Wow, so it’s been a few days and this ended up being such a
LONG post! Woops. But I just got home from work after a pretty eventful
weekend. Tomorrow is a scheduled Hartal (a strike), so I will stay at home and
work. I guess it is very unusual that there weren’t any last week; they are
pretty common and sometimes there are a couple in a week. It’s really bad
timing, since Kishan and Prabhat just left this morning until Thursday, so I
will have to entertain myself at home tomorrow.
So, this weekend I was on my own quite a bit, because Kishan
and Prabhat were at the office and kept thinking they were leaving to go into
the field but then just ended up preparing to go. Like I said, weekends here
are Friday and Saturday, so those are the days we get off. Friday morning
Kishan and Prabhat left, and I just hung out all morning. It was actually
really nice and relaxing—made myself an egg sandwich and watched Damages (great
show). I decided I needed to get myself out and oriented around our
neighborhood and over this whole uncomfortable walking around alone thing, so I
mapped out a walk in my guidebook and went on a walk in the afternoon. It was
actually really nice to see the neighborhood and get more comfortable getting
around on my own. There are a lot of corner shops nearby, which was a good
discovery, even though there is quite a big market just down the street in the
other direction. But corner shops can be easier to navigate and manage—they
just have the basics of snacks and drinks.
After my walk, I headed home and Kishan and Prabhat actually
came home after I thought they had gone to the field, so we were able to grab
dinner. We went to a Thai place nearby. It was good and we stayed late just
hanging out and talking and drinking tea. I forgot to put bug spray on
though….ugh. I didn’t get too many bites, but they’re literally the size of
silver dollars—the biggest I’ve EVER seen. And I got one on the middle of my
forehead (who gets bitten there??).
On our way home, we stopped at the market to get some fruit
and snacks. We were in the middle of buying fruit from a stand when a huge BOOM
when off. Everyone in the market ducked. That was the scary part. I thought it
sounded like a firework had gone off in the street! And at first, sort of
thought that’s what it was and thought we’d see one. But then with everyone
ducking, it was pretty scary. It didn’t help that a guy started running towards
the market after (even though it was totally unrelated). All three of us were a
little nervous. Everyone was saying it was a blown tire or something, but it
certainly didn’t sound like that—maybe it was. In any case, nobody seemed too
concerned after but we hurried home anyway.
We watched TV when we got home—we actually get a HUGE array
of channels in like 7 different languages. But the few English speaking ones
broadcast old shows from home, which is nice. There are a LOT of religious
channels; one just shows live footage of Mecca 24/7 with Muslims walking around
it in circles praying and prayers being read in the background.
Saturday morning, Prabhat and Kishan didn’t have to leave
until 2pm, so we hung out in the morning and had egg sandwiches and mango. The
mango, which is just coming into season, is DELICIOUS. The best fruit I’ve
maybe ever had. It is so so much better than mango at home and apparently they
will get even better as they become more in season. Kishan and I went and
explored Gulshan 2 after breakfast. We live in Banani and right next to us is
Gulshan 1 and Gulshan 2—all three are probably the nicest parts of Dhaka. Gulshan
2 was very urban (I took pics so I will post them) and crazy and hectic and
loud. It was fun to walk around. They have a TON of big markets and then also
modern, nice stores, as well. We wandered down some residential streets, and
those were REALLY nice. I am glad we live in Banani, though, because it is
calmer and so much easier to get around. If I had to go to the market there, it
would be SO overwhelming. One stand was a pet stand and had a little cage of
kittens. I was SO tempted to get one, but the logistics didn’t seem to make
much sense. Once we got home, though, Prabhat was all for it. So, we will see.
Between needing a vet and a home after we leave, it’s sort of doubtful. I’m not
even a cat person but these kittens were SO cute! And just stuffed in a little
cage…
After walking around, the boys left and I met up with
Martin. It was already getting late in the day, so we decided to just try and
go to a couple places in the city. It’s hard to get around with the crazy
traffic here, and the city is quite spread out. We set out for Dhaka
University. It should’ve raised a red flag when Martin pointed out the square next
to it that a lot of the rallies had been a few weeks ago; but I figured we
wouldn’t be going if they were still going on. The auto ride was LONG and our
driver was CRAZY. I had to just close my eyes a few times and hope for the best.
A bus almost rammed us into a median. I am completely terrified when I’m in
these things….we avoided traffic more than if we had gone during the week, but
we still hit some. Passing through other parts of the city was eye opening and
definitely made me appreciate the area we live in. It is SO crowded everyone else—you
can’t even imagine how busy--so much more so than here (which is still very,
very populated and busy) and all the buildings are grimy and packed tightly
together.
When we got to the university we got out, and we heard
shouting on a loudspeaker across the street. But we first went into the
university building we were closest to and it opened into a courtyard in the
middle that was really nice. I thought I get attention walking around here???
It was like people had never seen foreigners! Every single eye was on us
(Martin is a classic-looking Swede with pale skin, blonde hair and blue eyes). It
was pretty unsettling but still neat to explore around a little.
When we headed back out, I followed Martin across the street
to see the park everyone seemed congregated in. There was a huge crowd of
people apparently just milling around, sort of walking around in a big circle.
They all had cards around their necks, but we didn't understand the loudspeaker
chanting/singing/speeches or know what they were there for. We walked out of
the park and started heading down the street across from where they were congregated
(it was a fenced in lawn) At this point I was VERY uncomfortable. It wasn’t
clear if the shouting and chanting from the square was angry or not. And there
was overflow of people obviously involved walking down the busy sidewalks (they
had the tags around their necks). We were getting a lot of attention, and I
obviously couldn’t tell if it was just because we were foreigners or because we
were there. People were calling out to us.
It didn’t seem smart to be there when so many people were obviously protesting
or rallying for something we didn’t understand. Finally, as we were walking, I
saw a large number of people leaving the enclosed park across the street and
going out into the streets with purpose—holding up flags and chanting. At this
point, I told Martin we should really turn around. Who knows what this was
about, but I didn’t think it was smart to be anywhere near it in case anything
got out of hand. He seemed to think we could leave easily enough if it got out
of hand, but as I saw people going into the streets, I knew it was time to
leave.
We walked in the other direction from all of the commotion
for a while, looking for the National Museum, but we didn’t find it. So we go
into an auto and headed to Parliament. At this point I was nauseous from the
nerves of dealing with the crowd and also from walking around in the heat for
much longer than I was used to. I was happy to be in an auto, though, but the
crazy driving didn’t help my stomach. We drove for a very long time again, and then
we ended up at a shopping center. Hm. Not where we were trying to go. We tried
to explain to some guy on the street where we wanted to go, and we got really
lucky that it just happened to be close by. Our auto could’ve easily driven us
to the other side of the city.
We got to Parliament (the National Assembly Hall), which is
on a big plot of land surrounded by a fence. We were quite far away from it and
couldn’t get closer. I took a picture so I will post that. It’s a strange
looking building—big and modern. There was a very wide, open sidewalk around
the fence, though, and as it became evening it had really cooled off. People
were sitting and milling around this area—it must be a place people come to
hang out. It was right up against a highway, though, so it was pretty loud.
We decided to sit down but boy was that a mistake. A little girl
came up and held up flower necklaces right up against my face, and even as we
said no, no, nay we don’t want any, she still kept asking and asking. Then a
little boy holding his even younger brother came up asking for money. Soon five
other children came up behind us poking us and asking for money. There isn’t
that much begging in the Banani area (more in Gulshan 1 and 2 I’ve noticed),
but it is hard to know what to do. With the children beggars, many say paying
them just perpetuates the problem. And that money goes back to a pimp or their
parents who will then send them out again, if it’s a successful way to get
money. It’s really hard to know what to do, but with the swarm of poking children
we decided to get up and keep walking. A couple of them followed us.
It was starting to get late anyway so we took an auto back.
I was pretty exhausted from the long day in the heat and the commotion with the
rally. I was happy when the auto took me straight home without any problems.
Prabhat and Kishan came home shortly after and brought Pizza Hut pizza. It was
different than in the US but still delicious—a good end to a hectic day. We
just watched some TV and headed to bed early. They had to be up at 4:30am to
FINALLY leave for the field.
Today work was very uneventful. Having looked at a map we
bought in Gulshan, I have a very good sense of the roads in this area now, and
I walked to work just to see the way. Our day was short, because they announced
the strike, and I guess it’s not good to be outside at night before the strike
because they sometimes do things the night before. I stopped by the market on
the way home and managed to buy a couple things on my own, which I was pretty
impressed with. The market is hectic and tightly packed between the stands and
people don’t really speak English and prices aren’t fixed (I’m SURE I got
ripped off…) but I was happy that I managed to get some food basics.
The strike tomorrow is by the Jamaat-E-Islami, which is a
radical Islamic political party. It is in response to the fact that one of
their members just got the death sentence for war crimes he committed in the
70’s. I guess their strikes can get kind of violent, which is why it’s best to
stay inside if possible. I think it’s a lot of blocking roads and setting empty
vehicles on fire, and then violence can break out when the police show up to
try and break it up. I guess we’ll just see what happens, but I feel okay about
it, because everyone else seems calm since they are such a regular occurrence.
Also as a side note, there are little ants in my bed L. I’m not sure how to
take care of that, but I guess I’ll start with washing my sheets. It’s pretty
creepy and uncomfortable though…
But that’s all for my weekend! I was going to stay with Ariadna while the guys were gone, but I really am settling in to the apartment and the neighborhood. We have a man at the gate who is so nice, and I met my neighbor today (she doesn't speak english but seems very nice!). Also, after seeing the rest of Dhaka, I really have an appreciation for how great this area is! So, I am staying on my own this week.
I can’t believe it’s already been a
week; time is flying by. We were talking about places we want to travel (within
the country and outside) today, so we are going to try and get going on
planning those. I will keep everyone posted on my week! (Alone…meh)
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