Notes in a pocket book

The stories, experiences, thoughts, musings, photos and random objects of Brisbane volleyball player, avid traveller, marketeer and urban observer Julia Phipps

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Anyone can become angry. That's easy. But to be angry at the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose and the right way. That's not within everybody's power and is not easy

Aristotle

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Redland Bay

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Vietnam

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graffiti murals & random stuff from around my new hood

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slow realisation is eventually truth

creeping resignation and quiet despair

 - Kate Fridkis

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Time lapse of Easter swimming & boating...

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Back home for over a month and enjoying some outdoor time...boating at the weir on ANZAC Day (at Coominya QLD)

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Lasts

There’s a lot of ‘lasts’ in the period of packing up my life in one country and transporting it back to where it was. Last meal at a favourite restaurant, last drinks with newly-acquired friends and of course, the last day of work. It was nearly 12 months ago that I’d packed my life in Australia into boxes and stowed it away to take on a volunteer role in Bangladesh. The hardest ‘last’ will be saying goodbye to the friends that I’ve made here. Bangladeshi friends and ex-pat friends. It will be Thursday that I’ll see those dear friends for the last time and on Friday I’ll close the door on my lovely apartment for the last time. Lasts are tough. But without ‘lasts’ there wouldn’t be firsts or new adventures.

There’s been plenty of other times in closing a chapter and starting (or re-starting in this case) another chapter that I’ve had to face the ‘lasts’. Leaving a job, moving house, breaking up – there’s always ‘lasts’ in every chapter that has to be closed. They’re sometimes painful, sometimes jubilant, but nearly always inevitable. It’s with this inevitability in mind that I’m putting the finishing touches on all the ‘lasts’ of Bangladesh. 

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I was one of twenty women who carried sand, broke bricks and helped masons build homes for two Bangladeshi couples in need. It was part of International Women's Day celebrations on March 8. It was exhausting, but fulfilling to meet the families who will turn these bricks and cement into a home. These houses are not just shelter, but bring hope, dignity and respect to these elderly couples who will live out their days with the security of a solid roof over their heads. Only four days until I say farewell to Bangladesh for good.  

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Final trip to Savar on a work trip before leaving Bangladesh for good. It's been a trip!

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Bye Michael! (at Shwarma House)

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Police on the beat- Bangladesh style (at Bittersweet Cafe)

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More pics from the Savar trip. Thanks to our local friend for being an amazing tour guide!

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A quick trip out of Dhaka to Savar and the surrounding region proved just the thing for some adventure hungry volunteers. 

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The awful noise is a small indication of how unsafe this homemade wooden ferris wheel is... that didn't stop Michael, Mark and Emma from trying it out!!

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Sparkle

So mesmerised, enchanted and completely taken by something sparkly that I can't look away, even though I know it will inevitably hurt me, crush me. I need a potion, a cure.  But secretly, I don't want a cure because I love it. I have no right to enjoy the sparkle. It consumes me. It will bite me. But I will have no regrets. 

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A snap shot of Dani & I on a taxi adventure in Kolkata