New Year's Eve Party

Here we are at the New Year's Eve party at the American club. Although the music could have been better, we had a nice evening out. Wes and I tried some swing dancing. Azfar got out on the dance floor to shake things up, too, with his Hussain-insane-in-the-brain moves. It was Urmi's first time at a New Year's party, so we pulled her out on the dance floor and she had a great time. But the most exciting part of the night was: they had a drawing for prizes, and Azfar and I won first prize! We got free round-trip airplane tickets from Dhaka to Nepal, for two people! We also got the last prize, which was a huge box of meat (very yummy!). Anyway, we're working on figuring out when we can go to Nepal--we'll keep you posted!

Wes in a lungi

Here's Wes in the lungi I bought him! He decided it was very comfortable to wear. Look out Oklahoma, Wes is gonna set a new fashion trend!

Christmas

We had a fun Christmas this year. On Christmas Eve we had a Christmas party with students from North South University, and we had fun watching them play steal-the-present game. On Christmas morning, Wes got up early and put all of the gifts for Salma from mom and dad under the Christmas tree. When she woke up she had quite a surprise! For lunch on Christmas, we went to Spaghetti Jazz, a fabulous Italian restaurant in Gulshan (the neighborhood next to Banani). That evening, Azfar’s family came over to visit us, and we dressed up Salma and Jasra in matching outfits and took a bunch of pictures. It was a great Christmas!

Fun at Cox's Bazaar

While Wes was here, we went on a three-day trip to Cox’s Bazaar, which is the longest unbroken sea beach in the world. We took the day bus to get there, leaving at 10am, and arriving around 8pm. That was a long trip, with Salma just about climbing the walls of the bus! Anyway, we immediately went down to the beach front to get some dinner and check out the shops. The next morning we went to the Buddhist monastery there (which had signs written in Burmese), and we also checked out the Burmese market. Wes got some really nice Burmese shirts. We were there at the high tourist time, so we were lucky that there was a circus going on. So we went to the circus there and Wes got to wrist-wrestle an elephant (see the picture), which was very cool. The elephant was just standing in a field outside the circus tent, with a chain around its foot. So Wes got brave and got up close. Our last day at Cox’s Bazaar we spent swimming in the sea, taking a speed-boat ride in the ocean, and shopping for pearls.

Wes and the family

Here's some photos of Wes with Azfar's family. He had a good time getting to know them, and had fun especially playing with Audrey and Jasra.

Wesley's new Panjabi

Here's Wesley in his new panjabi outfit that I bought him! Doesn't he look like a prince?

Holding the snakecharmer's snake!

The same snake charmer that showed up at the birthday party I attended, happened to be walking down our street today, and we called him over to give us a show! Wesley and I also had the pleasure of holding one of his snakes (a non-poisonous, non-biting one). We weren't about to hold the cobras--they are very poisonous!

At the Banani Bazar

Here's some photos Wesley took at the bazar in Banani, of fish and vegetable vendors. Salma and I are posing by the vegetables in the top photo.

Wesley's visit

My brother Wesley has come to visit for about 13 days, and we're having a wonderful time so far! He got here just in time for the big Corbani Eid festival, so the next morning he saw people slaughtering cows and goats in the road right outside our apartment. We celebrated Eid with Azfar's family, and had a great time. I've already taken him to the food bazar and the clothing bazar, and we've checked out the artisan crafts at Aarong. So far, we're having a great time with Wesley!