December
January 6, 2010
Welcome new year and welcome blog readers. This month has been spent spectacularly. Well at least I think so anyway. I am working on a new video for urea treated straw (UTS) in Dimla, we are also visiting and networking a lot. We visited the Commissioner for Artificial Insemination and Fodder Cultivation in search for a steady, reliable source of cheap dairy cattle semen. It is working out. We have to send 2 of our staff off for a 2 month in class training and then a 1 month practical training. We have already done some AI and pregnancy diagnosis training, so they have a good background. Also, due to our visits with this guy, our supply of goat sheep and cattle vaccines for the year are secured!! Yea! We also keep on schmoozing with possible markets; Grameen Dannon and Rangpur Dairy. We are trying to source a stable market for up in Dimla because in not too long we will have a supply of milk that saturates the market in that area. Oh yes, we also are trying to get the area some exposure, so we have been making visits to news channels with the Monga Mitigation Project “story” I have continued to work on plans for the retreat in Cambodia. This took me to Malaysia for a short trip just after Christmas and for New Year. I had to pick up a Cambodian visa for Derek who is Bengali and can't get a Cambodian visa on arrival. More about that later.
Non-work related...
We have started a Bible Study/Meditation/Singing Christian Fellowship Gathering in Bogra and it has taken off. We meet on Saturday mornings. I was in charge of it the other week and did a “study” on music and the Bible. It is really a nice group of people and I am very thankful it started.
On Christmas Eve people came over to my house and we made doughnuts. That was fun! Then on Christmas Day I cooked up a brunch and then some after brunch snacks and people brought some snacks. Ben's (Ben is the REAP SALTer this year) family was visiting so they brought some goodies along with themselves and Ben. Hye Young, Phil, Nate and Sadia also came. After brunch we read the Christmas story and sang some carols and watched movies. It was good fun. Oh, one slightly funny/embarrassing thing was when we were discussing what was planned for the day. I began to say how there was all this food and family and being together and watching movies, and you know “what Christmas is about.” To which Nate made the comment that, “I thought Christmas was about Jesus.” After which I turned about 17 shades of red and shut up. “Bazzinga!” It really was a good day. I am so grateful that the Lord of Lords was humbled to come down and live life as a perfect example only to die to gain us a reward.
After Christmas, I left for my trip to Malaysia. While there I managed to get a visa for Derek, see the Petronas towers, visit the aquarium (very cool!), eat lots of pork, have a few beers, hike in the jungle, do a canopy walk in the jungle, watch TV from the toilet of my hotel room (it was a small room about the size of a walk in broom closet. The bathroom doors were like sliding shower doors and I could see the flat panel TV if I kept the panels open just a bit. Yes, I realize just how classy it is to mention such a thing in my blog!) take walking tours of Colonial Kuala Lumpur, Little India and Chinatown, visit the Central Market, Mederka Square (where Communism was officially overthrown, independence begun), have a fish foot spa (you put your feet into a pool and small- 2 to 3 in.- toothless fish nibble all the dead skin off your feet and “micro massage” them), visit the Islamic Museum of Art, shop for groceries not available in Bangladesh, and meet some really nice people. It was a great trip and I needed it more than I knew I did. Kuala Lumpur is a really easy city to get around and NO ONE stared!! It was great!! There are people from all over the world that live there and so, no on really stands out as special. SPECTACULAR!! Oh I also spent the New Year there which was nice. See my pictures on facebook, or give me your email and I will send you the link to snapfish.
Ok, when I got back I spent one night in Dhaka, one in Bogra and then off to Dimla. It was a good trip. We took a crew from ATN news channel up to the program. We had some vaccine camps that day and they got interviews with a lot of our farmers. It was great because it was focussed on the farmers and not on the organization so much. I hope if will help motivate farmers as well as spread awareness of what is going on in the area. Another funny/embarrassing story. So, a co-worker (expat) came to the field with me to take some body weights of farmers, for reporting reasons. Well as usual, I get asked if I am married...I say, “no.” Well one cheeky little girl (although she wouldn't be seen as cheeky/rude in Bengali culture) asked me why I didn't marry the work colleague. Not really knowing what to say or how to say it in Bangla I told the girl he was my little brother. Unfortunately, Aurif a BRIF (our partner) staff person overheard and asked me, “who, who” was my little brother. The girl was standing not 3 feet behind us and although she wouldn't understand if I told him “I lied” I wasn't sure if he would understand either. So trying to whisper it to him in Bangla, I told him I was lying. However, staff up there have a difficult time understanding my Bangla, and I ended up saying it very loudly. Yikes! So for the rest of the time there, the staff thought it funny to keep on asking why I wasn't marrying my “little brother.” The next day they still made fun of me as we held a short training on UTS production for them. It was a good training because we only spent like 1.5 hours on discussing/reviewing. They then taught (well one of them, Hamidur) the rest of the group, as if they were training the farmers. It was like a practice for giving the training.
Well, tomorrow I am off to Derek's daughter's wedding. Yea
Peace
jodi
Welcome new year and welcome blog readers. This month has been spent spectacularly. Well at least I think so anyway. I am working on a new video for urea treated straw (UTS) in Dimla, we are also visiting and networking a lot. We visited the Commissioner for Artificial Insemination and Fodder Cultivation in search for a steady, reliable source of cheap dairy cattle semen. It is working out. We have to send 2 of our staff off for a 2 month in class training and then a 1 month practical training. We have already done some AI and pregnancy diagnosis training, so they have a good background. Also, due to our visits with this guy, our supply of goat sheep and cattle vaccines for the year are secured!! Yea! We also keep on schmoozing with possible markets; Grameen Dannon and Rangpur Dairy. We are trying to source a stable market for up in Dimla because in not too long we will have a supply of milk that saturates the market in that area. Oh yes, we also are trying to get the area some exposure, so we have been making visits to news channels with the Monga Mitigation Project “story” I have continued to work on plans for the retreat in Cambodia. This took me to Malaysia for a short trip just after Christmas and for New Year. I had to pick up a Cambodian visa for Derek who is Bengali and can't get a Cambodian visa on arrival. More about that later.
Non-work related...
We have started a Bible Study/Meditation/Singing Christian Fellowship Gathering in Bogra and it has taken off. We meet on Saturday mornings. I was in charge of it the other week and did a “study” on music and the Bible. It is really a nice group of people and I am very thankful it started.
On Christmas Eve people came over to my house and we made doughnuts. That was fun! Then on Christmas Day I cooked up a brunch and then some after brunch snacks and people brought some snacks. Ben's (Ben is the REAP SALTer this year) family was visiting so they brought some goodies along with themselves and Ben. Hye Young, Phil, Nate and Sadia also came. After brunch we read the Christmas story and sang some carols and watched movies. It was good fun. Oh, one slightly funny/embarrassing thing was when we were discussing what was planned for the day. I began to say how there was all this food and family and being together and watching movies, and you know “what Christmas is about.” To which Nate made the comment that, “I thought Christmas was about Jesus.” After which I turned about 17 shades of red and shut up. “Bazzinga!” It really was a good day. I am so grateful that the Lord of Lords was humbled to come down and live life as a perfect example only to die to gain us a reward.
After Christmas, I left for my trip to Malaysia. While there I managed to get a visa for Derek, see the Petronas towers, visit the aquarium (very cool!), eat lots of pork, have a few beers, hike in the jungle, do a canopy walk in the jungle, watch TV from the toilet of my hotel room (it was a small room about the size of a walk in broom closet. The bathroom doors were like sliding shower doors and I could see the flat panel TV if I kept the panels open just a bit. Yes, I realize just how classy it is to mention such a thing in my blog!) take walking tours of Colonial Kuala Lumpur, Little India and Chinatown, visit the Central Market, Mederka Square (where Communism was officially overthrown, independence begun), have a fish foot spa (you put your feet into a pool and small- 2 to 3 in.- toothless fish nibble all the dead skin off your feet and “micro massage” them), visit the Islamic Museum of Art, shop for groceries not available in Bangladesh, and meet some really nice people. It was a great trip and I needed it more than I knew I did. Kuala Lumpur is a really easy city to get around and NO ONE stared!! It was great!! There are people from all over the world that live there and so, no on really stands out as special. SPECTACULAR!! Oh I also spent the New Year there which was nice. See my pictures on facebook, or give me your email and I will send you the link to snapfish.
Ok, when I got back I spent one night in Dhaka, one in Bogra and then off to Dimla. It was a good trip. We took a crew from ATN news channel up to the program. We had some vaccine camps that day and they got interviews with a lot of our farmers. It was great because it was focussed on the farmers and not on the organization so much. I hope if will help motivate farmers as well as spread awareness of what is going on in the area. Another funny/embarrassing story. So, a co-worker (expat) came to the field with me to take some body weights of farmers, for reporting reasons. Well as usual, I get asked if I am married...I say, “no.” Well one cheeky little girl (although she wouldn't be seen as cheeky/rude in Bengali culture) asked me why I didn't marry the work colleague. Not really knowing what to say or how to say it in Bangla I told the girl he was my little brother. Unfortunately, Aurif a BRIF (our partner) staff person overheard and asked me, “who, who” was my little brother. The girl was standing not 3 feet behind us and although she wouldn't understand if I told him “I lied” I wasn't sure if he would understand either. So trying to whisper it to him in Bangla, I told him I was lying. However, staff up there have a difficult time understanding my Bangla, and I ended up saying it very loudly. Yikes! So for the rest of the time there, the staff thought it funny to keep on asking why I wasn't marrying my “little brother.” The next day they still made fun of me as we held a short training on UTS production for them. It was a good training because we only spent like 1.5 hours on discussing/reviewing. They then taught (well one of them, Hamidur) the rest of the group, as if they were training the farmers. It was like a practice for giving the training.
Well, tomorrow I am off to Derek's daughter's wedding. Yea
Peace
jodi
posted by Jodi Crossgrove at
5:58 PM
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