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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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).
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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