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.
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