Life's a Mess
Living the life of a trailing spouse is like living in one big Mess. The origins of the word “mess” comes from the Old French word “mes”, meaning portion of food, which was taken from the Latin verb “mittere”, which means “to put” or “to send”, with the primary sense of “a meal put on the table.”
The meaning of “mess” then appeared in English during the 13th century, and was often used specifically with liquid or cooked dishes, like soup or porridge. And by the 15th century, the same word “mess” was used to describe any group of people who dined together. This is why the military dining hall today is called a “mess hall.
Now to give you some background knowledge - a Mess in military terms is a place where one eats, drinks, socialises etc. Now there are various types of mess's in the military depending on rank, regiment, nationality all with their own peculiar rules, traditions and modus operandi. In most ones's I have been in, you sign a 'chitty' which goes on account. In this instance the same process works but all in Madam's name of course, for whatever food / drinks you have consumed and she gets billed monthly. Brill!
Other clubs, you buy a book of vouchers and pay for your revelry. Nectar points haven't caught on here yet, but there maybe a new business opporchancity in future. In fact, the concept of paying anything by card just hasn't reached here yet. It is all cash, which has taken a bit of getting used to. Here you can be a millionaire in Taka terms quite easily and in fact it is worth less than £10k.
It is not a wallet you need here but a bag for the wads of money you need to carry to buy anything. Even more confusing, you could have 3 or 4 different variations in terms of size and colour for the same denomination. God knows what would happen if you were colour blind! Buying groceries feels more like playing monopoly when you get to the counter!
Ironically, Bangladesh is one of the few countries that leads the world in using microfinance (community loans, savings etc) with community businesses. They are even starting to use their mobile phones to manage all their financial dealings etc - ahead of the game compared to G8 countries! In fact a forward thinking Bangladeshi bank - Grameen (yes you read it right - a forward thinking bank) invented the microfinance concept. So in the rural communities they have made a generational leap or two to do their business, whilst us 'colonials' languish in what we think is cutting edge. All in all when it comes to money or paying anything here - life's a mess!