shuvo buddha purnima!

happy buddhist new year!

thanks to our day off, my apartmentmates and i got some quality outdoor time, going through markets and walking the streets near our building.  it was actually a nice day, humidity was down, so it was only probably about high 80's, low 90's - thanks to a crazy thunderstorm we had last night.  our bangladeshi staff continues to tell us how terribly hot it is and how much better it will be after monsoon season. i have my doubts, but we'll see...

as we were walking along the street we saw this gigantic pink, white and gray mass moving towards us...as it got closer (and this was in the middle of a heavily trafficked road, by the way), we realized it was a rickshaw loaded with foam squares - for pillows? for cushions? for construction? who knows.

when i get home i will have clothes that were manufactured in China (as seen by above), sewn/tailored in Bangladesh, and worn in Asia and the United States...globalization at it's best/worst?

tomorrow is...

buddha purnima!  pretty much the New Year for Buddhists, celebrating the birth of Buddha.  one of the other teachers had her class make traditional lanterns that are usually lit up and let into the night sky - so we will have a few to decorate our building tomorrow. 

hopefully it'll help keep the girls' spirits up - it's midterm week - and tomorrow they get the day off.  as they have said...."it's not really a day off, since we have to study all day"

the inside of a a ribbon/lace shop...

now that we've been here a while, we're starting to get a bit more creative with our clothes...there are stores where, obviously, you can buy fabric...but there are also stores (or stalls) STUFFED with ribbons, lace, sequins, etc. there are also some that have, or mix on the spot, paints to use for handpainting fabric. thank goodness i'm surrounded by some very artistic people...

it finally happened...

...i was pooped on. by a crow. 

there are an INSANE number of crows living in Chittagong (lovely, i know), and I constantly am avoiding their aim, however, today that did not happen. so therefore i've now found another use for our scarfs...head/hair protector. 

in other news...angela and i took a rickshaw today to get back to the Academy building in time for a newspaper meeting. and to beat the rain...

(us on a rickshaw. doesn't it look fun!?)

and APPARENTLY Chittagong, at one point or another, had a YMCA.  craziness. that logo will probably never not be where i am in the world...

meridian dinner #2

Last night (thursday) we had our second catered affair AT the restaurant that caters for us...meaning the other half of the students were able to come.  they were slightly less excited than last week, because they'd be 'prepped' by their friends for what to expect, but they still dressed to impress and had a fantastic time nonetheless.  here i am, flanked by one of my literature classes. absolutely adorable. 

apparently it's not party season yet...

or so we were told tonight when we attended the 30th wedding anniversary of one of our administrative staff members.  after the monsoons, in October or November, the real party season starts to gear up...the weather is considered best for weddings and other festive celebrations at that time.   The couple who was celebrating 30 beautiful years has been one of the most friendly, accommodating and generous; trying to help us volunteers transition to life in Bangladesh.  They've arranged and accompanied us to Rangamati, planned dinners and invited us to join them on days off at the Chittagong Club (the only 'social elite' club that exists in Chittagong...many more exist in Dhaka...the Chittagong Club not only has a bangin' good restaurant but a bar, swimming pool, gym, library AND bakery. all in one. craziness).  The night was full of meeting new contacts and getting to know our staff a bit better in a more relaxed environment. which was fantastic.  and it was at one of my favorite restaurants in Chittagong - Ambrosia - which reminds me of restaurants you might see in large US cities - almost looks like a converted warehouse. very tastefully done. 

Until the 'real' party season rolls around, our social calendars will have to suffice as is - packed full of meetings with other volunteers we've found throughout the city of Chittagong, personal invites to dinner parties and, the alltime favorite, barbeque/game nights with the rest of the WorldTeach/AUW staff.   As lovely as this all sounds, I promise it's not all fun and games.  we do work a good amount too...

it's the little things that inspire...

As ms. julie elling mentioned in a conversation over gmail the other day, it seems i've recently moved to a 'natural disaster hotspot' zone...first the cyclone that has killed over 32,000 people in burma (with that figure continuing to rise), and then the earthquake that hit China, hard, just yesterday. 

Well, two students of Access Academy asked to meet with a few teachers tonight to discuss wanting to do something for the earthquake victims in China.  Talk about turning a bunch of development-obsessed, idealistic, 'let's save the world' types into proud mamas.  not that we can take any credit for the fact that the two students began our discussion by showing up pictures, providing us details and explaining why they felt they needed to do something for the victims of the earthquakes and aftershocks; most of these girls/young women have made it this far in terms of education because of their 'go get 'em' attitude and their desire to change their surroundings.  Regardless, to hear two students speak about how they felt especially terrible that many of the victims of the earthquake were students, in class, and how much they wanted to start helping in any way they could -- it was rather impressive, to say the least. 

So, on Thursday, after our guest speaker of the week, we'll hopefully be having a minute of silence for the victims after the students explain exactly what has happened since the earthquake.  Within the next few weeks, they want to have the entire student body write letters to hospital patients and prepare care packages with blankets and other necessary items.  

There's nothing better than seeing others empowered by encouragement from just one person --- these particular two students, one from Nepal and one from Bangladesh, told us that they've never had teachers who would speak with them one on one, inside or outside of the class...i can't wait to see what else our students end up doing (right now there is a poster in our cafeteria about potentially starting an organization to work with street kids in the area, and ideas are being spoken of every day)...

i thought after high school i was done with student council elections...

but no. not the case. i often forget that while this is a university setting i'm teaching in, it is set up very similar to a residential high school - we have the same schedule every day, the focus is on teaching study skills and habits, we encourage the students in and out of the classroom constantly, we run extracurriculars aaaand now we have an official student government. which we had elections for tonight.  brought me back to the good 'ole days where elections were held in a huge auditorium, everyone packed in tight, administrators and teachers running around making sure people were quiet and respectful and everything ran on time.  obviously, we held elections on our roof (the only space large enough for all the students, faculty and staff for over an hours), obviously we started 30 minutes late and obviously, we had to stop speeches for about 5 minutes during the call to prayer (did i mention there's a mosque less than a block from us? it took about 2 days to get used to the call to prayer and i usually don't even realize it in the background of everything nowadays).  

it was AMAZING to see the students stand up in front of their faculty, administration and peers and speak to why they should be elected to student government.  not surprisingly, our students have pretty stellar backgrounds - they are the ones who overcame huge obstacles in their home countries and made it to the top of their classes anyways.  it was especially exciting to see some of our students who are less comfortable with speaking english get up amongst girls who have much more experience with english, and they really did a fantastic job.  

there are always the worries about student government being a popularity contest, of course, but with a class of 131 students, they pretty much know everything about each other and that isn't going to change over the next 6 years they study together.  Most candidates made some mention of 'our AUW family' or 'gaining 130 sisters' upon arrival.  really inspiring.   While many of the speeches were: introduction, experience, "vote for me!", a few students were able to identify concerns and issues that the students have - a great sign that they will use the student government ASAP as a sounding board for complaints and a springboard for change.  As we, the teachers, have the most face time with the students, we've been hearing a lot about the problems they're facing...homesickness, inability to call home on a regular basis, the heat (many, like us, aren't used to the pre-monsoon humidity)...and while we're certainly sympathetic ears, the best way for them to learn leadership and problem solving is to lead the initiatives themselves for more computers, more free time, more activities, etc.  

it's rather exciting. hopefully it doesn't interfere too much with their schoolwork?

hand-painted amazingness

So there's this theory about culture shock that we were introduced to during out orientation (that we have, since then, introduced to our students as well), that separates culture shock into 5 stages...stage 1 "everything is great! fantastic! nothing can go wrong!!"...stage 2 "i hate my life, this sucks, nothing works in this country"...stage 3 "i'm starting to get more comfortable, really enjoying my surroundings, starting to feel like i'm part of the community"...stage 4 "why can't things be easier like they are at home?" and stage 5 "I don't want to leave!!!" 

I think it's safe for me to say that I'm on a bangladesh high, firmly placed within stage 3 right now.  I've started a running (jogging) club and this morning was our first 'run'...we walked to a nearby grassy field, stretched, walked/jogged for 10 minutes, and then walked back.  There were about 20 girls who showed up, pretty amazing for a friday morning at 7am, and they all seemed to be happy just to be doing some sort of exercise.  

After spending the rest of the morning working on my midterm...always a fun job...Angela, Jill and I had been invited to a student's house because we continuously admire her GORGEOUS clothes.  Everytime we ask where she got them, she answers that her father handpainted the designs (did i mention her dad's a professional artist in Bangladesh and art teacher at Dhaka University?).  This led to an invite for a private lesson --- typical of Bangladeshi hospitality we were fed the whole time we were there, and were invited back any time we pleased.  Her father was amazing and not only showed us much of his work and many of his handpainting techniques, but he took the opportunity to teach us about bangladeshi designs and the art of handpainting.  When he finishes the artwork, we're going to have the fabric made into tops. and i can not wait to show 'em off.  

We had to cut our visit short to get back for meetings at the Academy and we had a dinner/game night planned with some of the Access Academy/AUW staff at the University's guesthouse.  It'd been a really long time since i played a full-out game of taboo, and the addition of several bangladeshi players made it all the more interesting. 

so i'm tired. and really happy. and loving bangladesh tonight. 

a night on the town (meaning less than two blocks from our building...)

today was the first, of hopefully many, nights we were able to have dinner at the restaurant that caters for our cafeteria with half of our students (the Meridian's dining room could probably fit the 150 or so students/faculty/staff...but for safety's sake the administration split the students into 2 groups for two separate dinner occasions.  tonight was the first half of the student's turn (oh, did i mention that as faculty we're not invited, but expected to go to both dinners? turning down a meal out is not something i do normally. especially when the bill's already been paid...), and it was a huge hit.  the students have been complaining a bit about the food - it's catered food, so a bit more of what you'd have at celebratory, festive occasions (meaning not as good for you...) as well as a bit different from many of the cuisines the girls are coming from...the cambodians say it's too spicy whereas the indians and sri lankans ask for more chilis.  even the bangladeshis have started to complain about the repetition of dishes and more-than-usual-amount-of-oil used...but the administration and the caterer is doing their best to accomodate all the girls' needs.  

angela, one of my roommates, and i are starting to sound a bit like broken records when we reply to complaints with, "at least we have food here...." but we're also the development junkies who have been trying to keep up with the food price/rice crisis of the world right now...

REGARDLESS.  some of the girls had mentioned they'd never been to a really nice restaurant before.  others haven't been out for a dinner since arriving at the academy. so most of the students went all out - they were in their best shalwar kameez outfits, decked out in their flashiest jewelry and had, of course, the matching heels. the fact that to get to the restaurant we resembled a kids camp jamboree (each class that was going tonight was assigned two teachers, a security guard and a staff member to walk with to the restaurant and sit with during the meal...and we had some of our security personnel posted along the way to help everyone cross the busy streets...) was totally overshadowed by the sheer excitement the girls had for getting a night out. they have a curfew of 6:30 when they have to be back in the building, even on weekends, so this was as close to 'breaking the rules' as they're going to get from the administration for the time being.  and they were certainly excited at the thought.  

it was a great dinner and i can't wait for next week's - not necessarily for the food but because it's great to see the staff, faculty and students all interacting in a much less-stressful mode. 

as dinner was finishing up, the waiters from the Meridian (who usually bring the food to the Access Academy every day and wait through the mealtimes) came around with snack food for all the students - and they were especially excited to take it home with them...late-night study habits seem to be the same everywhere.


ever seen a square block of ice cream? the color fuschia? seriously, this picture doesn't do the color of the ice cream justice. BRIGHT pink. 

me, surrounded by my students. they were all dressed to impress, for sure.  

(it's also like where's waldo - where's the white face?)

a new fast food joint in town...

i went for a short while with some of the other volunteers today - mahmuda and nancy had to pick up clothes they'd gotten tailored and carly and i just wanted to get out (as in outside. of our building).  mahmuda and nancy had stayed behind in Chittagong last weekend while the rest of us went away and had discovered they similar obsession with shoes.  so while those two went off in search of a few more pairs to dazzle and decorate their beautiful feet, carly and i were drawn into just a few scarf/fabric stores...i've never really been one to wear scarves that often, even in the winter, but they're a must here.  not only do they add another layer of covering to protect women (and especially women that stick out like us 'bideshis' - foreigners), but we've found loads of other uses...they're great for wiping the sweat off your face in the heat of pre-monsoon season, they're fantastic for shielding yourself from mosquitoes, or swatting them away, they can help hide our most obvious foreigner trait (the white skin?) when we're out, and they're always just one more piece to an outfit that can impress even the most fashionable bangladeshis.  

suffice it to say, we're all a little scarf-obsessed.  carly and i were talking today about how we're already attached to wearing scarfs all the time, something we're not really used to at all in the US/Australia.  besides the fact that shopping for scarfs and fabrics is a trip in itself.  like the two pictures below show...there are limitless patterns, colors, styles and fabrics to choose from.  the scarfs are usually all tied together on a bar or hook and hang length-wise for all to browse.  the other amazing thing about shopping for things in chittagong is that most 'shops' are located within huge markets or bazars, and will be set among a ridiculous number of other stalls selling exactly the same items.  it really is a lot of work if you're going to try and pay the lowest price - you have to price check at many places and then gauge which vendor will let you bargain the price down most...as long as you're in the mood, it's a lot of fun. 

here's just a slight sampling of the available scarves at one stall.  ps - tie dye is IN over here in bangladesh.  maybe i should have brought my children's leaders shirts...

each shop will have at least one, if not more, small boys who (i'm assuming are related to the owners) help customers look for specific colors/patterns/fabrics, etc.  carly and i were trying to use our little bangla by asking, "dam koto?" meaning "how much?" for a particular scarf and he replied "one twenty" (120 taka).  carly, continuing to try, uttered, "ek show bisch?" (120?)...and he goes "yea, one hundred twenty." 

so much for practicing our bangla. 

ah, yes. and then, on our way back, we decided to check out Helvetia, a new "fast food and coffeehouse" restaurant that opened a few weeks ago.  one of the deans of the AUW, during the first few weeks of planning/students arriving/classes, mentioned she'd seen a sign for a new coffeehouse opening in our neighborhood...and of course it turned out to be this helvetia chain restaurant (there's at least one in dhaka...don't know how many you need for a chain). our hopes were slightly dashed, but then we discovered the iced coffee (granted, nescafe, but still pretty decent iced) and soft-serve ice cream.  perfect treat at the end of a hot day.  mahmuda, carly and i stopped off for slushies...but this is what the soft-served ice cream comes in, byyyy the way. seriously? real glasses? it might be impressive except for the service and quality of food disappointing mirrors that of most fast-food places in the US...

oh, chittagong...

this is how things are done in chittagong. bamboo/rope ladders are used for construction AND cleaning, apparently. safety worries? naaah. 

rice paddies at sunset

mama mahmuda and her fantastic samosas

my apartment-mate Mahmuda, in her glory, taught the Access Academy culture club how to make samosas tonight. she said she doesn't know how to make too many types of fillings...but we're always up for a challenge (i mean, we're here long enough, might as well give it a try, eh?).

Mahmuda was an awesome sport letting me paparazzi the event and crack jokes during...i really do, however, think she should open her own bangladeshi restaurant upon return to the US and call it Mama Mahmuda's. it has a nice ring to it. 

the new obsession of apartment 7C

one word: HENNA
Mahmuda, our resident bangladeshi-american, was applying henna when Angela and I returned from our 3-day weekend getaway this evening...which means that most of our time tonight was spent thinking of different designs we could draw on our hands and then typing up lesson plans with our other free hand while the henna was drying.
by the time i get back to the US, i'll be a henna expert.

Angela henna'ing mahmuda's hand

angela and mahmuda's hands - drying

the palm of my hand en process...ps - once this stuff dries...it gets kinda itchy. i can only imagine what it's like for brides on their wedding day (it's tradition for brides to have elaborate henna applied all over their arms and legs for their wedding...eek)

the finished product

(i'll update y'all on my student's reaction tomorrow in class...)

quiet? in bangladesh?

this past thursday we had YET another holiday (they soon stop occurring so often...unfortunately...but it has been really nice for slowly easing our way into teaching full time). Did you know that May 1st, or May Day, is still celebrated elsewhere in the world? thank goodness for such traditions. so, therefore, we had a fabulous three-day weekend and decided to travel to a missionary hospital, with attached guesthouse, that had been mentioned to us as a great retreat from the cityscape of Chittagong. it was absolutely amazing, we were able to eat some western food (mashed potatoes and roast chicken anyone?) and they had a pool open until 11pm - perfect for night swimming! i will be revisiting this and explaining photographs...but for now...i'm heading back to lesson-planning.