bangladesh! part one.

hello!  wow, hi!
comin atchya on the other side of my last post, after traveling to the other side of the world and back, bringing some tales and pictures back with me!  this trip was really somethin.  that's what i keep telling people when they ask me how my trip was.  because, really, how do you put so many things into words.  to help some of you dear friends come into this experience with me, i'm going to put lots of words & pictures from my trip here, if we aren't able to chat in person sometime soon.  i'm going to have to break it up into two posts because there's just so much to share!  wow, here we go!  BANGLADESH, the big b-d, 2018...

this was the view of dhaka as seen from our hotel. ^ we spent half of our time here (in the capital of bangladesh.. population, 14 million.. ahem, 14 MILLION HUMANS, you guys!!) and the other half of our time we spent in rural northern bangladesh.

^ these pictures were taken up in bogra, in rural northern bangladesh.  saw lots of rice fields.  they're blurred because #carrides.  safe to say half of this trip was spent being transported, ha! 
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transportation log (for the nerds who like to calculate things like this like me.. or are just really really bored) :
4 hours (plane): minneapolis to san francisco
17 hours (plane): san francisco to singapore
4 hours (plane): singapore to dhaka
1.5 hours (plane): dhaka to bogra
3 hours (van): airport to hotel in bogra
2 hours x 3 days (van): hotel to sites in bogra
3 hours (van): hotel to airport
1.5 hours (plane): bogra to dhaka
4 hours (plane): dhaka to singapore
14 hours (plane): singapore to san francisco
4 hours (plane): san francisco to minneapolis

= 62 hours!  not counting van time in dhaka because... traffic, oh boy!  honestly, i'd round up to 70.

^ this was from the first compassion site we visited (there are 160 compassion 'projects,' they're called, in bangladesh alone!).  our group was always met by a special program which always included a dance performance done by some of the kids in traditional clothing.

^ our group split up and some taught kiddos a game/activity and some taught crafts.. i helped teach a craft.

haha!  so many little eyes!  they're all so beautiful!  look at em!  lil nugs!

^ this little lady on the left stuck by me quite a bit that day.. so sweet.

oh yeah, at every project we went to, our group was given flowers in some form and had lots of petals thrown at us, ha.  

that's susan buried in there, one of my trip-mates!

those little buddies sure made me feel loved!  ha, look at all of those petals on my head.  like i'm a queen or somethin.  someone needs to tell those kids i'm not that cool!
also that kid behind me... hahaha!  

so many handshakes, ha!  they all wanted to say goodbye to each of us with a million handshakes.

a casual elephant walking along the road.  it's casual.

beautiful fruit stands!

^ at the next project we visited.  one of my favorite things about bangladesh is how much they love color over there.  they even make the mud walkways and the bottoms of tree stumps beautiful!

^ see what i mean about color?!  this was at the next project we visited.  typically how it went was, after the grandest greetings, all of the children at that project would be assembled and the project leaders/teachers/facilitators/pastors would present information about that specific project (i.e. how many children attend, how many are sponsored/still un-sponsored and other things about the demographic.  i liked sitting among the kids.  so many little heads!  all usually staring at me or trying to rub my skin to see if the white comes off (:

^ this is one of our trip guides/coordinators, l*, giving us a tour of the project & the classrooms.  she's a straight up BOSS.  a real queen.  i liked her a lot!  amazingly kind & Jesusy.

​(*not her full name.. want to protect her and the other compassion workers over there.  i know my saying their names here probably won't matter, but it's worth it to me in case it does)

^ another day, another flower necklace (: 
also i learned how to ask two questions in bengali, "what is your name?" and "how old are you?" ..and after that i'd just smile a lot.  ha.  

color!  beautiful beautiful color!  and always a crowd to greet us and see us out.  look at how many folks from the neighborhood gathered! ha.  part 2 comin atchya soon in another post!

​** brief intermission ** (: