side.

A suitable boy: a novel—by Vikram Seth
Once I learned that this was one of the longest books in the English language (and that the longest, longest was a science fiction book that I could probably never get through), I had to give it a read.  It also happens to be one of the favorites of several women I know and respect here in Bangladesh.  Set in the context of newly independent India circa 1950, the book weaves together the stories of several different families from radically different backgrounds.  Though the bureaucratic discussions can drone on (as they do), the characters are vibrant the details of life vivid, and it's easy to get pulled into the main dilemma: who is Lata going to marry? 

What was on your list??

You win some, You Laos some (second try!!)

Sabaidee!! (That's hello in Lao)

Laos is AWESOME.  I just arrived back in Bangladesh after a week in Vientiane and Vang Vieng.  Unfortunately I spent way too much of the week locked up in a conference room since I was really there for a training, but in the hours that I managed to sneak out and explore, I loved it.

The streets are chill, the food amazing, and the countryside lovely.  If you can survive the roads!!

What is the first food to cook for new in-laws?

I went with peanut butter balls and butternut squash casserole.....

A Turkey day

No, literally.  A day in Istanbul, Turkey.  On my way back from Italy earlier this month, a quick connection turned into a 24-hour adventure.  I was trying to recall some of the Turkish I knew, but other than merhaba (hello), the only thing I could come up with was "guzel lutfan," which translates to "beautiful please" (and doesn't really mean anything to anyone except me!).  So I stuck to English....

My 3 takeaways:

1.  I definitely want to go back to Turkey and spend more time there!!  It's beautiful and chill.  You can walk through markets and parks, pass by beautiful mosques and buildings that reflect a historical perspective on globalization.  If you're tired, you can stop for a glass of fresh pomogranite juice or a cup of tea.

2.  The food is amazing!!  I couldn't stop stuffing my face.  The kebabs were out of this world!  Everything came so fresh; even the bread was straight from the oven.

3.  Take an empty suitcase.  There are a lot of things to buy!!

A very creative (and tasty!) wedding gift

This baby mango tree belongs to Shazzad and me!  We received it as a wedding gift last month.  It was born in Rajshahi, an area in Western Bangladesh that's famous for mangoes.  It traveled by train to Dhaka.

It didn't fit in the elevator, so we couldn't get it up to the rooftop.  Right now it's living right outside our building.  We may eventually take it to my father-in-law's village as a more permanent home.

It will need about three years before bearing fruits, but we hear that they will be quite sweet!

I do!

Almost a year ago, Shazzad proposed to me in front of the Mona Lisa.

 On Saturday, we kicked off our worldwide wedding tour in Raleigh, North Carolina.  In the presence of family, a few random hikers, and the occasional frog or earthworm wandering by, we had our legal ceremony and officially became husband and wife.  Yippee!!

On the sunny banks of Big Lake, Umstead Park.

 We chose a spot in the woods of Umstead Park, a beautiful forest where I have run many times.  It was on the lake, which looked picture perfect on a sunny afternoon.

 Surrounded by smiling faces and pine trees, Shazzad and I stood looking at each other as my dad officiated the ceremony.  After a few words of welcome, he remarked,

 As you all know from getting here and from looking around, this spot is a bit off the beaten trail. That is how Shazzad and Maria live– off the beaten path– as they forge their own trail together. 

I think that Shazzad and Maria are well prepared for the journey forward. Maria said recently, ‘I just have a compass. I don't know where it's taking me, but I trust that it's the right path.’ 

Shazzad and Maria, use that compass to find your happiness together in this big world.”

Girls just wanna have fun.......

We had a latte fun!!

I had a great alternative bachelorette weekend with my girls Amanda and Srijita.  We enjoyed the sights, the sounds, and especially the food!!

Hanging out at Bhaktapur

 We spent one day outside of Kathmandu, wandering through the hills of Nagarkot and the dusty streets of Bhaktapur.  It's well know for its wonderful views of the Himalayas.....on a clear day.  We went on a foggy day, so we were happy that we didn't get up at 4AM to try to catch the dawn.

We weather an afternoon rain storm from a coffee
shop with an awesome view of the Boudhanath.

Saying goodbye!  Over one last coffee!!

Check out the full photo album.

Can you ski behind that, and have your cake?

I spent the week before my birthday up in Northern Bangladesh.  One day, my colleagues and I went out to one of the most remote areas of the country--river islands called chars that are highly vulnerable to river erosion and flooding.  Many of the people who live there are very poor. At this time of year, many of the men from the area are off in Sylhet working to help harvest rice.  Often they get paid in rice, instead of wages.

Getting out there is difficult.  It's a long bumpy ride on a bad road, and then another hour on a boat.

I find myself thinking about "the river" in North Carolina.  This river has similar ecology, and similarly makes me want to go water skiing.

On the boat with my colleague Paroma.

Amanda and Alvina

Could I ski behind this?  Not sure it's built for speed.

After a week of moving around in the field, it's nice to finally go home, take a nice, long shower to wash off the dust.

It doesn't hurt that there's a delicious chocolate birthday cake awaiting me!  There are worse ways to celebrate the big "30."

Scenes from the "zero point" road trip

A few weeks ago, Shazzad, Amanda, Jarrod and I went on a road trip to Syhlet.  We wanted to go somewhere that none of us had even gone before. We chose Jaflong, an area on the Indian border in Sylhet that is supposed to be beautiful.  It's also where most of Bangladesh's rock quarries are located.

Sylhet is about a 5 hour drive from Dhaka.  We get up early and head out there.  By the time we arrive, we are very hungry.

With great concentration, Amanda and I manage to read the Bangla notice on the table.  It says that we can't

linger after finishing our food.  Maybe we were better off not knowing!!

If at first you don't suceed, thai and thai again

Eat up!  Your next meal is just a few hours away!

“Vacation” is synonymous with “Thailand” for Dhaka's social elite.  Just two hours away, Bangkok offers everything that’s forbidden in Dhaka: late night clubs, bars galore, you name it.  Not to mention the bargain shopping!

To be honest, I have never understood the hype.  My previous "72 hours in Bangkok" (spent mainly in a hotel conference room talking about health systems) left me underwhelmed.  Bangkok seemed big, Thai was confusing (and English hard to come by), and the night scene was too sketchy for me.

But it is just two hours from Dhaka, and relatively easy for Americans (no visa required) and Bangladeshis (one week for processing), so Shazzad and I decided to turn our May Day holiday into a one week vacation.  I called it a “practice honeymoon;” there’s no harm in taking a trip (or two or three!) just to test things out, figure out what we like, and get the “real” honeymoon as perfect as possible.

We loved Bangkok this time.  We stayed at a hotel that was unexceptional in every way except that it was in exact type of neighborhood we would have chosen, had we done that kind of research (thanks agoda.com and the many helpful reviewers!!).  Just a stone’s throw from the metro, it was more of a local residential area than a tourist haven, full of cheap, no-frills food stands and simple restaurants.  We spent many hours just wandering along, peering at interesting-looking foods and eventually decided to buy one so that we could try it.  The selection was astonishing—noodle soup, seafood crepes, snow cones, mango and sticky rice, kebabs, pad thai, omelets…..and that was just what we ate the first day (ok, I’m exaggerating ever so slightly).  I found that I could get my daily caffeine fix from the iced coffee stands on the streets, who served up a deliciously cold and sweet combination of Nescafe, ice, and condensed milk.