Graam Style

I just returned from the "graam," or "village" in Bengali. I had a short but sweet three day research trip to Ulipur, a small cluster of villages in North Bengal. It was colder than I expected. I spent most mornings and evenings wrapped up in the hip orange shawl which I bought outside a rest stop for about $2. I learned a lot about the research process, got to use my awesome new iPOD voice recorder for the 6+ hours of interviews, and--best of all--got to take a sunset ride through the village on a motorcycle. I got plenty of pictures, but my digital camera is in the Kodak hospital right now with some bad post-Puja overload.

In non-graam news, SONYA HAS BEEN ACCEPTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN DENTAL SCHOOL!!!!!! I'm so incredibly proud of her, and am excited for her years of great opportunity to come at one of America's best dental programs. If you see her around, give her a hearty congratulations (and don't forget to mention how her accomplishments reassure you that she's taken after her lovely older sister...ahem...)

Wow, I am also star struck right now. I just met Dr. Sidney Schuler, a very important scholar in the field of gender and Bangladesh. She's here for a couple weeks doing some field work. Her research assistant from D.C. just happened to be in the queue to use the computer, and she volunteered to introduce me to "Sid" after I gasped and got all celebrity-starry eyed upon the mention of her name. Dr. Schuler was flattered, but probably a little weirded out when I asked her for her autograph as a joke. For me it was like meeting Paris Hilton or Hewey Louis and the News or something. God I'm a nerd.


Must run and get all packed for the big move from Gulshan to Banani. I think I'll try to find something to do to avoid it in the mean time.

Cheerio,

TKP