My Wonderful Husband to Be

Many of you have now heard of my engagement, but have not heard the story of how I ended up falling in love with Alpha Upohar Samaddar. So to answer all the questions swirling around in your head, here is our story. Alpha approved of course... (and of course I must show off a few pictures!)

Alpha Upohar Samaddar

I first came to Bangladesh in 2008 when my father lead a short missions trip form my church to the organization that Alpha's family works for. At the time Alpha's mother was head of the school/orphanage we were working with. I fell in love with the country and her people from the moment the plane set down at Dhaka airport. That short trip changed my life in so many ways, many of which I am still finding out. It instilled in my heart a longing to live and work in Bangladesh. A longing that took five years, 3 more trips to Bangladesh and 3.5 months in Africa to see fulfilled (but that is another story). Back to Alpha...

Because his mother was head of school and my father was team leader we ended up spending a lot of time together, he became the translator for my class and a good friend. At the end of the trip we decided to stay in touch and texted (sms) back a forth for a few months, but lost touch until I went back the next year. I remember at the end of that first trip sitting on the plane next to my best friend joking with her that Alpha was super cute and I was going to marry him someday (oh the mind of a 16 year old girl).

2008

I returned to Bangladesh two more times in consecutive years (2009 and 2010), again seeing Alpha and keeping in touch for the few months after the trips, but not much more then that. It was always a delight to see him while I was in country and catch up on each other's lives, but being half a world away did not make it easy to stay in touch. Then school and university took over and an internship in Africa pulled me away from Bangladesh until November of 2013 when I had the chance to return on a missions trip. 

Alpha 2009

Now,there had been a running joke with my friends about this "cute Bengali guy named Alpha", I guess I talked about him more then I realized when I came back from those original trips. So after two years of not talking to him, I was on my way back to Bangladesh and a God ordained meeting.

The first time I saw him on the trip was at a church service and he did not say anything to me. Didn't even look at me (from what I could see), which is hard to do when you are a white person in a room full of Bengalis. So being the smart girl that I am I talked to his mom... "So how has Alpha been?" The next day he came to say hi. I think the exact words were "Emily, I am sorry I did not say hi yesterday. I thought you would not remember me." Wow, same fear as me. I reassured him that I did remember him and talked about him quite often back home. He told me that I was often a topic with him as well. What a lovely surprise. 

At the end of the trip we agreed not to lose touch again, exchanging email and Skype (best invention ever!) information. And we didn't lose touch, actually the opposite happened. We started Skyping everyday for hours on end. We went from being acquaintances to best friends in a very short time. And he truly was (and is) my very best friend. 

A few months later as I was applying to teach in Bangladesh, Alpha expressed interest in me as more then a friend, of course I was thrilled! (Remember my 16 year old crush? Well maybe it never really left me;)) He talked to his father who agreed to the relationship thinking 'what is the harm? She lives in America'.... well that didn't last long as I had gotten a job as a kindergarten (year 1) teacher in Dhaka the capital of Bangladesh and moved here in August. By that point Alpha and I had already been discussing the possibility of marriage, think out a few years. Then came the real test, seeing each other in person...

Alpha came to Dhaka a few week after I arrived.and after the initial 'hi... so um... well...' we just picked up where we left off on Skype, being best friends. You can see more about his first visit in my previous post "Rain forests, Tea Gardens and Leaches! Oh My!"

I then spent my fall vacation (check out the post "Eid Holiday") with his family in Khulna (his home town, south of Dhaka). It was a wonderful time. I knew his mom and had met his father and brother before, but it was really nice getting to know all of them better. This is also when the serious wedding discussions and planning happened, setting the date for 20th of March 2015!! 

I could not be more excited and happy to be marrying and spending the rest of my life with my best friend. We both appreciate your prayers as we begin wedding planning and more importantly, planning our next steps as a married couple.