Achha

 My new most used work since arrival I think would have to be “achha”, “Ok”. The stories that ensue are all because I have said Achha a few too many times. 

The past few days have been pretty busy. Lots of traveling here and there, meeting people, etc.; typical life stuff picking up again I suppose.  The weekend is Friday and Saturday here, and although I was pretty beat after my first week here, the weekend was pretty packed, although also enjoyable.

So many CUCUMBERS!

This weekend was also one of my room mates last weekends in country (and has since headed back to Canada), so we wanted to make it a little special for her. There is a place called Old Dhaka here, which is the old part of the city that has been here since like the byzantine era. Its been occupied and built up around obviously since then, but there are still a few old buildings and it’s a cool place to go see. My room mate had heard of a walking tour that we could have for pretty cheep and thought it would be fun to learn some of the history behind it, so we all did that on our Friday morning. Up at 6:30 again to get down there before the heat of the day. Even so we were walking around mostly from 10-3:30 that day, so that didn’t happen. It was fun wandering around, and feeling like it was OK to take pictures since we were playing tourists that day (full picture album will be on Facebook soon!). My fav part was the market we got to go to. I don’t think I have ever seen so much produce in my life. It was all arriving in the market from across the river (it was like a port market), in these tiny little canoe type things. The water was amazingly filthy, but it was still a cool place, and I hope to go back and apparently you can go out on the boats for about $1.

That is the waterfront of Dhaka,
where many children were swimming in it

At the end of the tour we decided we were starving (3:30 pm and no lunch!) and we had heard of an amazing biryani place someplace around the area. We asked one of the young men we had acquired while wandering around the city if he knew it, and he did, and rather than directing us, he and his friend decided to accompany us there. Normally if this was another country I’m more used to I think that would have been a huge no-no in my mind, but the young people here all seem to genuinely just want to be friends, and are not at all creepy, plus there were 4 of us, and two of them.  The food was delicious, and I finally tried my luck at eating rice completely with my hands. Im not talking picking things up with bread like im so used to…but actually balling up the rice on your plate with your fingers and scooping it into your mouth. My Turkish roommate said I was a natural.

Me in front of an old building with trees
growing out of it!

Once we had recovered from the hunger and heat we decided it was far time to head home, however when we were leaving the restaurant we ran into a huge parade/ceremony thing for this little boy who had just been circumcised apparently. And this is where the crazy started.

We were just trying to watch from the side of the road, listening to the music and looking at all the pretty clothes etc, but then all of a sudden we were being shoved inside and against a wall. And they were videoing us, and throwing children in our arms, and we were invited inside for the meal and party (we declined, we had to go) but there were people everywhere taking pictures of us on their phones like we were the spectacle of the party or celebrities or something. And I was holding the little boy who was just circumcised (they liked me best because of my blond hair).

Our two new buddies and one of my room mates
on our spectacular carriage ride

Once we were able to break away however, we needed to get to an area to take a CMG witch are like little motorcycles with boxes on the back that people ride in cages. This is how we were going to get home, and it was like a 5-10 min walk. But oh no…we were special, so we ended up being shoved into the horse-drawn carriage that the little boy and his family had arrived in.  So as if four western girls WALKING around wasn’t a spectacle enough, how about four western girls in a horse-drawn carriage, with bells and flowers everywhere signaling our arrival. Good luck getting a good price on a CMG when you arrive in THAT. I was pretty mortified that we were doing it, but it was also kinda fun. We also ended up accidently stealing one of the little children from the party on accident as well, which was kind of a disaster. But the carriage had to go back to the party anyways, so I think it all worked out.  Needless to say it was quite an experience.

We got home, and my number 1 priority was to first shower, as I think I had sweat about a gallon of water out of my system, then to drink lots and lots of water (and some mango juice… ) That evening we had also been invited to an expat party at another interns apt, so that evening we went there. It was very much NOT my type of scene. It was just weird. Same conversation over and over again, “how long have you been here, where are you from, what do you do, where else have you been” its like the way to figure out where you fit in the hierarchy of everyone. And oh yes…there is definitely a hierarchy. It was so weird too as there were people there in the fashion industry who are there for cheep labor and I was like…I literally connect with you on NO level whatsoever. Needless to say, I think I’m pretty low on the hierarchy, but I’m ok with that, I doubt ill ever go back to one of the parties or see any of them again.

The next day (Saturday) me and one of my roommates went over to the American Club. She knew a lady who was working at a hospital up north, and she had invited her over to the club to meet here and hear what is going on. The lady is actually a M, and it was nice to hear about her work and everything. I also found out about a church service that takes place on Fridays I think ill try and go to next weekend, which would be so nice.  The American club is a fancy place not too far from where I live, you have to have a membership that costs like 50 bucks a month to get in, or you can also have people who do have memberships sign you in for free! They have American food over there, a pool, gym and a yard and fast wifi, which was all super nice. The most enticing thing was the pool, it sounded SO nice to jump in and cool off, and maybe to get some sun on my legs for once, but we were just there for coffee that day. It has the same atmosphere as the party though, hierarchies and snobby people. I would love to go and just be in my own bubble of pools and fast wifi, but I think it’s a little too expensive, and not my type of people. Plus I’m here to experience Bangladesh, and for 3 months I hope I can handle being away from America.

Typical bargaining for leeches my new fav!
  

That afternoon I had to do some grocery shopping and some other errands, which always seem to take a long time here walking to and from the stores lugging all your stuff around. And I also met with a new intern who will be working on some other WASH (water, hygiene, sanitation) stuff. She is a bit of a negative Nancy so that will be interesting working with, also it sounds like she will be moving into our apartment soon. So it’s going to be 24 hours of her, which sounds quite difficult to me (probably the most frustrating thing about being here so far, which I find ironic). Hopefully her attitude will start to change, or she will stop stopping my desk every 10 min complaining about stuff, and wasting my time while I’m trying to work.

Anyways, that Saturday evening was my room mates last in country, so we went and got her cupcakes and brought them to the apartment to say bye. It was weird to think I have only been here for a little over one week now as it has felt like so much longer, and it is crazy how close you can get to people in one week when the circumstances are right. 

I was still quite tired when I had to go back into work on Sunday, I actually had to take a little 5 min nap in the bathroom around 11 just cuz I couldn’t keep my eyes open at my desk.  After work I went and got ice-cream with some two other students from Emory who are here in Bangladesh for a different project. They are in a different city most of the time, so I don’t see them, but they were in town for the day, and it was nice to see them and hear what was going on with their study. Familiar faces are nice, and its always funny seeing people outside of where you have placed them mentally.

Me and one of my room mates squished onto a
rickshaw with the top pulled up. Its not made for 5'10" ppl

Today is quite rainy outside, its kind of funny seeing people riding around on rickshaws, the method to keep dry in them, is the rickshawalla gives you a portion of a tarp they have cut, and you wrap up with it like a blanket. It looks quite funny, and is probably the hottest thing ever, as its still in the 90’s F even while raining, and double humid.  I can’t imagine wrapping up in a stifling plastic tarp on top of all of that. I think ill probably just brave the rain this afternoon. I did that yesterday, while wearing a new purple salwar kameez, and I ended up dying my whole body purple/pink. I scrubbed a lot last night in the shower, and it still hasn’t come out. I look like I got into a serious fight, and have bruises all over my shoulders and back.

That’s all for now. Its been a crazy few days, hopefully tonight I can get some extra sleep, so I can be double productive at work afterwards since yesterday and today have kinda been a little slow.

Third times the charm!

Yesterday I was FINALLY able to meet one of my supervisors and discuss my project. It was a huge relief and very helpful, although a bit different then expected. I guess we have had a little bit of a miss-communication between my head supervisor lady and me. I had thought that I was joining on to a study that is already underway here at the Center. Already designed, maybe even in the process of analysis, I was actually very unsure.

However yesterday I sat down with this man, and the first thing he says to me is…”Ok, do you have your research questions decided yet?”

Ummm what! You have my research question! You have the study!

It’s not a big deal, I totally can handle making my own research question and analyzing that for myself, I just wish I had known a few weeks ago as I could have been working on this a little bit more over the previous weeks (I have some stuff I have already done earlier, but I kinda didn’t do it to the full of my abilities since I didn’t think I would be using it)! There are tons of data at my disposal however here, from several other studies, and I think I will use pretty much all my sanitation and hygiene data from these, making my life easier.

I do know what I want my research question to be…but now it’s a whole other battle trying to recall all my Epi and Biostats knowledge to write an appropriate and effective study! I wish I had brought my notes from school with me (I could use a serious brush-up on retrospective case-controls)! I was able to spend most of my day getting my whole plant set up and I'm feeling pretty on top of things now. 

Soon after I discovered my project misunderstanding I had to go to a different center for a scientific symposium thing, so it helped me not get too overwhelmed right at first. It was a nice talk about streptococcal pneumonia, which I thought was interesting as I have a cold (which I managed to find some medicine for eventually the other day and I'm beginning to feel much better). It was also a good chance to meet some other people around the center doing other projects. It was an incredibly hot day (97, felt like 112 outside according to Weather.com), so having 50-60 people crammed into a lecture hall was a little uncomfortable to say the least.

I usually shower every morning as I get ready for work, and then when I get home at the end of the day I’m so sticky and sweaty and gross I usually hop in the shower again for just a moment to rinse the day off. I don’t know if I’m really just this dirty, or if its all from my feet, or if the sweat makes dirt just coagulate onto you, but every evening in that rinse off time, the water pooling at my feet is brown! Always. I just don’t get how I can get that dirty each day walking to and from work.

Recently I have also been subsiding off of fruit juice. I have been buying some cartons of different types of juice as they are SO cheep here and so refreshing after the hot day. I usually try mixing them and im coming up with some delicious drinks. Yesterday was mango, guava and milk. Most drinks consist of a mango base and a splash of milk just to make it kind of smoothy-ish. Best thing after a hot day!

Today at work I was able to really start to dive into my project. It was a lot of me probably not looking like I was doing much as I just spent most of the time reading stuff and scribbling stuff on a piece of paper trying to get my thoughts organized, but it was productive for me, and I’m staring to feel good about everything, and also like this summer is going to be a very VERY busy time. Busy with fun stuff though so that will be great.

Below are some pictures I snapped real quickly on my way to work using my iPhone. I want to go out with my real camera, but Its so conspicuous and I just don’t know how best to do that yet without just drawing a ridiculous crowd. I might just have to go out at 6am some day and get it in at sunrise before people are out. Hope it helps give a small picture of what its like!

Take 2

Bangladesh seems to have a reputation for three things, how crowded it is, how many floods it has, and massive Cholera outbreaks (Well maybe that last one is only famous in the world of Public Health). 

All of those things together created an IDEAL location for me to come for my study on diarrheal disease and water/sanitation issues.

That is why I find it ironic that after being here for less than a week, I already have… a cold. I know its not a very big deal, but it does add a little bit of extra grogginess to my everyday life, plus I think I almost went through a whole box of tissues today at work, and I don’t think it makes me very approachable at work as the “new girl” when I’m sniffling and blowing my nose every 3 min. I think on my way home from work today I’m going to go wandering to try and find some kind of pharmacy and see what kind of cold medicine I can dig up, as this is day 3 of this, and I only feel like Im getting worse. 

However, on a whole today, day two of work has been significantly better than the last one. I walked to work today. Got a whole nice 4K (about 2.5 miles) walk in. It was a beautiful morning, and I love my path to work, it goes right along a lake. The lake is disgusting and green and covered in trash, but at least its quiet compared to the main road that would go straight down. It was also a nice experience to just get out and walk more a little bit and mix with the locals, you see way more of a country if you walk in it. It was a nice hot morning, 8am and already 93°F with humidity at 80%. The weather channel was nice enough to tell me it was hot enough to feel like 104°F, so there you go.

I could tell I was hot while walking, and up till now I have been wearing shirts under my salwar kameez and things, but today I decided to go without, as up till now I have not been too particularly sweaty. That was a BAD choice. I arrived at work with my whole back completely soaked through…visibly so, as the fabric changed from a lovely light blue to a nice navy blue color, not just down my back, but also all the way around my shoulders where my backpack had been. I was thankful for my scarf to at least help cover that part. But my back was a lost cause. I tried to go into the bathroom and use the hand dryer blowy thing to try and help speed up the drying process, but people kept coming in, and I can only imagine how crazy I must have looked, squiggling around against the wall trying to get ample wind coverage. I decided that was a bad idea and gave up shortly; I don’t want to be known around the office as the sweaty, sniffy weird girl.   I think my plan for getting to work each day will continue to be walking to work, and then rickshaw home (when its hot). I took my first rickshaw ride yesterday, it was a very exciting experience, I will try and video my next one soon!

When I got into work, I decided I needed to tackle the whole Internet and card access issue right away. Which I did, and now I have SOME limited and very slow access to the Internet here. Its frustrating, and it makes doing a literature search a pain in the butt even more so than it normally is, but I’m sure ill get used to it soon, and it is better at my apartment too.

All in all I feel like today has been a great improvement on yesterday, Im getting stuff done, and tomorrow I will meet more of my team. I was successfully able to make tea to day with SUGAR as opposed to salt, and I can now move between floors easier. Also in my spare time I am learning some Bengali and I think I’ve got some basic vocab down enough to be moving on to some basic verb tenses. This is usually where I loose it with languages though, so hopefully Bengali is easier than Spanish or French!

My first day of Work?

 When preparing for my GFE (Global Field Experience, this is what Emory calls this trip their students make to go abroad and do research), one theme that continued to be repeated was to expect delays. Expect things to not go on schedule, expect things to not happen when planned. When I heard this I though, “Oh ya, I know how these things work, I grew up overseas, I’m used to this sort of mentality. But don’t worry, I know how to roll with the punches”.

Its pretty much a safe bet in my life though, that as soon as I think that very though, my arrogance is about to come back and slap me in the face. And today was no exception.

Today was my first day of work, YAY! I was worried I would not be able to come in as there were rumors of more strikes today, and potentially even tomorrow! It would have seriously bummed me out if I managed to go almost my whole first week in Bangladesh doing absolutely zero work for my project. But my prayers paid off and I was able to come into work! Well…sort of.

First things off, it was absolutely torrential rain pouring down this morning when we went to get picked up by our bus that takes us to the Center. But it was nowhere in sight. 15 min. later we started getting concerned and calling around, and eventually we got it all worked out and pretty soon the buss was to us; 30 min late, and us soaked to the bone (even under umbrellas).  Then we had to wade through the masses of traffic, terrible even on normal standards, this chaos was made even more intense through the streets being flooded with at least a foot of water everywhere.

By the time we arrived at the center however, the sun and poked through and all form of rainclouds had disappeared. I had come to this main center (there are actually 2 centers for the ICDDRB in Dhaka and Im at a smaller one about 4k away from the larger main campus)  to meet with the student coordinator, give all my information, pay rent, just general administrative things like that. But she wasn’t there, so we waited again.

40 min later (it was about 9:40, keep this in mind) she showed up, and was a lovely lady and very kind. I like her tremendously already. We sat down and I asked her a few questions and she filled me in on some things, and then told me there are some buses that go between my center and the main center 4 times a day, the next one being at 10, and the one after that not until 3:30. I was like oh that is great ill catch that one at 10, that should be just enough time to get all the paperwork in. But then she was like, “We can just do that later…would you like a cup of coffee?” By now it was 9:50 but I didn’t want to be rude, so I said yes (Its been my first coffee since arrival in country, although I have been downing the tea by the bucketful!). So then we got to sit and just chat, and she told me how long she had been working there and things like that, and I told her a little about me. All the while wondering…what is going ON! I need to catch my bus! I want to get to work at least a LITTLE today! By now it was 10:15 and I had just decided I must just be missing my bus, and I would just hang out in the library and get stuff done, when she was like “Ok we should go get that bus now”, and sure enough it was still there waiting for me! And then even when I got in, it sat there for a good 10 more minutes before we got moving! And there I went, to my office, having gotten no paperwork done what-so-ever, but at least a belly full of nice hot coffee.

The drive to my center however was very insightful. It took me through some very small side streets, and past houses and ponds that I think showed me the real Dhaka (as opposed to the little more upscale side of things that I’m living in now), and it was incredible…and I can now see why we have so much of a sanitation/ hygiene issue here and so many cases of Diarrhea. It made me even more excited for my urban field site visits that I should be doing soon!

Soon enough I was to my building…although I didn’t know what floor the center was actually on. So I just followed people discreetly, acting like I knew where I was, which only backfired when I needed a badge to enter. Apparently the man I needed to meet was also out?

“Untill when”

“We don’t know, he is supposed to be here now, but we have not seen him all morning.”

Ok! Good thing one of my roommates worked here at this center and I was able to call her down. She helped orient me a little and introduce me to some of the other people. But there was no desk for me so I just sat in the break room (good thing I brought my laptop with me!) with all the tea and lunch food. That was also kind of tricky though too, since I didn’t have any Internet access because I have no log in id or password.

So this is me now:

• My main supervisor, PI person is gone for a whole month on a leave. Missed her by ONE day because of a strike.
• She told me to report to another man. But he is out for the next two days. I should be able to meet him Tuesday (the Wednesday of an American week).
• The lady who was supposed to give me all my paperwork and info decided coffee was a better idea (that one IS hard to argue with).
• The man who is supposed to orient me is out, I have no desk, no Internet, no guidance, basically no project.

At least I had a good place to chill, everyone came in to my “office” for lunch and I got to sit there and try and talk to people, but it was all in Bengali, So I understood zero. Eventually one lady came in who spoke English and it was nice to meet her. She explained a lot to me.

Shortly after lunch the man who was supposed to give me a desk, etc. finally showed up (It is now 2pm).  He showed me around the office a little and told me what was what. Then he took me to my station. Which was on a completely different floor (there was no open spaces where everyone else is). This level is an area about a 6 by 12 meter square area. And Im pretty sure there are over a hundred people working on this floor. Lucky the lady who works next to me speaks some English, but I think she might be the only one. And I cant get back to the other floor since I have no ID badge still, and I still have no internet access, as I still have no user name. But at least I have a location to be aimless in for the next 2 days. 

Also I forgot to mention I woke up this morning with a cold, so all day I have been sniffing and kinda fuzzy in the head. So I went to get some afternoon tea (I love that we have tea breaks here). But I put salt in my tea rather than sugar…. I really need to learn some Bengali.

45 more min. till I can go home. 

The great Salwar adventure

Well I just wrote a whole bazillion pg update…and then I pushed post…0nly it actually deleted. Oh well now I learned my lesson about these things, and I should save! But now onto the real content!

The past 2 days here have been the weekend (Friday and Saturday), which I find entirely strange, and might take me a few weeks to get used to! But it has actually been really nice as it has given me a few extra days to settle in, get over jetlag, and explore! Yesterday that was sort of my main item on the agenda! I did spend most of my morning doing some reading and literature searches for my project (but there is only so much I can do, having not even gone in yet). But then after lunch me and on of my room mates (who arrive in country about 4 hours after I did!) decided we should go out and try and buy some Salwar Kameez's, which basically is what most Bangladeshi women wear here. I think they are absolutely beautiful as well, So I was really excited to get some.

Ricshawalla kid doing some repairs
to his Rickshaw.
(Sorry its fuzzy, I was trying to be discreet!)

It was great to get out and trop through the streets again. It was great to be weaving in and out and in front of the crazy traffic and rickshaws that are everywhere. I’m pretty sure my roommate thought I was crazy, but I think my Yemen instincts kicked in pretty quick again and I was walking like a local in no time (or so I like to think). There is a big intersection / circle about 1k from my apartment that I think has pretty much anything I will ever need while here, Its nice to be so close to so much!  We found a little alleyway around there that had tons of cloth shops and salwar stalls and that is were the fun began! I felt like I was back in my element! It reminded me So much of Yemen (back on Jamal st. or Tahreer for those of you who know) It was exciting to dig through the piles of bright colors and barter and move from shop to shop. It was great fun, even with a language barrier. Before yesterday I knew about 10 words, just a few numbers, right, left, enough, thank you, how much…just the essentials. I have a few more now, but I also now know I should carry a notepad around with me and just be nerdy and write it down right away or I forget!

My room mate bartering for some
cloth for her salwar.

There was one problem though with the shopping, My room mate, who is probably a US size 6, and only 5’6” was having a hard time getting salwars that would be big enough (and the two she ended up getting, when we got home were super tight. Were hoping they stretch out with more wearing). So me who is 5’10” (taller than the average Bangladeshi MAN), and definitely not a size 6, was just not going to find anything that would fit. BUT there were these cool half made things, that are like pre-cut fabric that you can take to a tailor and have them sew it up for you super cheep. So that is what I did, and think it was way more fun anyways. That way I got to pick my own neckline shape, sleeve length, and even some extra sparkly edging to go around. That was a whole other adventure with the language barrier, but we will find out next week if we made it work!

Me with the tailor figuring out my salwar kameez!

My room mate getting measured.
As you can see, it was a hot day!

By the time that was all done, my shopping buddy looked like she was about to faint, and had pretty much soaked her shirt through in sweat (I was surprisingly not nearly as sticky, I think I might be getting used to it!) so we took refuge in a juice bar. All I need to say is Yummy yummy in my tummy. I think I might OD on mangoes, pineapple and bananas while I’m here, but I personally think it would be a very delicious way to die. I also know I’m putting my GI tract to the test, but I’m hoping again my Yemeni side will shine through again and ill be fine. So far all is well!

Me talking to the street tailor.
(my salwar is the bright pink cloth on the machine)

After that we felt very much revived, and decided to hit the shops again to get some fabric to hang on our walls to spruce up the place, as right now we seem to be going for a very dungeon / prison motif. While there we both ended up buying another salwar kameez and getting that one made by just a street side tailor. This is basically just an old man with an old singer sewing machine from the 50’s sitting on the side of the road. He said he could have it ready by the next day, so I’ll be popping over again later to pick it up. I managed to get some pictures while out, but when I go back later today I will bring my REAL camera (as opposed to my phone camera) and get some better photos. But for now you can see some posted below.

When we got home it was basically dinnertime, and my roommates and I all ate together a delicious Bangladeshi dinner, and then spent the evening chatting. They are all so great to learn from both culturally and academically. All three of them are in PhD programs and doing so much already, its great to get the insider scoop.  By 10 pm though I had pretty much hit my limit and called it a night. I came in to write my blog and sat down on my bed with my computer to type and immediately fell asleep fully clothed, computer open (those of you who have lived with me know this absolutely never happens, so I must have been pretty beat). Luckily I woke up an hour later and was able to change and get ready for bed.

Today I’m mostly just doing more research for my project, a little language stuff, and then ill hit the streets again to pick up my salwar, take some pictures and maybe practice my phrases (although this usually gets me into trouble, as then people try and talk to me, and I don’t know anything!) Hopefully I go into the Center for the first time tomorrow, however there are some rumors of another strike, in which case I wouldn’t be able to go!

That is all for now. Update more later!

Upon Arrival

Hello Anyone and Everyone who is reading this blog!

I was unsure of how I was going to update people while here, and figured I would just decide when I got here what ever seemed to happen naturally. I think I will try and send out official email updates and things, and I do have access to Facebook, which will be the most immediate updates. But this way I think I can post some of the movies I make and some general stories over the next few months that I might want to share with those who are most interested, rather than spamming everyone!

I have been in Bangladesh a little over 24 hours now! I landed at 8 am on Wednesday the 16th, which was weird since I left the US on the 14th. Its always sad to loose a day like that to travel. The trip was pretty simple, and uneventful, and nothing too crazy went wrong. I almost left my phone in the car before getting on the plane, but after a sudden decision to hang out a little longer, my Dad turned around and came back! That was my little blessing in the trip to get my phone (and hence my music player) back!  Plus I can use it here for internet and things still, so it is nice to have it! I was telling him that was the mixup of the trip that we got it out of the way nice and early on, and nothing else would go wrong, and I was right! The flights were a blurry mix of lots of movies and sleeping. I got caught up on all the movies I had missed out on the last semester of crazy at school, so that was nice.

It was hard to leave the US, I would like to say I was the brave, independent person I like to pretend I am sometimes.  I was not so nervous about the traveling or even settling into the culture or anything, I think I was most unsettled that I will be able to perform academically at the level I need to while here. But that is yet to be determined! It was also hard too just to be leaving my home. It was a rough, long semester at Emory, and I was so excited for those few days back home in CA with my family. It flew by so quick however, and It felt like I was getting back on a plane in no time whatsoever! The though of being gone for a full 3 months as well started getting to me. It is a long time to be completely removed from everyone and everything, and just setting off alone. I knew once I arrived however I would feel a lot better about things, and sure enough, I do! Not saying these next few weeks will go by with no homesickness or feelings of inadequacy, but now that I'm here, I have been reminded of how exciting it is to be someplace new, and how much I am excited for my project and what I will be doing.

So I have arrived and my first day has been pretty chill. I set up a phone and exchanged some money while in the airport. Pretty easy, the man who came to pick me up helped me with all of it, and was a very nice, friendly man, who spoke English and Bangla, so made that easier! I was met with a pretty extreme awakening when I walked outside the airport though. It was 34C (93F) and probably the most humidity I have ever felt in my life. I was immediately dripping with moisture, and no way it was just my sweat. Its like all the moisture in the air just clings and coagulates onto you. The traffic is very much like Yemen, so nothing im not too used to. Crazy drivers zipping in and out of everywhere, no lanes, and definitely no semblance of order to the chaos. Im glad I will not ever have to drive myself here. My apartment is I think the 6th or 7th floor of an apartment complex ( I lost count while trying to hoist my 50 lb bag up all the stairs in the sticky heat). My first item on the agenda when I finally arrived was to shower (it has never felt so good), then after a little bit of organization, I decided I desperately needed a "little" nap. 3 hours later I woke up, and thought it might be fun to go exploring and try and find food. I was pretty starving, but then by the time I got ready it had started pouring down rain, so I decided to stay in. My room mates got home soon after that however, and it was nice to be able to meet them.

There are 4 interns for the organization living here, which is nice to have company, and I think we will all get along nicely. We have a common area and a kitchen we all share, but then we all have our own rooms and bathrooms as well. We also have a maid who comes every day and does our laundry and cooks us dinner, so its a pretty swank setup! Plus we have airconditioning, which makes me happy, although even with it, im pretty sure I'll just be sticky for the next 3 months.

That evening I mostly just talked to my room mates and got some information about Dhaka, and the ICDDRB (which I will now refer to here on out as the Center, since that is what they call it here). But then decided to call it a night around 9pm, and I was pretty proud I had made it that long. I slept pretty much the whole night, I woke up briefly around 1:30 am and was unsure if I would be able to fall back asleep again, but then managed to sleep till 6:30, so hopefully jetlag wont be as hard to adjust to as I had worried it would be. I was supposed to go in to work today to meet my supervisor and just start orientation and everything. But unfortunately yesterday there were some arrests for the political opposition party, and today there are strikes (which are called hartells here) all around the city and we aren't aloud to really go out and around (although I think me and one of my room mates is going to go around the corner to the market a little later, so ill get to do SOME exploring!). I guess these are pretty common here, like almost one a week, or every other week, so it makes it difficult to get work done I guess. Im a little bummed out about it though, because today was the last day of the week, before the weekend( Friday/ Saturday here). And my supervisor goes on a 2 week leave of absence after today. So now I wont be able to meet here until June 17th or something ridiculous like that, and Ill just kind of have to figure out the project on my own until then. Hopefully there will be someone I can talk to though for some guidance.

That is all for now, I'm sure I will have a lot more to say once I get out and can do some exploring and everything!  Here is a picture of my room (I get TWO beds!) Ill share more of the whole apt later!