Hi friends!
First update post-hospital update, and life is looking up
here. I checked the scales and found out I've lost 23 pounds since coming to Bangladesh. It's so crazy to think about, and of course nothing fits now. Oh well. Nothing new or particularly interesting has happened IMO but there’s
enough small stuff to warrant making a blog. So below are the ups and downs of
the last few weeks. I’m going to intermix them so it doesn’t turn into a
complaint fest. Only one picture this time, sorry folks :(
MAIL!!!
THE UPS
Mail! I’ve finally started getting some of the mail sent
about a month ago from the states. So far I have four cards and a postcard, and
a small parcel from my parents. Thanks so much to my family, including my Aunt
Kay and Grandpa, and Kristina from work for sending me mail! Nothing makes my
day brighter than a card with a short message (or long) from home. I’ve been
pinning them to the wall in my office to help brighten up the place and I love
the mosaic that they’re starting to make.
If you’d like to send me mail (shameless plug), my address
is:
Bree Roozen
C/O Asian University for Women
20 M.M. Ali Road
Chittagong, Bangladesh 4000
Something small like a postcard or card is amazing. Adding
photos or letters is even better. Packages are a bit of a different story –
they’re quite expensive to send and don’t always arrive intact. The package I
received today was about the size of a hardcover book, and the contents were
just some candy and a letter with pictures. It cost $25 to send from the
states, took just under a month to arrive priority, and was probably opened at
some point along the journey. When it came to me it was tied with twine and sealed
with a (no joke) wax seal over the twine. Apparently tape just doesn’t cut it
once it arrives in Bangladesh. But it was a welcome distraction from…
THE DOWNS
My hospital bill. Yuck. If you think dealing with insurance
and billing in the states is rough, imagine doing it here. I finally got called
to pick up my hospital bill from the health center here at AUW. I nearly choked
when I saw it was almost 50,000 taka, which is about $700 USD. Looking broadly,
it’s not too bad a sum for six days in the hospital with medicine and tests and
everything going on. Hell, the same in the states probably would have cost more
like $70,000. But this hospital wasn’t nearly as nice and boy am I uninterested
in paying that much for a stay.
Thankfully I have insurance, although nobody has been able
to explain to me what happens now with money and insurance and all that. The
health center told me to go to finance who told me to go to acquisitions. After
trying to ask a few questions about what I’m supposed to do to the woman in
acquisitions, she more or less sent me away and told me she’d be in touch. So
how is this bill getting paid for? Is insurance paying for everything or will I
have to pay a sum? All of these questions remain mysteries. Good thing I’m
still in a great mood from the mail.
THE UPS
Last night Minoli (my roomie) and I hosted a dinner party
that went from, “hey, let’s have the apartment downstairs up for dinner again”
to “we have nine people coming? Nine?!”
Still turned out to be an amazing time though. Going the
vegetarian route, I decided to make homemade chickpea burgers (recipe here: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1364634/chickpea-and-coriander-burgers)
that turned out absolutely amazing, and Minoli was head of the side of a
pomegranate, orange and quinoa salad (http://barerootgirl.com/nourish/2013/1/7/in-season-a-cool-pomegranate-orange-quinoa-salad.html)
which was also delicious, but won’t necessarily be heading to my recipe box for
the future. We topped it off with some ice cream brought by the downstairs
apartment and had ourselves a great time! Good food, good company, and for a
minute you can almost forget we’re in Bangladesh.
THE DOWNS
We had to fire our maid. I know, this is something that’s
hard to complain about to people back in the States who think we’re pretty
spoiled just having a maid come every week, but damn, we finally sucked it up
and fired her. Ok, Tarah from next door came over and fired her for us because
we don’t speak Bangla, but it was our decision.
So why did we fire our maid? Well, largely it was the lack
of cleaning prowess that you would expect someone who works full time as a maid
to have. We’re talking wouldn’t move a hamper while mopping or never sweeping
under the bed, silly things like that. She’d come and clean for two hours and I
could look behind my headboard and find huge dustbunnies just chilling out
there. The worst though was the experience in the apartment below us. They had
the same maid and got tired of her poor work much earlier than we did. The
kicker was when I was over chatting and their newly hired maid was sweeping
through Holly’s room. After a minute the maid came out and started speaking
with Asfara, who speaks Bangla, who translates that the maid had found a dead,
mummified bird carcass underneath Holly’s bed. After we were terribly squicked
out, we realized it had probably flown in while the building was still under
construction and died. The furniture guys, in a spectacular example of “it’s
not my job” put the bed in place over the dead bird, and then the old maid just
never swept underneath the bed in the two months she worked for them.
And that’s a quick summary of the cleaning problems. We also
had to lose her because she got into this odd habit of walking into our
apartment any time of day, even when none of us usually weren’t home. Twice
Minoli stayed home to work when she wasn’t feeling great and without warning
the maid just walked in and stopped, looking confused and horrified when she
noticed Minoli sitting there. It makes us wonder how often she tries to walk in
when we aren’t around. Since it’s all AUW people in our building and we tend to
go in and out visiting with the other apartments, it’s not uncommon to leave
the door unlocked for a period of time during the day. It’s not the most secure
feeling to have. Plus there was the time right before the Eid holiday (before I
got dengue) that she walked in on a weekend morning with her toddler as we were
all trying to recover from a late night with friends over. I woke up hearing
Bangla spoken in the living room and Minoli was out there trying to entertain
the maid and her baby. After we got them to leave, Minoli told me that she woke
up on the couch with the maid just standing over her, watching.
Creepy, huh?
THE UPS
I’m going to the beach this weekend! With the illness
killing my fall break plans, I decided to take the weekend and go to Cox’s
Bazar, the world’s longest natural beach, to lounge and have some me-time. I’ll
be staying at the Mermaid Beach Resort, which is the closest thing to a
Western-style beach resort that Bangladesh has. Apparently it’s even possible
to lay on the beach in a bikini there so I’ll certainly be testing that theory.
Figuring out how to get down there is the real struggle though. I’ll be trying
out the domestic bus system here in the country. Talking with those who have
been down to Cox’s already, they say it’s not so bad. With my luck though, I’m
sure something will come up!
THE DOWNS
I was sitting in the AUW van on my way to campus this
afternoon looking out at the horrendous traffic, thinking to myself how bizarre
it is that I haven’t really seen any accidents. Seconds later, our car
rear-ended the car in front of us. Traffic, man…
THE UPS
I’ve been making candles! Using old jam jars, white candles
sold for use in temples (like the candles in Catholic churches), and essential
oils and herbs, I melted down the candles in a double broiler, mixed in the
scents, and repoured them with a wick into the empty jars. This place is making
me feel so crafty, between boiling citrus and herbs to help clear the musty smell
in the apartment and wrapping our super ugly couch cushions in scarves and
extra fabric, I feel like a third-world pinterest queen.
What I could do with a Michaels, or a Menards or Home Depot.
I’m thinking small pots of fresh herbs growing on my balcony, being able to
hang hooks behind the wall for extra scarves and jackets, and nailing panels of
fabric to the wall to brighten up the place. A few houseplants, hooks in the
kitchen to hang up pans or mugs, or spray painting the plastic hamper and metal
baskets in my room… there’s just so much that could be done!
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