The Ants in my Bed Bite...

The ants in my bed bite. They're little red ants. Also they attack any and all food. They got to my peanut butter....luckily, I was able to salvage some. But I NEED to get them out of my bed...

Friday, June 14th

So, as expected this has been a pretty quiet week. The guys were supposed to get home yesterday. They aren’t getting home until next Thursday…two weeks living alone in Dhaka isn’t exactly a blast. There is very little to do, especially on my own, and the apartment is so quiet to come home to every day.

So, yeah it’s been crazy quiet and I’ve been pretty bored. It’s hard when there are so few people to interact with. 75% of the people I do interact with day to day don’t speak English. And days at work are spent pretty much doing just that: work. People are pretty focused there, and in and out throughout the day. Sometimes it’s just a couple people in my area of the office. After work, I’ve just been walking home and picking up food on the way home. Lots of reading. I’m definitely learning to entertain myself and be okay on my own! I guess that’s something. And now it’s the weekend. I’m sitting in a café near the office. I came to just get out of the apartment and get out a little. They’re playing Celine Dione’s “My Heart Will Go On” right now. Titanic. Great movie.  The walk to the café was really nice. I would almost venture to say it’s cool out today. It must have rained last night. Also the streets are as quiet as I’ve ever seen them. I will have to walk around more on the weekends! It’s nice to not have quite the same hectic chaos that this area is during the week. The streets are actually manageable to cross! I think I’m going to do something with Ariadna this weekend—she mentioned a jazz concert at a café. There are veryyyy few options of things to do in Dhaka…

I think I’ll also try and head to the market and get some food and maybe cook tonight. The market even looked sort of quiet on my walk over. The markets have beautiful flower stands, and almost all of them have lilies—my favorite. Maybe I’ll pick some of those up too. Someone at the office told me all the mangos are loaded with preservatives. So sad. I guess they’re not the safest to eat. The region my project is in, though, I guess has fresh mangoes without preservatives. We are going to the field on Tuesday, so we will be able to get some mangoes then! Also, yes, I am going to the field Tuesday night! That will help break up this monotonous time spent here alone. We’re taking the overnight train Tuesday night and then the overnight train back to Dhaka Wednesday night. Sort of a hectic trip, but I am still really excited. We’re just going to try and get some answers about the clusters (groups) of people getting formed by another organization (BRAC) and seeing if we can use them in our next intervention.   

In other news from this week, somebody in the office is getting married! And we are all invited. Ariadna said I will need to get a sari for it. I’m really excited; it should be such a fun event to experience. I also had to get to the bank this week, and Alamgir offered his car (and driver) to take me while I was at work. The bank I needed is a ten-minute walk MAYBE. It took 40 minutes to drive there….We were stuck in traffic the whole time. Bank security is funny here. One of the banks we’ve been to had just a guy sitting with a straight up shot gun at the door…interesting approach. On the way to the bank, we passed tons of little food stands, with all sorts of different street food I didn’t recognize. I’d love to try some; I’ll have to see what is and isn’t safe to eat from them.

I’m going to have to find some things to do with my free time. Apparently when Ramadan starts (the beginning of July) the office closes at 3pm. Food places are sort of shut down, as is the city. People aren’t really out on the streets much. I guess it’s sort of dangerous to be out on the streets, because it’s so dead. But certain areas are really cool to go to for breaking fast at the end of each day, so I will have to check some of them out. As for all the extra time I will have (and even have right now) I am trying to see if there are places I can volunteer. It’s hard being here and having my work mostly be with numbers on my computer at a desk. I'm learning a lot about economic development work, and this is a big part of it, but I would love to feel I was doing some hands on work while I'm here, as well. Not that taking the time to volunteer a little here and there will make much of a difference, but I’d love to get involved in the community more and interact with people. I think I am just dying to interact with some people!! It will be so great when the guys get home from the field… I’m going crazyyyy alone. Also, it would be neat to get a better idea of some of the work being done in Dhaka, especially from local organizations. I have reached out to a couple, so we will see. It doesn’t help that I speak NO Bangla…but hopefully someone will take me!

As for other ideas, at least once the boys get home, I will be getting out more and exploring the city. After the episode of exploring-gone-wrong last weekend with the protest, I will definitely be careful to AVOID Shabagh and any other protest areas in my exploration. This weekend, I will probably lay low. Like I said, I may spend some time with Ariadna. Martin’s girlfriend is in town from India, so it sounds like he is spending the weekend with her. I may try and find some other stores to get more local clothes. We’ll see how that excursion goes…I’ve taken to trying to walk places so I don’t have to deal with rickshaws. If you don’t know where you’re going on one of them, it’s impossible, and they way overcharge. If I head into Gulshan 1 or 2, though, I will obviously need to take one. We shall see where this solo weekend takes me… my excitement and sense of adventure is fading a little. I could use some companionship to gain it back! For now, things are slow and there’s not much going on and there’s not much to do here. Hopefully my next post will be an update with a little more excitement!  

Tuesday, June 11th

So, just a quick post tonight! Not too much going on this week. Work has been good, and I have been helping to get organized for the next intervention in the field. We are hitting a roadblock with a few important logistics, so we need to get to the field to ask some of the supervisors there for information. We’ll probably go for a day or two next week! I’m very excited to see the project area.

Today, we heard news of the strike yesterday. Two hand bombs went off in Shahbagh Square—the same square Martin and I were three days ago!! The bombs were for the strike, so were unlikely related to the rally we saw, but I’m thinking that area is definitely not somewhere we should be hanging around. Thankfully, nobody was hurt. They were very small bombs, dropped by two motorcyclists that drove off afterwards. A protest against the Jammeet-E-Islami strike was happening in the square at the time.

Things are quiet here; I heard from the guys and they might not be getting back until after Thursday but think it will probably be Thursday. I hope it’s Thursday--it’s lonely staying in this apartment alone! I have been sleeping fine even though the apartment is FULL of creepy noises. And little ants. And baby cockroaches. And a little lizard. So many miniature animals. I did wake up to myself sleep walking across my room last night, while sleep talking to someone I thought I saw in the corner of my room! I was weirdly not that freaked out by this at the time, but I think it was because I really only half woke up and then got myself back into bed.

I’ll keep you updated on anything happening this week! It will likely be a quiet week with me hanging out on my own here. I have officially figured out how to get to and from work and have walked a few times now. Also,  I was able to guide a rickshaw going the COMPLETELY wrong way in the right direction, so no more stress about getting to work! Finally…knock on wood...

June 11th--Weekend Pictures

Gulshan 2 Circle--this is the center of Gulshan 2

Gulshan 2 Circle (first stoplight I had seen in Dhaka...)

Gulshan 2 Circle 

The entrance to one of the markets in Gulshan 2

This picture doesn't capture it that well, but all of the buses here look like they've been paper mache-d!

The kittens I wanted to buy! (Even though I'm allergic...)

A line of rickshaws waiting for customers

Through those trees under the roof are some pottery stands we found off one of the main roads in Gulshan 2 

Inside one of the pottery stands in Gulshan 2 

Kishan walking NEXT to our rickshaw on the way home from Gulshan 2. No this is not usual. We got out so that he could get up the hill more easily.... 

View going across the river on the way home from Gulshan 2

The National Assembly Hall (Parliament) 

Monday, June 10th (My First Weekend)

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)

Thursday, June 6th

So today I felt comfortable (relatively…it’s all relative) walking around alone for the first time AND I didn’t have a problem on the way to OR from work! The things I celebrate here J.

I’m sort of cheating by saying I didn’t have a problem on the way to work, because Kishan, Prabhat, and I went together. We tried to do three on a rickshaw, with me sitting on the top of the little seat back, with my legs squished in between them, but we were teetering and almost definitely would’ve fallen, so we ended up in two. It’s quite a sight when you see three or four people on these tiny rickshaws. We got straight to work with no problems. Today was a slow day at work. I am updating a lot of spreadsheets and files right now before getting started with the data, and it gets really tedious. Also, I forgot to eat breakfast. Also, it was raining most of the day. Also a big plate of rice for lunch almost guarantees a food coma for at least an hour after. So the combination of it all had me spending most of my energy today trying to stay awake. The day was short, though, and I left at around 4pm…the dreaded attempt to make it somewhere by myself…aka home…BUT I got home without any problems! The rickshaw only took me to the main road near my house because they have limitation on when they can go on certain roads (which doesn’t help as I attempt to learn “the route” to work, since there really isn’t one route with all the restrictions), but I recognized where I was (SHOCKING) and was able to walk home. It was such a relief. And I think I am adjusting to the attention as I walk around alone. I mostly avoid eye contact and keep my eyes down. One rickshaw was biking really slowly to stay next to me walking (staring at me along the way), but eventually I turned and so was on my own. I wore more traditional clothes for the first time today, and I definitely felt more comfortable. Maybe they are helping?

Once I got back, it was early, and even though I really didn’t want to brave trying to get around on my own again, I headed back out to the store I went with Ariadna the day before. The more I force myself to do things on my own, the quicker it will become easy. I wanted to exchange a pair of pants for a top instead, since more tops is better than more goofy pants when I’d rather just wear my plain linen pants. The store has been full of foreigners both days, which is sort of a welcome sight. I saw a European woman with her young daughter and a Chinese woman. I wonder where all of these people live…they all have drivers to get around so that’s probably why I don’t see them walking. But anyway, I made it all the way to the store and back, no problems. So overall, I’d say I had a pretty successful day—the most successful one so far.

Now I'm just hanging out waiting for Prabhat and Kishan to get home. They have had THE longest days getting ready to go into the field this weekend (getting home at 10pm or 11pm). They leave tomorrow morning, which is a bummer, because as you can tell I'm pretty hopeless on my own still. I probably will stay with Ariadna, which is the plan, but we will see. I’m feeling more comfortable in the apartment so it may just be easier to stay here. They are either getting back Sunday or might stay the week until THURSDAY; I’m REALLY hoping it’s just till Sunday. I’ll have to branch out to figure out how to spend all of my free time this weekend…hopefully I can get a little exploring of Dhaka in. Maybe I can go with Martin (a fourth intern from Sweden). I would be a disaster alone…I’ll keep you posted!