After 16 days of travel, I'm back in Oregon
10/5/07 -- After 16 days of travel, I'm back in Oregon. My trip to Bangladesh was amazing-- the country, the people, the students and staff of the American International School of Dhaka. I'm still processing the experience, but can say without a shadow of a doubt that this was a trip that will become part of who I am and the way I view the world. Below are a few photos, just to give a sense of that part of the planet.
From Bangladesh I flew straight to Kentucky for the memorial service of a wonderful friend of mine, Rube Kubale. For those of you who have read A TOUGH NUT TO CRACK, Rube was the model for Grandpa Rubin in that story. He gave me my first job baling hay when I was 14, and has been a mentor to me ever since. He will be greatly missed.
I returned home with a monumental case of jet lag, and a souvenir cough that has me barking like a seal. But no regrets. Life is full, just the way I want it.
This coming Sunday, October 7 I will run in the Portland Marathon. Given my gimpy lungs, I've taken a hint from the late, great Oregon poet William Stafford. When asked what he did when he gets writer's block, he replied, "Lower my standards." If I run into trouble in the marathon and am lagging behind my goal pace, I won't let it stop me. I'll just lower my standards, finish the 26.2 miles if I'm able, and call it a good day.
The major mode of city transportation, the rickshaw.
Boats and ferries on the river in Dhaka.
Street orphans in front of their open-air school on the downtown docks.
One fantastic class of many at the American International School of Dhaka.