Sunday, April 4, 2010

Sentence Fragments

I’m not sure why, but I don’t seem to have a lot of coherent thoughts to share at this point.

Perhaps it’s because life here isn’t very coherent, at least not yet. Right now it’s a mix of things without too much sense of direction. Often those things are quite different. Here are a few glimpses of my life for the past week.

Rickshaw rides through crowded streets.

Reading a story or playing hide and seek with the two small children on my team.
Stuttering my way through buying groceries in Bangla.

Cooking in the dark while the power is out, again.

Having a lovely lunch and afternoon tea with some super hospitable folks from church, which happens to be on a Friday, not because it’s Good Friday but because church is always on Friday here.

Dodging open sewers, cars, bits of construction materials, and chai-wallahs on the sidewalk.

Enjoying a delicious cup of chai tea (here we say “cha”) from aforementioned chai-wallahs.

Fumbling my way through a response to a beautiful old woman begging for money.
Ordering chicken twice at the same place. Getting two vastly different things in quite different quantities.

Trying to go to the store to buy something, discovering the store is closed because it’s Friday.

Attempting to go to a different store to buy something else, finding that the first place is now open but, being that it’s now Saturday, the new one is closed.

Discovering that apparently most places are also closed on Sunday, but again, not all of them.

Chatting, eating, drinking tea, praying, singing, and generally enjoying life with my teammates all under one roof.


In short, while things may be rather disjointed, I am generally enjoying them and doing well. More coherent thoughts may come along eventually, but for the moment, I am content.

2 comments:

waiguoren said...

You didn't mention your sweet matt-folding idea and us sweating through the fanless night :)

Anonymous said...

God bless you, Kenny! Your commitment and courage astonish me. You are truly God's servant being able to find contentment in the face of all the disjointedness. Love you and miss you. Aunt Beth