All's fair in love and hartal

Hey there - stole the title from Holly's last email she sent out. The topics she covered included Valentine's Day, bombings, hartals, and.... arranged marriages. I hadn't discussed that with ya'll yet - will do a little later.

Thanks so much for all the emails! (And blog comments! BTW, my homepage says that you don't have to be a 'blogger' to post comments anymore - just a name and web-info - so try it!) The feedback helps me to feel close to home - though a half a world away! I would probably be a little homesick if not for that - but knowing that I will have some reply to my blogs or my emails keeps me going everyday!

Our day today was good - the gang is learning the song very quickly and it warms our hearts to hear them walking around singing all day long: "Hail, Jesus, You're my King!" Seems everyone loves the tune. Marta - the woman who normally leads the worship time during devotions - walked up today (only 2nd day she's heard the song) and played the organ with it!!! Just by ear!!! I totally don't understand how people do that!

We spent our morning (after tea) shopping for gifts for those of you at home. Two ladies from the office went along to do the bargaining for us - and they purchased our two Sharees for us. This is the office's gift to us. The fabric we purchased is gorgeous - we'll see if we are able to keep them on. We might end up exposing ourselves!!! MAYBE we can find some duct tape for keeping them on..... :) We visited the largest shopping mall in all of Southeast Asia - but we didn't find much there. It was too much like our malls - we wanted to buy things that were actually made in Bangladesh - so we found a 'handicraft' store and bought quite a few things there. We still have more people to get gifts for - hopefully Prodip's wife and daughter will take us out on Friday. The prices are sooooo low!!! DVD's for less than $2! But - we haven't bought any of those, either - we want to help support the local economy by buying local items.

We visited one farm this afternoon - large farm - good farmer! He has two cows milking 30L each per day - one of which is 7 mo bred! He feeds the most green grass of anyone we've met - and we actually saw his cows..... lying down!!! We explained to Lawrence how happy we were to see this - hoping that the sand will encourage the other cows to lay down!

We took a couple of stool samples. Tomorrow we visit the pharmacy AND the government veterinary center. We will use their microscope to teach Lawrence how to read fecals and hopefully get to talk with these guys a bit. Lawrence said there is one 'lady doctor' there and he arranged for us to talk with her. I was shocked! I did NOT expect there to be a female vet here! :) We'll be interested to see how SHE dresses! (maybe she'll have a tip about how to keep our scarf out of the manure!)

Ok, arranged marriages. Very, very commonplace here. Pretty much the only way you get married. Dad picks him. You meet him - say ok - then are engaged the next day or so. (!) Engagement lasts 2-3 months - and voila! You are married. And most likely move in with your in-laws. yippee. Divorce doesn't happen. Illegitamate (sp?) children don't happen, either. This is likely due the fact that it is not tolerated here - but also because you may get married as young as age 14 if you are a girl. We met a girl just the other day - 14 years old - who has been married for 2 months. Away from her parents, she has moved in with her husband and ALL of his family. I have pictures of her - and though they don't capture it perfectly, you can see the sadness in her eyes. We have heard stories of how commonplace prostitution is here. How a young girl like that is married into a family - and then forced to be a prostitute to provide income for them. While not all marriages are like this - I am just so thankful (!) that that is not the way it has to be for me. But most of the Christians that we have had time to get to know have arranged marriages, as well. They call them 'settled marriages' - and they boast that their success rate is 99% - while we in the U.S. (even Christians!) have a divorce rate of 50% or more. We can't knock their way, entirely - but it sure seems odd to us. I guess it's kind of like the way you don't get to choose your siblings, but after enough time with them, you truly do love them. That seems to be the way it works. There is a deep commitment on all sides.

Let me know about the microscope - if you can get it for that price, I'll pay to have it shipped here. They do have FedEx and DHL here - I think that would be the only trusted way to ship it. (Theft is common in the mail.) If you do send it, please also send 2-3 fecal devices (the plastic white things with the little filter in it - I don't know what they are called!) Lawrence can wash and re-use them. We brought slides (which he can also re-use.) If you get the goods - I'll give you the address. :) Thanks for trying!!!

Hope you at CVC aren't TOOO busy! I do miss you guys! Though when I return, I might expect to take 'tea' breaks every 2 hours or so like I do here. :)

Sam - got the recipe for the teat dip - though I don't think I've seen a blender ANYWHERE around here.... or clorox for that matter..... but I'll see.

Ok, time to go. Bye-bye!