Onek Koshto Dilum!

Literally this means: “I gave you a lot of trouble” in Bengali. A form of courtesy really. According to my friend Anders, if you say that to people when you go to their house for a meal or even as they are leaving you house, they become enamored with your courtesy! Its weird that they fall all over you when they are LEAVING your house….I mean really isn’t the trouble all yours since you had to make the food, prepare tea, etc? I suppose to get through the Dhaka traffic to come to your house is a lot of trouble?! So anyways, I tried it at a recent iftar (opening meal after the day-long fast. Usually there are plenty of these parties during Ramadan) party that I was invited to. Sure enough, it worked like a charm. EVEN though the house wasn’t even mine, when I said it, they thought”….oh-ho….how nice this young man is..” (in a South-Asian accent). Overall the evening was great! These were people who had little and shared their home with us nevertheless. Here are the plates of everyone got. Even though I don't keep fast, it was a great experience to go to a party like this in Bangladesh....The food here is bananas, fried zuchinni, lentils, dessert, dates, grapes, oranges, and other stuff I can't remeber.

Here’s Anders and me enjoying (well at least Anders was) a fresh coconut that is cut open and the sweet water inside is consumed. A favorite in Bangladesh, but I can’t stand it. Its like peer pressure. You HAVE to drink it if everyone else is. Luckily Anders was good enough to finish both the drinks, while I drank a large glass of water.

Here’s the guests at the party. Mainly they were women from a non-profit called “Nari Jibon” that were there for the iftar party thrown by the staff..notice the choke hold the lady has on Erin.

Some cute little siblings I met at the party.

These are the hosts' daughters and a neighborhood boy (left to right) Nargis, Nahim, and Bilquis. Our little buddies. Nahim does a mean Macarena and Nargis and Bilquis’ favorite songs are “Say my name” by Beyonce. No joke!

Before....I told them a joke....

After....awww yeah...Nabil's a hit with the kids...maybe they're laughing at me...not with me...great kids though!