Office Christmas Party

Sorry this is the second post of the day but too much to write about in one posting. If you haven't had chance yet please check out the other post of today about our recent trip to Nilphamari.

So, we arrived back from Nilphamari early on Thursday after a good train journey. After another hour's kip it was back to the office for a bit of work and preparation for the Christmas party that evening.

After work we all got our glad rags on and headed to the party about 5 mins away. Most of the women, including me were in a Sari. My Sari came from the leprosy hospital that we saw in Nilphamari where they have a tailoring training centre for girls who have suffered with leprosy or disabilities. So I was privileged to meet the girls who made my Sari. Having never worn a Sari before there was no way I could put it on but thankfully our house helper came to the office to help dress me, which was very exciting. You will also see some pictures of the women at the Leprosy hospital, who had great fun dressing me up in the Sari at the shop.

In case you're wondering whether Andy missed out on the dressing up experience, he didn't! Our colleague brought a Punjab (three quarter length shirt thing) for Andy to wear.

At the party all our colleagues came with their families, together with our house helpers and their families. So, we got to meet our house helper's two daughters, who are 6 and 11, which was really special. They looked gorgeous and were so happy and smiley.

Andy was doing games with our colleague from Nilphamari. So, we played team pictionary, the kids played the chocolate game and then we all also played a team challenge game where the teams had to design some clothing out of scrap materials. It was so much fun, especially with the language issues - we had a great time!

We also had some great food and Mishti (sweets) of course - Mishti is compulsory at any form of celebration.

It was so special to spend an evening with all the house helpers and their families, with everyone being equal - an evening that we could all enjoy together without anyone having to serve anyone else (despite our house helpers desperate attempts to keep serving us). I think a great time was had by all, a real evening to remember.

On Friday, after the party we went to church in the afternoon, which was pretty sparse because it was the Sunday school picnic, so a lot of people were attending this but it was nice to spend some quality time with the few members that were there. The talk was really good, with lessons being taken from Jonah - a man who reluctantly followed God's calling to serve in a foreign land - very relevant lessons for us.

In the evening we attended a bring and share meal organised by the local International church, where we all went to different hosts' houses for a wonderful Christmas bring and share - YUMMM!!

We were spoilt with warm baguette, pizza and even apple crumble and custard (WOW!) Having not eaten any of these things for over 2 months, it was amazing but not sure our stomachs could coped - we were so full afterwards (well, you've got to take advantage whilst it's available!)

Oh, in case you're wondering we are still managing to enter into the Christmas spirit in Dhaka and have started to put up Christmas decorations and we have even got an advent calendar, which we are sharing with our househelper, who thinks it's wonderful.

Anyway, on that happy note we better be off - we're going to a Christmas carol service this afternoon, where we're due to hear a performance of The Messiah amongst other festive things. Should be good but feels very odd to be celebrating Christmas whilst it's 28 C outside!