Farewell, Bangladesh

Feel it's unfair to leave the butt-grab as the last post from Bangladesh, but am now in China and woefully behind on updates so must rush through final days in Bangladesh.

- giveaway day was a blast, volunteers accompanied lottery ticket holders into our yard and helped them to collect their lots. Van rolled away piled high with chairs, tools, pots, pans,
- felt slightly less enthused about giveaway when we returned to our house and sat around with no chairs, no pot for making tea, and no stove anyway
- had our last meeting on 16 April, and Rajib, Jamil, and Selim joined us with their own quirky, endearing goodbye speeches. Rajib and Jamil both talked about how when they first met us, they didn't understand what we were trying to do, and how they thought we were like babies who needed to learn a lot, but that slowly they understood and that they really ended up enjoying the whole experience of working with us and in their community in this different way
- then they asked Selim if he wanted to say anything, and he said "ki bolte?" "Say what?"
- must say, the feeling of staying at a project until the end is quite different than leaving in the middle. While still teary and sad, I felt more at peace with what we planned and what we accomplished. In the past, I've felt so sad to miss out on what's to come.
- 17th April, after Suz and Emma left on the Rocket, and John and Tim pedaled away on their new van, Marc, Paul, and I loaded up and started to roll away to the bus stop. People followed us, an old woman I didn't even recognize clasped my hand and thanked me, with tears in her eyes. Then lovely came running up and said that Jamil had been in a motorcycle accident. While it was quite serious, I'm now happy to update that he is recovering
- in Dhaka, met up with Paul, Rajib, and Rajib's wife for one last dinner...at Pizza Hut! Yum. Then Rajib and Paul went on their own Bangla holiday
- met up with the Embassy guys (with whom we collaborated on some school/temple projects), at the American Club. Had always wanted to go there, but you need an invite to get inside. Not anything all that special, just lots of white people wearing shorts. But nice to sit in air conditioning, eat western food, and have some nice conversation. Thank you to Randy and Harvey.
- 19 April, Ciao Dhaka! Off to the Philippines, where I'll visit Santo Domingo and go diving in Busuanga...