welcome to the neighborhood.

literally, not 100 meters from the front of our building (ok, maybe ~200...but seriously, that's it). the cows are tattoo'ed with ink (?) with the owner's name and a number. just in case, you know, they wander off...?

peanuts anyone?

what you'll see when you're walking the streets

took this a couple days ago.

but to keep with the 'one picture a day' thing...

pure bangladesh. old, wearied man, carrying

his food for the market in baskets,

smoking a biri (local cigarette).

only in bangladesh...

...would you hear music streaming in through your window, go out on your balcony and see a full-out marching band on a neighboring roof-patio.  apparently there was a wedding today in the family and the band was just a small part of the celebrations. fantastic. 

...aaaand the view from my window of the construction going on next door.  one of the things i'm always fascinated by when i travel is seeing how different countries "do" construction (i know, such a travel nerd).  let alone the lack of safety standards, it's really interesting to see how areas that don't have access to all the materials and machines available to western nations think "outside the box" to get things done.  and i have a front row view as the building next door goes up...

rangamati

On Saturday one of our amazing AUW staff members and her daughter took us to Rangamati, about 3 hours south/southeast of Chittagong.  Rangamati is one of the districts of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, which is an area of Bangladesh with a population and culture completely different to anywhere else in the country.  (for more information, especially about the tenuous history of the region, wikipedia it!)

Here are some of the pictures from the day trip -- I'll return to this in the next few days and add my lovely, verbose narrative to explain a bit more about the region and culture.  

the 5th roommate...

...and maybe 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th...

geckos!! this little guy was giving mahmuda and i a hard time today when we were trying to clean the kitchen. silly....

just some of the joys of bangladesh...

there are just SO many...one of which is the frequent power outages...at least a couple every day lately.  granted, this was one of those things i did expect coming here (knowing how iffy electricity can be in developing countries...in uganda i had to plan on no electricity after about 6 or 7pm at night), but we're really lucky that the Access Academy does have a generator so when the power goes off, we have basic amenities back on within seconds (air conditioners don't usually make the cut, but i'm alright with that).   HOWEVER as we're heading into some of the hottest months of the year before the monsoon season, so i'm told, we're also heading into electricity problems.  every year around this time, people expect the electricity to be especially unreliable because of the increase in usage, thereby overloading the system. holler. the girls are slowly coming to adjust to the AC-classrooms (when we have electricity) but the lack thereof in their dorm rooms...

some more fun joys...developing country = availability of glass soda bottles. love 'em. and don't think you're going anywhere because they want those bottles back...

oh, and the newest, latest of joys --- we got ID cards today. terrible pictures, awkward clip and embedded chip to get into the computer lab and ALL! 

it's the little things you come to appreciate...

Like getting teacher mailboxes for students to drop off work in.  slowly but surely the school is looking pretty shnazzy...


Oh, and yes...of coures my mailbox (see below - with world map inside) is on the bottom shelf...i might be one of the shorter volunteers...but i'm right on par with most bangladeshi women...even considered tall in some circles! ::shock::

weekend trip: cox's bazar

one of the more charming aspects of living in Chittagong is that there are many holidays, holidays that i've never heard of or celebrated.  A lot of these holidays are based on a lunar calendar - meaning that our academic calendar isn't set in stone because it's not until veeeery close to some holidays that the exact date is decided upon. 

we were SUPPOSED to have the buddhist new year this past sunday, but were told on Wednesday that the powers that be decided that it would be celebrated during the May full moon, instead of April's.  As teachers, we raised a little bit of concern that we'd already told the students (and expected for ourselves) about the 3-day weekend, so the administration declared a day off classes instead of an official state holiday.  

meaning that 2 of my roommates and i traveled to cox's bazar on friday morning for a 2-night, 2-day little vacay - which was absolutely amazing and necessary.  just getting out of our building, and chittagong, for a weekend helped to refresh our energy levels and totally helped my perspective.  With the first two weeks of classes under our belts, things seem to be going well on the academic side - but it's hard not to feel the stress to do the best we can all the time...and getting away was a great reminder that i do have 15 more months with my students to get them to a university level of English.  

Besides getting out of town, getting to experience bangladeshi beach culture was another thing entirely...it's really interesting that beach culture across the world varies so much...and bangladesh is certainly the most conservative i've ever seen.  Imagine lots of bangladeshi men with their girlfriends or wives and families, in one of two attires: boardshorts/swimsuit and a tank top, or a full out suit you'd expect to see them at work in (some, also, were in the traditional male dress of very long tunics, but not nearly as many).  The women, on the other hand, are all decked out in a shalwar kameez, and go swimming in full clothing. There are beach chairs, that you have to pair for, lined along the shore and vendors with peanuts, water, sodas, etc. that walk around trying to sell you your latest snack.  There are also smaller children who go around selling shell strands, necklaces and mobiles...obviously very poor children who don't normally get enough to eat during the day.  Luckily Mahmuda, one of my roommates who's bangladeshi (and therefore usually acts as our interpreter), was there and is more of a softy than me...she came home with probably 8-10 strands/necklaces and two mobiles.  She kept repeating what the little kids were telling her - that they hadn't eat lunch that day, or they were trying to sell enough shells to pay for school - and would eventually hand over the 5 or 10 taka they were asking for the shells.  they inevitably gave her a few extra because she gave them more money than they were asking for...she's got a heart of gold.  

we also had our first rickshaw ride! (a few, actually).  they're a great way to travel in a town that's deserted right now, at least compared to the high season in the winter (apparently it's TOO hot for many people to vacation in cox's bazar right now).  It was so nice to be able to walk on certain streets without bumping into a gazillion people or swerving every few seconds to avoid rickshaw drivers and fruit stands.  we always had to pay a little more than usual because there were three of us cramming into one rickshaw.  it was a tough balance of bargaining the price down and reminding ourselves that the driver was going to be pulling us behind his bike for a few kilometers. 

On our way back to Chittagong on Sunday I realized one more thing that I'm super thankful for in the US - our exposure to traveling at early ages...whether it be cars, buses, trains, planes, etc. There were quite a few young children on our bus and by the end of the 4-hour trip back to Chittagong, all of them had gotten motion-sick at least once, if not more.  I've realized this traveling around asia since january, and it's such a weird thing for many people to have access to these types of transport during their lives that it makes it even harder when they do...barf bags are a staple for most companies...at least, for most of the more expensive ones I've ridden. the cheap public buses forgo such shows of concern for their passengers, but also allow windows to be open when one gets sick.  

all in all - great weekend - send along any specific questions you've got about cox's bazar...it IS the home of the longest continuous beach in the world, but we didn't actually make it there this time around.  we know we'll be heading back quite a bit since it's literally only a 3 or 4 hour ride from our residence to the seaside (it's also quite close to the border with myanmar/burma, making for a large buddhist population, and apparently there's a burmese refugee camp nearby. so, obviously i'm looking for contacts and hoping to come back and help). 

our lovely hotel...we didn't want to pay for AC so we were stuck on the 5th floor.  we had a great view of the surrounding streets as a result...and quite a few cockroaches for roommates as well...


i liked their sign. fun colors. 


one of the things i absolutely ABSOLUTELY love about bangladesh is the bright colors everywhere you go.  the women are always dressed so elegantly, and their clothes are always bright, colorful and eyecatching.  Women check each other out ALL THE TIME and are very quick to comment on what you're wearing...


everywhere on the beach there are guys walking around with old 35mm cameras, offering to take your photos...you can then find them in these smaller stalls later that day, or the next.  the question is really, though, how do you know which stall to go to? 


there was one section of the beach where poorer families were collecting shells to make into strands, necklaces and mobiles...while it was really sad to watch and know that the few taka each necklace cost was the result of hours of work in and out of the water, the children seemed to be having a fabulous time playing while working. 


this one young boy was helping his dad set out nets to collect shells...

and this kid was a complete ham...the minute he saw my camera he ran in front of me, did a few somersaults, ended up on his back and posed for a picture.  he does have a radiating smile, though. 

one of the little boys who mahmuda bought shells from.  he was so adorable...it's a good thing mahmuda's a bigger softee than i am :)

we spent saturday walking around the town of cox's bazar, checking out the two buddhist temples, a few buddhist stupas, the burmese market and the local water festival (we just happened to catch the yearly celebration).  we passed one family as we meandered through a residential area who warned us to not go much further...and then offered their two sons as tour guides for a few hours, for a small fee of course.  the two boys were studying english in school and were quite helpful in pointing out places to go - they took us to a few stupas atop a hill that had great views of cox's bazar, which was awesome.  


sunset at the beach. notice the women in full shalwar kameez outfits, scarves and all. 


one of the vendors on the beach - what else would you want as you're watching the tide come in but fresh fruit, right?

two young girls who were selling jewelry, visors, shell necklaces and other small souvenirs

for flynn jebb...

One of the many pictures I owe you from the past few months...

for your piece on 'driver culture'.

So, i traveled with this girl named flynn jebb through thailand and some of laos. she has this incredible, AMAZING idea to write a paper (and should get paid to do this research, obviously) on the culture of drivers, how it differentiates between countries and what's similar throughout the world. therefore, i've become fascinated with watching drivers in every country i go to. 

i think, flynn, you should also include what drivers learn while they're actually working...what pieces of gossip/information they hear because people always assume they can't hear/understand or don't care to listen...i feel like a lot of them are wealths of information.  I know that our drivers here at AUW probably know more about western/american culture than they'd ever hoped, just from driving around 12 young women.

thanks flynn. enjoy the pic.

not all things in life are free...

So, today, i received a package from my mom.  it was filled with amazing goodness - coffee, chocolate, taboo, alba shampoo and conditioner - even a card from my Oma and Opa, which was especially great to get (because sometimes, all you want is a card/postcard/letter :)). 

I must also explain that every box i've received since arriving in bangladesh has, obviously, been opened, looked through and repacked.  The government/customs makes no secret about it, and even leaves a little note in bangla script that has everything in your box accounted for. 

how nice of them, eh?

HOWEVER, apparently, they not only make people pay pretty hefty prices in the US to send packages (only 90cents for a card!), they also make the recipient pay on this end. I understand, to some extent, but please, for the love of all that is good in the world, do NOT list a "repacking charge". don't open the box in the first place, and then you won't have to repack it! 

seriously.

in other news, for about an hour we had our electricity turned off (for one reason or another) this evening and so, with another volunteer, i went on the roof with some of the students to get some fresh air/see some lights...even if they weren't coming from our building. 

after some talking, dancing and singing...they eventually made me pull out the camp songs. i can proudly say, now, that south asian women are quite the fans of "princess pat" and "'round the world, baby" - for all you silver bay'ers out there.  so much so that they've asked me to type out the lyrics for princess pat.  looks like i know what we'll be using as a warmup for classes from now on.  i don't ever want to forget having to teach my students what a 'repeat after me' song is at 9pm at night, on the roof of a 10-story building in downtown chittagong during a brownout. even when it gets really frustrating dealing with administrative and communication issues, i can always count on the unexpected, amazing events, like tonight, to reinforce why i'm here and how much i do love being in this position. 

AND i got to chat with chelsea frisbee AND bob knepp on skype tonight!! if anyone has a skype address --- add me!! kameehan --- do it. now.

WATERMELONS!

right now - it's watermelon season. we can get them ridiculously cheap, right off the street.  and Chef, our cook, makes sure we have watermelon with at least one meal a day. he also brings a large tray over when all the teachers are done with their lunch or dinner and encourages us, "eat more! it's just water! so good for you!"

how do you resist such logic, really?

the largest crowd i've ever been a part of...

Today was Bengali New Year and a bunch of us teachers headed out to see the festivities.  We didn't have to go TOO far in the morning (the holiday is mostly celebrated early in the day)...at around 8am a full-out parade passed through our neighborhood, right down our little one-way street.  Much to my amusement at the end of the musicians and dancers, there was a giant paper-mache, blue peacock...not only not red or white (which are the new years colors), but bright blue with sparkles.  

There is a park in Chittagong called DC Hill where we'd been told the chittagonian locals head to for celebrations.  Alam, one of the drivers for the AUW, was kind enough to drop us off a few blocks away --- traffic was so backed up getting to the entrance of DC Hill that it would have taken about an hour to move 3 blocks, according to him.  I trust Alam, he's lived in Chittagong most of his life.  He also made sure we knew how to walk to the entrance of the park, even walked with us half the way!...we haven't managed to memorize directions in bangla yet. 

In the crowds leading up to the park gate, there were vendors selling wares, pots and pans, furniture, toys - you name it, it was there, including any type of fried food you ever thought existed. and more.  

We paid a whopping 10 taka each to have our faces painted by random people walking around with paint.   The line extending from the park entrance was at least a block long...however, as we moved closer to the front to see exactly where the gate was (and try to figure out how long we would probably have to wait to enter the main attraction)...the police/guards saw us and ushered us straight through.  Sometimes being a foreigner is actually rather helpful. 

Not that it helped when we were IN the park.  There were at least 10 thousand people in the amphitheater-like setting, and getting through the crowds was a bit harrowing, especially with a group of 7 people trying not to lose each other.  we had a rather good system of creating a train anytime we tried to move anywhere.  The biggest problem we faced while we were inside the park, while the cultural performances were beginning, was that if we stayed in one location too long, the crowds around US, watching what we were doing, taking pictures of us with their camera phones and digital cameras and, those young men bold enough, asking us questions in english (craziness).  When these men started getting really annoying, one of the teachers would start speaking spanish, and only spanish, with them.  it would take a few back-and-forths for him to get the message that there would be no more conversation consisting of, "where do you live in chittagong? can i have your number? your neck, it is so beautiful"...honestly? one of the girls was literally complimented on her neck and throat, "so lovely, miss". 

in the afternoon we stopped in the local boutique we frequent and had a rousing conversation with two young bengalis on the politics of arranged marriages and the rice crisis at the moment.  

aaaand then i spent all afternoon lesson planning for the rest of the week.  the good news is, however, that next sunday we have another holiday! not as crazy of celebrations, we're told, but a day off of school nonetheless.  it's been really nice being able to ease into teaching with 4 day weeks, not going to lie. 

shuvo noboborsho! new year - where face painting is all the rage

me, niki, mahmuda and angela. dressed in our new years finest. 

faces painted with the best of 'em.

remind you of carnival/fair/amusement park toys? because that's what i think of everyday when i see these vendors on the street...

the line into the park. like i said, pretty flippin' long (notice the absence of women? 

they were there, just not in large numbers like the male population...)

like i said. large crowd. i wouldn't attend if you were claustrophic.

fried food galore.

two young boys who followed us around yelling, "paani! paani!" (water! water!)

i think we broke their hearts when we all pulled out water bottles.

beware of the red bangles...

Shuvo Noboborsho!  Happy Bengali New Year!   We had known it was bengali new year --- people have been telling us for a week now to make sure we had a red and white sari or shalwar kameez to wear, along with glittering matching jewelry (always a must in bangladesh).  What we didn't know, and most of us found out in class this morning, was that the 13th (sunday) was Cambodian, Nepalese AND Sri Lankan New Year!   We're off from school tomorrow, which is amazing, but we kinda felt bad after the fact that a large group of students weren't able to celebrate their new years properly, and had to attend classes on today. 

I shouldn't have worried, apparently, because some of the students took it upon themselves to rally the troops and plan festivities celebrating all 4 new years that spanned the two days. 

6 of us teachers went out for dinner -- it was so nice to get out for a really good meal.  We talked mostly about our students and our plans for classes, but it was still so great to get out of our building for the night.  Most Bangladeshis eat VERY LATE, so as we were finishing dinner around 9:30, the dining room was just beginning to fill up.  

We walked back into the building, and as we were climbing the countless flights of stairs (i exaggerate...there are only 10 floors, and i live on the 7th, so it's not really THAT bad.  we do have an elevator, but it's usually broken, and i'd rather use the stairs anyways. makes me feel a little better about rarely working out), we heard loud noises coming from our cafeteria.

As we walked in to see what the commotion was about (we'd be told that there would be a new years celebration at midnight, and we were not only invited but EXPECTED to come), we were met with a gigantic herd of sweaty, grinning girls clapping and hollering loudly.  they were obviously excited that their teachers had chosen to attend their gathering. 

What they'd done was pretty impressive - we have a cafeteria that is literally 4 small rooms of a suite.  the main room remained the caf line, and they'd gone out to get sweets and snacks for the celebratory festivities that afternoon.  One of the side rooms had been decorated with balloons, signs, flowers and (eventually) the new years cakes.  The other usable room (the 4th was way to tiny for party-purposes) was completely dark, all the lights off, with a computer hooked up to quite the sound system.  music was blaring, and i felt like i'd been transported back to college...it was a bit reminiscent of dance parties throughout the years.  We left soon after our entrance, promising we'd come back after we changed and got the food we'd bought for their party and well, the girls, they were floored when we actually came back and danced with them.  They kept saying, "ma'am! you're such a good dancer! i cannot believe you are dancing with us!" Yet, they would say these things as they dragged us onto the dance floor from the sidelines...it was really quite adorable. 

Midnight rolled around and the few ringleaders gathered everyone in the decorated room, had all the bangladeshis sing a song, popped all the balloons hung around the room, threw flower petals over everyone's heads (and onto the cakes as well - mmmhmm gotta love flowers with cake), and insisted that the teachers do the honors of cutting the cakes at midnight.   Part of it is because i'm so fresh out of college, i'm sure, but i'm so impressed at the respect and admiration we've been given by our students, just because of the role we hold as teachers.  I know that my lessons are far from perfect, and i'm just hoping that i'll be able to get my students to where they need to be by the end of the year - but it's amazingly inspiring to have such faith placed in you by complete strangers.  a little intimidating as well.  The party definitely broke some barriers between us teachers and the students and, hopefully, set a precedence for celebrating different cultures' holidays because it was sure one heck of a party.

some of the artwork done by our students for the New Year

Oh, yes. so the title of the blog post. We're supposed to wear red and white for Bengali New Year --- well, bangle bracelets are, like, the hottest jewelry item for women in Bangladesh.  So, when i went shopping for New Years accessories, bangles were a must. these are some of the ones i got (24 of them for 50 taka...which is about 80 cents), HOWEVER, it's the end of the night now, and my lower left arm is completely red.  therefore, beware of the red bangles. i'll have to ask next time before i buy if they have a tendency to dye the wearer's skin...

it's almost midnight...

2 of the many cakes the students bought for the new year celebration.  their hard work really paid off --- everyone had an amazing time!

at war with the copier...

i feel like i'm on office space. we have two copiers in our building...and the one in our office has been blinking 'error - paper jam' all day. of course, since it's the weekend, there's no one here to override the silliness of said copier...since there was no paper jam to be found.

and, of course, when i went down tonight to copy my activities for tomorrow at the OTHER copier...it jammed just as another volunteer was finishing up.

oh, the irony.

luckily i somehow tricked our copier back into reality, and it started pumping out copies on our last try.

a run outside, the beach AND a fair?

I was completely spoiled today. This morning we got to go to the land the AUW owns, which will be the site of the actual campus in just a few years, and I actually got to run OUTSIDE. I was basically jogging in circles, on dirt, but there was a very tiny lake...probably less than 100 metres in diameter...next to the dirt field I was running around. Even more exciting was the fact that some of our students had been taken to the site to play volleyball, and a few are interested in starting a jogging club - i about DIED when they started getting excited about that, and potentially putting together a 5k in the future (most of them had never even heard of a "5k").

This is interesting --- on our land, there are many people that have put up pretty much shack-like homes, and live off whatever odd-jobs they can find in the area - which aren't much. Kamal, the head of the AUW Support Foundation and the guy who had the vision to start the AUW, has been in town for the past two weeks and was hoping to get a volleyball court built on the property before he left because some of the students were interested in playing. He, literally, got the court built overnight. He employed a large number of the massive population of willing and able bodies that live on our land and surrounding plots and it was done in one night. He shared today that it cost a whopping $150 USD for the entire operation, and I think that included buying three volleyballs. It's amazing how much CAN happen, quickly, if you have the money to pay people here.

After hanging out at the site, we got to accompany some of the students to the "beach" in Chittagong - called Pateng I think? The beach itself is a cultural experience, and it reminded me how different social norms are across the world. No one actually swims at the beach in Bangladesh (one, because the water's disgusting and would probably make you sick if you swallowed too much of it, and two, because you would never catch anyone in anything resembling a swimsuit. wayyyy too riske for this country. apparently women do sometimes swim at Cox's Bazar, a beach to the south, but will do so in their traditional dress - the shalwar kameez...pants and a long tunic-like shirt. talk about being weighed down?). there were plenty of people AT the beach, it's definitely a place people go to hang out for the afternoon, but mostly to walk and take pony rides, apparently.

WE caused quite a stir because about half the students with us were Nepalese, and had never seen the ocean before. They FLIPPED. Getting to watch them experience it for the first time was absolutely incredible, and something I won't forget for a long time. Even better, however, was the fact that a bunch of other students with us were from Sri Lanka, and they all stood on the beach, watching the Nepalese girls with huge, shocked faces...they tried explaining that usually beaches, and the ocean, is much nicer, and blue, and clear, to the Nepalese girls, but it didn't matter to them. It was their first time ever, and nothing was going to ruin it. And eventually they got their counterparts to splash in the waves with them. Ah, their smiles were SO big, so genuine. it was really incredible.

On the way back we passed probably 7-10 mosques, and it was the first time I've seen the daily prayer on Friday attended at mosques...it was something out of a movie. Rows upon rows of males, ranging from very young to very old, were kneeling in the direction of Mecca, following their prayer rituals. We would look out of our van and just see a sea of white caps and tunics. Half of the road was shut down in many places because there wasn't enough room in the mosque, on the sidewalk outside of the mosque, on the land around the mosque, and so people were spilling onto the streets. I hesitated to take photos, just because I don't want to do anything too offensive, or break the cultural 'faux-pas', but hopefully I'll be able to ascertain what's appropriate soon and share the experience via photo.

After getting back, i left again right away with some other volunteers because we'd been able to get tickets to the hottest fair in town, apparently. Chittagong Grammar School, which is a private school in Chittagong, one of the premiere English-medium institutions (costs quite a bit to send your kids there, but they're guaranteed a fabulous education), has a yearly fair to celebrate Bengali New Year (April 14th) - and we happen to be available for the event! 8 of us ended up going, and personally I really just wanted to see what a 'fair' would consist of in Bangladesh.

It was exactly what I had pictured...booths of carnival games, fortune telling, food, drinks, crafts, etc. There was even a cultural stage where the students performed throughout the day. Our favorite booth was "Ring the Duck"...it was a game you could play. We walked over envisioning small, plastic ducks in a pool of water...imagine our surprise when we found out that you, literally, tried to RING a duck. They had wooden hoops that you needed to throw at a pen of ducks, and try to get it around one of their necks...we asked what you 'won' if you were successful...apparently the duck you rung, for dinner that night.
Only in bangladesh. love it.

Tomorrow it's back to lesson planning and meetings, but today was a great decompressor, and i'd say i got some good cultural education :)

A local boy on the back of a pony, taking a nice ride along the water's edge


a view of the less-crowded end of the beach. Our crew of teachers are about to climb down the concrete square rocks (to break the waves at high tide)
at the beach

young boys. doing what young boys do. fooling around...poor horse.


a tried and true fair. and yes, literally called "ring a duck"


another teacher, amy, trying her hand at ringing a duck


the poor targets/prizes -- i'm sure our chef would have been really excited to see us come into dinner with a live duck...