Weekend...
I need a vacation to recover from the weekend...
Thursday was a hard day at the office. I know, I know, what else is new. Between the workload and the deadlines, I was really looking forward to getting home and relaxing, imagining myself spending the weekend laid out on my bed, watching Fawlty Towers DVDs...
Luckily my weekend wasn't quite as boring as that.
On Thursday night my room-mates, neighbors and I headed to the Australian Club. The club is essentially a bar, tennis court and pool out the back of the Australian High Commission, where expatriates get together in a social atmosphere. I had been a couple of times before, and wasn't overly impressed or enthused enough to be looking forward to this particular visit...
We sat, chatted, had dinner, drank a few beers, nothing especially exciting... and then the High Commissioner showed up, just as our group were the last ones in the club. For some reason we all kicked into overdrive, and the night ended back at our apartment with a Bollywood extravaganza... chalk up another random night in Dhaka, if you will please judges.
On Friday morning Alex and Aara prepared us a monumental breakfast. Alex is now prohibited from leaving Bangladesh. The breakfast was followed a little while later with street cricket.
Three of us set foot outside the apartment gates. WIthin 2 minutes, 12 people were playing, with various other onlookers curiously milling about the edges.
Alex, Jeremy and I now have an invitation to play at the Gulshan Youth Club next friday morning.
That evening Paul and Wendy hosted a poker night.
Mom, please send more money...
I finally began coaching on Saturday, at the American International School. Keep on chalking up those random moments. Stepping onto the school grounds is like stepping into another world; you could be anywhere in the developed world... there are water fountains, which is a big deal in a country with little potable water, a swimming pool, an indoor basketball court with stands and championship flyers hanging off the walls... it was a wonderful experience, and made me realise how much I missed coaching.
After 4 hours I finally made it home, and had to face what I had been fearing for 2 months... the "Hash"... contrary to the name it's actually a running and social group that apparently exists in expat communities around the world.
Jeremy had been telling me stories of Hash runs for some time now, all of which had done little but confuse me as to what the Hash really was and how it operates... needless to say I was quite nervous when we got to the meeting point and eventually set off...
I am now happy to say I am a convert.
The Hash is much like a treasure hunt; instead of looking for treasure, you are looking for a way to the end-point of the run, which involves chasing trails that have been set up prior by a team of so-called "hares".
The run took us outside of the city limits, through some incredible scenery, then through several villages and eventually urban areas. In terms of sightseeing and sheer shock of local onlookers, this was an amazing experience.
Thursday was a hard day at the office. I know, I know, what else is new. Between the workload and the deadlines, I was really looking forward to getting home and relaxing, imagining myself spending the weekend laid out on my bed, watching Fawlty Towers DVDs...
Luckily my weekend wasn't quite as boring as that.
On Thursday night my room-mates, neighbors and I headed to the Australian Club. The club is essentially a bar, tennis court and pool out the back of the Australian High Commission, where expatriates get together in a social atmosphere. I had been a couple of times before, and wasn't overly impressed or enthused enough to be looking forward to this particular visit...
We sat, chatted, had dinner, drank a few beers, nothing especially exciting... and then the High Commissioner showed up, just as our group were the last ones in the club. For some reason we all kicked into overdrive, and the night ended back at our apartment with a Bollywood extravaganza... chalk up another random night in Dhaka, if you will please judges.
On Friday morning Alex and Aara prepared us a monumental breakfast. Alex is now prohibited from leaving Bangladesh. The breakfast was followed a little while later with street cricket.
Three of us set foot outside the apartment gates. WIthin 2 minutes, 12 people were playing, with various other onlookers curiously milling about the edges.
Alex, Jeremy and I now have an invitation to play at the Gulshan Youth Club next friday morning.
That evening Paul and Wendy hosted a poker night.
Mom, please send more money...
I finally began coaching on Saturday, at the American International School. Keep on chalking up those random moments. Stepping onto the school grounds is like stepping into another world; you could be anywhere in the developed world... there are water fountains, which is a big deal in a country with little potable water, a swimming pool, an indoor basketball court with stands and championship flyers hanging off the walls... it was a wonderful experience, and made me realise how much I missed coaching.
After 4 hours I finally made it home, and had to face what I had been fearing for 2 months... the "Hash"... contrary to the name it's actually a running and social group that apparently exists in expat communities around the world.
Jeremy had been telling me stories of Hash runs for some time now, all of which had done little but confuse me as to what the Hash really was and how it operates... needless to say I was quite nervous when we got to the meeting point and eventually set off...
I am now happy to say I am a convert.
The Hash is much like a treasure hunt; instead of looking for treasure, you are looking for a way to the end-point of the run, which involves chasing trails that have been set up prior by a team of so-called "hares".
The run took us outside of the city limits, through some incredible scenery, then through several villages and eventually urban areas. In terms of sightseeing and sheer shock of local onlookers, this was an amazing experience.
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