God Bless the Awami League

Today the national opposition party of Bangladesh called a country-wide strike over the hike in diesel prices. Basically, that means I woke up at noon today and ate a bagel instead of scurrying off to the office. Thank you Awami League.

We all needed the extra sleep after the Christmas dinner last night. Almost all of we BRAC interns were in Dhaka over the Christmas holiday, family-less and missing the holiday spirit. A group of about 15 of us made a huge dinner, complete with roast beef, tofu, and even stuffing. My contribution was purely administrative. I helped get access to the food with my comissary card (the US 'grocery store' for diplomatic personnel in Dhaka). I sat in the dining room shoving angel and candycane-shaped cookies hastily into my piehole most of the time. I also took home some great bootleg DVDs after our 'secret Santa' gift exchange.

My sister arrived safely into Calcutta this morning. The strike today means I won't be going into the field after all, as the northern part of the country is particularly volatile at the moment. I'm bumping up my flight to go to India to see my sis asap. I literally cannot wait to tackle her in the airport. We're going to spend about two weeks shopping in the bazaars, eating spicy street food, and staying up all night chatting.

I am off to a meeting. Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and a joyous new year to you all.