Superbowl 2013

I have many memories of elaborate Superbowl parties that my mom threw when I was in junior high and high school. It was absolutely unbelievable this year to be hosting a Superbowl party at our house in Bangladesh.Of course our party had to be at 5:30am so we could watch it live, but that's what we did! :)

The night before I made football cookies. We were running out of ever ingredient, so I didn't have enough white icing. As I was the only woman (unless you count Ellie) eating the cookies, though, no one noticed.

Franklin brought our stove into the living room from the kitchen and we had a pancake breakfast.

We used the projector to show the game on the wall.

 

Pretty cool, huh? 

On the roof in September

 Abraham, always on the move, and he loves to carry buckets.

 

Ellie, writing sweet messages.

Ellie and Abraham, writing on the floor with sidewalk chalk.

Abraham writes a little and puts it in his mouth a little... 

And I knit, or blow bubbles to be chased, or play games where there are letters missing from the alphabet that Ellie has to fill in, or chase Abraham away from some danger, or talk to neighbors, or play dodgeball, or fold the laundry, or just enjoy this stage of life, this pace of life.

Multi-Purpose Donuts

I made donuts a couple nights before we left for vacation. I had two reasons to make them.

1. During Ramadan everyone breaks the fast with a plate of fried and sweet foods. In our building we share plates of food. If you get food one night on one of your neighbor's plates, within a couple nights, you return it with something on it. I'm a bit shy (read lazy and untalented) when it comes to cooking Bengali food, so I make foods that I'm familiar with and others will like. Donuts work. I know they were a hit, because the next day both families told me how good they were and wanted to learn how to make them. Yay!

2. My other reason for making donuts was because it was our 100th day of homeschooling this year. So, we celebrated with donuts in the shape of 100. It's amazing to see how 100 days of fun learning has influenced this beautiful young girl. I'm so glad we are homeschooling.

Making donuts takes time, so what do I do with my kids while I'm slaving away creating yumminess?

I fence in the little one where he can see me. Then, the big one can't resist and hops in, too. :)

A walk and a bike ride

It may be commonplace in some countries for families to get to go out on walks together, but here it is not common. The other day, though, we decided to go for it, and it was wonderful! It felt so good to get out of the house and move, and be together, and watch Ellie ride her bike in a straight line for a long distance! A girl can only ride circles on the roof for so long.

We walked on some back roads to a University campus that is about half a mile from our place. 

Big dorms...

Beautiful flowers...

A handsome boy...

 Ellie rode so far that her tail end got sore. She decided to push the stroller rather than ride her bike. This did not last long.

 
And, my favorite staircase in the whole world.  These are the stairs you use to get over the boundary wall of the university. You go up one side, step over the wall, and go down a similar staircase on the other side. Love it!

What Rain Does

 Monsoon season provides us lots of rain. Lots and lots of rain.

It would be tempting to complain about how my laundry never dries or how our road (see picture below) and it's open drain sometimes gets flooded, but after the hot, hot season we just endured, I'll take this rain with great joy.

This rain keeps our house cool. In the middle of the day it's only in the low 80s! I'll take that over the high 90s any day!

And this rain mesmerizes my little girl. She loves to watch the rain out the window.

I recently had a chat with my language tutor. She told me about a phrase in Bangla that says it's monsoon season that make all the poets in Bangladesh.

I'll take the rain, the poetry is just a bonus.

Sick, Curious Baby

Hmm, what's this? Let me read the label.

Is this how you open it?

You don't mind if I just eat it, do you?

 
Poor Abraham had a cough. So at night I rubbed some of the Baby Rub on his back and chest. Earlier in the day, though, my neighbors recommended I rub mustard oil all over him. Maybe that's the local equivalent.

Henna Hair

 I have never colored my hair before. The closest I've gotten is when my mom sprayed something in it when I was seven that would let the sun make it a little lighter, I think. But now I'm going gray. I wouldn't know myself, but Franklin has told me, the kids in the village told me, and now my neighbor who was checking me for lice told me. I didn't have lice, but I did have gray hairs. She matter-of-factly informed me that here, when you get gray hair you either color it or put henna in it. So, for fun, I decided to go for it and try some henna.

You can use tube henna, but my landlady said that will turn your hair unnaturally orange because of all the chemicals. You can use the real leaves after grinding them. We have a tree in front of our building, but if you do that the results might be a little uneven, so my landlady used powder from a store that grinds the leaves and doesn't add chemicals. You just mix a little water with the powder and put it on your hair.

Here my bhabi mixes the henna.

Here she's applying the henna.

Here's then henna sitting on my hair.

 I've seen many before and after pictures. Here's my best I'm-so-upset-with-my-before-state-that-I-can't-even-smile look.

And here's my best now-that-I-have-done-something-I-could-not-be-happier look.

 

Do you notice any difference? I think my hair actually looks orange-er in the first pictures. Maybe we should have taken the pictures in the same lighting. Or maybe I should have actually left the henna on my hair for as long as my landlady told me to. But I was afraid my hair would turn the color of the orange outfit I'm wearing in the before picture. 

Well, I'm happy with it. I never, ever wear my hair down anyway. Heat and a baby do that to you. So, the only people who will probably ever know that I did this are the people who read this blog, village kids who like to dig through my hair, and neighbors looking for lice. :)