Western

A simple guide to affirmatives and negatives in Bangladesh:
Yes = Yes
No = No
Yes = No
No = Yes
Yes = I have no idea
Yes = I'd rather not say
Yes = What did he just say?
No = More rice please, I was only kidding when I said I was full.
No = Please reassure me that I should say yes.
Maybe = Absolutely not. Ever.
Maybe = Geez, will ya look at the time . .
(and in some cases:)No = Please follow me around until I say yes.

Once you get the hang of it, you still have no idea what they are saying, or what you are saying, for that matter. It's actually kind of fun at times. Seriously.

So about being Western: It's a little easier here because the only Westerners they've seen are in the movies--like Arnold Schwartzeneggar or Celine Dion--so about 2/3 of the people figure that I have several M-16's stuff down my trousers and have orgies on a regular basis, but I can't open a can of soda or operate a lock. It's a 24/7 task to slowly disabuse people, one by one, of their preconceived notions. I may be the only American some of them ever see--and sometimes only for 5 seconds, at that.

Coming here I've had this sort of guilty attitude, like the West is the root of all evil--Wal-Mart and McDonalds and Halliburton are killing babies, etc. In a sense they are, but as L. DeVries remarked awhile back, when you're outa the country you start to see a few things that weren't so bad. Though we're a pretty busy culture (in the USA) and the culture here (B'desh) is more about quality time, sometimes it's frustrating to sit around for hours on end, drinking tea, doing nothing more than conversing. While we're not exactly the hardest workers in the world, we get stuff done.

They have shrimp here that gets as long as 10 inches. And you can get a KG of snails for about 13 cents.

Nick VDK and Jess are getting married. They will make beautiful, outdoorsy type babies.