Now I know why Britney did that thing with the umbrella

If you have ever dreamt of being famous and thrive on flattery, Bangladesh is your kind of place.

Today was the Bengali New Year, so we put on our brand new sharis (actually the front desk girls at our hotel put them on for us) and went out to celebrate in style.  A few of the World Vision staff picked us up for the afternoon to take in some of the events around town.  Our first stop was a section in town where the streets were closed to traffic (what a relief!) anf filled with thousands upon thousands of pedestrians.  It actually reminded me alot of the Vancouver Olympics.  It seemed every step we took was met with "Hello Madam.  What is your country?" or "Wow. Very nice." (in reference to our sharis).  Cell phone cameras snapped shots.  Girlfriends were abandoned.  Pictures with us were requested.  Email addresses were shouted out.

As we entered an amphatheatre to listen to some music, the situation got even more wild.  When we stopped for a group photo, the crowd around us got so large - at least 150 people pushing and shoving to get a picture of us - that our WV guides/ bodyguards became concerned and decided that we needed to leave immediately.

But fame has its perks too.  As I entered back into the hotel, the man at the front desk noticed that the pleats in my shari had come undone and before I knew it, two women were ushering me into an empty conference room, undressing me, redressing me, teasing my hair, putting garlands of orange flowers around my ponytail, doing my make up, spritzing me with perfume, and showering me with compliments.  Forty-five minutes later I emerged, ready to party like it's 1417... which it is, Bengali-style.

Shubho Noboborsho!!!