Celebrity!

It was a rainy weekend at home, but turned out quite eventful afterall. Friday I went to church, worked with my tutor in the afternoon, and then went to house for dinner. Since her father is my Bangla teacher, the pressure was on to use my Bangla skills. It wasn't too bad. They were happy I was trying. Since much of my conversational skills revolve around what I like and don't like, what I eat and don't eat... I found a specially prepared meal of favourites! There were Bangladeshi sweets beforehand, coffee without sugar, then dinner with prawns, beef, vegetables and "rainy day" rice. Afterwards....CHOCOLATE. I was so full, but it was really great. A little embarassing since normally I just eat what's there instead of having my preferances so known.

Yesterday we had planned on going to the Bazaar which sells the clothes made for American shops, but after 4 days of constant rain, and flooded, congested roads, this seemed like a bad idea. I walked to New Market instead for an interesting glimpse of how locals shop and did buy a few things myself. I passed on the goats heads and scrawny pitiful chickens however!

As soon as I arrived home, my hostess asked if I would like to go with them to Gulshan, the posh part of town that I hadn't really been to yet. I said sure, sprayed some perfume to hide that I'd been out in muggy weather and worn the same clothes for two days, wiped the top layer of dirt off my face and put on some make up, and threw on my Keen flip flops. We arrived to the opening of a very glamorous shop which features special designs all in black and white. My hostess supplies the shop with fabric and clothing. We had barely entered, when a photographer asked me (the lone 'bideshi'in the place) to pose looking at some items. Soon there were a slew of photographers asking me to do the same. I was granted a bit of a reprieve when Bengali model became the focus of attention, but later had a few more poses and tv brief (and awkward) interview to conduct. It was definitely a scene to cause mixed emotions. 1) Why does the colour of my skin make me 'special', 2) Photogenic model I am not! 3) I was certainly the grungiest person there 4) I absolutely do NOT have the funds to buy these products like they think I have, causing me to feel quite the imposter. Still, I have to just laugh and enjoy my 7 seconds of fame, which are now used up, I'm afraid!

weekend

our weekends here are on Friday and Saturday, so church is on Friday, and Thursday afternoon is the big rush to travel, shop.... Last Thursday, I joined these masses to go to Mymensingh where there are 2 other newbies studying Bangla, and an old timer, Reba, who has been here a year and serves as our resident expert and guide! I have to say that maneuvering around a place that not only does not speak English but that has even different numbers is a challenge. Since this was my debut, I had someone take me to the bus station and get me on the bus. Hopefully my Bangla will include necessary vocabulary for this next time, but at the moment it's difficult. I have been paying exhorbatant prices for travel and such because I don't really know the numbers they say, can't bargain, and throw money at them until they seem satisfied. Since drivers are more clever than me, they don't get that face until I've paid double the going rate. So, this weekend I'm devoting myself to numbers. BUT, I was still telling you about last weekend!

I eventually arrived around 7 pm...in plenty of time for Cic's birthday party. Her host family was downstairs cooking a special, rice free meal for her, and she had made a cake as a special treat. Dinner here is typically served between 9:30 and 10:30 pm....Yes, you heard me right....dinnertime is what I consider BEDTIME. By the time food comes, I am typically starving, grumpy, and find graciousness to my host difficult. But, with all the special food, mishti (sweets) and fruit with custard, plus the chocolate cake, on the menu, I was able to be a bit pleasant.

The next afternoon (Friday) we took a rickshaw, bus and bike cart to another MCC house. This is a family that has been here 3 years. They have a one year old (well, we celebrate her birthday NEXT week) who can show you "how big"she is in Bangla and English with equal bravado. Their house is a bit remote, in an indiginous area which is really pleasant and beautiful. Of course, this is after much deforestation and banana tree planting so it must have been stunning before. Here Mondi people live. The women traditionally wear skirts instead of the shalwar kamiz (pants and tunic) and they are matriarchal people....which is refreshing coming from typical Bangla communities where women don't have many rights, and in fact, are often hidden away. They do some beautiful weaving there and I got a great bag, wrap skirt fabric (which may more likely serve as a table cloth), and some towels.

Everyone was excited to go swimming, but I said I hadn't been in Bangladesh quite long enough to get in that water. Brown, green, murky.... But as the heat intensified, it did start to look tempting. We had dinner with the priests and sisters at the mission, and spent the evening at the MCC couples house chatting since the power was out making games or such difficult. They mentioned snakes en route so I tried to get a good nights sleep in spite of an overactive imagination. At one point in the night some dogs were snarling at each other. My first thought was that it must be the dogs like the creatures in Lady in the Lake or whatever that movie was that was out this summer. I hadn't given a thought to that movie and wasn't sure why I'd expect supernatural animals over real ones. Cic said perhaps because my whole life is a bit surreal right now, that I've come to expect that.

Saturday we rode "bikes" to a deer reserve and outlook tower. The bikes are Chinese, heavy, and not real great steering capabilities, so manuevering through the mud was a bit interesting. The view from the tower was beautiful. It's too bad I didn't have my computer to show you.

I had planned to leave that afternoon but had to stay due to political activities in the area. they went swimming again while I worked on my Bangla homework. We had dinner with one of the local families, which meant that it came very late, and I was certainly ready to sleep when we finished eating. Mondi people eat pork and although we had our own food - fish cooked over coals in a small pit and mashed potatos ("bideshi"/foreigner food!) they gave us a taste. Very tasty sauce but the "pork"I had was really just fat which I couldn't quite manage. The fish and potatos were sure good!

To get to my class the next morning, Phillip drove me by motorcycle to a nearby town and I rode the bus to Dhaka. I had just enough time for a quick snack and face wash, and was partically coherent for class after a short night and long (4 hour) journey.

For those of you who send me glimpses of your days/weekends, I sure love it!

Bangladesh reading club

It has been quite a week just adjusting to life here, studying language, settling in. I think the highlight is the moments I took from my studying to read The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh. I have previously read The Glass Palace which is about Burma. Amitav Ghosh is a wonderful story teller, and one of my favourites. The Hungry Tide was especially relevant since MCC staff will visit the Sunderbans in October. I am hoping to add a tiger viewing to the other majestic animals I have seen. If you want other reading recommendations, let me know.

I'm off to Mymensingh for the weekend. One of the staff is having a birthday. No break from the studies. I can now read Bengali script like a 5 year old! Typically you learn pronunciation and can read anything which makes study a bit easier. I'm finally able to make Bengali flash cards which I hope will help. I have to say I think my Bengali is already better than my IsiNdebele was. For one thing, one language is spoken instead of a combo or 3 or 4. Another, it's at least written even if it does initially look like squiggles! But it is a slow go for me, hence the reduction in blogs. I'll try to have more interesting updates next week!

Home life

I have enjoyed some of your comments and suggestions. Thanks for the language advice. I am coming along a bit, but basically spend most of my day on it...except when I'm emailing/blogging!

Kirsten, I will try to think of behaviour worthy of the undivided attention I receive from the locals. Since nosepicking is fairly well accepted, I may have to be more creative!

Photo 1:
Jahanera...she feeds me and keeps me company when no one else is around. She is the cleaner at the house where I live. She does not speak English but now knows "I don't know" very well (my constant response to whatever she says) and she repeats it with a giggle. She was so pleased when I wrote her name in English and has been copying it.

Photo 2:
Request for view of my orange attire....I'll post a bad picture I tried to take of myself in my room with the camera batteries dying. But you can get an idea of my bed and room and attire!

Photo 3:
Showermate....This lovely was in the shower, and I continued to nonchalantly wash. I thought the spider was stealing soap, but instead it was holding it's egg sac, as I was told by my host. I thought this was all the more reason to kill it immediately, but she didn't seem to have the same response. It had disappeared by morning so I don't know it's fate. I don't think it could have made the journey to my room that fast, so that's ok!

Sirajganj

Maybe a bit of a mouthful, s is pronounced sh if that helps a bit. This will be my home for the majority of the next 3 years so I was pretty excited as was D who will be there for 9 months. I have been saying I was not coming with expectations since it is my experience that that is the best way to approach working in a developing country! As we were getting closer though, I did admit that a scenic river was something I was hoping for. D has been hoping he will be able to have a goat. So, different strokes for different folks I guess! Anyway, as I said before, we were approaching the bridge crossing the Jamuna river just as the sky displayed the pinks of the sunset, which was a really nice time. I believe it was another 10 km or so to the town. Sirajganj has about 80,000 people...small compared to the other places we'd been. Streets are congested with rickshaws (passenger bikes) rather than busses and cars like Dhaka. And the river and surrounding scenery are beautiful! Maybe not quite my pleasant creek in Oregon, but not as bad as some of the hot dusty places where I have also lived.

I was warned that you are always a center of attention as a "bideshi" (foreigner)in Bangladesh. Being in towns, I found there were a lot of stares, but not too troublesome since you are not expected to greet, nor are you touched or propositioned as sometimes happens in Africa. After a nights rest and overview of MCC's PARE program, (Partnership in Agricultural Research), we set off to see a home like where I will live (quite nice - 2 bedroom, 2 bath, kitchen, living area, tile floors, 2 balconies)and then went to the river for a boat ride. They left us on the road while Bengali's went to negotiate a fare without "rich" Badeshi's present. As we stood there waiting, more and more people gathered, just to STARE. They don't talk to you, they don't try to touch you typically, they just gather like it's the best show in town and they want to see it. While very used to attention, this is like nothing I have experienced before. I'll admit I found the attention in Africa exhausting at times, but it is interactive which maybe seems more 'normal'. Later on we were in a village, and the crowds just followed us. Even sitting in the van people just come watch you. One older lady with grey hair, stood right next to the van window looking at us. I would smile at her, she would smile back, and just stay looking. I found it really bizarre, but if anyone reading this has some insight into this, please let me know!

Anyway, we went on the boat ride, which I will post photos of, and later went to see some of the projects PARE works with. I overall thought my house was more luxurious than expected, the town is a reasonable size, and the surrounding beauty I think will make it a nice place to live. To our knowledge D&I will be the only expats in the area, so it looks like my goal to escape the expat culture of Zambia has been accomplished! Also, English is not widely spoken in more rural areas, so the pressure is on to do my homework!

Orientation trip day 3

We started out visiting a paper making trip. The photos show some of the process. For cotton paper they start by cutting t shirt type material into small strips. This is then boiled for 6 hours and disintegrates a bit in the water. It is drained into vats where women stir it vigorously and then begin using screens to pull out one layer at a time. They build up a number of layers with a muslin cloth separating each one, and eventually take it to a hydrolic compressor which was developed some time ago by an MCC service worker. After this, the sheets are placed on large metal frames with hot fire burning underneath. The end products are very nice (they sell to Oxfam and 10,000 Villages so you may have seen them).

We later went to an agricultural project where they are doing research and helping subsistence farmers with things such as increasing the number of female offspring of talipia fish with genetic modification (I got a long technical explanation of this, but since I'm hoping I got that brief summary right, I won't expound), rearing rabbits and introducing them into peoles diets, and raising goats in small pens with suplemented food so they don't eat everything in site and gain weight much more quickly increasing the profit. We visited another MCC couple who is also doing this kind of work and had a wonderful meal of 2 types of greens, dal, pumpkin, chicken....and of course, rice followed by the standard sweet milky tea. I gues I should mention each of these stops involved an elaborate tea presentation, so we certainly have not been going hungry. Apparrantly guests must always be fed, and you won't hear me complaining!

We stopped briefly at the Catholic mission where the father, originally from the US, has been working for around 55 years. They do a lot of work advocating for the indiginous people who have been in danger of having their land and culture completely taken over as well as operating an orphanage and adoption, and working with MCC on the agricultural projects.

After words, it was on to what is to be my home for the next 3 years. My anticipation was growing as we neared Sirajganj, and coming over the large bridge crossing the Jamuna river as sun was setting, things were looking good!

Orientation trip day 2

Wednesday our orientation schedule was slightly interrupted by a "hartel" or strike. People don't go to work and you can't drive motor vehicles. None of us minded a day on foot and rickshaw after the long journey the day before. We first were told about the projects based in Myenmesingh which are primarily in job creation. They are working with projects to develop their products for selling. MCC has been very successful in this. There is a popular shop called Aarong that was started by MCC, and they are in the process of making a marketing/distributing company called Source independent. We visited a place that makes woven and paper mache items first. They provide income for women who are maybe widowed or divorced or underpriveliged in some way. We also visited a project which provides employment for handicapped people. There was a young man drawing with his mouth, a deaf and mute man who does these amazing carvings with such expressions, people unable to use their legs doing weaving or making paper cards. It was really remarkable. I maybe have mentioned 2 others that came with me. Since this is public domain I won't mention names, but they are both in the MCC SALT program which are service opportunities for people 18-27 for one year. They are both studying language in Myenmesingh so they were getting oriented to that. At the end of the 2 months of study, the young woman will stay there and teach English at a Catholic mission, and the young man will go to the area where I will be headed a month later.