im such a happy woman.
ever since i got off the plane almost a week ago i haven't stopped singing...sometimes just in my head though, its not always appropriate to sing as you waitress, or during a sermon, or on the train - well i guess it all depends on how loud and badly you sing - and generally i like to put in lots of effort to be terribly loud.
so singing is fun.
one of our last nights in bangladesh we went to this resturant that no one apart from us was in because it was the eve of eade and the guy that ran the resturant was also a muscian there. he was tops. we didn't understand his bangla songs but he explanined some to us. one song was about all the dodgyness in bangladesh - corruption, poverty, bad stuff etc etc...but then, the next song he sang was "don't worry, about a thing, cause every little thing is gonna be alright"...we all sang along, and i found it very amusing. we had just finished 2 weeks of experiencing lots of the dodgyness of bangladesh and then we all sit around a table singing what turned into an awfully appropriate song. i wonder if the musican man realised. i think that was my lesson in bangladesh, and ive been singing ever since.
i love my job.
and my church, yeah i love my church
and definatly my friends, they are way cool, even if they live in 2 different worlds, both are tops.
i love my freedom and my hope. i don't deserve it but thats kind of the point, its not really mine, i shouldn't sit around feeling guilty for having freedom, hope, money, rescources, etc...i should stop wasting what is not mine.
yep i am a blessed woman, a happy woman, and a woman who will end this rant and go to bed.

what an evening!
since people are slowly disapearing on different flights and there is no program anymore, i had arranged to go to dinner at my bangali friend from sydneys familys house tonight. i had to take an escort so stuart came with me. lots of adventures getting there with a crazy taxi driver and kind local helpers. i love that all the times i have been lost or in need of assistance there has been a local around that speaks english - thanks God.
the family were so amazing! i did eat meat though, and felt sick with every bite. but i already knew i would have to eat meat tonight when i decided to become a vegatarian. in comparison to me, this family had very little and offered me so much - i was willing to eat meat. but tomorrow i begin a life without meat.
i love the culture of hospitality here, its real community. everything i ever thought about community has been challenged here. australians are not friendly, or hospitable or helpful to strangers or loving at all in comparison to the bangalis that have shared so much with me and all of us.
ive been invited out again by this family tomorrow before i catch my plane. awfully fun.
i think living here long term would have so many challenges and be really hard, but so much of it feels so like home already. especially the guesthouse. i think id feel super scared and maybe a bit aprehensive if God told me to come here long term as i am right now.
i fully miss home.
2 weeks is nothing - im such a woosebag.

so I'm a vegatarian. i figure I'm not going to eat anything that i wouldn't kill myself. Now I've seen cows and goats be slaughtered and skinned and chopped up, I know I couldn't do it myself, just seeing it was bad enough. felt sick all day. and i know they do it differently in australian places but nope, still wouldnt do it
it was a muslim festival today, which seemed like fun apart from the slaughtering.
its not wrong, its just different.
maybe...
our program has finished, so just bumming around for the next few days. people have started to leave but ill have compnay till i go.
aw
kind of sad to leave. but happy aswell, itll be good to get home, but itchy to get back actually.

We have been in bangladesh over a week now. its going good. in some ways it seems like a lot longer, other ways i cant believe its almost half over.
lots of things are very frustrating - being white and a woman seems to suck pretty bad in this country. I can't go anywhere by myself, or talk to certian people, or do lots of things. I need a male with me all the time. There are a number of married couples on the trip, but for the rest of the girls who are single, we take turns at adopting a husband for the day.
Tomorrow we have a day off, very exciting. going to go look for some rickshaw art in old dhaka and then more shopping and maybe some criket watching. Ive never been to a cricket game before. Bangladesh apparently won their first test match the other day, people seemed happy and impressed.
ive got to go on lots of fun different transport too! rickshaws are great fun, why dont we have them in australia? and these fun boat things, way cool.
i dont think ive ever eaten so much either. and so many carbohydrates - we are all getting nice and plump.

this travelling by yourself thing is very sociable. I've only really spent time really by myself since i got into KL. People are very friendly. I really love meeting people, jst fun to know who some of these people are, where are they going and why. Love it. I did get a bit lost in KL airport. Very frustrating. But it wasn't for too long and then they put me on a bus and shipped me out to some posh hotel away from civilisation.
im not scared anymore, just tired.
When i went back to my room before, there was a random man in it. That scared me a little. There was some mix up and they had given the room to 2 people.
I'm stuck in this silly hotel all day. Its raining outside, and the town is a bit far to walk i think. Hotels are far less exciting to explore then real bits of malaysia

farewell!!!

I'm off on an adventure. I'm going to catch planes, and buses, and rickshaws and other exciting bits of transport equipment. I'm going to explore new places...and I'm scared, excited, nervous, anxious, thrilled, sad, but mainly excited.

YAY

I love adventures.

plane doesn't leave till 10:20, thats ages...and I get home on the 25th, thats not that long.

goodie goodie.

hope you all have a tops january, and fun rest of the roadtrip to you roadtrippers (wish i was there)...

Helen has promised that I won't die, must remember my ears will only hurt for a little while and then I'll be ok. I get a bit melodramatic when I'm sick. Stupid ears.

And I've packed my compass. I'm praying I don't get lost in KL. I get lost everywhere, in my own suburb even, oh dear...

And I've got lots of drugs to make me better and prevent sickness and in case of sickness. I think I covered all the bases there.

I'll be fine...