Finished!

January 29, 2008

When Sarah Jane left Bangladesh to head back home, my husband Chris arrived. Chris’ and my original plan had been to vacation in Bangladesh. But I was not done with the water sampling, so I put Chris to work. He helped me with the last two sampling events in the rainy, cold weather. He is shown below negotiating the slippery bamboo bridge to collect a surface water sample.

Fortunately, the weather warmed up a bit for our last day at the field site. I decided to wear the salwar kameez that Sha’Alam and his wife Nimnee had given me on a previous trip. The outfit was a funny juxtaposition to my trail runner shoes and sun hat.

We finished all of our work by early afternoon, and Sha’Alam and Nimnee hosted a lunch for us before we left. Nimnee is shown below preparing the rice.

The lunch was a nice way to end our time at the field site. Chris and I are now officially in vacation mode. We are planning to visit Cox’s Bazaar, the Bangladeshi beach resort along the Bay of Bengal. The weather is likely too cold for swimming, but that is fine since women are not allowed to wear swim suits and instead have to swim in their salwar kameez.