There's nothing more American than apple pie in Bangladesh

Yesterday, in celebration of American Independence day, the American Club in Dhaka let anyone with a US passport in (for $15) for a buffet dinner of deliciously American BBQ-style food, including apple pie and ice cream, entertainment in the form of a Bangladeshi band playing mostly American songs, and a raffle of some rather fancy prizes, all on the gloriously decked out lawn. The band was rather amusing - they played Guantanamera (not sure why) and I'm pretty sure they didn't sing half the words and they certainly had no idea what they were singing about. I Can't Get No Satisfaction was also amusing since they had the guitar/bass rhythm completely backwards. Perhaps even more entertaining, however, was the dancing. At one time they played the Macarena and not one person on the dance floor could get the timing right! All in all a good time. They also gave out gift bags of toiletries. I tried the cucumber melon soap first, but unfortunately I've been coming out smelling pretty manly. Not what I would have called cucumber melon....

A little blurry, but the lighting wasn't great for taking sweeping pictures of the scenery.

Friday turned out to be uneventful, as terrorist activities go, but I had a full day anyway. I finally met up with Loida and her roommate over lunch at Kebab-E-Q (quite possibly the most ridiculous name ever, but delicious and not too pricey). Shortly after that I met up with my friend Wahid and we went to the amusement park in Gulshan. It was amusing more in the way of being ridiculous than in the way amusement parks usually are...but for less than a dollar admission, the Oceana County Fair can't even beat it. Apparently it's more popular at night when it's lit up. Here are some pictures of the place:

The ticket

Rides and psychedelic mushrooms

Wahid in the "Underground Aquarium" - it was pretty dingy down there, but they had a lot of piranhas

Me and some fake tigers outside the aquarium

Some creepy preserved dolphin thing with sharp teeth

Later on, I met up with my more recent friend Rubel, but I don't think I'll be seeing much of him in the future...It was a strange reunion.

This weekend I'll be joining Loida, her roommate, and two other girls from ICDDR,B for a trip to Nepal! Then the following Saturday I'll be departing for Jessore for some field work there. Lots of travels coming up in the near future!