March has been full of hartal days. Hartals are organized political protests that force the country to close. We cannot have school on such days, and my roommate and I usually stay in our house all day. As the embassy always says, "Even peaceful protests can suddenly turn violent without warning." We often feel like we are under house arrest in the midst of a string of hartal days. Days are long when we are stuck inside! Tuesday however, was different.
Tuesday was Bangladesh's Independence Day, and we didn't have school. However, the following two days were declared hartal days. With this in mind, Meagan and I decided to make the most of our day of freedom! We planned to spend most of the day exploring the city. Tuesday morning we began our adventure by stopping to see our expatriate friends. I picked up my camera memory card from my friend who had been borrowing it. I was all ready to take as many pictures as possible on this adventurous day. I couldn't wait to put them in an update letter and share more of the beautiful culture.
We decided to stop and exchange an outfit I received for my birthday before beginning our exploration. I needed to get a bigger size and my roommate needed to exchange a pillow case. The size I needed was not available and the employees told me I needed to find a different item because they do not do store credit or refunds. I casually made my way over to the clothing racks to find the perfect outfit. As I began looking, a group of about five middle aged women suddenly surrounded me. I felt quite crowded as they began perusing the racks on either side of me and the exact rack I was looking at. They were bumping up against me and one lady even held an outfit up to compare its size to me!
I thought, "Only in Bangladesh!" Then, just as suddenly as they had come, they left. I brushed the incident off as just another cultural difference and continued browsing. I found my original outfit in a bigger size and decided I would have the tailor take it in for me. I made the exchange and Meagan and I left the store. Now we were ready to explore.
We found a rickshaw driver and climbed up to the seat. The setting was perfect. The driver had the rickshaw hood down which created the perfect cover for me to be able to take pictures without being as easily seen. I dug into my purse to pull out my camera and begin the picture taking. That is when I discovered my camera was missing. Meagan told the driver to pull over, which he did right away. He waited patiently as we unloaded my purse. Sure enough, no camera. We thought through everything since I had last seen it.
I put my camera in my purse at our friends' house, then we walked to the store. We had seen a group of super cute kids on the street, but they were not close enough to have touched my purse. Plus, I had my hand over the opening the entire walk, a habit of mine. It could not have fallen out at the store, because I would have heard the big case crash against the floor. We went back to the store and asked if anyone found a green camera case just in case. They hadn't. Then we decided to go back to our friends' house. We searched where I had been sitting, and it wasn't there either.
My friend asked if anyone had been pushing against me or standing close to me in the store. That is when I remembered the women. The only explanation is that I didn't zip my purse after giving the clerk my outfit and the women snatched the camera while bumping against me. Now I knew, it was gone for good.
Of course I was quite sad at this realization. My plans to take awesome pictures as we explored were shot. I would also not be able to take pictures of my students, or anything else for a while. Even in the midst of this sad feeling, I had peace. My camera belonged to God, and for some reason He decided I shouldn't have it anymore.
Meagan and I continued our day of adventure, and I tried to enjoy it to the fullest. We stopped for cold drinks at one point because it was extremely hot. I ordered cold coffee, which they were unable to give me because they were out of ice cream- I didn't quite understand the correlation. The owner suggested milkshakes instead. We later laughed as we drank our warm milkshakes.
There it is, the story of the missing camera. I am very thankful because I have birthday money I am able to put toward buying a new camera. It is a bummer to spend money on something I already owned. It is not what I planned, but it is what God planned. Hopefully a young woman who is coming to Bangladesh will be able to bring it when she comes in a few weeks. Missing my possessions reminds me of God's great blessing that enables me to have them in the first place. Every day is an adventure. I learned my lesson from the sneaky thieves!
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