The List

So Dee and I have had a tradition of making a list of memories at the end of each semester. Today marks the exact half-way point of my time in Bangladesh, and I already know I will miss it, and the people I have met, so much. Time passes too quickly. There will certainly be things and people I don’t miss, but those are the experiences that make you grow and learn.

But without further ado, the list (edited):

80’s party at the American Club
I have never made so many Yale jokes in one weekend
Punjabi shopping around Gulshan and Banani
Trivia Night at Le Saigon
Afternoon at the American Club
Groovetrap—Sunday Morning, the “groovy” version
Deciding to go back to Santiago
Let's Go application, interview, and the decision
Pulling an all nighter at Piya's, sweaty mosquito net soft mattress writing grant applications
Our conversation earlier that night
BDR mutiny
Steve leaving
Pabna
Staying with Sekander’s amazing, amazing family, all the children
Taief: “Hiiiiiiiiii! Apu, apu!”
Cooking kung pao chicken for the family
Meeting Prathama’s parents for the first time, stepping into their apartment and saying, “Wow, so this is Prathama’s home in Bangladesh!”
Going by rickshaw to visit Prathama’s dad’s office—I felt so warm and welcomed.
Shopping for salwar kamiz for the first time, at Kay Kraft and Aarong in Dhanmondi
Meeting Piya at her office, going to Pink City
First night at Kozmo, meeting Neville
Neville’s birthday party, book shopping at New Market
Birahimpur Clinic office with Protik and Sohel for hours, trying to sort through what was actually going on on the ground
Visiting the villages, the Hindu temple-like house at the first Indara well, talking with the caretaker
Church with Rebeka and her sister Jennifer when I was feeling down.
The first six mandarins I bought from the street outside DCH
Fujka (these deep fried taco shell pockets stuffed with potato and green chili)
Chittagong! The devastating shipbreaking yards, talking with Jo, CNG rides, and expat party, meeting the American girls, PostSecret, the shops with honey from Benin and gas hazard suits
Visiting the Catholic orphanage, feeling a sense of peace
Reajuddin Bazaar, the chickens, the orange and gold spices, the million flies, the dead rat on the ground—so South Asia
Coming in the first night, being met by two DCH people at the airport with big grins on their faces, the crazy driving on the wrong side of the road almost hitting six steers.
Loud, full of life, full of color
Meeting Priti the first night
Swarasati Puja with Priti and Rebeka, the sisters, and the Australians
Indian visa, and surprising Piya with KFC afterward.
Holud and bobhats with Piya
Wearing a sari (the yellow and purple one) for the first time.
Joya and Suchanda and that day when I refused to leave the lab until I had the data
The encounter with Zaman—we all have a breaking point and I had reached mine
Getting past that
Finalizing plans for India!
Cha with David and Steve, that walk down the railroad tracks
Cleft: the craziness before, observing in the OR, finding a child who otherwise would not have gotten the chance to have surgery

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These are some of the moments that I will remember. Someone I know described his experience in Bangladesh 20 years ago as "very formative." In one way or another, I think that will ring true for me as well.