Christmas in Dhaka

Happy Christmas everyone!  It's sort of hard to realize that it's Christmas here, with it being in the 70s, but holiday celebrations have definitely been going on in full force over the past few weeks. I've been fortunate to have been invited and enjoyed a few of these celebrations. One of my favorites was a rooftop party that involved sky lanterns, something I hadn't experienced first hand before. It was pretty spectacular lighting these lanterns and watching them lift off and fly into the night sky. Here are a few pictures:

 At the American Commissary I came across a little Christmas tree and some lights, so I did manage to put some holiday decorations up and get into the spirit of the season. Cornelius donned his Santa hat as well. :-)
Happy holidays!

Victory Day and my Bengali vocab

The past few weeks in Bangladesh have been interesting. I've started taking Bengali language classes, I've experienced borderline "cold" weather here in Dhaka, and I've experienced the national "Victory Day" celebration..

Unfortunately, my Bengali vocabulary has grown to include words like "butcher" and "noose" - not words I necessarily expected or planned on learning - due to the ongoing war crimes tribunal here in the country which is trying criminals from the war of independence in 1971. On the other hand, I can point rickshawwallas in the right direction, count to 15 and ask all the typical sorts of simple questions.

Yesterday was Victory Day here in Bangladesh, celebrating 42 years of independence when Bangladesh defeated the Pakistan army in December 1971. The day was a nice break from the typical strikes and political rhetoric surrounding the upcoming elections and one of the features of this fun day was a Guinness World Records' record setting of a flag made by the greatest number of people. Pakistan, appropriately, held this record until Bangladesh broke their record yesterday. Here is what that flag made up of over 27,000 people looked like:

Everyone has been selling flags and people have been getting the spirit of Victory Day; I watched a documentary made during the early 1970s that documented some of the student groups and other grass-root organizers who helped fight for Bangladesh's independence. India also commemorates this day, as they were part of the campaign trying to oust Pakistan from Bangladesh, then "East Pakistan".

A roof with a view

I recently decided to check out the rooftop of our new building here in Dhaka and discovered that we have quite a nice view! On a different, but somewhat similar note, I've discovered that Bangladeshis seem to love their rooftops. They go up there to dry their clothes, to sit and read a book, to watch the sun set or just to sit and ponder life. In the early hours of the day and around sunset you can find people sitting or standing (perilously at times) on their rooftops, overlooking the city. I've seen this in various parts of the city and this seems to just be a custom. While I may not be as thrill-seeking or daring as some of them seem to be, I certainly can appreciate the beauty of a sunset or sunrise and think the Bangladeshis might have something here. Seems like a pretty nice way to pass the time to me!

Here are a few pictures of our rooftop: