An awesome project :: by mama

A few months back, Kaya's Uncle Mike sent him An Awesome Book, which has been a hit and an inspiration to all of us on a number of levels. On the very literal level, this spread --



--inspired a little Saturday afternoon creativity in Kaya and Chris. Out came the knives and scoops, and before you could say, "magic watermelon boat," this was the scene in our house:


Kaya had a magic watermelon boat of his very own, with a stick for a mast and a plastic sandwich bag for a sail. He spent a good chunk of the afternoon in that bathtub, sailing the boat around with his little Lego people as passengers. It was good fun and a great father-son activity.

Among the many things, big and little, for which I am grateful every day, this one comes up often: I am thankful that my children have such a wonderful father. They have a father who not only loves them deeply and spends quality time with them, but who is fun. He is creative and zany and loves to get messy. He loves having a project, and the more hammering and cutting and making, the better. What more could a 4-year-old boy want? He is the ultimate playmate and, from my perspective, the perfect role model for two boys. We are all lucky to have him.

The countdown is on! :: by mama

It's true: there are exactly 100 days until summer vacation. The countdown is ON.

Now, those of us who try to be more Buddhist in our approach to life will undoubtedly say that I should be focusing on the present, enjoying the moment, and not thinking about the future. And I assure you that I am enjoying the present. The present is wonderful. The present is filled with smiles...


...and flowers for mama...


... and family time with my three favorite boys.


I love and treasure these moments. However, just imagine this much sweetness accompanied by, oh, I don't know, a toasted sesame seed bagel with muenster cheese and a real lemonade. A mama can dream.

Kaya, the runner!

For the better part of the last ten years I have organized community 5k races. The first one was way back in 2001 while I was in Peace Corps. There has been the Griga Challenge, the Henry Challenge, the People United 5k. Until last year, the Griga Challenge was the largest race I had organized with approximately 600 runners/walkers. Last year, our first year in Bangladesh, I organized the People United 5k. We had about 700 participants and raised approximately $3,000. This year, we managed to surpass both marks with about 750 participants and raising over $4,000! (see a video from last year's race)

At our school, like most places, we are finding the children to be out of shape and overweight. One of the ideas a few teachers had come up with to combat this while promoting the race was a 25km club. The idea is that children come to school at 7:00am and run for about a half an hour or whatever they can do. Ultimately their goal is to reach 25km. This year, we had two students reach the 25km mark.

I wanted to be involved in the preparation for the race, but didn't want to run the club so I told Kaya about it. He was excited! Each morning, he would wake up and ask if it was a running club day. On Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, Kaya would take off at rather quick speed. Pacing is a concept that he hasn't quite grasped just yet. Each time he would run between 1.5 and 2km. Along the way he would get distracted by birds, cracks in the cement, displays or just about anything interesting. I was having so much fun with him because running is something I enjoy doing and I guess you are especially excited when your children follow in your footsteps. In this case, it is quite literally.

Over the course of three weeks Kaya ran 10km, that is 6.2 miles. He finished well ahead of some of the older kids, in fact, he was the youngest kid participating! He loved it and on the last day he had a meltdown because it was the last day for the club. As a parent, I was so proud to see Kaya active and having such a great time.




Kaya and I run to school each day. It gives us some great father - son times. He sees so many interesting things and hopefully it will spark an interest in an activity that will keep him healthy for a lifetime!

Look at that smile!

Bangkok Dreamin' :: by mama

Inspired by my brother, I thought I'd make a list of my favorite things and moments from our time in Bangkok. Yes, I am still thinking about (and missing) Bangkok. Here are some reasons why:

1. Favorite sight: Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho. This guy was amazing. I had heard that he was huge, but this went beyond all expectations. The carvings and paintings surrounding him were unbelievably detailed and gorgeous. Even Kaya kept saying, "Mama, it's so beeeeeautiful!" He was right.

(Note: Supposedly the Grand Palace is pretty impressive as well. I wouldn't really know, since I was too busy having contractions to look around much.)

2. Favorite food: Just about everything we had been missing is available in Bangkok. The best, though, was Villa Market's multigrain bread, transformed by Chris in our apartment's kitchen into the world's best french toast. Yes, I know I should say something about some fantastic Thai street food or something, but (a) I don't like Thai food, and (b) Chris's french toast is amazing. Really. Yum.

3. Favorite entertainment activity: We went to see the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra play outdoors at Lumpini Park, and it was so nice to sit outdoors (on real grass! without fear of deadly diseases!) and listen to music. However, this was a short-lived experience due to the fact that we chose to reproduce and now have two small children. Oh well.

4. REAL favorite entertainment activity: For Chris, I'm pretty sure this would be seeing Avatar in 3-D on an IMAX screen. For me, it's watching So You Think You Can Dance, Season 5. Yes, I am admitting this on the Internet. I watched every episode, beginning with the auditions, but I only made it to the final four contestants before we had to leave the country. I still don't know who won. In my defense, there were only 4 English-language stations on TV: BBC, Australia Network, Fox News (!) and Sony Entertainment Television. My choices were limited. And, I was pregnant. So there.

5. Favorite moment: The birth of Kiran, of course... but there were so many sweet moments with the boys, watching our new family. Also, the initial weekend when Chris "dropped me off" in Bangkok and Kaya stayed in Dhaka, when we were alone and actually managed to go to a movie and dinner, was wonderful as well. I love all three of my boys.

I really do think I could live in Bangkok. The Buddhist history and culture are fascinating to me. The language intrigues me: there are something like 80 letters, and it is tonal. (I swore after taking intensive Bangla classes for nine months that my next language would be an easier one, but what can I say? I like languages.) The city is easy to get around in, despite the traffic, because there are so many transportation options. We took taxis, the SkyTrain, riverboats, and tuk-tuks. There are also motorcycle taxis and a subway system, along with some slightly scary-looking public buses. Finally, I love that Bangkok is so cosmopolitan. The women have style, the men are polite, and everything is available somewhere. A couple more years in Asia? I wouldn't mind...

Homebrew, Dhaka style:

I guess I will follow the lead of my lovely wife and write a "crafty" post. If you can call homebrewing "crafty," that is!!

Last year about this time I decided that I simply must have my homebrew kit in Dhaka. Due to alcohol being illegal for Bangladeshis. Unless of course you have a prescription for it from a doctor and the only way to get a prescription is by being an alcoholic. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Anyhow, I have brewed in the past with the guidance of friends, but never by myself.

So..... last summer as we were about to return to beautiful Dhaka, I had a decision to make. Commit to this and devote one of my pieces of luggage to two kits and all my homebrew supplies or forget about it and drink $4.50 Guinness at the American Club.

In it to win it baby! That's right, I used a full 50 pounds of luggage for homebrew supplies and prayed they wouldn't break in the flight over. The two kits I purchased were a "honey summer ale" and a "robust stout." The former went over quite well and I generally received positive feedback, which could mean one of only two things: these kits are really hard to screw up or I am actually getting the hang of this!

Last weekend, I embarked on the journey of making my second batch here in Dhaka. Earlier this year, I made a summer ale and I was pleased with the results. We turned the tasting into a homebrew/cornhole tournament/fundraiser for some of the local staff. Good fun.

This time around the porter is more of a selfish pick on my part as I am a bit more partial to the darker heavier beers. We bottle this weekend and then it is just a bunch of waiting around for six weeks.

I am really enjoying making beer, not because I love beer or anything, but simply because I am creating and learning. Up until a few years back, I never really thought about what went into or how it was made. I just consumed to my heart's content! It is interesting to learn about the different types, what goes into and how you can make beer with specific twists. I most certainly plan to bring back two more kits for next year, possibly a third. I will definitely suggest to the new teachers that they bring a kit or two so we can get rolling on this! I will let you know how this one goes in approximately six weeks.

Adding the malt extract

Yes, that will one day be beer!

After about 2.5 hours of work, we are sealing it up and letting it sit for two weeks before bottling.

Thanks for the help David!

"If I only knew now, what I knew then."

"If I only knew now, what I knew then." Something, along those lines.... It's a quote from a Pearl Jam song (lil' Mike, sorry, I know you hate PJ) oh so many lifetimes ago for me. The words have always kind of resonated with me, and I am actually quite amazed that I still remember them. I think they have stuck all these years because they make perfect sense to me. I spent my last rambling blog post talking about the evolution of me. I guess this post will be consumed with contradictory comments.

As time passes, I find less and less time to do what I want. I desperately long for a weekend that doesn't have me tapped into work or an evening with just Sheela and I watching The Office on the couch. I like my job (notice I no longer use the other 'L" word), but man, they are getting their money's worth out of me! What did I know then? I guess it would be an ignorance is bliss way about me. Perhaps that is too harsh. Once upon a time, I knew how to forget. I wonder if this hard found self awareness can be reversed?! I wonder what Gus McCray would say in a situation like this?

One of my goals for the next year is to find that balance with work and play and most importantly family. Oh, I know, it's all a part of life and there are good lessons to learn in situations like these, but damn, I feel like I have been doing a lot of learning in recent times!

It's all good though, life runs in cycles and I am grateful for that.

Pace yourself cool papa....

Okay so I guess the real reason most of you read this blog, (by most of you, I mean the one "follower" we have) is to see some pics of those oh so cute little bundles of joy.....Kiran and Kaya!

Life is good for Kiran.

Mamma and the boys! Kaya wore his dino costume to my softball game and was our mascot. It was kind of appropriate, the team consists of a bunch of old dudes.

Symbiosis: I can make him smile and he does the same for me.

Mrthika, Kaya, Kiran and the stuffed animal family.

The boys of team Hesse.

The boys are back in town :: by mama

We are back! It took the cooperation of three countries, with three predominant religions and all of their corresponding holidays, to get Kiran on the plane: he received his Thai birth certificate first, then an English translation (helpfully informing us that he was born on the first day of the waxing moon, in the second month of the year of the tiger). About two weeks later, he was issued an American passport and a Consular Report of Birth Abroad, basically the equivalent of an American birth certificate. A couple of days later, he got his visa to enter Bangladesh, and we were finally able to return home. It is amazing to me to think about the number of people who worked first to bring Kiran into the world, and then to help us get back home, and how people of different nationalities and backgrounds were interconnected in their efforts, all for a person who very recently fit inside my belly.

After nearly two months in Bangkok, it was a bit of a shock to return to Dhaka. All of the guidebooks talk about Bangkok being chaotic and crowded, with horrible traffic, but it was an oasis of calm compared to Dhaka. It has its negative points, to be sure, but I loved the combination of ancient history and driving modernity, of shrines to guardian spirits in front of sparkling shopping malls, of the Grand Palace and Starbucks. (Some of us may have loved Starbucks more than the Grand Palace; I'll leave it up to you to guess who those people may be.) The culture is fascinating. The people are lovely, polite and accomodating, and it was a bit of a relief to be in a place where Westerners are no longer a novelty and are therefore not worth staring at. As happy as I was to be coming home and reuniting our family, I was a bit sad to leave Bangkok.

:: Old and new: the view from the top of Wat Arun

:: Our apartment building's shrine to the guardian spirit. Pretty much every building has its own shrine, with offerings laid out daily.

:: A favorite spot

And now. Dhaka is unseasonably cold: I checked weather.com the other day, and it said the temperature was 57 degrees F. At noon. That may not sound cold, but keep in mind that we do not have heaters indoors, so the outside temperature is also the inside temperature. Add to that the fact that we do not have hot water -- something to do with a national shortage of gas, we're told, which will not be resolved until the weather warms up, at which point nobody will want the hot water anymore -- and it is hard to stay warm. I have been wearing leggings under my pants, wool socks and slippers, and multiple layers on top. Chris and Kaya, who normally sport a matching father-son wardrobe of shorts and no shirt, have been wearing sweaters and long sleeves. Even Kiran is bundled up.

Strangely enough, these chilly, dry winter months are also the height of mosquito season here in Dhaka. We have mosquito nets for the car seat, the crib, and our beds, and Kiran somehow still has a couple of bites. I have a ring of mosquito bites around my belly, where the skin is exposed while I'm nursing. Lovely. On the bright side, Chris and Kaya can entertain themselves with the moquito racket, a tennis racket-shaped device that kills the "mossies" (new vocabulary courtesy of our Aussie neighbors) on contact via a noisy and satisfying electric shock.

Now that we are back, I hope to get back into a routine of regular weekly posts. Surely I can make time for that... maybe in the middle of the night.