Happy New Year!

Today my Bhabi told me that whatever we do on the first day of the year is indicative of what the entire year will be like. I spent much of the day yelling at my computer. Not a good sign!

Last year, one of my uncles, who is more than a little bit of a perfectionist, resolved not to make a single mistake for the entire year. For real. That was his resolution. The next day he had a car accident. Oops.

As far as resolutions go, I don’t have a very good track record. Except for the one in 2002 where I decided to floss, I actually stuck to that one! Not that it reduced my number of dental problems, but I guess it’s good for the gums, and now I don’t have to lie when I go to the dentist. This year, I am not going to resolve to exercise or eat healthier (that’s so last year!), and instead I’m going to try to write something in my journal every day. I’m afraid I’m going to forget so much about this trip when I get back to the US, so I think it’s an appropriate resolution.
Today as I was tooling down Kamal Attaturk in a CNG, I was trying to remember how to drive a stick shift car. I’m sure it will come right back to me as soon as I sit in the driver’s seat, but it was a weird feeling – I couldn’t remember how to do it. It’s been 4 months since I’ve driven. I wonder if I’ll be scared to drive when I get back – probably not though. After surviving the traffic of Bangladesh, I think I know why Masud is such a terrible driver. He’s used to swerving and sudden braking – watch out for the goat! Watch out for the huge hole in the road! Watch out for the bus! Watch out for the man pulling a huge cart down the middle of the highway! The cars here rarely go over 60 kilos per hour, which is really really slow, but don’t ask me to convert it to mph. I don’t get the metric system.