Happy Ramadan!

Actually, Ramadan (or as it is pronounced in Bangladesh "Ramzaan") isn't always that happy. During this month long "holiday" which starts from today, Muslims around the world fast from day break until sunset. No food, water, medicine, etc. It is a way of showing restraint and sacrifice. I guess it is somewhat like the Christian holiday of Lent. OK, I'm saying "holiday" because I don't know a more appropriate term for it. No asprin or fresh lime soda? That doesn't sound like a holiday to me. It sounds like the 12 hour bus trip I'm about to take to India on Wednesday. I kid, I kid. Hey, we Hindus give up beef 365 days a year...RIGHT MOM AND DAD? Ahem, Anyway, Ramadan ends in Mid-November, then starts the celebration of Eid. There are big feasts, festivals, etc. It sounds like a blast. I'll definitely be participating in the post-fast feast. Pass the sweets!

Oh yes, next Wednesday I am taking the bus from Dhaka to Calcutta in India. Why am I doing this when I have a perfectly good open plane ticket you ask? Well, besides giving both of my parents a massive coronary, I'm taking my fellow Fulbrighter Keisuke with me to see the Bengali Hindu festival of Durga Puja and the bus--crappy though it be--is far more cost effective. The bus costs 1200 Taka (about US 20 dollars) versus the plane, which is about 12,000 Taka (about US 200 dollars). The choice is clear. It's an AC bus, and they very rarely explode, get held up, or turn over into a rice paddy (just kidn M and D :)

Other than my impending trip, my weekend has been very low key. I just vacated the mansion in the diplomatic neighborhood (sniffle) and am now crashing with my American buddy Rachel in her lovely flat in Gulshan. I guess I don't have much to report. Went shopping. Went to the American Club. Watched about 8 hours of "Sex and the City." Oh yeah, and Pirates of the Carribean. Polished off an ENTIRE box of Milano cookies all by me onesie, savvy? Wow, I need to get out of the house. I'm talking like a pirate on my weblog. Arrrr.

OK, well I better take off. It's prematurely dark in Dhaka (5:30pm sunset???) and I need to get back "home." I feel like a serious gypsie these days. This is my third home in three weeks.

Signing off,

TKP