My very kind cousin-in-law Isa took me out shopping the other day. Our first stop was to the fanciest clothing store I have seen here so far. I reminded me of the clothing department at a Macy’s. As he looked for some pants, I browsed though the women and children’s sections. The woman’s clothes were more like the western styles and seemed to run about 25% cheaper than in the states. The sweaters were about half the price as back home. All the little girls’ clothes that were hanging, with the exception of the swimsuits, were all long sleeve, which I found quite odd in this heat, even with winter coming. The back of the store was filled with folded, stacked high, short sleeve t-shirts for kids. I forgot to look at the prices. There were so many that there was no way I could choose one on a whim. I imagine that this store must deal with a manufacturer and get a deal on shirts before they are shipped for export. I have seen many of these shirts back home. The staff there (like many other places) were far too attentive for my browsing tastes and I felt like they were waiting for me to start shoving clothes under my shirt and then they would get me. As much as it was interesting to look around, I felt a sense of relief when Isa said he was ready to go, I was ready to get away from the overly watchful eyes of the three store clerks.

Our second and third stop was to banks. He needed to use the ATM so I waited in the car. As I sat there at the first bank the security guard suddenly because very curious about the windshield on the car parked in front of us. As he slowly meandered to the car and back to his post he had no shame in staring at me quite intently. Isa then returned to the car to report that the ATM was being filled so we were off to a different branch. I was happy to wait in the car again as he ran into the next bank. As I waited, a family of goats came sauntering down the road looking for stuff to munch on. Then expertly crossed the busy street and moved on. The Eid holiday is coming so there are in influx of animals in the city that, like turkeys before Thanksgiving, are reaching their expiration date. I wondered to Isa about why these goats were not claimed by someone and tied up. He explained that there is often not a good place to tie them and that the owners were probably nearby keeping an eye on them. I can just imagine goats or other livestock wandering through New York City and the chaos that it would cause.

Our next stop was to a movie store. They had quite the collection any movie or show I could think of they had. We picked out a few, including three for Sara, at 80 taka ($0.96) it was hard to go wrong. One we picked for Sara is dubbed in Hindi. I am eager to go back, exchange it, and pick out one or two for myself. I also found a little gem, the picture should be below, which started me searching for others like it but without any luck.

Our final stop was to an ice cream parlor. It reminded me a lot of Cold Stone Creamery but with better service. A (very) young man who could be described as having “boyish charm” and a nice smile was all too eager to show us to a table with very comfortable chairs and offered a six-page menu of ice cream choices. As we enjoyed the A/C and searched though the “make your own” or “already designed” options we discussed life, liberty and the differing taste buds of east versus west. (I would not choose hazelnut ice cream but love mint, which is not a popular choice here.) The young eager man took our order and within a few minutes, we were equipped with delicious treats. As we ate under the watchful eye of our server and another curious employee, we discussed the many ways Bangladesh is very different from Minnesota and discovered that I know absolutely nothing about the professional football (soccer) world. Sara was going to be home from school soon, depending on the traffic so we finished and headed for home. Sara was more than pleased with her surprise movies and even told me that she would like to keep the Hindi one so when she learns Hindi she can watch it. I figure if it was Bengali I would have kept it because it may help her learn but I figure, she should stick to learning one language at a time, so the Hindi one goes back.