Food in Bangladesh

Bangladeshi cuisine is delicious. I love Bangladeshi food. Bangladeshi food is similar to Indian food. Many Bangladeshi dishes include curry. I love curry. You can read more about Bangladeshi cuisine. Click this link to read about Bangladeshi cuisine in English.Click here to read about Bangladeshi cuisine in Japanese.

Below is a picture of tiffin boxes. Tiffin means lunch. Tiffin boxes are delivered every day to Bangladeshi business men and school children. Bangladshis like hot meals.



You can see a picture of a typical restaurant in Dhaka below. My new friend Mithu brought us to this restaurant. We went to this restaurant for lunch during our tour of Dhaka. We ate curried chicken, curried mutton, stir-fried vegetables, and plain rice. Mitsu paid the bill on behalf of BELTA. We were very grateful to BELTA for this delicious lunch.



Our first dinner in Dhaka was also provided to us by BELTA. We had take-out from a restaurant in Dhaka called Boomers' Cafe. Boomers' Cafe is very popular with university students in Dhaka. You can see pictures of our meal below.





We ate delicious food at the BELTA/AIUB/THT Seminars too. For snacks we had samozas. Samozas are one of my favourite snacks. You can see a picture of some samozas below.





Here's a picture of the lunch we had during the seminars. It's like a Bangladeshi bento.



BELTA also treated us to a lovely meal at the Casablanca Restaurant in Dhaka. The meal was buffet style. You can see a picture of the buffet and some of the food we ate in the pictures below.






We went out to the country side. We went to American International University Bangladesh's resort. The resort is beautiful. We had a delicious lunch there. All the food we ate came from the resort. Many fruits and vegetables are grown at the resort, and some animals are raised for food too, including chickens and sheep. You can see some pictures of our lunch at the resort below.

 

 

We ate a delicious fruit called Jackfruit. Jackfruit is the national fruit of Bangladesh. You can see a picture of a Jackfruit tree below.

Here are some pictures of a Jackfruit that was opened up. It has a mild taste. It is delicious. Jackfruit is used for many kinds of food in Bangladesh. The seeds are roasted. The skin is given to sheep. The sheep love the Jackfruit skin.





We also had some delicious Bangladeshi sweets and some yoghurt.



The last night I was in Bangladesh I went for dinner at the home of Dr. Faheem Hasan Shahed. We had a wonderful home cooked meal. It was delicious.



What do you think? Have you ever tried Bangladshi cuisine? Please leave a comment.

Teachers Helping Teachers in Bangladesh

I went to Bangladesh. I went to Bangladesh with a group called Teachers Helping Teachers. This was my third trip with Teachers Helping Teachers. I have been to Teachers Helping Teachers seminars in Laos and the Philippines. You can see Bangladesh on the map below.

Bangladesh is surrounded by India. It shares a small border with Myanmar too. I stayed in the capital city of Bangladesh. The capital city of bangladesh is called Dhaka. You can see Dhaka on the map below.

 

I arrived in Dhaka very late. I arrived in Dhaka after one in the morning. I got through  customs and immigration easily. I was met by Dr. Patrick Dougherty, the President of Teachers Helping Teachers, and a member of the Aristocrat Inn's staff. You can see a picture of the Aristocrat Inn below.

I stayed in a standard room at the Aristocrat Inn. It was twenty-five U.S. dollars per night. You can see a picture of my room below.



My first day in Dhaka I went on a short tour. First I visted Curzon Hall. You can see a picture of Curozn Hall below.



My new friend Mithu is in the picture below. He was my guide on the tour of Dhaka City. He is very knowledgeable. He is a very good guide.

After I visted Curzon Hall, I visited Labagh Fort. You can see a picture of Labagh Fort below.



Then I visited a Hindu Temple.



I saw a beautiful dragonfly at the temple.



The next place we went was the Buriganga River. We took a short boat ride. It was very interesting.







Next, we visited a palace called Ahsan Manzil. We met many friendly Bangladeshis there. All of them wanted to take a picture with us. We felt like stars! In the picture below, I'm with Ann and Cherie. Ann and Cherie are also members of Teachers Helping Teachers. Ann is from New Orleans in the United States. Cherie is from New Zealand.





After our visit to the palace we went shopping. I bought some Bangladeshi crafts for my wife. I bought a bag, a table cloth, some pillow cases, and some lunch mats for her. When we were finished shopping, we went back to the hotel. I was very tired, but I had a great first day in Dhaka.

The next day the BELTA/AIUB/THT Seminars started. The Seminars lasted three days. I led three workshops. The participants were fantastic. They were enthusiastic. They were very active participants. They had great ideas. They were very kind. I think they all must be great teachers. You can see a video clip of the workshop I lead on project-based language learning below. Unfortunately, the quality of the video isn't very good. Enjoy!


An introduction to project-based language learning from Michael Stout on Vimeo.

Next time I'll write some more about my wonderful trip to Bangladesh. I'll post some more pictures too.

Teachers Helping Teachers in the Philippines

I went to the Philippines. You can see the places I visited on the map below.


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I went to the Philippines with a group called Teachers Helping Teachers (THT). I am a member of THT. THT is a group of English language teachers in Japan and other countries. The purpose of THT is to help teachers working in developing countries ( [開発]途上国 ). This was the second time I travelled with Teachers Helping Teachers. Last year I travelled to Laos with Teachers Helping Teachers.

I arrived in the Philippines on the twenty-third of February. I spent my first day in Manila. The twenty-third of February was a holiday in Manila. So, I had some free time. First I visited the home of a wonderful man called Gap. Gap is a neurosurgeon (神経外科医). I had lunch at Gap's house. The lunch was delicious. Below is a picture of my lunch.

After lunch, I went on a tour of Manila. We visited Intramuros. Intramuros is a very old part of Manila. You can read more about Intramuros. Click this link for information in English: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intramuros,_Manila. Click this link for information about Intamuros in Japanese: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88%E3%83%A9%E3%83%A0%E3%83%AD%E3%82%B9
Below are some pictures of Intramuros.

I visited San Agustin Church. It is a World Heritage Site. Below are some pictures of my visit to San Agustin Church.

After the tour, I had dinner at Gap's house. The dinner was delicious. You can see the food I ate in the picture below.

The next day I woke up at 4 am. At five in the morning I left my hotel. I went to Batangas. In Batangas I got on a ferry. A ferry is a kind of boat. I took the ferry to Calapan on the island of Mindoro. Then I went to San Lorenzo Ruiz Academy. San Lorenzo Ruiz Academy is a school. After I arrived at San Lorenzo Ruiz Academy, I had lunch. You can see pictures of my lunch below.

After lunch, I did a workshop with some teachers at San Lorenzo Ruiz Academy. The topic of the workshop was Kamishibai (紙芝居). You can see some pictures of the workshop below.

Here is the powerpoint I used in the workshop.

Kamishibai: a collaborative project for young learners of English

View more presentations from mickstout. (tags: kamishibai projectwork)

Here is a picture of a classroom at San Lorenzo Ruiz Academy.

After the workshop I had dinner. You can see a picture of the food I ate below.

After dinner I was very tired. I went to bed early. I slept in a classroom with the other teachers. We slept on mattresses on the floor.

The next morning we woke up at four thirty in the morning. We washed. Then we had breakfast. After breakfast we got into a jeepney. You can see a picture of a jeepney below.

We took the jeepney to the village of Banilad.  Banilad is a Mangyan village.  Please look at the pictures of the village below.

 

Banilad is in the mountains. The view from the village is beautiful. 

 

There is a branch school of San Lorenzo Ruiz in Banilad.  I taught six lessons at the school.

I taught children. The children were in grades 1 to 6. I taught the children with my friend Brent. Brent is a teacher too.  

 

 

I was very fun teaching the Mangyan children. They were very clever and they were very interested in English.

After the lessons I met the Chief of Banilad. Here is a picture of me with the chief below. The chief is the man on the right. He is wearing a white shirt.

After I met the chief there was a closing ceremony. There were speeches and there were performances by the children. After the ceremony we went back to Calapan.

The next day we woke up at six in the morning. After breakfast we took part in a parade. The parade was very colourful. Many children wore costumes. The jeepneys were decorated too. 

 

Some of the Mangyan children wore traditional Mangyan clothes.

After the parade. We went back to Manila. We were very tired. The next day I woke up at four in the morning. I went to the airport and returned to Japan. It had a great time in the Philippines.