The Party Life, or Why Did I Have to Travel 10,000 Miles to Find Good Haggis?

I can’t believe we are less than a week away from Christmas vacation.  It didn’t really hit me until a few days ago when I watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas and the Glee Christmas special, and then tried to plan my lessons for the rest of the semester and realized we only have 8 school days left. 

I went to a few great parties in the last week.  My cook's son just opened a new computer store, which must be a major accomplishment in a country like this.  The store is located on a street with a large outdoor market, which turned out to be the busiest place I have yet to visit in Dhaka.  I arrived at the opening to find that I was one of the three guest speakers, along with the Archbishop of Dhaka and the principal of the largest college (really what we would consider the last two years of high school) in town.  I really enjoyed talking to the principal, and am going to meet with him in January to see how I can help him with an English training program for business instructors.  I managed to ad lib a nice speech thanking my cook and his family for making me feel so welcome in Bangladesh, and talking about the importance of small business to a growing economy.  Then it was off to the next party; that is, after the driver and I battled our way through the crowds to the car.

  

My cook Thomas, his wife and son.

That same night was the Scottish Ball.  I had to have a new tuxedo made since I had somehow gotten here without mine.  Actually I packed a black jacket and non-matching black pants that, in June, I thought were my tux.  I guess the pain pills I was taking were stronger than I thought.   Since I have a few plain tuxedos in storage, I decided to get a pinstriped one.  It took three fittings, but it was ready (if I didn't try to close the pants) a few hours before the party.  The party itself was quite nice – great food (haggis that was not only edible, but quite tasty, beef tenderloin and creme caramel) and a small band and bagpipe player flown in from Scotland.  It’s always fun to see people dressed up and everyone went all out for this one.

My friend Lauren and me at the ball.

We also had our school Christmas party a few nights ago.  Many of the women dressed in saris and many of the men in panjabis.  I had a friend take me out last week to find one.  It has cooled off enough that we had the party on the roof of the superintendant’s building, with great food and dancing.  It was a beautiful night and they had lit the whole rooftop with small white lights.  Many of the buildings here (unfortunately not mine) have rooftop patios, and it’s such a great place to entertain.