Let's have a party!

I threw a Christmas Eve party this year!  Listening to Christmas Carols, baking cookies, stringing lights, really made the season bright.  All we were missing was a little snow outside and some mistletoe.

Adoorable decorations

We had to be a bit creative on where to put the lights,
since our christmas tree (made of paper) was only 2 feet tall!

With Farhan, Naveed, and Arafat.

With Shazzad

An East-West fusion of snacks: homemade cookies,
cheese from France, and doi bora.

We are the first customers of Trina's new cake business.
She warns us that frosty will melt if not kept in cool temperatures.
We leave him in an air conditioned room until we're ready
cut the cake!!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a goodnight!

The art of proposing

On November 10^th, it was hard to get out of bed.  The weather forecast for Paris was overcast and grim.  It was mainly the call of the pain au chocolat that finally got me up.  And the prospect of another fun day in Paris with Shazzad and Dorothee, of course.

Who knew that museums could be so fun?

 We had about 13 hours until Shazzad had to catch his bus back to Amsterdam.  We were thinking about going to Versailles, but the weather was intimidating.  Finally Shazzad spoke up and said he’d really like to go to the Louvre.  “At least to see the Mona Lisa,” he said.  “If you want I can just drop you off.”  I say.  I think most museums can be covered in under an hour, but Shazzad spent 6 hours in the Metropolitan Museum of Art last fall, only to emerge bemoaning the fact that he didn’t have enough time.  In Paris, as in New York, I can find ways to enjoy the time on my own.  But his face falls.  “Do you want me to go with you?” I ask.  He brightens.  I am slightly surprised but also flattered.  That settles it. A few coffees and croissants later, off we went.  I was wearing three layers of shirts under my fleece jacket, plus a big woolly scarf.  This girl’s blood has thinned.

Thanksgiving in Dhaka

I have always loved Thanksgiving.  What's not to love?  Food takes the center stage.  The last few years, I've had a great time at the Thanksgiving party hosted by an American family with long ties to Bangladesh.  But this last summer, they moved back to the states.
Luckily, Amanda's friend who works for USAID had offered to host a dinner, and generously extended the invitation to Shazzad and me.  US Government staff had the day off, so they were started at 4PM, but we said we'd be along a little later, once our workday was over.  By 5:30, we were en route.  We swung by the VERY upscale Uni-mart, which is definitely aspiring to be something like a fancy Sam's club or Target.  It even has North End coffee shop in it!  So we order a coffee while picking up starters to take with us.  Clearly there are still some kinks in their inventory--we can find salsa but no tortilla chips.

Amanda at the North End, in Uni-mart.
Dhaka's moving up!

All that mumbo jumbo

Mambo! Jambo! Or “Hello!” “Hi!” in Swahili.  Seriously, it’s so simple that it’s astonishing that "mumbo-jumbo" could somehow morph into a term for confusing jargon! 

Going (coco)nuts about Zanzibar.

 Dar es Salaam is an impressive place.  It buzzes with activity.  Yet there is a running joke about “no haraka” (hurry) in the city; when ordering lunch, expect it to take at least an hour to arrive. The beaches are spectacular.  I steal some time to enjoy them—mainly at night when the crowd disperses and the breeze comes in.  But I see the ghost crabs scurrying around, so I am a little wary of wandering too far.

There are so many references in development to the success of Coca Cola in setting up universal supply chains.  “If we can get coke to remote villages in Africa, why can’t we get (fill in the blank—malaria meds, clean water, etc.)??”  I find it irritating and in most cases, a false comparison point.  Plus, there are so many places in Bangladesh where you can’t find coke!  Though perhaps you can find one of the more dubious local beverages, like mojo or thums up (yes, I spelled that correctly).  But in Tanzania, coke was everyone.  I loved the billboards near the Coke factory that said, “One billion reasons to believe in Africa’s future.” (there are roughly a billion people in Africa).  I thawed a bit on my annoyance with the Coca cola references in development.  And will postpone the launch of my #nocokehere campaign.  For now.

Pic and choose

Amazing how time goes by when you are having fun!  I've been delinquent about blogging--my last post was over 3 months ago.

But I have a lot of photos to share from my many travels.  Today I'll post the link the the portions in the United States, with the Africa and Europe portions soon to come.

In September, I went to San Francisco for a conference on Social Innovation and got to visit Travis and Holly for the first time since Thanksgiving, 2010.  We spent a lot of time outdoors, and rarely went more than a waking hour without eating something very yummy.  I learned that Travis is doing this running streak (at least 1 mile per day, every day), and was inspired to try the same with push-ups.  I set my minimum at 10 per day.  But I seem to forget more than he does--he's done over 365 days straight.  I started on Sept 16 but have only managed to get to 28 days straight.

Then in October I went back, this time solely for fun and accompanied by Shazzad.  We went on a trip that even Jack Kerouac would envy!  Flew into Chicago, then to South Dakota, then to Vegas with my parents, where we rented a car to drive to Denver, Colorado, via the Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion, Aspen.....more beautiful scenery that your brain can process.  From Denver we flew to Raleigh, took the bus to DC, and then flew to our respective next stop (for Shazzad: Dhaka, for me: Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania).

Hope you enjoy the photos and the (occasionally witty) captions.

Few snaps from India

Breakfast at Srijita's parents' house in Kolkata.
Sweet way to start the day!

With Amanda at the Dkashineswar
Kali Temple, in Kolkata. 

The hills of Orissa on a rainy day.

For many women in Orissa, bringing water up to the village
is a daily task.  These women now have piped water and taps
in their kitchens and bathrooms.

Large parts of Orissa are vulnerable to cyclones.
All homes in this village were constructed
in a disaster-resistant design.

Formal opportunities for women to work are rare in Orissa.
Women and girls shell cashews all day for about $1.50.

We stumble across a tree that's at least 200 years old.

Traveling from Brahmapur to Bhubaneswar (Capital of Orissa),
we sneaked up to the sleepers' class where we could sit comfortably.
There were a steady supply of vendors with tea and tasty snacks,
like this freshly made jhal muri.

A quiet Saturday morning on College Street, back in Kolkata.
Nice to be back in a place where no one really stares at us,
and everyone speaks Bangla.

Self help groups are a popular strategy to help women
become more involved in family finances and save money.
This is a group of women from the slums of Patna who help
each save about $4 monthly.

A government school in Patna, where most of the students are
the children of informal workers--domestic aides, rickshaw
drivers, street vendors--living in nearby slums. 

A community library in a Patna slum.  Clearly no shortage
of talent and energy here.  Once time this slum was
brutally evicted, and the community members stood in front
of the library and said, "you can destroy our houses, but
this building, we will protect."

One of the first areas of Patna declared a "vending zone."
Here the vendors can sell produce free from police
harassment, extortion from contractors and local
gangs, and with ample space for customers.

Bihar may be famous for its mangoes, but I loved the guava.