Today something lovely happened, something which rarely takes place. I actually made it home with enough time to interact with my Ayah! No small feat as I usually don't walk in the door til well after she leaves.
Ratna is my Ayah and I have known her as my angel in disguise for almost a year and a half. A Christian ayah, employed by Grace International School, Ratna is hardworking, trustworthy and quite possibly the best cook I've come across in Bangladesh. An ayah/westener relationship can take a while to get 'right', especially for the westeners! Once you get over the whole 'this person works in my house and does everything I would be doing for myself in the west' part of the equation, it ends up being the sweetest deal living in a third world country can offer.
Today, I received a blessing - time to just sit and chat with Ratna (who has a good grasp of spoken English). I was able to discover more about here than the tid-bits I'd gleaned before. With three sons attending University and looking forward to full time work of their own, Ratna works very hard to pay the monthly fees associated with study in this country. Say what you will about South-East Asian education, the government universities know a thing or two! At government universities, there is a miniscule (to us) monthly fee, but the trade off is that the courses are longer (6 years instead of 4) even though they only offer the same qualifications as shorter private university courses (4 years maximum). The trade off? A public, Government University will set you back maybe a hundred taka a month (I think that's what Ratna was saying - bear in mind, current exchange rates are 84 Taka per 1 Australian Dollar) while a Private university will cost you somewhere around 6000 Taka a month. Woah!! Still cheaper than in Australia, but ALOT in terms of average wages in Bangladesh!
After talking about families, jobs, studying and all that sort of stuff, Ratna asked me if I like living in Bangladesh. My answer was rather confusing to her at first, but once I simplified myself, we were back on track: I love living in Bangladesh, but it is hard being away from my Family. Agreeing upon this point, conversation stayed on course as we talked about Bangladesh. End of the story? Ratna would like me to stay here forever! What a sweetheart!
Bangladesh is full of blessings, and I think lately, I have been too quick to jump in with negative remarks. Hence, a new season is beginning, one where I choose to see the beauty and the positive and make a point to share my uplifting and encouraging thoughts. Starting with coffee in the morning is a good start!
Monday, October 3, 2011
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Monday, October 3, 2011
Blessings
Today something lovely happened, something which rarely takes place. I actually made it home with enough time to interact with my Ayah! No small feat as I usually don't walk in the door til well after she leaves.
Ratna is my Ayah and I have known her as my angel in disguise for almost a year and a half. A Christian ayah, employed by Grace International School, Ratna is hardworking, trustworthy and quite possibly the best cook I've come across in Bangladesh. An ayah/westener relationship can take a while to get 'right', especially for the westeners! Once you get over the whole 'this person works in my house and does everything I would be doing for myself in the west' part of the equation, it ends up being the sweetest deal living in a third world country can offer.
Today, I received a blessing - time to just sit and chat with Ratna (who has a good grasp of spoken English). I was able to discover more about here than the tid-bits I'd gleaned before. With three sons attending University and looking forward to full time work of their own, Ratna works very hard to pay the monthly fees associated with study in this country. Say what you will about South-East Asian education, the government universities know a thing or two! At government universities, there is a miniscule (to us) monthly fee, but the trade off is that the courses are longer (6 years instead of 4) even though they only offer the same qualifications as shorter private university courses (4 years maximum). The trade off? A public, Government University will set you back maybe a hundred taka a month (I think that's what Ratna was saying - bear in mind, current exchange rates are 84 Taka per 1 Australian Dollar) while a Private university will cost you somewhere around 6000 Taka a month. Woah!! Still cheaper than in Australia, but ALOT in terms of average wages in Bangladesh!
After talking about families, jobs, studying and all that sort of stuff, Ratna asked me if I like living in Bangladesh. My answer was rather confusing to her at first, but once I simplified myself, we were back on track: I love living in Bangladesh, but it is hard being away from my Family. Agreeing upon this point, conversation stayed on course as we talked about Bangladesh. End of the story? Ratna would like me to stay here forever! What a sweetheart!
Bangladesh is full of blessings, and I think lately, I have been too quick to jump in with negative remarks. Hence, a new season is beginning, one where I choose to see the beauty and the positive and make a point to share my uplifting and encouraging thoughts. Starting with coffee in the morning is a good start!
Ratna is my Ayah and I have known her as my angel in disguise for almost a year and a half. A Christian ayah, employed by Grace International School, Ratna is hardworking, trustworthy and quite possibly the best cook I've come across in Bangladesh. An ayah/westener relationship can take a while to get 'right', especially for the westeners! Once you get over the whole 'this person works in my house and does everything I would be doing for myself in the west' part of the equation, it ends up being the sweetest deal living in a third world country can offer.
Today, I received a blessing - time to just sit and chat with Ratna (who has a good grasp of spoken English). I was able to discover more about here than the tid-bits I'd gleaned before. With three sons attending University and looking forward to full time work of their own, Ratna works very hard to pay the monthly fees associated with study in this country. Say what you will about South-East Asian education, the government universities know a thing or two! At government universities, there is a miniscule (to us) monthly fee, but the trade off is that the courses are longer (6 years instead of 4) even though they only offer the same qualifications as shorter private university courses (4 years maximum). The trade off? A public, Government University will set you back maybe a hundred taka a month (I think that's what Ratna was saying - bear in mind, current exchange rates are 84 Taka per 1 Australian Dollar) while a Private university will cost you somewhere around 6000 Taka a month. Woah!! Still cheaper than in Australia, but ALOT in terms of average wages in Bangladesh!
After talking about families, jobs, studying and all that sort of stuff, Ratna asked me if I like living in Bangladesh. My answer was rather confusing to her at first, but once I simplified myself, we were back on track: I love living in Bangladesh, but it is hard being away from my Family. Agreeing upon this point, conversation stayed on course as we talked about Bangladesh. End of the story? Ratna would like me to stay here forever! What a sweetheart!
Bangladesh is full of blessings, and I think lately, I have been too quick to jump in with negative remarks. Hence, a new season is beginning, one where I choose to see the beauty and the positive and make a point to share my uplifting and encouraging thoughts. Starting with coffee in the morning is a good start!
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