Wanna See a Bangladeshi Market?

Here's a video that I put on YouTube about a week ago.  It gives a glimpse of what the city is like around where I live in Dhaka.  The video is 15 minutes long and I didn't tell anybody that I was filming, so there's no commentary.  So there's nothing really extraordinary in this video, but it gives you a good idea of what a market is like.

Video Update From Nepal

Hey everybody!  I'm starting to post video updates rather than just posting pictures and stories to go along with them.  Catherine and I will be sharing the videos so you'll hear about the experiences from both of our points of view.  The first video is about our trip up to Nepal a couple weeks ago.  

The next video will most likely be a "Day in the Life" video that I'll put up sometime in the next week or two.

March in a Nutshell

Before I begin, let me preface this post with an apology for the lack of pictures.  I'm going to pass the blame to my internet connection which, for the last few days has been less than cooperative.  You get internet here in the same way that an antenna for a TV gets a signal.  So even though I've discovered that cupping my hands around the internet receiver box while standing next to a window gives me a great signal, I don't have the patience to wait for my pictures to upload.  But I promise, as soon as the internet gets its act together, the pics are going up!

March has been the busiest month so far.  And it has been the busiest month by a long shot.  From March 1st we have been going, going, going.  I think that nearly every day we have had something going on, and off days like today are starting to feel awesome.  

We kicked off March with our “Bengali Jones” kids camp just to the north of Dhaka.  When you get out of the city you notice that yes, there is such a thing as silence.  Who would have guessed?  We’ve been preparing for this camp since the first week that Catherine and I got here and finally being able to see the finished product was extremely rewarding.  

As a group, the Engage SA team was in charge of all of the games and activities and every session during the camp.  Thinking about camp as a whole and all that needed to be done was a bit overwhelming at times, but everybody did an awesome job getting their parts done and when the time came, we were all prepared.  The camp itself was from Thursday the 1st through Saturday the 3rd.  We had one Thursday night session, two Friday sessions, and one Saturday session.  Crammed between them were a whole lot of games and other activities.  It was go, go, go, non-stop all the time.  

As exhausting as a camp is, I really had a great time with all of the kids and the other Engagers.  I think that we were able to make a good impact on the lives of the kids that came.  And I’ll tell you what, the food at camp made a good impact on me.  Okay, okay, I know what you’re thinking: “He got sick.”  But no!  The food there was actually delicious!  I’ve gotta say, I’m a fan of Bengali food.  Rice with chicken curry, dal, and cooked and seasoned vegetables... yeah baby!  Just remember, right hand only!  Man, I’m getting hungry just writing this.  Time to change subjects.

I got to speak at the Friday morning session, talking to the kids about jealousy.  I think that it went pretty good!  I even got a nice picture of them making their jealous/angry faces at me (There was going to be a picture here, but now it looks like you'll just have to use your imagination)!  This camp was an international camp so most of the kids are expatriates living in Bangladesh.

Since we put so much work into this camp, we are actually going to do it three more times before the end of the semester in cities throughout Bangladesh.  But these camps will be for a Bengali crowd rather than an international one.  Should be interesting, I’m excited!

Once we got back from camp we were all pretty shot, but after one day of rest we were back at it!  This time we were cleaning up and painting the rooms on the floor of a building that we would be using for a women’s gathering.  We worked on that for a few days and got it all wrapped up by the end of the week.

On Friday the 9th we had a team fly in from Mississippi to help us out at Uttam’s Place to get it all painted and looking nice.  Even though we had to cancel one day of work due to some political protests, we were able to get all the painting done in only a couple days.  Once we had gotten Uttam’s Place painted, the team helped us to prepare for the women’s gathering, called Reflections of a Queen.

Along with the team, we got the finishing touches done on the rooms for ROQ and by last Thursday we were set to go for the big event.  ROQ itself was a two day event that Cassie and the girls ran last Friday and Saturday.  Since it was a women’s event, Joe and I were the behind the scenes guys, in charge of keeping the foot baths stocked with warm water and making sure that we did the dishes.  The girls were able to do a great job making every woman coming through ROQ feel very special and valued, so big props to all the girls for their hard work.

On Sunday we leave on a two week trip to Nepal.  We will be trekking through the Himalayas for a week, and we’ll be in Kathmandu for the other week.  I am super excited to be going.  One of the things that I miss most from home is the mountains.  Dhaka - and most of Bangladesh for that matter - is very flat, so the Himalayas are going to be a nice break from flatness.  I’ll be sure to take a lot of pictures and videos and put them up on the blog as soon as I can.  

Old Dhaka

Language school is over!  That’s right, last week was my final week of language school for the semester.  Basically from the time I got here, language school has been the main event of the day, five days a week.  As hard as language school was - and I can honestly say that it was one of the hardest classes I’ve ever taken - I really enjoyed it.  It’s hard to learn a new language, but even interacting with the teachers is a fun thing to do.  I think that some of our best conversations were those about differences in our cultures.  While the class is meant to teach reading and writing in Bangla, you can’t avoid learning culture in the class.  And when those discussions about culture came up, the teachers were just as interested in learning about my culture as I was learning about theirs.  In fact, there were several times when I would be reading aloud from my workbook, and the teacher would interrupt to ask a question about culture that was totally unrelated to what we were reading.  I think we regularly went off on 15 minute side tracks talking about subjects ranging from politics to how they say “ya’ll” in the south.   

But with language school done, other things are starting to pick up.  Last week we started teaching English classes to street kids three days a week in the evenings.  I’ve gotta say, those kids sure pick up English faster than I pick up Bangla!  Most of them have actually been in the class before, so those kids already know the basics, but it’s impressive to me that they’ve been able to retain so much of what was taught several months ago.  Since many of them have grown up on the streets, this is an opportunity that most kids in the same situation don’t have, and it is a huge privilege to be involved in sharing my language with them.

On Sunday I got to go to a part of the city known as Old Dhaka.  In the same way that Seattle has different districts like Ballard, Queen Anne, Sodo, Capital Hill, West Seattle, etc., Dhaka is also divided into different subdivisions.  I live in a relatively northern subdivision called Gulshan, and Old Dhaka is on the Buriganga River less than ten miles south of my apartment.  

To beat the traffic we left at around 7:30 in the morning, getting us there in only about half an hour.  Considering that the average speed of traffic in Dhaka is only 9 mph, we made really good time.  For comparison, when we drive back home from the English class it usually takes us one and a half hours.  The distance of the route we take: 7.2 miles.  Needless to say, there is A LOT of traffic in Dhaka.

The National Mosque

So back to Old Dhaka.  This part of this city is notorious for the huge amount of people that flood the streets.  But being there so early, we beat the foot traffic that comes with the 10 o’clock opening time for most of the shops.  That isn’t to say that all was silent in Old Dhaka.  No, there was still plenty going on.  We made a quick stop at the national mosque and then went into the “nucleus” of the whole operation.  Old Dhaka is a maze of small roads lined with shops.  There is everything from fruits and vegetables to goats waiting to be butchered in front of their still-living friends.

Is this meat fresh?  Why yes it is!

One of the many shop-lined streets in Old Dhaka

We walked down one of the many roads for a while before getting on a rickshaw to take us to the ferry docks.  

Rickshaws rule in Bangladesh

The passenger view on a rickshaw

A smiling rickshaw wallah, what do you know.  Bonus points if you can spot the foreigners.

The ferry dock is crammed full of boats getting ready to set sail to various places throughout Bangladesh as well as India.  They were all passenger ferries from what I could tell, but they were also carrying lots and lots of cargo.  Compared to the ferries, our boat didn’t amount to much more than a large canoe that would take us up the river just a little ways.

There were tons of ferries sitting at the docks.  This is just a small representation.

The street in front of the ferry docks.

From the ferry dock, we boarded one of the large ferries that was being prepped for the next voyage and walked to the back of the ship where we were going to board our small boats.  It took two boats to fit our group and before long we were sailing through the (black) water of the Buriganga River!  

One of the boats all set to go.

We don't stick out do we?

Boat traffic

The river was pretty busy with boat traffic.  Everything from ferries, to other little canoe things, to larger canoe things with motors.  But compared to the roads of Dhaka, the rivers are wide open!

I'm on a boat.

A lot of boat traffic in this river.

My following.

Our river ride was fairly short and before long we were back on shore walking to the van for a trip to Uttara (another subdivision in Dhaka) to finish off the day’s outing with lunch.  So what was lunch like?  We’ll I’ll put it this way; we were a group of Americans in Bangladesh, eating Thai food at a Chinese restaurant while listening to music with Spanish lyrics.  You don’t get more of an international experience than that.  And yes, the food was good.

Until next time! 

Khulna!

I think it’s about time for another blog post.  Actually, it’s way past time for another blog post!

This is my fourth week in Bangladesh and now looking back, it is hard to believe that I have almost been here for a month.  The days seem to be flying by very fast.  As I mentioned in previous blog posts, the normal daily schedule has included Bangla school, meeting and eating at the girls’ apartment, and then doing online college work.  

Living in an apartment in a very dense city, there are times when restlessness can set in.  When we go out, we always need to be with at least one other person and with everybody’s school schedule being different it can be hard to get out for the sake of getting out.  So, to help solve this dilemma, Catherine, Ashley and I have started going for a morning run every Saturday.  We meet up and walk about a mile and a half to a park north of our apartments.  The park is actually pretty nice.  It has 1K jogging loop that circles a “lake” (right now it’s more of a large hole in the ground) and they do a pretty good job of keeping it clean.  

Today when we got there, Ashley noticed up in the trees there were some black things hanging off of the branches that looked like beehives to me.  But when I looked a bit harder I realized, nope, those aren’t beehives.  Good eye Ashley!  You have eagle eyes... color blind eagle eyes.

Guano makin' machines!

Regardless of what was in the trees, we decided that we would brave the guano and run anyway.

But even when we are running we still need to be sensitive to the culture around us.  For me, all this means is that I have to wear pants, but the girls have it a little harder.  Even while running they need to wear a Shalwar Kameez.  Ashley and Catherine, major kudos to both of you.  Those two are troopers!

Look how culturally appropriate we are!

Ashley and Catherine.  Running maniacs!

Almost to the finish line!

But besides our weekly runs, the roof has also become a place of refuge for some of us.  From what I hear, Catherine and Cassie are the biggest fans of the roof, and I’m thinking I should start heading up more often.  They’ve got some good views up there!

Roof dwellers Cassie and Catherine

Gulshan circle as seen from the girl's apartment roof.

So now that I’ve filled you in about some of our normal pass-times in Dhaka, it’s time to cover the big event of the week: the trip to Khulna.

Before coming out, I had seen pictures from the team’s last trip to Khulna during the previous semester, and basically as soon as Catherine and I arrived we were filled in about the inside jokes that had started because of the last trip.  So having missed out on the last Khulna trip, I was looking forward to this one.  Khulna is a bit more than 100 miles southwest of Dhaka as the crow flies, but by bus you are looking at about 10 hours of travel.  Since we were leaving Monday afternoon and returning Wednesday afternoon we really didn’t have much time to spare.  So, the answer was to go by seaplane, making travel time to Khulna about 45 minutes from the time we got on the plane to the time we got off.  Not too shabby!

Waiting for our flight in the domestic terminal at Dhaka International.

Pilots starting the engine.

We left from the Dhaka International Airport and flew down to Khulna where we landed on the river.  Once we had landed on the water, we immediately reached celebrity status.  I’m pretty sure we were the most famous people in Khulna at that moment.  Flying into Khulna in a floatplane isn’t like a Kenmore Air flight into Victoria.  There is no dock to walk onto, just a muddy riverbank that the pilot pulls up to.  The pilot told us to wait until a wood boat had pulled up on the other side of the plane.  The boat would be taking us to a dock up the river where we would meet our car to the hotel.

Parliamentary building as seen from the plane just after take-off.

Brick making factories on approach to Khulna.

There's our ride!

View of the plane as we head toward the city.  Yep, we attract a crowd.

Our ride taking back off to Dhaka.

Bangladeshi ferry system.

Once we we got to the dock, we were picked up and driven down the rickshaw saturated road to our hotel for the next couple nights.  Being as we were outside of Dhaka, I didn’t know what to expect as far as hotels went, but I was actually pretty impressed.  The mattress may have only been an inch and a half thick, but hey, they had western toilets!  We settled into our hotel for only a few minutes and then it was off to work.  We are working on videos for an upcoming kids camp and we were using locations in Khulna as backdrops for several scenes.  These videos, called “Bengali Jones”, are based (loosely) on Indiana Jones and feature Joe Lamberth as Bengali Jones, Holly Hunter as his sidekick, Smalls, and Catherine Brakke and yours truly as the evil monkey villains.  That’s right, Catherine and I ran around Khulna in monkey suits.

The whole gang in the van.  From right to left: Lisa, Catherine, Ashley, Dustin, Holly, Cassie, and Me!

Catherine, Holly, Cassie, and Ashley all pilled into the auto.

We were made for these suits.

Mojo and Jojo chasing Smalls and Bengali Jones to the pier.

Daniel Walton and Catherine Brakke.  Terrifying innocent Bangladeshi children everywhere.

All pilled into the school bus.

Monkeys rule this boat!

Monkey suits off, the kids are relieved that I'm human.

After a bit of filming on Monday, we went to a restaurant in town that we actually ended up going to several times while we were there.  When you find a good place to eat, stick with it!  We met with some of the people we were working with in Khulna and then headed back to the apartment to hit the hay.

I’ve mentioned hanging out on the roof several times, and in Khulna we made sure that we got our roof time.  I went up both nights to take pictures.  The first night I went up alone and the second night I went up with Catherine and Cassie.  The stars are a lot brighter in Khulna than Dhaka!

Getting all artsy fartsy.  Sepia tone.

Catherine blurring up my picture!  Oh well, I think it still looks cool.  Catherine and Cassie star gazing on the roof of the hotel.

On Tuesday we got to work in a home for girls that will be opening in the coming weeks.  We moved around some furniture and tried to get the place ready for opening.  They’ve named the home Ahki’s Place and it’s going to be an awesome way for young girls to have a better chance in life.  The home is going to provide hope for girls in an otherwise hopeless situation, and give them an opportunity to begin a good life.

Catherine was quite popular!

Colorful houses of Khulna as viewed from the roof of the boy's hostel.

Looking down the stairwell of the boy's hostel.

Bubblegum.

BLUE STEAL!

The riverfront at Khulna.

That night we got to speak to a group of young people on the same property as Ahki’s Place.  I had the opportunity to speak to the guys.  They ranged in age from about 13 to maybe 25.  It was a great privilege to speak to them, but the one-on-one conversations I had with them afterward were the highlight of the night.  They were all trying their best to speak English and they were doing surprisingly well.  I, on the other hand, had to just apologize for not knowing enough Bangla to even attempt a conversation.  Those guys were really something else and I'll remember their conversations for the rest of my life.

Speaking to the fellas.

On our final day in Khulna we finished up our filming and packed up to head on home.  The trip was short and sweet.  Getting out of the big city for a while was a nice change from the ordinary and it made me realize how quickly your perceptions of a certain place can change as you begin to explore it more.  When I think about it, this is still just the beginning of the adventure.  There is a lot more to come and I can’t wait to see what’s around the next bend.

Shuttle Express taking us to the airport.

Goodbye Khulna!

And hello again Dhaka!

All Night Par-tay!

It is 11:30PM here in Dhaka, but the party has just begun at the apartment building next door, and the music is PUMPIN!  You might think that noisy neighbors hosting an all night party would be a bit annoying, but I'm actually really enjoying it even from the apartment next door.  And let me tell you, from the sound of it, these people know how to party.  Right now I'm listening to a mishmash of "Down Under", "I Will Survive", and "That's the Way I Like It" with more classics on the way.  I'm telling you, these people have good taste!  And not only do they have good taste, they picked a great location... the roof of course!  Why didn't I think of this?


Well, I'm not leaving anytime soon, so I may have to get on with planning one of these parties.  


Just wanted to give a little midnight update.  A more comprehensive one is on the way shortly.  I couldn't let the night slip by without giving props to the next door neighbors.  Oh, and "We Are Family" is playing now.

বর্ণমালা স্যুপ (Alphabet Soup)

A week and a half has gone by since I arrived in Bangladesh.  The rhythm of life has become normal for me and I’m feeling very good about the way things are going.  

Last Monday we started language school.  Our classes meet five times a week, Sundays through Thursdays for two hours (here in Bangladesh Fridays are like American Sundays and Sundays are like American Mondays).  I’m finding that Bangla classes are much more intense than high school Spanish class.  One big difficulty is that I have to relearn the alphabet.  Now let me tell you, this week I have gained an enormous amount of respect for Kindergarteners.  You don’t realize how hard it is to memorize a list of brand new letters until you have to learn it all over again.  It is no piece of cake to memorize 11 vowels, 10 medial vowels, and 39 consonants, especially when those letters look just as confusing as Chinese. 

Catherine and I in class with our teacher, Ishrat

On top of that, there is absolutely no dozing off in Bangla class.  If you were to add another 20 students to the class then maybe, but when you have one teacher and three students it’s hard to avoid individual attention.  It may sound like I’m complaining, but truth be told, I’m glad that this is an intense class.  I can’t say I’ve been able to retain a lot of what I’ve been taught yet, but by the end of this month I think it will be impossible to walk away without being able to use at least some very basic Bangla.

Now aside from Bangla classes, this week has been a great week to become a little more acclimated to the city of Dhaka.  Even the daily drive between my apartment and Bangla school is an awesome way for me to just become more familiar with the culture.

The view from the van on the way to language school.

Also on the way to language school, looking out the window about to cross the bridge from Gulshan to Banani.

One thing that I have noticed is that Bangladesh is much louder than America.  If it isn’t a honking car, then it is a yelling man, or a singing man, or some other form of noise coming from outside the apartment.  I can’t say I’m completely used to it, but I’m getting there.

On the weather side of things, it has been relatively mild.  During the daytime the highs are in the low 70s, maybe even a little lower than that.  But I hear that the cold season is very short lived.  Yesterday I could feel it was a bit hotter than the other days, and over the next few months things will really start to heat up.  One thing that is very different from home is the smog.  The only way to know if it is cloudy or clear is to look straight up.  If you can see blue, then it is a clear day.  But if you were to just look straight ahead, you can trick yourself into thinking it is an overcast day. 

A smoggy afternoon.  As seen from the roof of my apartment.

Aside from school, we were able to go to Uttam’s Place this week.  It is between 20 minutes and an hour away from the apartment, depending on how bad traffic is.  Uttam’s Place is an establishment that tutors young girls living on the streets in that part of Dhaka.  It sounds like we won’t be working there a lot until the end of the semester, but it is something that I am looking forward to.  On Friday morning we had a fun time hanging out and playing with some of those street kids, both boys and girls.

Catherine looking down from the roof of Uttam's Place.

Joe and I looking pretty boss on the roof of Uttam's Place.

The whole gang walking down the road outside of Uttam's Place.

As far as day to day life goes, I am living in an apartment down the road from the girls with my roommate Joe.  We’ve got a pretty big living area, but we still head over to the girls’ apartment every evening to hang out and eat dinner.  As a team I feel like we’re all meshing very well and I can’t wait to work with everybody in the semester to come.

The crib.

The White family dinner.