Again

November 10, 2009
It's been a while so I will again write. Work has been steady and that is good. This month we did a training with our Monga staff on artificial insemination (AI) of cows, rectal palpations for pregnancy and semen collection. It went really really well. All the staff were very enthusiastic about getting right in there. Now we are working on finding stable local suppliers of semen and other AI consumables (liquid nitrogen, sheaths, gloves, etc...). If we want the project to be sustainable after we are “finished” then we need to make sure the people in the area have access to things we have, up to now, purchased through our larger connections.
On more work related news: I FINISHED MY SALT MINERAL BLOCK MOVIE!!!!!!! I am so so so happy to be done with it. There are more movies yet to start, but with the first one under the belt hopefully the others will go faster. The next one is urea treated straw. I made the music for it today. I am awesome!!
I have also been working on grad school applications this month. That has been a hoot!! I am looking at 3 different programs all having to do with sustainable agriculture. I think I would like to work at home and do some extension type work with sustainable agricultural methods and maybe when I retire go abroad again. We shall see where God leads. I will follow faithfully if not always happily.
There were many farewells this month. Farewells stink and will always stink, but with every farewell there is a hello. A time for everything and so on. So, I remain thankful for the time God has given me with these God's own children.
Well, thats all for now really.
Peace,
Jodi

La la la lal shak

October 5, 2009

Ok so I am back in Bangladesh, but I still have some updates from when I was home to put up.

USA:

• I took Greyhound down to Knoxville, TN to meet my best friend Deb. She has 2 very kind, very sweet dogs, Milli and Marley. We really just hung out, watched old foreign scary movies and Romie and Michelle’s High School Reunion. We had an appetizer progressive supper one night where we went to like 3 different restaurants and ordered only an appetizer. One of the best meals ever I would say. We then drove together to Cincinnati and met our friend Christian for a Blondie/Pat Benetar/ The Donnas concert. It was fantastic. Me, normally being the conservatively dressed one, was NOT. Hee hee it was super fun and a great concert. We did however miss the Donnas, because our taxi driver failed to follow the simplest of directions…oh well he was nice about it. The next day we sat by the pool all day, chilling and chit-chatting. It was super fun. Chris then drove me up to Lima where I met my sister, and we proceeded to the Henry County fair for the District 10 show.
• We took 2 heifers to the show. Rascal II a Jr. Heifer Calf (Spring Calf) and Evonne a Fall/Jr Yearling. Rascal II got 3^rd (deservedly) but was biggest in her class. We generally breed/grow very dairy but quite small heifers. She was big and I was very happy! Evonne was the only one in her class, so I feel she was sort of looked over. She led like a dream. She has that sort of show glide that I love (and that makes her feet/legs look nicer). I really enjoyed showing that day!!!
• The show was on a Wednesday and on Friday I went up to MSU to visit some professors and some old friends. It was a great, typical, good ol’ time at MSU. I ate as much raspberry chocolate chunk ice cream from the dairy store as I could. I love that stuff. I got back Saturday evening.
• Sunday morning I spoke at Zion and that went well.
• The next day I went to Cedar Point with my brother. It was super fun. We practically jogged from one ride to the next. Altogether we got in 11 rides; Raptor, Mantis, Millenium (2x), Maverick (2x), Wicked Twister, Corkscrew, Top Thrill Dragster (Front Row!!! Jake screamed like a girl, it was hilarious), Gemini ( a very funny ride host) and Magnum XL2000 (it was having it’s 20^th anniversary.)
• The next super event was THE FAIR!!!! It was great. We took 4 and had one of our family friends tie one in with us. Dad and I were able to catch Paris (Sr. Yearling)- a feat that they weren’t able to do before the Henry County/District Show. She is one who knows just how far she can go and will take it. She is independent and I like that about her. However if you come at her with a dominating strong arm, she will take you OUT! But anyway… We took her and Evonne and Lizi as Jr. Yearlings. Evonne and Lizi are two VERY different looking animal and I was intrigued to see what the judge had to say about them. It was never really a question of who would place over the other (Evonne had Lizi beat hands down). We also took Rascal II. Paris took 3^rd I think. Evonne and Lizi took one and two. Evonne being the baby in the class (5 months younger than the oldest) extremely dairy and very correct, Lizi dominating in depth and spring of rib, but having too much coverage and less refined dairy character. Rascal II got third. In Jr. best 3 females, we took second. Jake was on Rascal II for a bit but then switched me for Evonne, since she is easiest to show. Rascal II although small is quite a feisty one who loves to jump around. (I may later regret my occasional permittance of her frolicking.) Evonne also went on to pick up Reserve Champion Jr Female. All in all a good fair.
• That evening I sat and talked with my old 4-H advisor. Good times! That old coot is crazy.
• The fair ended with the demolition derby. Hmmm the fond memories of crashing my car into another. Hmmm
• The next morning Janelle and I went via Amtrak to Chicago. We went to the Museum of Science and Industry and had a grand day. Then she took me to the airport. We ate dinner (I had a happy meal!) and I left to come back to Bangladesh.

Bangladesh:

• I got back just in time for the end of Ramadan and a whole lot of holidays. For Eid, Joyce, Russle, Ben and I went to Sagor’s house. His family is very nice and his wife is a very good cook. Since it had been a while since I had eaten home cooked Bengali food, I ate a good Bengali amount of rice and enjoyed every bit of it. My attitude has changed since I came back on my own terms and bitterness no longer spoils things as much as I probably let it before.
• For Durga Puja, Nate and I went to Rishi’s house. That was nice too. There were some really good sweet meats there! Coconut and sesame seed based sweets, Mmmm!!! It was fun spending time with them. Pujas are such happy festive occasions, everyone was dancing and running about and buying little trinkets and giant prawn cracker-like things.
• The next week was a bit difficult as there were some facilitated discussion and other such meetings held in Dhaka. I don’t like meetings much. It was nice however, that Joe came (Asia Director). He is a fun guy and the meetings we had with Jan (a facilitator) and he were productive.
• Before Team Bogra left to come back from Dhaka, we went to Sports Zone and did some bowling and DDR. DDR rocks and I am getting better. Oh and we took Annika and Faye with us and it was their first time bowling!! They both did super!!!!!

All things considered I am glad to be back for the time I am given here.

Peace

Jodi

HOME LEAVE

August 7, 2009
I am at home in America, and just got my GRE official score notice. I did rubbish on the writing section, so I will not even try to write a nice monthly report. I will use bullets as it appears my style of writing isn’t very good. Since July 3rd…Well, I have
Paul and I sat and visited with a man at some NGO (Grameen Shakthi??) for 1.5 hours, only to realize after we left that we were in the right building, floor and office, at the right time, but we met with the wrong person. We got great information, but the poor man we were scheduled to meet with was confused when Paul called to thank him for meeting with us and he was confused since we had never arrived.

• Left Bangladesh for 2 months of home leave. (I left on July 9th)
• Went to Sri Lanka
• Ate lunch packets and as much SL food as I could
• Made pol sambol
• Went to the beach and swam by a sea turtle!!
• Hung out with friends!!
• ULTIMATE FRISBEE!!!
• Visited my farmers!!! I love them!!!
• Visited my office. Presented a short powerpoint.
• Went around with the girl that is replacing me. She is great. A Buddhist convert getting her masters and a very determined girl willing to work for what YGro pays!!! I finally feel some closure about my leaving!!!
• Hung out with D&P and their 2 boys!
• Settlers with Shiloni and Dorothy
• Saw Achchi (grandma, in Sinhala), a.k.a. Shiloni’s grandma.
  

England

With Rachel and Nigel!!!!
Went on walks
Made funny desserts
Ate Christmas pudding
Went on picnics
Went to the Heckington Show (a village fair)
Ate Lincolonshire Red (a breed of beef cow) stakes and Lincolonshire sausages (a special type of sausage from Lincolonshire)
Had a BBQ
Went to Sherrwood Forest (you know, where Robin Hood hung out)
Went to a castle and a minster (small cathedral)
With Abigail
Went to park and chit chatted
Stella and bacon cheese curly fries!!

USA

• Came home!!! Met my friend Heidi, Mom, Dad, Jill, Chuck and Janae at airport. I hadn’t seen Heidi (a friend from school) in 3 years. I had never seen Janae!!!
• Went to the Ohio State Fair with Mom, Jana, Lane and Phoebe.
• Picked top cow at the Futurity- the rest were a bit off, but I got the top one. (It is a big fancy cow show where calves start to be registered at birth and show when they are 3 years.)
• Had a bonfire with friends and family. Saw my friend Amy who I hadn’t seen since high school.
• Went to eye doctor
• Babysat for my 3 month old niece Janae
• Went to Historic Sauder’s Village with Janelle and Chris
• Held and played with all new and old nieces and nephews.
• Hosted Jodi’s Show Cattle Bootcamp Training and Child Daycare Workshop.
• Smoked the tires on my brothers ’71 Chevel (he had the drag racing tires on so it really wasn’t that hard)

Well that is all for now. Will update more later.
Peace
Jodi

A Poem: By J.R. Crossgrove

Ode to the Toilet Queue

Yes ma'am I see you standing there

All brave and unafraid to stare

I know there are questions you must have

As we queue up for the lav

Your skin has pigment and mine does too

Although a slightly different hue

We both wear ornas across our chests

To shield men’s eyes from those things called breasts.

We both have eyes and ears and nose

And friends and family and probably foes

We’re not that different from what I see

So need you watch me wait to pee?

Just another day

July 3, 2009

6 MORE DAYS TO HOME LEAVE!!!!!! I already started packing some gifts. Ok month in review.

I did a little bit of the beginning of June in my last report so I’ll start from there. Well, it starts off with a sad note. Saying goodbye to Gloria (Designer for a partner organization) was tough. I will miss having another “homegirl” to speak “chill” with. She was also random like me and I will miss that. However, after talking with her and praying about it, I know this is a good thing even if it was hard. Peace Out Gloria, Peace Out man. While I was in Dhaka for the goodbye festivities, I sat on the interview panel for the new “Rajib” (MCC program staff vet.) There were many good candidates and I learned a lot about interviewing. Also it was sort of fun being on that side of the interview. Holy cow, some of them were Freaked out! It was great.

From there I went to Dimla for a few days to do some visits and help train the staff in salt mineral block production. I got back from that and it was orientation for new people in Bogra. That went…ok. There were some scheduling… issues, but in the end it worked out. We visited some of the archeological sights in Bogra, saw the AKB and played a lot of games. Despite, my bad mood on Friday (I totally yelled- like actually raised my voice and nonsensically yelled- at Phill, for no good reason.) it was good times!!

It was HOT. I got angry at the heat!!!!

Ooooo, the next fun thing though was my birthday weekend. It included dinner at A&M’s (sorry Austin and Marita being that you are hitched, I abbreviate thusly.) with mint brownies and all!! Then we went Bowling and did DDR (Dance Dance Revolution, a great video game) and ate gelato. That was Awesome!!! The next night Robin, Sarah and I went out for steak. It was good times had by all.

After that back to Dimla for visits and taping some more movie and now I am here!!

Peace

Jodi

May-hem 2009

June 8, 2009
Hmm May in review…
May started off with a trip to Dimla to check 170 some odd heifers for repro problems. Then on the 7th I took the GRE. It was as I expected; a ridiculous standardized test which probably doesn’t tell people much other than I am slightly worse than others at taking standardized tests. I did ok on the math but terrible on the verbal, which may or may not have anything to do with the fact that I have spent the past 3 years trying to use small English words and large words in 2 different languages. I am not sure how I did on the writing portion, because they don’t give you that score right away as it must be sent to humans for grading. The quantitative and verbal scores are given to you right after you take the exam, as it is computer based and scores you as you go along. It took 4 hours, after which the proctor of the exam tried to talk me up. He asked if I minded if he asked what score I received. Being that my brain at the time was a bit mushy from overstimulation I responded, “huu?.” I went on to ask what a good score was and he said “around 1200. Did you get over 1200?” I was close but not quite over that mark, so I shook my head. To which he responded, “oh then that is not very good.” I cringed rolled my eyes and took my things from the locked locker they had given me. Then the ostentatious proctor proceeded to ask me if he could have my phone number (which he actually could have just taken from my info page). WTF!!!! First you tell me I am an idiot, then you ask for my number?? I scowled, rolled my eyes and walked out. Afterwards, I had paneer and gelato. That always makes me feel better. Anyway, the universities I am looking at only require an 1000 score. I am over that. Plus I have a little bit of experience.
Ok, what next… I did some work and in perfect time made a chocolate cake. I made it right b4 I found out Lena would be leaving. We spent 2 nights in a row chit chatting and eating chocolate cake for dinner. Then on the 22-23rd I went down with Dave, Lena, Phill, Sarah and Paul to Comilla to visit Shyam-Da’s family. That was good fun even if it was 41 C and 99% humidity. We got to see the WWII cemetery, Bangladesh Ag Research & Development Center(?) (BARD), and some other touristy places down there. We also got to take a boat on the way back. That was great. We didn ‘t get a seat, but I sat for a long time on the ledge around the outside of the boat. Of course as a white lady alone sitting in a place where only poor men sit, I had my pack of spectators, but I was able to stop them from asking questions when I got annoyed. The view was magnificent!!!
The next wknd I stayed home and maybe left my house once. I read an entire 500 page book in 2 days!!!! I am not much of a reader, but I had time and a desire to finish. I also spent some time that wknd cleaning out Lena’s place, which was sad, scary and like Christmas all at the same time.
At work, I am finishing up the final draft of my Salt Mineral Block video and my training cow. They are coming along. The cow is going slower than I hoped, because I only work on it until the sweat covers my glasses and then I stop…it doesn’t take long these days.
Other highlights:
Trip to Dimla with Betty (Canadian Food Grain Bank officer in MCC)
Cutting Nate’s hair in mullet then Mohawk then buzz cut…see what comes next.
I am going to cheat and move into reporting on June activities, because they are fresh in my mind. Andrew is back in Bogra giving Bangla tutoring. I still stink and am terrible at studying, but it is helpful that he gives homework. This past weekend I went to Mymensingh for orientation. It was a really great weekend. I was surprised (not that I thought Robin would host a bad orientation, its just I didn’t think I would be so refreshed by it.) We took a boat ride, visited a botanical garden and the agriculture university. We ate great food cooked by Rauton, Scott and Jojo’s new cook (who actually used to work for MCC long ago.) We went to Taize prayer which was nice and visited other partners there. My favourite place we went was CCH which works with handicapped persons. Growing up I was always afraid of/anxious around mentally handicapped persons, but I think the joy in there smiles was so infectious. In comparison to the stark depressed/hopeless look of most Bengalis, it was a fresh breeze that hit like a ton of bricks (but in a good way). Well, I think that is all I will write for now. Will update again next month
Peace
jodi

Once again

Thursday, March 26

Ok so I haven’t written in a while, but face it when was the last time YOU updated me on all that was happening in your lives?  Life in Bangladesh is coming along as well as coming to a close. It is a bit weird. I felt bad telling one of the farmers in Dimla that I would only be here another 3 months.  Just when I am getting to know names, I tell them I will be leaving.  I now really understand the 3 year idea that my organization has. Well, I think the last time I wrote was a few months ago so I will try and update succinctly (I am taking the GRE May 7 so I am trying to practice words.).

hmmmm February.  (This is taken directly from my monthly report to fellow expats here in country, so if you don’t understand something, just email me.)
    *Went to Dhaka for eye and dentist appointments. No cavities!! Yea!!
    *Discussed more "tweaking" of the biogas unit. (which was a bit frustrating as when it comes to designing structures I am only confident with what I know and there have been MANY modifications  to  this unit which reach far beyond my experience.)
    *Getting to hang out with Sara and Sri while he was
 here was a pleasure.
    *Retreat, of course, was great. My favorite was the cabin we rode back in on the train. It was cool, like you see in movies!!
    *Because I was out more there has been a lot of thinking about beggars. It is a complicated thing. I always want to give something even if it is just a sympathetic "maph korun" and an acknowledging look in the eyes. Even that takes a lot out of me sometimes. (I hate the way that reads and saying it allowed doesn't help either. "Oh poor me, with food and shelter, I am so weary from taking seconds out of my life to look at a poor person." I also generally don't give taka but rather food or something, but who am I to say that just b/c you are poor I have the power over what you can spend money on. Well anyway umm that was that soap box.
    *Went to Dimla for 7days. while there, the whole "situation" happened.  The border patrol held a coup, and held some high army official captive and threatened to do the same all over the country.   Due to my poor Bangla I didn't realize most of what was going on until it was over anyway.  It did however make me think (and believe me I had plenty of time to think as there is hardly ever electricity in the evenings in Dimla and there were many long van-gari (flat bed bicycles) rides out the site to think. ) On multiple occasions (3-4) there was yelling and crying  and hitting in or around the homes of the people we were meeting. I saw a small boy throw a 2x4 at an emaciated dog. There was a special on Al Jazeera, "Dining with Terrorists" that look at Sri Lanka and that added to my at that point borderline hopelessness. Where did we ever learn all this stuff?  How do people learn to hate so much?  Sarah Peace I am glad you are here.
   *Wow on a bit less depressing note, I got to spend much time with Sidul (MCC staff person in Dimla) his wife and their adorable 3 year old daughter.  She has taken a liking to me and is teaching me bangla. Although she kept calling her swing "julu" which Sidul has recently informed me is in fact not Bangla for swing but rather a made up word.  Well, I guess I know the "3yearoldchild" word for swing now.

That was Feb. I will update you in March when I write that update at the end of the month.

Peace

Jodi