a good friend of mine had a few days free, so she came for a few days to visit us in Cox's Bazar. she helped me with class one day and helped the kids with their "H" worksheet.

she took this picture of us walking to the lifeguard tower to class. 

reviewing our flashcards while we wait for the others to finish their assignments.

at the empty lot of motel upal where the girls were practicing their skating and taking breaks to draw.

international beach cleanup

waiting for the rest of the gang to show up for international coastal cleanup.

the kids took the morning off from work to help out.

class

the lifeguard tower we normally use was closed, so when that happens, we do class here! :)

they insist on posing and taking pictures of everything they do. so you will be seeing a lot of pictures like this! hahaha!

learning to write words that start with the letter C.

making flashcards

so our markers aren't very good and after one use they ran out of ink! hahaha! but working on our flashcards to practice with.

classroom

i love this picture of them huddled in what we call our classroom, coloring their flashcards so they can practice at home. we had two surprise visitors today that came with their families to the beach and got permission to come to class with their friends. 

english class

so we don't have a classroom, so the best place for us to meet that is close enough distance for the girls to get through on their breaks from work is in the abandoned lifeguard tower on the beach! ha!

learning to write our alphabet.

afternoons

rashed took these pictures last week while we had the afternoon with the girls. they are getting so much better at surfing, this last time he didn't get in the water, just supervised from the shore.

love that they are helping each other up:)

surfing in her old party dress that she is growing out of hahaha

Beach Picnic

Grilling Chicken legs on a bunch of rocks!

One of the many attempts of jumping pictures. I like that it looks like she doesn't have any legs!

All dressed up in their party dresses!

The Cox's Bazar Lifesaving and Surf Club hosted a picnic at the beach....to me its always more like a BBQ. They set up some bricks and coals and made their very own stoves and brought huge pots to cook rice, chicken, daal, and potatoes! They also rented a sound system so that everyone could dance!  It was the first day it didn't rain so it was perfect timing to be a part of it.

little sick prince

the weather is changing, so just about everyone has had fevers the past few days including this little prince. everyone is taking turns holding him and trying to comfort him.

interviews

spent the afternoon interviewing the surf club girls. they have incredible stories. the goal is to raise support for their families.

boojoe the dog, he always sneaks his way into pictures.

sleepy boy

it was a really hot day today, and the kitchen floor was the coolest, nap-time.

eid mubarak

royal, all dressed up

the littles in their new punjabis

bipasha in her new chemise with makeup and henna.

henna:)

i guess you can call this their version of a ferris wheel with speed.

this was what we voted as the best dress for the surf club girls.

the surf club hosts an iftar party

the surf club decided to host an iftar party for their club members and supporters. everyone broke fast together and chowed down at all the extra goodies that were on the plate: bananas and mangoes! 

my best friend's sanna and carson bought a couple of hats from two crow surfboards based out of hawaii and they held a raffle and had names drawn out of one of the hats to pick the winner. 

everyone took turns trying on the hat, and passing it down for more pictures.

the surf club girls:)

sisters posing with the prize hats.

vegetable prep

instead of using knives to cut the vegetables, this is the tool they use while squatting on a stool. i've tried this a few times, but have almost cut my own fingers off. 

while vegetable prep is done behind him on the floor, this little one crawls around and chews on whatever veggie he can get his hands on.

mischief

the little men up to no good, they call it a "tiny snake" and i tell them its called a worm in english. when it rains, they go worm hunting and bring it inside in order to scare their moms or their aunties.

i was always raised to not let little ones to play with balloons or chew on them once they've popped. every time i take it away, someone gives him another one. 

donations!

some friends are here making a documentary on the surf community here and focusing on the freedom of women, they brought along with them a bunch of clothes to donated to the girls. they tried everything on and modeled it for us!!

helicopter ride

my friend kamrul won a contest on the beach here, and invited us to on his prize: a helicopter ride over the beach of cox's bazar! it was incredible to see where i live from above and looking at how many people were visiting the beach, people were posing in the water for us as we flew by them!

hanging with jhiri

took my friend's niece to the beach today to get her out of the house, the power has begun to start going out so it is incredibly hot....i think she was more excited about the chips then the beach though....