Dhaka, Bangladesh.
So I made it in alright and things have been going pretty well so far. Before getting in to Dhaka, a few anecdotes about the flights:
- I met a British couple who, in their retirement, spend three months a year doing teacher trainings in Bangladesh. I think more people should give back like that
- I had the strangest cultural meld ever. In the Bahrain airport, I ate breakfast next to two Texans (who were none too pleased that bahrain doesn't sell alcohol at all...never mind that if it was 745am there) in a Chile's (in the middle east??) while watching two women go by in full burqa (the head-to-toe-even-the-face covering for some Muslim women) who were walking past an advertisement for 1) the iPhone and 2) A Quizno's (the country's fourth). Consider my mind blown.
- The bus with wings from bahrain to bangladesh consisted of about 200 men and about 5 women. Since Bangladesh doesn't really sell alcohol either, most of these 200 men ordered the complimentary beer or liquor that comes with international flights. Again, sine these men don't normally drink much, the bus with wings soon turned into the Party bus with wings.
So on to Dhaka:
My first impression upon stepping into the airport was, "oh- well this isn't so bad" The airport is clean, not very busy, and my bags all made it. That was before I went outside.
The first thing I noticed was the smell. Or maybe it was the noise. Either way, both accosted me in a way I can't compare to anything I've ever experienced. Yelling, honking, moving, lights, exhaust fumes, soot, smog- it all immediately slapped me across the face. Once I found my driver and we loaded up, I noticed that we weren't going to be going anywhere very fast. Traffic is so notorious that the only words my driver knew in english were "traffic" and "jam" No word yet on whether he knew that "jam" was also a delicious fruit spread. In our starting and stopping, I came to familiarize myself with what was passing outside my backseat window. Several beggars came up to the car, some with children or a leg missing. People were camped out on the side of the road, lighting piles of leaves and trash for cooking or warmth. No matter where I looked, I saw people. people. people everywhere. Dhaka is the most overcrowded, overcapacity place I have ever seen. I can't describe the throngs of people that radiate from every point of view.
Once we finally got to my building, I found my room to be quite clean and comfortable. No big rats/bugs to be found. It even has wireless and an A/C unit! God bless me for the latter. It's currently about degrees during the day, and the humidity is almost always at 100%. And this is winter.
The students that I'll be supervising for the next week during their Orientation seem really great. They're nice and are all a little older and more well-traveled that I am (in the developing world anyway). I'm anxious to get to know them better.
Sorry for the long first post! I hope to make them shorter and more frequent in the future :)
when you wrote the word "jam," my first thought was...."did he fully understand the diverse meanings of the word 'jam?'"
ReplyDeletebut it turns out you don't know either.
loving your blog, by the way. as blog-stalking is already a hobby of mine, consider yourself officially stalked. and expect future stalking from me as well.