Understanding Bangladesh

Thinking about home and visiting homes

We have come back to the La Vinci hotel in Dhaka.

The next time we pack our bags it will be for our trip home. That means it is time to sort, deciding how to pack our Bangladesh treasures including several large items -- baskets, pottery, books, a variety of musical instruments, lots of material, and much more. Fifteen teachers can collect a lot of classroom visuals.

One of the members our group is Bimal Paul, Kansas State University professor. His family has been very gracious inviting us into their homes.

On July 20th we visited his sister’s village. Today we visited his father and brother’s village in Pakutia. Their village is very similar to his sister's. The family homes are made of corregated steel with a separate building for cooking.

We were invited into the building where rice is stored. We shared world globes as well as many items we no longer had room for as we’re packing to go home.

Later we stopped at Bimal’s mother-in-law and family’s apartment. After walking through a hardware store we proceeded upstairs to the first of their 3-level apartment. There are several bedrooms, a spacious kitchen/dining room, a library/study room, and two bathrooms. On the top level is also the laundry room complete with a roof top garden where laundry is hung to dry.

Both homes were gracious and treated us with more food than we could possibly eat. What a joyful learning experience. Thank you to Bimal and his family for sharing your homes.

Everywhere we go continues to be eventful. On our drive home we pass a circus complete with an elephant and an enormous amount of bananas and pineapple ready for market. What a great day.

--Jane Watson, Hazleton, Iowa, U.S.A.
Talented and Gifted Coordinator at Starmont School.   |    Login or Join to Post Comments