Good news, bad news

My stomach is not really being the champ it usually is, so I am enjoying an oh-so-enticing dinner of toast tonight. But it gives me a chance to ponder that age-old question: how do they get the little holes in the English muffins???

For the last few days we had Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith McHale in town. Everything seemed to go off pretty well, and none of the events for which I was site officer crashed and burned, so good start. Here is an article from the website of the Awami League (current ruling party) on the Under Secretary's meeting with the Prime Minister. It notes, "US Ambassador in Dhaka James F Moriarty, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister MA Karim and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Abdus Sobhan Golap were also present."

Okay, so my presence was not noted, but there I was, Third Secretary to the stars! It was pretty exciting. It was a great opportunity to try my hand at note-taking during a big meeting, especially before I head off to Beijing and become Entry Level Officer #143 (fifth row, twelfth from right).

In other, less delightful news, a giant cloud of dust has descended on Dhaka. It is difficult to breathe. Sorry, that was a downer. Imagine some singing, dancing clowns or something to end this post. Except don't imagine them in Dhaka because they might be choking on the air.

Best. Article. Ever.

“I used to like ‘My Way,’ but after all the trouble, I stopped singing it,” he said. “You can get killed.”

The authorities do not know exactly how many people have been killed warbling “My Way” in karaoke bars over the years in the Philippines, or how many fatal fights it has fueled. But the news media have recorded at least half a dozen victims in the past decade and includes them in a subcategory of crime dubbed the “My Way Killings.”

...

“ ‘I did it my way’ — it’s so arrogant,” Mr. Albarracin said. “The lyrics evoke feelings of pride and arrogance in the singer, as if you’re somebody when you’re really nobody. It covers up your failures. That’s why it leads to fights.”

From the New York Times: "Sinatra Song Often Strikes Deadly Chord"

Weekend over already?

This has been a busy weekend that has made me pretty excited to have three-day weekends the next two times around (Presidents Day and a local holiday, Mother Language Day). Yesterday we woke bright and early for the Public Affairs Office picnic. For the second year running, I was a prize winner in the annual games (third place in pass the pillow, aka hot potato). This year we picnicked on the grounds of the museum in Sonargaon, the ancient capital of Bangladesh where, sadly, pretty much nothing of the old city is left. Alas. But you can use your imagination.

Today we rested and shopped at the Commissary (it's the little things that get exciting after a while--we are all abuzz about the shipment of Breyer's ice cream that's been received) before I headed off to a reception with the visiting Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy. Tomorrow I'm gearing up for more meetings around the visit, which should actually be pretty exciting.

But it also means getting up a bit early, so that's all for now. We're having a mild "winter" in Dhaka--the highs are in the high 70s. It is pretty much not registering for me, though even Americans are claiming it was quite cold while I was on vacation.

Small blessings

I have eaten sushi twice in one week in Dhaka, and here I am to tell about it--a marvel.

It's the little things. Not that the sushi was very good.

Food and the written word

Mmmm sweet sweet Nagasaki. This is seriously an amazing Japanese restaurant hiding in an unassuming neighborhood in Dhaka. The hellish traffic is the only thing keeping me from eating there every night. Yum yum yum. Sure beats my lunch today of stinky fish and boiled radish.

Plus, we finished off the night with more of the chocolate bourbon cake from James's birthday. Amazing.

In other news, this poem made me want to write again.

Guess what? I don't have time. As Virginia Woolf once said, "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." I have neither money that I don't have to work for nor a room to my own name, unfortunately. Anthony Trollope managed to combine his writing with a career as a public servant (did you know he invented the red pillar mailboxes you see in Britain?), but that involved waking up at 5am every day, and hello, have you met me? That's not happening.

So, how about Dhaka?

Now that I've done all this vacationing... I guess the question is how is life in Dhaka?

I know I've said it before, but the traffic is getting truly unbearable. Today I got dropped off at Avera, a local salon/spa, to get a manicure and pedicure, and James went with our driver to pick up raita and naan from a local Indian restaurant, about a mile away. It took them 35 MINUTES EACH WAY. I ended up standing outside Avera, bored and unable to play with my Blackberry for fear of messing up my nails. It was depressing.

Otherwise, it's all good. I was on the radio today to talk about exchange programs. Hopefully I didn't sound like too much of a rambling idiot. We have a busy few weeks coming up, so there should be a lot going on pretty consistently.

And the weather is nice now! Perfect temps in the 70s every day. Of course, this time of year also brings extra mosquitoes and people burning trash to stay warm (even though IT'S NOT COLD, PEOPLE), but hey, I take what I can get.

Things I love about Australia

1. Drinking the tap water. We've been over that already.

2. Hanging out next to Sydney Harbor drinking with a few hundred of our new friends:


3. Two words: Tim Key. Two more: The Slutcracker (yes, that's the name of his new show). Nothing like a good piece on dew.

4. Free outdoor music festivals held in clean fields where we got to listen to soul legends free of charge? Imagine that! Glee:


5. Did I mention I want to move to Sydney?

6. They had Mexican food! And Polish food! And Italian food! And oysters! Smoked salmon! Goat cheese! And some Asian food but I wasn't really focusing on that. Lots of food.

7. Wine wine wine wine wine wine wine.

8. This is in Sydney. Sure, I love New York and think it's the best city in the world... but it really gets you thinking because this one has a freakin' beach in it. Actually, make that like fifty freakin' beaches:


9. Oh hello there, Mr. Wallaby! Nice to see you!


10. The open road, as seen from the driver's seat of a spiffy (though not particularly talented at going uphill) Toyota Yaris.

11. Did I mention oysters? That was really all I needed.

12. People drink sparkling wine everywhere! And occasionally with oysters!

13. Movie theaters that bring the beautiful beautiful visage of George Clooney to my eyes.

14. Wine bars. This is an addendum to #7.

15. Men at Work. I think we can stop there, confident in our case.