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