Religion

Disclaimer: I have no particular faith but I have nothing against religions so please do not read too much into this. This is just my take, or interpretation, or rambelings to get my head around the subject.

I have always been intrigued by the subject of religion. Similarities between religions that make me wonder. There are even aspects of religion that are extraordinary but I have never been pulled in hook line and sinker (as the saying goes) by any one religion. As an example, I think the concept of the Jewish Shabbat is noble. Basically that there is one day that you rest: think Christian Sabbath but with a hard core twist. The hard core twist is that some interpretations of the Shabbat say that you should not turn on any electricity. I am all aboard with that. One, because we use the stuff like it is going out of style and could use a little perspective. And two, because we are just getting further and further from what really matters and further from our connection to the earth. So dedicating myself to one day when I recognize that problem and devote myself to the pure rest and relaxation from the rat race of the world just seems right. Karma is another great concept. Just holding your actions up to the karma test is a great way of checking in to see if what you are doing is right in the true sense and not a justifiable right from your perspective.

Now, I also feel like there are aspects of religion that make no sense what so ever. The biggest: why can't we all just get along? What is it about religion that makes us feel like we have the only one true religion and that all others are heathens that need to be converted? Example: why is it on a random weekend, people feel the need to come to my door and interrupt my day to tell me about the word of God? Which is not THE word of god but a document like other documents that claim to be the word of God. And even further than that, it is just their interpretation of that word of God. And yet they feel so strongly about it that they will come to your door and try to convince you with no other argument than, "it is written and it must be so because it is the word of god".

It would also be easy to write about the frequent occurrences of people killing others in Gods name. Which is insane and to depressing to spend time on.

Why on earth am I writing this? So I was woken up this morning at 3:45 am by the sweetest song that I have ever heard. I have no idea what it was about (and if i did it might ruin it). Let me give a little background. We are bringing up the tail end of Ramadan here. A time when Muslims fast during the daylight hours. It is supposed to teach patience humility and submissiveness to God. So what this translates into is that most people will wake up early (3:45am) and eat and pray and then endure a day without food and then feast in the evening (this breaking of the fast is called Iftar). Since it is so hot here, this makes some sense too... So the mosques here broadcast some prayers or songs in the mornings and evenings to signal the beginning and end. When I say broadcast, what I mean is blast over huge speakers. The nearest mosque is probably 4 blocks away and it is loud in my house with all the windows closed.

So this song is blasted over the speakers this morning and I would have gotten pissed off if it were not for the fact that it was amazing. Think Paul Simon's Graceland album, the vocal portion of Homeless with no musical accompaniment. The singer sounded old and it just had this reverence to it that made me want to go to the mosque. So it go my mind thinking about religion and here I am at 5:00 in the morning, on my computer, trying to share my interpretation with you all. At least I have the courtesy to not knock on your door to lay this on you. You could leave at any time.

So here it is. My word of God if you will. There may be a God or many Gods. No one truly knows (and if you think you do, realize that there are a huge number of people that think something different with way more passion. Like they would die for that belief kind of passion). Whatever you think about religion and God, BELIEVE it with all the faith that you can muster. And with that same passion, never do these two things. 1) Never think that you need to convert anyone to your belief system. 2) Never think that God would ever give you the OK to kill in his name. Maybe we could write those two things into all religious texts? Is that too much to ask? Amazing that a song that I could not even understand sparked so much understanding. My peace be with you all, both spiritually and peace from violence.

Its a small world after all

So after moving from our first house to our new house (to be closer to the school) there were about 6 books that were left on the shelf. I checked out the titles when we first moved in: English-Hindi Dictionary, an old humanities text book, a couple others and How Does a Poem Mean? Is this book for real? Who would buy this? I never had the chance to check it out because I was busy moving. So today I was lounging around the house and thought I should take a look at it. So I crack it open and on the cover page someone has written their name... I was just flipping through and I got a quarter of the way through before it clicked in my brain. I knew that name! I flip back, sure enough. Written on the cover page is "Pam Dehner" my aunt that taught at AISD! Pam, if you have been missing this book and want it back let me know! Now that is a small world.

Beer!

I got an invite from one of the long time teachers at AISD to come over to help brew beer. I have tasted a couple of different batches of Leon's beer. They are interesting, full of flavor and rather un-homebrew like which is so refreshing after drinking mostly Hieneken since our arrival. He has a proven setup and brews 20 gallons at a time! When I arrived he already had the malt and hops boiling. Our job was to transfer from stove top pan to a pan on the floor and cool it as quickly as possible. The key is a heat exchanger. Boiling beer goes in one side and ice water in the other. What comes out is 21 degree C beer and warm water. Leon was a Chemistry major in college so he has a very ordered and clean way about his brewing: think efficient production line. He also has a distillery!!!!!! Fun Fun Fun. Here is a pic of the man in action.

Can't wait for our container to arrive so I can brew too!

Finally got some good light and kinda clear skys.

Here are some randoms from an outing and some from our roof.

How could I not take a picture of this?

The partial view of a Mosque from the neighborhood park.

Another had to take.

Bangladesh, the land of the legal teeter totter, eat your heart out America!

No idea what this is called but it is a bush that for a flower it produces some pink leaves that surround the small yellow flower. In this picture the yellow flower has not opened yet.

Shot of the Mosque architecture.

After taking a bunch of pictures Lola asked if she could take some. So we gave her our old Point and Shoot and she has taken about 200 Pics. Mostly extreme close ups of stuff partially covered by a wayward finger. The pictures of her taking pics are way better!

After every picture she takes she shows it to you. By the time the camera makes it in front of your face the picture has disappeared. At least she is cute!

 This is a shot of my favorite local building from our roof. My goal is to get invited to the roof.

First Bike Ride!

So I finally got my act together and threw my leg over my bike for a real ride. My goal: get out of Dhaka and into the country. I did take some pics but they are crap quality because of the camera, an old point and shoot that I can throw in my pocket on rides. Distance: about 30 miles (supposed to be 25 but I may have ridden a few extra miles because of the lack of road signs... yes I got lost!).

Fun harbor area.

Fishing in the ruins.

Fun truck mural. This truck was just parked on the side of the road with no one in it.

Front of the truck and a good shot of one of my buddies. This guy was walking along the road and stopped about a foot from me, put his arms behind his back and gave me a thorough looking over. I still have not stayed in one place long enough to satisfy any of these "buddy's" curiosity. I think they would stare at me all day. Of course I am used to that. Especially while wearing spandex but usually its the ladies and not the guys...

Ther were so many opportunities for the randomness picture. What I mean is a picture showing something so random that I really cannot explain it. Half finished bridges that are decades old with no destination on the other side and no road going to it. Half finished, multi-storied hotels in the middle of a shanty town. Cows put out to pasture in the middle of the road... and this pic. There are stacks of new bricks that are being broken up to make a road bed. But there is nothing here. I'm all for planning ahead but it seems like they might focus on more pressing matters. Like drinking water, sewage treatment, garbage management, etc.

Well yeah, the locals that cannot even afford food need to be able to shoot too. (As a side note: there was no one actually shooting here)

The local saw mill. The operator promptly shut down and started waving and if I did not pack up and start to leave I am sure he would have walked over to check me out.

Cool shot of the local boats with the city in the background. Best part: I did not even mean, or know that I was taking a pic of that bird until after I got home.

Lots to see here. Click on this pic and zoom in. In the center of the pic there are a couple of jugs stacked on top of each other. That is a gas station and the jugs are filled with diesel. The three guys walking towards me were not "Buddies" and walked by without stopping in the most serious of manners.

Took me a while to figure out what these are. They are restaurants. You show up purchase food/beverages and head out to your own private cabin/table. The best one was two independent restaurants right next to each other. One, had all of their cabins made of Coke signs and the other was all Pepsi signs.

There was sooooo much more that I could not get pics of and so much more to the story of getting home. I ended up having to ask directions about 4 times, each with its own funny little moments. Once, it got serious and three armed guards stopped me to ask for ID. Turns out I was about to enter a military zone... oops. I played dumb and lost (I really was) and they softened up and gave me some directions.  I am surprised by the number of people that speak English here, even out in the sticks. They are also very patient and almost forceful with desire to help. I stopped twice in the city to ask about directions and was swarmed with "buddies" they all ask questions about my bike and where I am going, one guy told me his name and offered his hand. I told him mine, I'll never see him again but it felt right. One kid about 14 admired my disc brakes and started talking to his friend about them. Once while stopped at an intersection a crossing pedestrian reached out and put his hand on my bars as one would use a hand railing... Personal space is pretty much non existent here. On another occasion while stopped for directions a rickshaw riding by in the road just stopped right next to me. He had a customer on back who threw up no objection. If I took one thing away from today it is that I really love the innocent curiosity here.

Stats

Just found the "Stats" page of my blog where it keeps track of who is checking it out. The results are kinda fun!