life, travels and bangladesh: beware of the red bangles...

Shuvo Noboborsho! Happy Bengali New Year! We had known it was bengali new year --- people have been telling us for a week now to make sure we had a red and white sari or shalwar kameez to wear, along with glittering matching jewelry (always a must in bangladesh). What we didn't know, and most of us found out in class this morning, was that the 13th (sunday) was Cambodian, Nepalese AND Sri Lankan New Year! We're off from school tomorrow, which is amazing, but we kinda felt bad after the fact that a large group of students weren't able to celebrate their new years properly, and had to attend classes on today.

I shouldn't have worried, apparently, because some of the students took it upon themselves to rally the troops and plan festivities celebrating all 4 new years that spanned the two days.

6 of us teachers went out for dinner -- it was so nice to get out for a really good meal. We talked mostly about our students and our plans for classes, but it was still so great to get out of our building for the night. Most Bangladeshis eat VERY LATE, so as we were finishing dinner around 9:30, the dining room was just beginning to fill up.

We walked back into the building, and as we were climbing the countless flights of stairs (i exaggerate...there are only 10 floors, and i live on the 7th, so it's not really THAT bad. we do have an elevator, but it's usually broken, and i'd rather use the stairs anyways. makes me feel a little better about rarely working out), we heard loud noises coming from our cafeteria.

As we walked in to see what the commotion was about (we'd be told that there would be a new years celebration at midnight, and we were not only invited but EXPECTED to come), we were met with a gigantic herd of sweaty, grinning girls clapping and hollering loudly. they were obviously excited that their teachers had chosen to attend their gathering.

What they'd done was pretty impressive - we have a cafeteria that is literally 4 small rooms of a suite. the main room remained the caf line, and they'd gone out to get sweets and snacks for the celebratory festivities that afternoon. One of the side rooms had been decorated with balloons, signs, flowers and (eventually) the new years cakes. The other usable room (the 4th was way to tiny for party-purposes) was completely dark, all the lights off, with a computer hooked up to quite the sound system. music was blaring, and i felt like i'd been transported back to college...it was a bit reminiscent of dance parties throughout the years. We left soon after our entrance, promising we'd come back after we changed and got the food we'd bought for their party and well, the girls, they were floored when we actually came back and danced with them. They kept saying, "ma'am! you're such a good dancer! i cannot believe you are dancing with us!" Yet, they would say these things as they dragged us onto the dance floor from the sidelines...it was really quite adorable.

Midnight rolled around and the few ringleaders gathered everyone in the decorated room, had all the bangladeshis sing a song, popped all the balloons hung around the room, threw flower petals over everyone's heads (and onto the cakes as well - mmmhmm gotta love flowers with cake), and insisted that the teachers do the honors of cutting the cakes at midnight. Part of it is because i'm so fresh out of college, i'm sure, but i'm so impressed at the respect and admiration we've been given by our students, just because of the role we hold as teachers. I know that my lessons are far from perfect, and i'm just hoping that i'll be able to get my students to where they need to be by the end of the year - but it's amazingly inspiring to have such faith placed in you by complete strangers. a little intimidating as well. The party definitely broke some barriers between us teachers and the students and, hopefully, set a precedence for celebrating different cultures' holidays because it was sure one heck of a party.

some of the artwork done by our students for the New Year

Oh, yes. so the title of the blog post. We're supposed to wear red and white for Bengali New Year --- well, bangle bracelets are, like, the hottest jewelry item for women in Bangladesh. So, when i went shopping for New Years accessories, bangles were a must. these are some of the ones i got (24 of them for 50 taka...which is about 80 cents), HOWEVER, it's the end of the night now, and my lower left arm is completely red. therefore, beware of the red bangles. i'll have to ask next time before i buy if they have a tendency to dye the wearer's skin...