Discipline

  Today I was busy teaching the kids english, when Dulali, the kids Bangla teacher, called me over and told me to look in David's mouth.  David opened his mouth, it was full of yellow. It looked to me as if he had just eaten curry. Dulali told me he was eating his crayons. Immediatly Dulali got Popri(she is the principle and extremely feared by all the children). Popri looks malaysian to me, has has a very important regal strut, and carries a stick for spanking. When Popri came into the classroom she called David. All the student were quiet as they watched Popri force a yellow crayon into David's mouth. Ten minutes later David had eaten his yellow crayon.

  Bangladeshi's use humiliation for discipline. I am not sure how effective it is here. But I know it would sure be effective on me.

Week Two

   This a hindu girl that lives two villages away from the orphanage


    Right now I am sitting on the roof.  The sun just disappeared into the smoggy horizon. And I am now trying to recall the best parts of my week to share with you all. Teaching was fun as usual. This past monday I found a large book at the bottom of a dusty stack in the library it was filled with stories of Curious George. When I was younger I really enjoyed being read Curious George and I hoped the first graders here would as well. When it's reading time they ask where is George? The teachers really like it too. Multiple times I have been asked to share a stories for worships. Usually it's just minutes before they want me to share. So I rack my mind for a story with a moral and a good bible verse. So far the moral has always been children obey your parents. I wish I had more stories!
   Yesterday I took two boys to town, Luke and Bartholomew. I bought them Oreo's and mango drinks. The kids at Banglahope really have it so much better than all the other kids here in Bangladesh. As we walked through Hili I noticed small kids would trail behind us for a few minutes and then disappear behind the corrugated tin shacks and then reappear. I am sure they were hungry and I know they needed some more clothing. I wish I could supply everyone with a warm home, nice clothes, and food.
   One of the other missionaries decided he wanted some chicken to eat. We went into this large barn filled with vendors and cages full of chickens.  He chose a white live chicken and paid 320 taka for the bird. Which is about four dollars...I think. You know sometimes things just don't seem to clean here. The barn was swarming with flies there were bowls of blood. Blood dripped all over the barn floor, there was a nasty looking fresh rooster comb and beak and many other unidentifiable chicken parts.
  Today was Sabbath. We had a very american meal for lunch. Mashed potatoes, fruit salad, green beans, fried bread, apple pie and ice cream. This afternoon we went for a walk through several little villages. I feel like I am a disciple of Jesus, we go around talking and giving aid to the needy. It's always  an accomplished fulfilling feeling that wells up inside me when I know that we are helping.

The first week

   I have been here almost a week and I am finally blogging. I am sorry I have not kept you all updated, I got internet yesterday.  My flight from LA to Dubai was very uneventful but I must say about three hours into the flight I looked down at the tv screen in front of me and I saw that we were over Towner ND. I was really excited, just knowing that my family was only a few miles away. We got to Dubai around 6 pm their time. Our layover was eight hours long so we got a taxi and went to the mall. What a beautiful place many of the men wore long white arab robes, I do not know what they are called. They drove nice cars, Range Rovers, Bentleys, Ferraris, Porches, the list goes on. The city was so clean, the air was clean,  and arab music played everywhere it felt as though I was in a movie. The most exciting part was seeing the Burj, they said it was the tallest building in the world. Dubai seemed like a dream.
  When we came into Dhaka I was amazed at the smog. I couldn't even see the ground until we where about five hundred feet above it. In the airport it looked as though someone had just burnt lunch the air was even smoggy inside. I was afraid to breath inside. I remember last year I was driving through Ventura CA and had my nose tucked inside my shirt, afraid to breath because of the nasty air But sadly Ventura's air has nothing on Dhaka's air. When we drove outside the airport the landscape was filled with people, they where everywhere. I have never seen so many people in my life. We drove to the orphanage that night. I am not sure how many miles it is but what I do know is that we left Dhaka at 5:30 pm and didn't arrive here until 1:00 am. It was a very long and terrifying drive. We drove between 120-140 kph on roads full of motorcyclist, cars, busses, rickshaws, and bicycles. I don't think I will complain about my dads driving for a long time.
   Despite the differences the people are so friendly and the food is very good. The children always want to be held or to have a hand to hold. I am teaching first grade english and math, I really enjoy that. I also am helping lead out in worships every other week. I am so thankful to be here safely. I need to go now and teach but I will try to keep ya'll updated more. Thank you all for the prayers.

Vaccines

   Today I got my vaccines for Bangladesh. I had three shots; Tetanus, Hepatitis A, and Typhoid.