The Daily Grind

We haven’t been posting quite as much lately, but it is because right now we are just kind of getting used to our regular life here. Adjusting to life here as an everyday family takes some doing. There are a lot of things that you just don’t think about being a part of your day until every single part of your day becomes complicated and a drawn out process. We’ve written about the bureaucracy before, but it really can’t be overstated. Everything is overly complicated with multiple forms and signatures. The other day we were at the grocery store paying and the power went out. The checker had already checked everything up, and was literally handing us our change when it went it out. As a result, his register shut down. We had to wait while the guy hand wrote everything we got down, as n each item’s description, bar code, unit price, total price and then total it up and then write the amount due in both numbers and words (all of this is being carbon copied in triplicate) and then hand us our change. I understand his register needs the record to balance the cash at the end of the day, and it was pouring rain outside for our imminent walk home so we didn’t mind the wait, but it is just one example of the lengthy process for EVERYTHING. It was seriously at least 20 minutes, probably more. I’m surprised we didn’t have to sign the receipt and show a copy of our passport!


PHOTO: The 20 minute Cash Memo

In addition, simple tasks like going out and buying groceries are just not simple. The outdoor markets are super crowded, but cheaper. They require a cng ride to reach them though, which might counter the cost benefit. The grocery stores are not what we spoiled American consumers think of as a grocery store either. They seem to have about 1 or 2 aisles of actual grocery products, 3 or 4 aisles of snacks (crackers, chips and cookies) and then about 5 or 6 aisles or weird random things- seriously random as in umbrellas, shoelaces, batteries, and plug adaptors.

The price situation is tough too. On one hand, some stuff is crazy cheap- for example today at the market I got 3 bell peppers, 2 bags of bean sprouts, 1 kg of long beans, ½ kg of potatoes, 3 giant limes, and a head of cauliflower for about 300 taka. (That’s a little over 4 dollars). Also a gigantic bag of puffed rice is 35 taka, or 50 cents. So some food can be had for next to nothing.

On the other hand, other items that are imported are ridiculously high. A box of cereal can run up to 700 taka (I saw it even higher once) – which is 10 dollars! (Needless to say we eat puffed rice as cereal). Things that are cheap in the US aren’t necessarily cheap items here either. A small jar of spaghetti sauce is 250 taka (about $3.50) and it isn’t anything to write home about. It seems like the more familiar an item is (to a western shopper) the more you can expect to cost. There are also a few hidden places (like the German butcher that sells REAL cheeses, like swiss and edam, and pork to desperate bideshis willing to shell out for such luxury items). I guess a person could manage to eat much of the same things here as in the US (if you went to various stores and scoured the aisles for imported items) but it would cost a fortune. We’ve had to adjust our palettes to match the fact that we are not going to pay ten dollars for cereal!

It isn’t a bad thing to adapt- we don’t mind working with what is cheap and available and we’re all pretty flexible as long as we can get our vegetables in, but the real issue is the time and mental energy that it takes. Shopping for groceries is a combination of treasure hunt and a creative thinking challenge. You have to find cheap stuff, then consider whether it could go together at all. So far the easiest thing to do has been to have dal (lentils) and rice, which we’ve had a lot (and do in the US regularly too). I’m sensing this will become more of a regular pattern as we get sick of trying to come up with something different to have.

The other major daily drain is the laundry. 3 people wearing clothes everyday (well, for a good portion of the day) just creates a lot of laundry, which we do by hand in buckets and hang to dry in our spare room and on the balcony. The process is tiring, and lengthy. It involves buckets, of which there is always a shortage, and the physical exertion causes you to sweat – and once you start to sweat here you can expect it to last the rest of the day.


PHOTO: Jon doing some laundry

So, we’re adjusting. This post came out a little more complainy than we hoped, but it is a good glimpse into the millions of moments in a day that we just have to laugh and sigh. Hopefully we’ll get out to take some photos soon, but for now, we are just getting through the days and finding our routine. More to come!