My 2nd Day in Birisiri

{I'll add the photos later if/when I have time online,
but I really want to post this before I
forget about putting it up entirely - for now I'm afraid all I can say is,
read the caption and use your imagination folks!}

Today was a very nice and relaxed day. I woke around 630 and had an icy splash in the shower. Water, warm water, is the luxury at home I most take for granted on a daily basis. I packed my bags and got the blankets and stuff remade before I continued writing from the day before. I went out and sat in the morning sunlight on the small deck to read my book (still loving my e-reader!) for about an hour before Animesh came to meet me.


[PHOTO - FRENCH TOAST!]

Breakfast was (of course!) lovely, fried bread my like French toast with orange jelly (omg so good) and a fried egg. After breakfast we were both chatty spending most of the morning at the table talking. I had been planning to go but was happier sitting and chatting. “My heart does not wish to say goodbye though my head knows we must. I receive you as my guest, as my friend, as my sister, as my family.” I felt much the same way and didn’t want to leave so I avoided the ticking clock on the wall and instead suggested we make some tea (I love love tea!).

[PHOTOS - KITCHEN AREA]


I followed him into the kitchen and we boiled water for tea on the clay stove after lighting a fire. He peeled and cut up some cukes while we waited for the water to boil, and I had some green papaya (which when boiled is deliciously wonderful) - the texture was much like a carrot the colour of a cantaloupe, very strange but good! I wasn’t ready to go, and I was in no real hurry to go anywhere so by 2pm I had made up my mind to stay one more day and I felt much happier. Besides, I didn’t want to do the 10 hour bus ride in the dark and arrive in Dhaka at midnight!

[PHOTO - ME n’ ANIMESH]

Come 3pm he actually had to go do some work to prepare for a group of 13 people coming from Japan to volunteer with HfH over three weeks. He joked that it was good that I was leaving because the peace of his village was about to be disturbed by the playful and loud Japanese guests. I went back upstairs and remade myself a bed and charged all of my electronics. Around 430 we met again as I had asked him to walk me over to the field where there was a group of very old trees I’d seen from the gate of the school, but first we took a picture beneath the olive tree in the yard of the Y.

[PHOTOS - OLD TREES AT THE RIVER]

We walked down by the river to a new spot I’d never seen before where the trees were probably about 150 years old, they were so beautiful. After checking out the trees and taking a few pictures he asked if I wanted to see a market as we walked along the river, and of course I did!


[PHOTOS - RIVER, KINGFISHER, GIRLS]


The river area was fun for me to see as we walked along the high bank. There were people bathing and others playing in the water, and a group of young girls that waded across from the other bank to follow us. I saw the most beautiful sapphire blue kingfisher that I’ve ever seen and stalked it for some pictures awhile, also taking some pictures of the girls as they climbed up to say hello.
[PHOTOS - OLD MAN WALKING; SUNSET; BOYS PLAYING CRICKET]

As we walked the sun set over the village. My heart was so calm, so happy, so at peace. We walked along behind an old man and I took a few pictures because it was just so beautiful there. “You are so curious, like a child seeing the world sometimes,” Animesh said to me. I took it as a compliment, and hope I always see the world as if through the wonder filled eyes of a child’s heart. We came upon a group of boys playing cricket in the field, and small huts were visible through the jungle.

[PHOTOS - COMPASSION PROJECT]

When we got to town we went to visit Anthony’s Compassion project. About 300 village kids attend everyday after school to learn social skills, health, academics, and religion. They eat one meal together per day as well. It was pretty cool, and made me wonder whether they could use my help if I volunteered there awhile, though I had no idea how I’d help since the kids don’t need to learn English. The project area had a large field where the kids could play, a couple of swings and a slide. When we were there kids were attending personal coaching of some kind, I’m not sure in what. Animesh mentioned that he thought about starting an English coaching program for the local kids, and of course I told him it was a great idea and that I’d give him any help I could from home over the phone or internet.


[PHOTOS - MARKET]

The market, when we came upon it, was small and packed with people, FULL of fresh vegetables. The sun had nearly finished its descent by this time so my photos aren’t great so instead I walked around trying to commit the place to memory. We stopped at the same little shop we’d been the day before for snacks and tea. We had something like a deep-fried wonton and a soft squishy donut-like thing dripping in a very sweet syrup. I was so happy to be trying another new treat! In the teashop there were men and women sitting together and having tea, though no tables of mixed company other than us.

[PHOTOS - SNACKSHOP AND TEA]

After tea we wandered by the village library (which also sold toiletries and the like), the local photo shop (where they proudly told me of the computer programs like Photoshop and Illustrator that they used to edit photos), the cloth market, and the fish market. We stopped by a little snack stand where they sell pop and juice and cookies and chips and the like and Animesh bought a bag full of snacks. I tried again (in vain) to pay, but he wouldn’t stand for it. He insisted later in the evening that I take the snacks with me when I leave the following morning, “food for your journey.” It almost made me cry in that moment, the immensity of his kindness.

[PHOTOS - DINNER IN THE DARK]


We walked back to the Y in the dark and Anthony passed us on his motorbike saying that he was coming for a visit, he is very sweet. He arranged for me to meet his friend Phila in Srimongol when I arrived, and said that he would show me around. Anthony said that he’s a really kind man, a good man, and he is the manager of the local Compassion Project, which is how they met. It’s easy to feel like family around here, and I was very grateful for the help and the kindness and friendship they shared with me.


I stayed up with them until around 11 visiting, eating dinner, and having snacks, and it was a really nice night. Anthony had to leave to go home to his wife after visiting for about an hour, and I was sad to see him go, he’s a really nice man. At bedtime I washed my face and feet and crawled under the blankets in the room that already felt like home on my third night, thinking about the next day’s bus trip and having a quiet cry with the thought of saying goodbye in the morning after such a short time.