Week 20: Trying to buy furniture for a TBD flat (or Each day you might meet a friend/rock star)

20^th-1st in Dhaka 1/16

Had some kichuri with tomatoes for breakfast. Then got a call from Farabi that he was going to come by BUET today. We had talked about it yesterday, since his mom wanted him to see the university his father attended long ago. Headed over. Discovered that bus #13 is much more crowded going to BUET than coming home. Reason is that so many people from north of where I live take this bus to New Market, so it’s crowded when I get on, then it empties out halfway through. So packed that I was hanging in the doorway (laptop bag and all) for the first part of the trip. Then got a seat after.
I showed Farabi around the campus for 45 minutes. It’s not big, so it’s quick. Took him up inside the civil building to show him the campus from up high. Pointed out all the important points. Pointed from afar the new Electrical Engineering building under construction at BUET, as that’s his major at Rutgers. (pics: ARC and bus garage on BUET's campus, Registrar's Building, Farabi looking out over BUET from the Civil Engineering Building, the new Electrical Engineering Building being constructed)

Went to the ARC for the presentation they were having today on the condition of safety and planning in transportation in Bangladesh. Waited around, and saw that nothing was happening. Finally saw someone I knew and asked what was going on, when it started. He informed me that it had been yesterday, they had moved the date one day earlier on short notice. As in, they told me about it on Sunday saying it was Wednesday. On Monday, they decided to hold it Tuesday instead. And I had no way of being told this.
Spent the rest of the day looking for articles on bus overcrowding. Finding some intense articles with models and equations. Not sure if that’s the path I want to take my research right now. I want to do more of an observational study, not modeling.

Badminton was a bit windy tonight. Played some singles matches with Alavi, and then all of us played some doubles. A bit windy tonight, and that was messing things up.

20^th-2nd in Dhaka 1/17

Last night didn’t get much sleep because Mohan had a friend stay over, so I stayed in the drawing room. The mattress pad there is fine, I sleep well, but our boua comes at 6:30 am and has to be let in. Then she starts cooking and cleaning, and I can’t sleep with all that noise. Mohan and his friend also started chatting. I pretended to be asleep, but not successful.

At BUET most things were closed. Didn’t know today was a bit of a break. So without access to the library, I went to the computer lab lobby and did some researching on bus dwelling and passenger crowding on my laptop.

In the evening I met Farhan in Kakrail. We had some fuchka then some petha. Then, since we were near, he showed me his old school. Tried going to a mall but it was closed. Farhan told me that malls close at 8 pm so that electricity is saved. Makes sense now why all the malls here close so early. Instead we dropped by one of his university classmate’s house and had some tea and biscuits while talking with the family. (pic: how petha is prepared and cooked on the streets)

20^th-3rd in Dhaka 1/18

Pantha Path, the road which passes in front of Bashundara City and the Sonargaon Hotel has at least 50 furniture shops in a row. Like most shopping areas in Dhaka, Pantha Path shopping area specializes in a certain type of item. All over Dhaka, there is always a “best” place to shop for goods. Some examples are Pantha Path for furniture, Bangla Bazar for clothes, Gulistan Stadium market for electronics and sports goods place, Sonargaon Road for pets and pet supplies.I took a bus and walked to one end of the furniture row to start my new flat furniture shopping. Had a little notepad with me and a pen, to jot down prices as I walk buy. No reason to record where you find the price, because I’ll be bargaining it down elsewhere anyway. So just find a good price, then tell another place that this place offered you this. etc. bargain down a lot hopefully. Each place gives different first costs anyway. A cabinet for my clothes can be quoted prices from Tk7500 to Tk12000, all the same thing. Checked out a bed, found a guy who says he’ll be wiling to buy back at 75% when I’m done with it. Looked for a dining set, and might just settle on a folding table and chairs…for a TV stand, a folding table. See a trend. I’m not interested in real nice things as I’ll only have them for seven months.

Most places sell the same stuff. There are a few different types of shops…some sell cane furniture, some carved wooden, some metal, some modular-like, some fancy and padded, and some that sell desk chairs. Within each category of shop, expect to find the same stuff at each.

Stopped at a car rental place. Checked into prices of car rental service for when my parents come. Including driver. Asked if there would be a problem if driver came back from Khulna without us. No problem. Asked about drivers food and lodging. No issues. Will choose a car type after talking to parents.

Met up with Ayon, Saquib, Nipu, and three others from their school days while they were sitting near a restaurant near Dhanmondi Lake. Chilled at the lake and laughed. Walked over to the free theater along the lake. It’s like a old Greek outdoor theater. Free programs happen there all the time. Huge crowds come to watch, standing room only. If only outdoor performances in the US were this popular. Watched two dances. All of us got petha from the petha outdoor shop with the variety, then we all got some soup. Pretty delicious soup, neat that it’s just from a cart. Then lastly we all got some fuchka. The fuchka was spicy! Half of us were left huffing and puffing to cool our mouths down.

A good night of badminton playing. But Oyon and I just don’t seem to be able to win together. In fact, I seem to lose a lot of games. Although I’m making my hits, my teammate is not. I’m making them worse, and that comes from myself making bad shots. A bad shot results in a smash, and sometimes at my partner. I need to stop putting my team in bad situations and start hitting quality drops and smashes. (pics: shot of our rooftop court from above, myself going up for a shot)

20^th-4th in Dhaka 1/19

Had made a plan to meet up with Rofiq today so he can show more of the stuff in the traffic lab and also so he could introduce me to some of the professors at the university he is involved with.

Well that didn’t end up exactly happening. I arrived and met him at the office he works in, the BRTC office. This is the place that contractors and companies come to submit samples for testing. For example, if you are constructing a building, you give them a concrete sample to be strength tested in the concrete lab. In this office you fill out the paperwork for you test, make payments, and get results. It’s a very busy place. BUET I’m assuming has some of the only, or the only, testing facilities of this type in Dhaka. So many people are coming to get things tested for their engineering properties. Anyway, he was packed in the office with requests, and he was the only one who showed up to work today. So he couldn’t get out of there for an hour and a half to bring me to the lab.

Today was also the first day of class for students, including new first year students. You wouldn’t be able to tell though if you weren’t told. Looked like any other day on campus that I’ve been to. Maybe a tad more busy, a tad more students, but students weren’t doing anything out of the ordinary. No special “Welcome to BUET” events. Just a day at the university.

Tons of kids were coming up to Rofiq all day. Finally asked him why and what they were giving him to sign. Well as he was the guy who takes care of the traffic lab, he is one of the many people who has to sign a form for each kid saying they don’t owe any fines for breaking something in the lab. Each kid who is graduating this semester has to get this signature! And they have to go to all their labs, and get the lab caretaker and the professor to sign off. Then they have to get the library and the computer lab to sign! This is over 15 signatures total! What an intense process. And it’s all done after you’re done forever. So even after you’ve finished, you need to come back at least one more day and do this.

Our boua hasn’t come in a few days. So I bought a sponge and washed everything which had been piling up in the sink. Not sure what she uses to wash the dishes since I didn’t see anything…or maybe I don’t want to know.

Headed down to Gulistan to go to the stadiums. The stadium markets are the best place to buy electronics, home appliances, and sport equipments. Circling the stadiums are the stores. They are technically underneath the bleachers, and you can see the bottom side of the bleachers in some stores. Most stadiums in Bangladesh have markets, and it is common for them to be selling these things. So it’s very easy to price compare and shop around as each store sells the same thing. I was searching for a microwave, refrigerator, DVD player, and TV. By shopping like this it also helped me understand what exactly I was searching for!
Highlight of the night was being told to sit and chat at one of the stores, and then they proceed to offer me tea. Of course I said yes! It was too nice, a bit humorous to me, so I drank some tea with them. Maybe after looking at 50+ stores, I needed some? Maybe Best Buy and Circuit City should adopt this practice.

Really making my way through Dune at a faster pace than I usually read. Maybe if I take a day off I’ll forget all I’ve read, so I’m staying consistent. So many terms to adjust to. Liking it so far, looking forward to see what happens.

20^th-5th in Dhaka 1/20

The Wolfpack win!!!! Was so excited when I woke up to check the score and see us in the lead in the second half. But they were catching up! Then Miami took the lead. Then we came back. And then after everything, we tied it! Overtime. But then they went 4 minutes with almost no scoring until Miami hit a two pointer. Then a crazy crazy ending. Gavin Grant went for a 2 point shot, missed, J.J. Hickson got the rebound and scored a layup. Tied it up. Then on the inbound pass, Gavin stole it and scored 2 more!!!! We won, watch it here!!!!!! We won’t be 0-3 in the acc to start the season. So happy. So glad we won. So so happy.

Started reading Kristina’s and Kelly’s blog, see the sidebar.

Before going to Oyon’s to play badminton, bought two extra shuttlecocks because of all of those that we’ve been losing. Badminton tonight wasn’t very exciting. There was a decent breeze today, more than bearable. Wasn’t any fun for me. For one side, a little tap meant the shuttlecock went way past the court. From the other side, a hard smash might just make it over the net. Sigh. The net was almost horizontal to the ground on moderate breezes. We ended up just chatting for a bit and then going to dinner. (pics: Oyon and Deep setting up the net and our light fixture, the net near horizontal in the light breeze...not optimal playing conditions)

Our landlord came to me tonight and told me that the apartment I was moving into won’t be available until February 15th now, because her sister has decided to stay a little longer. Thought recently married, she is not ready to leave yet, and wanted a bit more time at home before she makes the move to her new husband’s place. I was upset, but acted understanding, and said it was okay. Fifteen extra days staying in this place, so I decided to make myself feel a bit more at home and set up my speakers and cleaned up an area which I could call mine.

Today was also a public holiday for Ashura, and besides the university being closed, the only way I saw it being celebrated was in the form of a parade in front of Bangladesh Rifles, and I wasn’t close enough to see what was exactly happening. I just saw flags from down the street. I do know that it is not as important in Bangladesh as it is in other countries as most people here are Sunni Muslims, not Shi'a Muslims. For the latter, this holiday is much more important.

20^th-6th in Dhaka 1/21

Got news from Shariful and Bart on when it would be best for them for me to visit them in Bangkok. So this morning I started looking through flights to get there. Look to be going February 7-10. I’ve heard the cheapest options are GMG, Biman, or Druk airlines. First two are Bangladeshi, third is from Bhutan. Called some of the agencies but was having a hard time communicating what I wanted. Decided to just go by the offices tomorrow in person.

Registered for the Krispy Kreme Challenge. We’re going to break last years numbers by a lot. It will be huge. I hope the organizers are ready for it all. People are coming from all over to compete. I signed up and asked to have my shirt mailed to me in Bangladesh. Fourth year now! Incredible. Wish I could be there to help organize it like in past years. I guess since my Park Scholar class of 2007 has endowed the event, we're technically always helping. Also, Saket, Greg, Peyton, and I have been advising the new organizers over email as much as we can.

Headed off to BUET for a meeting with Dr. Rahman. Ended up finding him downstairs and took the elevator up together. Chatted about his recent Masters student who just had his thesis review. Dr. Rahman was real happy. It was the first ever student he’s advised to a Masters thesis! What a great accomplishment.
After he finished with another student, I went in. The critical part of our discussion, my research, went very well. Told him my feelings about where we had initially discussed my research going after the Jatrabari Flyover was cancelled: evaluating large project planning here in Bangladesh versus other countries. I explained how I wasn’t feeling confident in what I was doing. Evaluating something I’ve never actually done myself was hard, as all plans looked incredible to Donny the novice. I continued and explained how through my reading of Dhaka’s STP, there were issues that were really interesting to me, and I started to have ideas of projects I really was excited about. Also mentioned how plenty of field work would be involved, and that I would enjoy. I told him about both the pedestrian overpass/underpass project and the overcrowded bus project, and both ideas had him excited. We were sharing ideas quickly, and ultimately, he suggested I first tackle the bus idea.
After this I asked how I thought a team of students might help with the success of the project, would get them something to work on for senior projects, and get me involved more with BUET. He said he’s meeting with four or five of his senior students next week to discuss with each their senior thesis, and he’ll let them know what I’m doing and see if any of them bite.

Bus home at 5 pm was busier than I thought it would be. At one bus stop, our bus was so packed at the door that four guys jumped through one of the windows at the back of the bus to claim recently opened up seats in the back row. Those windows are above head level when standing next to the bus. Was very impressed.

Met up with Diya for a quick iced tea at a nearby tea bar. First time having iced tea here, wasn’t too bad. Mine was orange flavored.

Badminton, less wind tonight. Alavi and I were on a team tonight and we went undefeated. Last game against Deep and Siam didn’t finish all the way because our last shuttlecock went over the side of the building. (pics: Siam serving, Deep returning a shot)

Tonight when I got home Mohan had returned from three days with his wife and son in Jessore, and I told him what the landlord had said yesterday when she came by. That I have to stay here until the 15^th. Well he said she came by again tonight. This time she said that her sister has decided to stay until the end of February before moving permanently to her new husband’s house. So I’m now here until March 1. Sigh. I was a bit more annoyed this time, enough to vow to go look for a different place tomorrow morning. I was a bit tired of being given the runaround for the third time. I feel silly going to buy furniture for just 6 months too. So tomorrow I’ll look around at different apartments and see what I can find.

20^th-7th in Dhaka 1/22

Went on a search for a new house. Quite a disconcerting process. Was very nervous to have to walk into random places and ask them in Bengali about a flat. Plus the fact that no one wants bachelors staying in their place, because it is commonly known that bachelors will surely bring drugs, sex, disease, famine, and maybe earth-destroying comets into the apartment building.
In summary, of the few places I found with “TO LET” signs out front, some weren’t available until March, others not available to bachelors (one sign said “NO BACHELORS ALLOWED” right below “TO LET”,) and another was a bed in the living room of a house with eight guys already (but only Tk1200 a month!)
I felt defeated, felt that no place would be as nice or as cheap as the place I’m supposed to move into. I started thinking about why I was really searching. One reason I wanted to move was because I was feeling unwanted by the landlord, maybe thinking she didn’t like me and was just thinking of ways for me not live there. But I told myself I’m just skewing it in that direction, she probably has nothing against me and it’s just a matter of family circumstances I’m caught up in. Also thought about how I wanted some friends to stay over on Feb 20^th for Ekushe February the next morning. There’s no reason they can’t stay over at this place if I clean it up. I need to just create some spaces for myself there, and clean it up a bit. I also thought how these other roommates were willing to have me stay with them. All were not my idea of what I wanted from a roommate. I realized how lucky I was to have Mohan as a roommate, and thought, “Why am I trying to get away from him.” He’s a great guy and listens to me. We talk together. I decided staying where I am until March 1 is no big deal. I’m feeling more comfortable every day. I’ll go buy a TV and DVD player now, and start enjoying it. Why wait? Why not make this place more like a home?

Came home and on the way back bought some detergent. The boua hasn’t come in days, and I was out of clean underwear. Time to take things into my own hands, literally. Clothes washing without a washing machine is a physical activity. First I heated some hot water on the stove, and poured it into a big bucket, just a little. Then filled the rest of the bucket with cold water from the tap. 4 tablespoons of detergent powder, and then put all my clothes in, about 8-10 pieces. I swirled the clothes around in the soapy water and then let them sit for a half hour. Afterwards, spun them around again. Then with the tap running cold water, I beat and swished and squeezed each piece of clothing until all the soap was out. It’s quite an aggressive process beating and slamming the clothing against the floor in the water stream. I didn’t have any specific technique, but was trying to mimic the sounds the boua makes when washing the clothes. I always hear the splashing and the smacking of the wet clothes against the floor, and was trying to make the same noises, assuming that it would be achieving the same result. Did it until not many suds were coming out. After doing this to each piece of clothing, I hung them out to dry on my verandah. Whole process took about 45 minutes. (pics: my clothes washing bucket in my bathroom filled with suds and clothing, hanging clothing out to dry on the verandah)

Went to go buy plane tickets to Bangkok Headed to Sonargaon hotel as both GMG and Biman have an office there, and Druk is across the street. This is also the hotel my parents will stay at when they visit. Was very nice, I had never been inside. They made a good choice.
GMG, although they have a Buy 1 Get 1 Free sale right now for Bangkok, was too expensive. At least that first ticket was, and I don’t have anyone traveling with me.
When I went downstairs, Nipto, Ishita’s older brother who just had baby girl, saw me. Hadn’t seen him since the wedding in October. He works at Gulf Air and is usually around the Sonargaon hotel, but he wasn’t working today. Somehow though, he saw me and told me that with his job he could help me, he knows travel agents. We went to his favorite agent he usually works with, a CNG ride away to Motijheel. At the travel agent, they searched all the different the airlines. Found a variety of prices. Although Biman isn’t known for their greatest service, they were by far the cheapest, and as I’m not on an important trip, I’ll risk their scheduling. GMG would be cheaper if I could find someone for Buy 1 Get 1 Free, but that’s a lot of money to ask of someone for just a three day trip. I always forget how much plane tickets cost, and it’s going to be about $360 to fly to Bangkok from Dhaka.

I asked where he was heading since we were going by bus to the same place, and he said he was going to Arnob’s studio, one of the greatest musicians in Bangladesh right now, very popular. Nipto asked if I wanted to meet him real quick. Since Nipto has a band himself and is currently working on his solo project, he was meeting with Arnob, who also manages Bengal Music Company, about releasing issues. I agreed.
Inside the studio on this day was Black, one of my more favorite bands here. The lead singer and the producer came out for a break and I talked to the lead singer for a bit. They’re working on their new album, first in five years. He’s doing the vocals now, all music is finished. We talked for a few minutes about music and Bangladesh and such. We all then went in and took a listen to one of Black’s new songs for their album. Pretty good stuff, I got into it right away. And the recording studio sound is incredible, so it was a great listening experience. I was a bit surprised that I was sitting in a studio with a major artist working on their new album. I’ve said before, the music scene is not as removed from the listeners here as it is in the US.
Asked the singer what process they go through. He told me how they always do drums first and vocals last, but in between things vary. That was cool, because its just like Chris, Trav, and I. Wish we could get a cool studio like that to record our 5^th production in.

When I got home Mohan asked me how my house shopping went. I told him what I had been feeling from the morning, and how I was glad to have him as a roommate, couldn’t ask for anyone better. Well he was glad to hear it, but then had more news from the landlord. Sigh. What now? Well he said that they are now thinking about keeping the apartment I would’ve moved into for her sister when she visits occasionally. So I can’t move in there. She may come back sometimes, and they want to make sure she has a place to stay.
But, since technically the apartment him and I are currently sharing would be open in March as well, since Mohan is going to be moving out with his wife and son to someplace new, I could stay permanently in this apartment. So the landlord hopes this will happen instead. What a situation! Mohan is having problems finding an apartment himself. He had one, but then that new landlord changed their mind on him too. We both are facing similar situations. I told him about the first apartment I visited in the morning with Tk8000 rent, two bedrooms, and two bath. He was excited to hear it was nearby too. So he’ll go check it out, and hopefully get it, as it also opens up on March 1. I’ll see what happens. I still have 40 days with Mohan sharing, and anything apparently can happen.
In regards to keeping this place, I guess it is convenient. No moving at all. I could start buying things now without worry of moving it later. Yes, place is a tad smaller than the place I would’ve move into downstairs, but with the same rent. However it’s still a good place, and I feel fortunate to have it.

Read some of Dune and went to bed.

Oh and I put a currency converter up for you readers, so when I talk in Taka, you can convert it something you might better understand. Thanks to coinmill.com

Week 19: Dhanmondi Lake cures stomach problems

19^th-1st in Dhaka 1/9

Saw a girl take a bad step into the drain today. Bleh. Let me explain. The drainage sewers here are right on the side of the road. They are open concrete lined pits or slight indentations next to the road. They are dug for rainwater, but ultimately are for other liquids as well. Some of these liquids include urine. Men can be frequently seen peeing on the side of the street. This can be done either by squatting or by standing, but most prefer to squat. This is because most are wearing a lungi, and that is well-suited for squatting.

Anyway, with all of that entering the drainage pits, they have this solid slime layer on top, and are all are unpleasantly colored. Typically they’re covered by concrete slabs which in turn become a sidewalk of sorts. Many times there are gaps, and you have to hop over them, not very far, but you do. Well sometimes they’re not there at all. The girl who fell in today, she came off the bus and was rushing and didn’t look where she was going, and she took a wrong step into a ditch full of sludge at least 10 inches deep. It was very gross. I couldn’t imagine what she was feeling after. I’m hope she went home and bathed for hours.(pics: drainage sewer covered by concrete slabs with breaks in between slabs which one could trip through, drainage sewer on side of road with some garbage in it, open sewer holes are not a rare site so watch your step!, drainage sewer with layer of slime on top)

Went to Agora to buy some food products such as milk, muesli, and peanut butter. Agora, like Lavender and Pick ‘n Pay are the nicer grocery stores here with lots of items you can’t find elsewhere. This includes peanut butter which has no found a place in the diet of most Bangladeshis. Cheese as well is there, which is hard to find beyond ponir, Bangladeshi cheese, a harder version of paneer. Agora is a good place for foreigners to shop because of the fixed prices. Elsewhere you may get ripped off be, but here you’re guaranteed to get the proper price each time, even if it’s a bit higher. This time I just wanted those three thigns. Couldn’t find muesli, but bought cereal instead, Kellogg’s mango corn flakes. Hopefully good.

Feeling sick in the morning. Feeling sick in the afternoon, and it started to clear up around 2. But later it started hurting again. I don’t know why. Went to Dominou’s pizza for dinner. Ordered some soup and a hot sub sandwich. Ate half the soup and wrapped the sandwich to bring home.

Came home. Moaned. My stomach hurt horribly.

19^th-2nd in Dhaka 1/10

Today was spent at home. Sick. Taking ORSaline to replenish all fluids and electrolytes. Watched movies, played on internet, posted blog. Went out and collected some stock photos for the blog. Bought some crackers and peanuts to eat since they are simple foods I could digest.

With nothing else to say, I’ll include something from the list of stuff I have called “Things to write about in blog.” Today: police handling traffic. Since traffic lights aren’t really followed, human traffic enforcement is needed. Yes there are signals, but rarely are they obeyed. Running a red light isn’t even a second thought. So to keep the order at intersections cops are out there. They wear green shirts with white sleeves and blue pants. They carry sticks and they use these sticks to point in directions for traffic, but also to hit vehicles which are misbehaving, especially rickshaws. A rickshaw which is not listening to them they will wack with the stick against the rickshaw hard. They do their job as best as they can. It’s tough to handle the traffic and they do their best to control the busy intersections as a team. They also frequently wear masks since they are around the vehicles’ exhaust all day.(pic: police officer managing the intersection with stick in hand and mask covering his nose and mouth)

19^th-3rd in Dhaka 1/11

Again not much today. Enjoyed some cereal in the morning for breakfast. Was honestly very delicious to have cereal for the first time in a long time.

For lunch made PB&J after going to Almas Super Shop to buy some good jam. Also bought some muesli and enjoyed that as well.

In the afternoon I went on a walk around Dhanmondi lake. Was feeling a bit better and bit more energized with actual food in my stomach. The lake is really long all the way around since arms of it stretch in every direction. The walking path is very nice, and I want to start running on it when I start feeling better. The bridges that cross the lake are neat, and I love to just meander in all the directions. There are people everywhere. The paths are very near clogged, but I think it’s nice, so many people enjoying themselves. Mostly men though, as that’s who’s always out and about in Bangladesh. There was some concert going on alongside the lake at the outdoor theater, and it was being sponsored by some banana chip company. They were blasting their minute long advertising jingle over and over. I can’t believe people didn’t leave, because it would easily drive me nuts. I sat and read the NCSU newsletter my parents sent me, and just enjoyed being outside. Haven’t been outside much while sick.

Actually ate the dinner the boua made and talked to her today, asking her name and if she could cook some of my favorite Bangladeshi foods.

Bunch of the CCR16 group came over. CCR16 is the group of people who graduated from Cadet College Rangpur Batch #16. This includes Saifullah, Mohan, Moin, Bapi, Shibli, and many others. They all are great friends even 12 years after Cadet College ended. Four of them came over to Mohan’s and my place. Ate some dinner and we played card games. Learned 29, a real good strategy game that lasts for a long time. Must be great for long trips. Glad I picked this one up.

19^th-4th in Dhaka 1/12

Another day where I pretty much stayed at home. Eating simple foods still. PB&J. Bananas. Cereal. Muesli.

Went and got a haircut. They cut it a bit too close! Uh oh! Now I think I look like a professional soccer player, where they only keep a little bit of hair because of all the ball heading. Oh well, it’ll grow. This time I went to a nicer saloon because it was a fixed price, and they have clippers, not just scissors. But they don’t restrain themselves with such powerful tools. Next time I’ll go back to streetside saloon. I might gone today, but all were crowded since it was a weekend.

Started looking at grad schools and fellowships, such as the NSF. Realized I need to start considering this stuff. I know it’s early, but it’s never too early. I’m nervous. Thinking about the whole application process. Thinking about all I’ll have to propose. Thinking of recommendation letters. It’s all so much.

Megan and Aaron came to Dhanmondi. They were going to a couchsurfing “convention” aka a meeting at café mango for couchsurfers and those hosting in Bangladesh. If you don’t know what couchsurfing is, it’s this phenomenon where people post that they have couches for people to sleep on, and when traveling, you can crash at their place. I was first told about it by Spencer Sawyer, a guy on the rowing team. Sawyer is like 6’4” and 200 pounds, so my friend Danny Heater joked that maybe we all would feel comfortable crashing at a stranger’s home if we were Sawyer’s size too. That thought in mind, I didn’t sign up then. Well after tonight, I decided to give it a shot. I may couchsurf someday, but I’d like to host for now if possible.

Anyway, we met at café mango, and I got some soup because I was real hungry and but couldn’t still eat too much because my stomach is still readjusting. Some people were couchsurfers, some were hosts. But mostly chatted with Aaron and Megan because I hadn’t seen them in awhile, and didn’t have any couchsurfing stories to tell.

Took a rickshaw back to my place. I showed them my apartment. Was happy to show. Mohan and Bapi were also there and they talked to Megan and Aaron.

Bapi told me something really neat after Megan and Aaron left. He said he feels that it is his responsibility, as well as all Bangladeshis, to make foreigners who come to aid his country feel especially welcome, and invite them to his home to feed them. It’s them, he said, who’ve come all around the world, to work for near nothing, but to help his country and its people. Thus he feels because of this, the least he can offer is to welcome them to his home and feed them With this thought in mind, I understand more the reasoning behind why I’m always getting invitations to people’s places to eat.

19^th-5th in Dhaka 1/13

In the mid-morning I took a walk around Dhanmondi Lake. A nice walk, just to celebrate internally feeling healthier. I really enjoy the scenery and people watching. Glad to take the morning to do this. Made me feel refreshed and prepared for the day.

Also talked to Diya online how I wanted to play badminton, and she told me her friend and neighbor Oyon plays. So she gave me his cell and I got in contact with him. Made plans to come over this night to play. They play on his roof on a court he puts together (by that I mean puts up the lights and the net.)

BUET ended up being successful today. Arrived just after eating my lunch at home. Waited around the ARC for Sohel. Asked him about the library and tips on how I can find what I want. He told me to ask the librarians for the catalog. Also told me to find a man named Rofiq who could help me locate things in the traffic lab. While there I also asked for permission from Dr. Haque if I could make a copy of one of his papers in his private collection, and he agreed and got the copy made for me.

Sohel is a good guy and I’m glad to have met him. He talked to me how he used to like to play sports, but as he got older, his observance of Islam did not allow that to coincide with his life. As a religious person, the clothing he must wear for his religion is not suited for playing sports. So although he still loves cricket, badminton, and football, he no longer plays because of Islam. It is the sacrifice you make for your lord.

Found the catalog in the library by asking the librarian. It was a book with a list of all the MS and PhD thesis papers over the years. As I paged through it, I saw it’s organized by date, and then by author and title. So by going to the year 1991 I could see the few thesis papers from that year, then get the three digit number assigned to that paper, and then look for it on the shelf. The shelf, as I saw before is not organized, but now I knew what the numbers on some of the bound papers meant (not all papers had a number.) The first paper I looked for wasn’t amongst the random papers. Searched for the next, and success, I found it! Was pretty excited to find it. Then had the confidence to ask the librarian where the paper I was looking for was. He pulled out this list of professors’ names, and next to some of the names there were papers’ numbers. Well he told me Dr. Hossain Ali had the paper I was looking for. Not sure why he’s the “caretaker”, but he is. Librarian found the office number for me. Tried to go by his office but he wasn’t in.

Dropped by traffic lab and it was open for first time ever, and I looked inside and saw a guy, and he turned out to be Rofiq Islam, the guy who runs the lab. I asked him about one of the documents I was looking for, and he told me to sit while he went to look for it. It was a big document and he came back with several volumes of books. He also showed his catalogue for the lab of the undergraduate and graduate papers they had on file. Showed me that they had also many measurement tools and devices. He’s an undergrad at another university at night but is running this lab during the day.

He and I went to the BUET canteen and had a cup of Nescafe coffee and talked about engineering. We both commented on how we wished undergraduate students in their final projects would not repeat the same projects year after year. That they would see what has come before them and build upon that.

Played badminton tonight. Went over to Oyon’s building, technically also Farhanaz’s and Diya’s building as well. Went to buy some shuttlecocks. Apparently since we play on the roof we lose a lot. We bought 6.

Badminton was fun. Will be more fun other nights. This night it was a bit too windy, the downside of playing on the roof. We lost all 6 shuttlecocks, couldn’t believe it. The guys and I are all similarly skilled. All the lights and net are Oyon’s and we set them up before we play and take them down after.

Spent some time learning about the Islamic New Year which happened apparently three days ago on January 10^th. The new year isn’t really celebrated in Bangladesh as Mohan explained to me, except by extra prayer at the mosque, which unless you go regularly, you wouldn’t go to hear. Neat fact, 2008 is one of the years in which the Islamic year will fall entirely within the Gregorian calendar. This happens every 33 years. The new year is marked from the year the prophet Muhammad moved from Mecca to Medina. I did notice the new moon, and thus I knew a month was changing, but no signs that it was the new year from what I could tell. Of course I was also in the house being sick.

19^th-6th in Dhaka 1/14

Spent the morning in the library reading the thesis paper on pedestrian underpasses. Kids were collecting their grades in the library, so there was a constant stream of students. Faisal came by, a friend I met on New Years, and we exchanged hellos after he got his grades. The report was less focused on the pedestrians and more on the traffic. Instead of a safety study, it was more of an flow study and the pedestrians were causing a delay.

Met up with Ayon and his friends from DU for lunch. They took me to this place called Mama, which is on top of Nilkhet Market, literally. It’s on the roof. You climb onto the roof via some back stairs, and way on the other side are three eateries, and one is Mama. First time eating out like this since being sick. They said it has been a popular place among DU and BUET students for a long time.

Went back to BUET. Spent afternoon researching bus delay caused by overcrowding. Not much that I’m finding, really need to find where they are hiding.

Found the bus that can take me from Jigatola to BUET and back. Local bus #13. From the bus stops it’s a short walk on either end. And it’s more comfortable, cheaper, safer, and quicker than a rickshaw. Comfortable in that the bus has nicer seats and the ride is less bumpy. Cheaper in that a rickshaw costs Tk25-30 each way, this cost Tk2….7% at best! Safer because it is less likely to be mugged, and less likely to get in a serious accident. Rickshaw riding can sometimes be very scary. And lastly, it’s quicker because a bus not only goes faster, but can take the main roads.

Stayed home, read a bit of Dune. Just starting on it. My dad’s copy. I’ve heard about it over the years from many people. Especially form Saket. And since the remake of the movie is coming out, and Saket is raving about it on his blog, and even started a fan page called Sands of Arrakis. I decided it was time to pick it up. Saket warned me the first 50 pages can be tough because of all the new jargon, so with that in mind, I’m starting to plow through.

Went to play badminton. Less wind and got a bunch of games in. Glad to have found this group. A seventh guy came tonight.

19^th-7th in Dhaka 1/15

Today was “go to Gulshan and get things done and meet up with friends” day. First up was to meet with Saifullah at his new office, check it out, and get my badminton racket back after a month. He has a real cool new job. He came over with his boss from Aktel, and is part of a team which will be developing a new product line for ACI, a company that specializes in dry goods. He’ll be in charge or marketing and gets develop his own team below him. Sounds like he’s going have a good time with it. He’s real excited about all the possibilities.

Next up was to go to Banani and get more packages from the American Center. Some from my parents, the rest of the holiday gifts. Unpacked them all from the boxes and put them in my bag.

Next headed down to A&W where I was meeting up with Risal for lunch since he works right nearby. We had set this up since I was coming to Gulshan and he works there, and we had wanted to meet up more often. Farabi and his cousin also came by. The four of us enjoyed lunch together. Root beer was delicious. Burger and chicken strips hit the spot as well.

After went back to Farabi’s uncle’s house with him and spent the afternoon with him. He was two years behind me in Science and Engineering Specialized Learning Center at Manalapan High School. He’s visiting for 2.5 weeks with family and such before Rutgers starts back up, first time in twelve years. I knew he’d be coming and we’d planned to meet up while he was here. Had a second lunch with his cousins, real good home cooked food. We went to Gulshan youth club, which his apartment building was right behind, and played a few games of badminton. Later we went to cofi11 for some iced mochas. His aunt served us some chingaras, but they were ponir filled (see above)! Yummm. Like mozzarella sticks.

Lastly went to KFC to meet with Ashrafi, a guy from the Bandarban trip who asked to meet with me. He just got a visa to the United States, and wanted to talk to me about it. He will be there thanks to a company which brings good candidates to the US in his IT field and sets them up with companies. If he gets a job with one of those companies, he gets to stay and then extend his visa as necessary. He’ll be sent to Jersey City, and he will be interviewing at Exchange Place, right near where my friend Chris Rappa works! I’m going to try to make sure the two of them meet up. Also since he’s going to be in New Jersey, I hope takes my offer to go to my parents’ house and meet them.

He wants to practice his English with me to get ready for the interviews, so I’m only to speak English to him! Also he was saying he needs get used to an American accent, but what’s even cooler is that I’m providing him with New Jersey accent practice! Real excited he’s going to my home state. He asked me if the people are very friendly in New Jersey. I couldn’t lie. I told him that New Jersey might be regarded as one of the rudest and least friendly states in the US by most Americans. I didn’t want to lead him astray. But I did talk about Jersey to him for the next half hour and all the great stuff about it.

When I got back, quickly changed and headed to Oyon’s house for badminton. Played a bunch of good doubles matches tonight. I get so competitive and apparently I’m never smiling when playing. Well it’s the competition what I enjoy most, and we’re all evenly matched, so it’s a lot of fun. I’m getting back to my previous form more each night, more confident in my hits. Glad to have my racket back too, feel much better playing with it.

Week 14: Class wraps up, unwrapping my research, and getting tied in knots at dance practice

At Saket's request, I've started making a map which I've pinpointed the places in Dhaka that I mention in my blog. I've linked it at the side for future reference, but here it is for the first time!

14^th-1st in Dhaka 12/5

Today finishes up 3 months.

Class was slow today. Last day before exam. Will be really sad when its all over.

After class, went to American Center to pick up two postcards from Sandee and a wedding gift thank you note from Jenna.

Went to the bank to get Tk10 notes. I gave two Tk500 notes, and got one hundred Tk10 notes in exchange. Tk10 notes, as I’ve mentioned, are “worth” more than their value, since no one ever accepts a Tk500 note, but Tk10 are always being used. They are a hot commodity to hold onto. But now no worry, I have a plethora!

Spent most of the afternoon and late night studying for exam. Prepped one more time to make sure I knew all the names of the districts.

I went to Naira’s house for our first gaye holud dance practice. It looks like it’ll be 4 guys and not sure yet how many girls. The guys, I knew two already, are Naira’s younger brother’s friends. Her sister was there, the one getting married, so I met her the first time. We worked on Mast Kalander, which actually was one of the songs that was at the last gaye holud I went to…looks like we’ll be dancing to it too. Got sweaty. It’s a lot of fun. I can’t wait to perform. More on this later, but not much now, scheduled next practice for tomorrow. Think we’ll maybe practice every day now til wedding.

There are no ovens (okay, of course there are some) in Bangladesh. My house doesn’t have one, very few people I know have them. As far as I can tell, no main dish here requires the oven’s use in preparation. Curries and rice dishes which are primarily eaten, are cooked over a stove. However, the microwave oven is essential! With only a few stove tops, and so many dishes, you have to be able to reheat the food quickly before the meal. But, maybe I’m just not looking in the right places.

14^th-2nd in Dhaka 12/6

Today was the final exam. It had 5 parts: writing, listening, grammar, reading, and conversation. Then there was the final extra credit that we had set up, to name all the districts of Bangladesh and the 6 main rivers…for a total of 70 items. I did as good as I thought I would. Didn’t do as well on the conversation as I did on the midterm, and that was a bit upsetting. Did perfect on the grammar. Listening and writing were both good, but a made some vocabulary mistakes on the writing. The reading was okay, missed a few things though. Overall 81/100. Then got all 7 possible points for extra credit, correctly spelling all 64 districts and 6 rivers. Was very proud of that. So total 88/100.
A bit sad to end. This was a fun class, and it was a great way to spend my first 3 months. I couldn’t imagine living in this country without knowing the language. I hope I can continue to improve now that the official education is over.

Went to lunch with Farah, Erin, Shakil and Santa. Some real nice Indian restaurant in Gulshan. Pretty delicious. It just took us forever to get ready, choose the place, and then order the food.

Badminton was fun tonight. I played 4 games. The first we lost 15-14. In Bangladesh, when you get to 14 when playing doubles, only one person gets to serve instead of the typical two man rotation. Gives the other team a chance to catch up. I won three games with another guy after that against different teams. Was real glad to actually make my hits. He kept telling me to hit it harder, but I’m not a fast hitter. I need to work on my power now.
Still don’t understand the way they figure out who plays. There was an entire court open, and there were four of us sitting there waiting to play. So I asked why don’t we play. One guy told me tons of things in Bengali, and I couldn’t make out why. And when the other court’s game finished, only one man would get off, and only one new person would get on. So I just left, it looked like I was not going to be having another game. There is some sort of hierarchy here I think, and the younger guys are trying to work their way into it.

14^th-3rd in Tangail 12/7

Today I went to Tangail.
Megan and I took a bus from Mohakali bus station. Never takes long to find one going your way, they’re everywhere. We bought a newspaper and read some of it on the bus. Also played some 9-card after I taught her how to play.
We arrived in Tangail, and asked a rickshaw to take us to a place where we could get some good food. He took us a bit into town from the bus station to a place that looked pretty good. We told him not to wait. Lunch was rice, mutton, spinach with shrimps, and dhal. All served very quick as usual.
The ride to Atia Mosque, our final destination, was supposed to be 3 miles but seemed a lot longer. It’s slow going on a rickshaw for 3 miles. At one point, a piece of wood on his rickshaw snapped, and we felt it was our fault even though the wood was rotting. Either way we decided we’d give him more when it came time to pay. We crossed many very green and yellow fields. People farming. Several small bridges, which sometimes required us to get down from the rickshaw because it’s too hard to make it up the hill. Went through several villages. Bumpy ride at many points. Sounded like the driver was grumbling at points. (pics: Tangail fields)

Well he brings us to a place we didn’t expect, Atia Mosque, but not the right one. It is actually a mazar, which I don’t know what the difference is. Atia Mosque we are looking for was built in 1608, this structure at which we have arrived was built in 1988. hmmm. Big difference.

We tried to figure out what to do now. We had to get back to make the bus. We thought maybe we should just get some petha and some tea. But then this younger guy around our age came up to us. He asked what we were doing. In English. We chatted for a bit, and then figured why not ask him if he knew where the other Atia Mosque is. He said of course, this way, and starts walking us. Low and behold, it was right around the corner, maybe 100 meters down the road. Wow, if he had not found us, we literally would’ve gone so close but so far. Thanks to him, we made it to our destination. He offered to show us around.
The mosque was built in 1608 and refurbished at some point in the last century, it was in great shape. Our new guide took us around. The place wasn’t very big. Maybe 30 meters long, 15 meters wide, and 6 meters tall, with an additional 3 meters of the main dome on top. It was very ornamented, with incredible detail carved into the exterior walls. It’s still in use. We arrived during the afternoon prayer, and there were people praying inside. It had one large dome on top, three smaller domes toward the front side. Four minarets, one at each corner. In the front, three arched doorways. At the back, a pond. There was a crypt in the front. The photo session in front of the mosque was humorous, our friend wanted to take photos with only me, not Megan (even though he was talking to her more)…but was inviting complete strangers to take pictures with us. Although we were only there for 20 minutes or so, since he rushed us around and out, it was enough to make its impact. I’m not sure if we had enough to time to absorb, so much was happening so quick. (pics: Atia Mosque in Tangail viewed from back side at pond, Atia Mosque's front side, myself next to one of the minarets, guide/me/stranger in front of Atia Mosque, ornamented exterior wall close-up, Megan in front of Atia Mosque)

He then helped us arrange a way to get back to Tangail to catch a bus back to Dhaka. We got ourselves a tempo (a CNG with seating for 6 people in a cage in back…cross a CNG with a rickshaw school van) to ride to a nearby village where we could get another tempo. He was going to follow us on his bike. He looked pretty awesome riding after us in his shades and flashy orange shirt. (pic: our guide looking awesome on his bike riding after our tempo)

In the village, got some petha and jumped in the tempo to go back to Tangail. Tight squeeze. At one point, some passengers got off, and some others got on. A boy with down syndrome was with his family who got on. And since we all couldn’t fit in back, someone needed to go up front. The only other man besides the boy had a small child with him. So once I realized what all the commotion was about, I told them I’d sit up front. Sitting up front involves hanging on for dear life as you squeeze to one side of the driver, on a seat not meant for more than two…and there’s a third guy on the other side of the driver. Some tempos I saw had 4 guys in the front seat! (pic: front seat passenger in a tempo holding on)

Bus ride home was feeling very long. Stuck in Savar for a bit in traffic. At beginning of bus ride a man came onto the bus selling hard boiled eggs. For Tk 6 he would peel the egg, cut it down the middle, and then sprinkle spices on it. Everyone wanted one it seemed, so we got one as well. I was surprised to find that it was warm.

Megan and I ate at a restaurant which I’m considering one of the better ones I’ve been to in Dhaka. It was a small place, typical Bangladeshi hotel thing. Meaning tiled floors and walls, and wooden tables. But the naan here was amazing, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar…oh my… I ate two. And the rotisseries spiced chicken was just as good. They even had this interesting salad dressing we’d never seen before. That was a winner too! Definitely where I’ll take friends from now on. Oh my!

14^th-4th in Dhaka 12/8

Went to the head instructor Farah’s house for a picnic. One reason for the picnic was to celebrate the completion of our course, but a lot of Farah’s family was there too, so perhaps it was already planned and we were invited along. Good food, and very greasy. The meal was termed a “picnic” but was different than what picnics are considered in the U.S. For what I can tell, here, picnics are just meals eaten outside. The same food you would eat normally. We ate our food on the porch of the home, not sitting in the grass, like the word picnic might make you imagine. But technically you’re not indoors, so thus, picnic. (pics: big pots of food for picnic, Erin/Jen/Ben enjoying picnic)

I was told once that this time of year is picnic season, where people have picnics. But they said it in the context that people go somewhere to have these picnics, like a park. So perhaps other picnics would be outside, but I’ve heard, still the same food as you would eat at other times of the year.

14^th-5th in Dhaka 12/9

I know have a better understanding on why the Jatrabari-Gulistan flyover isn’t being built after spending a good part of my day collecting sources. This article covers what happened earlier this year best. First, it was determined by a committee which had some BUET professors on it that the project’s on/off ramps were going to make overall traffic worse in the area, because they would obstruct traffic flow on the roads below. Five of the thirteen ramps were proposed to be removed in the revised plan. It was said that the builders of the project proposed those ramps not to improve the traffic but to increase revenue by being able to collect more tolls (more access points would mean more people getting on the flyover.) Also, it was said that the builders of the project used bribery and corruption to win the project improperly. There is a big issue over how much they said it would really cost and the like. Folks in the DCC and in the building groups who gave it the go ahead apparently did not follow ethical procedures. All of this has lead to the project being stalled, even after breaking ground.

Had lunch with Toma at Sub City. This place clearly exemplifies one thing I’ve been wanting to mention. No place ever just sells what they advertise. Yes, Sub City sells subs, but it also has the option for pizza, burgers, Chinese, Thai, and Indian! This isn’t rare. Most places here don’t just offer one type of food. There is usually a variety of foods you can get. So if you go to an Indian restaurant, you’ll likely to be able to get Chinese and Thai as well. If you want Vietnamese, don’t forget to browse over the Korean part of the menu. Italian restaurants have ensured to have Greek and French parts of their menus. Okay, so not all restaurants are like this, but many places offer a variety. The menus become quite long with various sections of food choices.

Well I was a bit saddened by my Sub City experience. I wanted to get the turkey sub on the menu, but when the guy came to take the order, he said there was a problem, they didn’t have any turkey left. So I said I’d take the roast beef and beef salami sandwich, and he said, no we don’t have any of that either. How about the beef pepperoni sandwich, nope not that either. So what do you have? We have chicken, shrimp, or tuna. Sigh…I’ll take the chicken, just make sure you put that oil and vinegar on it. Nope, you’re out of that too. Ok…whatever…just get me a sandwich. Sigh. Nothing I wanted they had. In fact every cold sub on the menu was not available. Sigh. I wanted potato chips too, but I had to settle for french fries. I should come back when Bangladesh’s turkey stock is replenished. This lack of food offered on menus is not uncommon. I’ve been to many places where I order a dish, and they look at me and say “no, we don’t have that”…so really, you need to go to a restaurant and ask them, “What can I order today?”

Did a lot of reading on my first day of research! Read the first part of the Dhaka STP, and went through many internet articles seeing what projects are currently happening in Dhaka, and what their history has been the last two years. Just trying to gain the true context of all the situations.

Dance practice was not really successful tonight. Only half of us showed up and only could practice pieces of two dances. So tomorrow night we’ll meet up again. So right after I went next door with some of Naira’s friends/family and played badminton. Got three games in. I really need to learn how to smash and hit it to the backcourt. Then I’ll be a more complete player.

I left my keys at the badminton house I think….gotta go back tomorrow to get them.

14^th-6th in Dhaka 12/10

Today was a bit hectic in the middle. I didn’t get much sleep last night because of fantasy football. Woke up and looked into it. left some guys on the bench who scored lots of points. After breakfast was working on the computer, not research, when saifullah called. Told me to come by the aktel office

Went by the Aktel office because Saifullah called me up to come by. He’s just left Aktel, and was dropping in only because our trip this weekend has many Aktel folks coming along. Met some of the guys going. We’re planning to play some cricket and badminton on top of the mountain we go to, so we’re making sure to bring our sports stuff. Also heard my ad will be out soon enough, things got held up somewhere. Pictures will come I promise.Went to guide tours to find out some details. Saw my permission papers were completed to get me into Bandarban as a foreigner.

Went by the house I was at last night and asked about my keys. Glad I could be understood by the guard about what was happening. He told me to come back at 7 when the home owner would be home. I did during dance practice since Naira’s house was right next door.

14^th-7th in Dhaka 12/11

Got more reading done on the STP and looking up current projects here in Dhaka.

Talked to Sandee for 3 hours this morning on Skype, first time we’ve talked since I’ve arrived. But once she got Skype, it didn’t take long for us to plan this.

Dance practice was good. After a slow start, sitting around and eating for about an hour and a half, we finally started doing some things. Tashfique and Tawfique did their dance first, and then later Tawfique showed us the dance for Dekha Jo Tujhe Yaar. Pretty cool. Can’t wait to perform all these. Dance practice, even when we don’t do much, is very fun. Tomorrow we’ll work on the same dances again.

After, went by Ishfaq and Ishraq’s place to meet with Nafisa and them about the concert we’d been planning to benefit Sidr victims. Nafisa and I had first talked about this last week over dinner at Khalid’s place and that’s when I jumped on board, but this week things have started to materialize over email, and tonight, us four organizers finally all got together to talk about the budget and things that need to happen before Eid.
Anyway, we were trying to nail some really big bands for this, and a big name venue. I didn’t want to bring this up in the blog until I really knew some good details, so as not to release things too early. But we have confirmed some pretty major acts. Top of the list is Warfaze, Aurthohin, Artcell, Black, Nemesis, Vibe, Powersurge, and Radioactive. Some of the biggest bands in Bangladesh right now. Looks like the name will be Save Our Souls and the date will be January 4^th at Bashundara Baridhara complex. We are ordering several thousand posters, bills, and tickets. Ishfaq, at just 17, has really used some impressive contacts he has. I’m very impressed by what he’s accomplished. Nafisa has a lot of say in what’s happening, and I’m trying to give as much input as I can on running large events (LINKssss from what I learned from organizing the Krispy Kreme Challenge, Walk for PKD, and Million Meter Rows) we’ve already got some pretty hefty donations too. Many of the bands are playing for free, and some major bands gave us big discounts. This event should be huge. Ishfaq thinks maybe 2500+ people. We’ll see. I’m excited. Things are materializing, and very quickly. I’m in contact with Diya, Farhanaz’s younger sister, since she works for the music section of the city’s biggest english newspaper, talking about publicity and what we can do to make this event bigger.

Interesting thing Farhan told me today. I was trying to set up with him when I can go by his home to use his landline phone, since I need to use it for my Fulbright exit language test…for the language grant. Anyway, he told me he may not have class next week. I asked why, and he said students are demanding an earlier break. He says that, as a private university, this happens at his school a lot. They demand more break so they can go home for the holidays, and the school usually gives it. Is this common for private universities? Or just here? I have no clue. But I was shocked the students could influence the faculty that much by promising a walk out.

Week 13: Are you a soccer, cricket, or museum kind of guy?

13^th-1st in Dhaka 11/28

Today was museum day. Both classes took a trip to the Liberation War Museum and the National Museum.
The Liberation Museum was very powerful. It goes through an incredible amount of detail describing what led up to the war in 1971, and then even more information about what happened during the war, including personal stories. They’ve collected tons of documents, photos, and objects from the war period, and aim to describe every painful detail.
The museum showed a 10 minute long film while we there, so we went in the theater to watch. It was very engaging, and showed excellent footage, showing the mostly foreign audience views of the war they were likely largely unfamiliar with.
The displays were both in Bengali and English. Sometimes I saw that the Bengali description was a few times longer than the English, but I was okay with it. Even with that, it still took me two hours to go through the 2-story museum which wasn’t much bigger than a house. There was just so much to read, absorb, and understand. For someone who knows only a handful of dates and names, it’s a bit difficult to grasp it all. For someone who knows nothing at all, this museum would be very overwhelming, not just in the volume of information, but also in the emotion behind it all.
Seeing and reading about some of the things that Pakistan did to the Bangladeshis when they were still in control made me tear at points. For me, and others, the worst event was what occurred two nights before Pakistan surrendered. They decided before they left they should kill all of Bangladesh's top doctors, educators, scientists, and philosophers. In the middle of the night they went to their homes, took them away, and murdered hundreds of them. Then left Bangladesh two days later. There was no strategic purpose to this; they knew they were surrendering soon, so to do just one more bit of damage before departing, they did this.
What’s incredible to me is that people here still remember the horrors of that war.
Three million people were killed in genocide then. People have mothers who were raped during the war. It’s incredible. I can't imagine living in the US thirty years after the civil war for example. To know of the horrors which happened on your land just such a short time ago...(pics: displays at Liberation War Museum, Erin/Santa at lunch between museums)

The National Museum is exactly the opposite of the Liberation War Museum. It’s several stories tall and looks like a museum; a large imposing structure with beautiful grounds. And inside, it is full of, well, very little information compared to the size of the building. The top floor has some reproduction of paintings from elsewhere in the world, a room of international dolls (the US dolls were represented by two Barbies and a doll that was obviously a gift shop toy purchased in New Orleans (the words New Orleans were on the doll’s dress,) and some other raggedy gift-shop like doll.)
Downstairs there were floors with Bangladeshi art, historical items, clothing, musical instruments….just a collection of everything a national museum should have about its respective country. Downstairs there were more scientific displays about Bangladesh’s geological history and agricultural history. Also displays on cultural life.

Went to Megan’s in the evening and we listened to the first 12 tracks of the Radiohead 01 and 10 mix that I’ve mentioned before. So, I did my senior English thesis on OK Computer, a bit of a concept album, and compared it to Catcher in the Rye. I remember when I was analyzing the album that many times I felt stuff was happening between songs that wasn’t being explained. For example, between Exit Music and Letdown, I felt something tragic must’ve happened and I could only postulate what. But when you stick Weird Fishes/Arpeggi in there, it’s like turning on a light and you see what happened to the two lovers in the songs who’ve escape. Or, how about Bodysnatchers right before Subterranean Homesick Alien! We only did the first half because it was getting late, but supposedly the last 10 songs is where the two albums really mesh. Will give my final opinion after it’s all over.

13^th-2nd in Dhaka 11/29

Starting to be sad that class is going to be over soon. Will miss the fun we have every day.

In class we learned to cook. Farah taught us how to make pulao and chicken gorma. Everything has a lot of fat, I’ll tell you that. But also a variety of spices: mostly cardamom and cinnamon. We put that in both dishes. It took 2 hours to cook it all. It was fun to learn everything, and see how some of my two favorite dishes are cooked. Erin wrote down what we were doing step by step, so many ingredients. Ultimately, I’ll copy them down from her, but these dishes look like it takes practice to get just right. If I make them in the US I’ll likely have to go Indian grocery store to buy all the ingredients.

I’m not sure if I ever officially said that food is eaten with your hand here. All food, well except soup. And it’s always the right hand…never never your left. Your left hand is reserved for bathroom business. I was once told, when you use the hand to eat, it’s supposed to make you feel closer to your food. You get to feel the textures, which they say makes things taste better. Yes, your hand gets very messy, but it’s not rude to lick your hand and fingers. Since the staple of all food is rice, it’s important to understand how to eat it correctly. You push your rice grains together, mushing them into a ball almost, then pick up the ball with your four fingers, and bring it up to your mouth, then push it into your mouth using the thumb. Because your left hand isn’t being used for eating, you can use it to grasp your water glass and drink. However, I’ve noticed that many folks here don’t drink a sip until the meal is over, then they drink the whole thing in one gulp.
Anyway, because you eat with your hand, you want to make sure it’s clean before you eat with it. So that’s why all restaurants have several sinks right in the restaurant, and you wash your hands after you order. And then, since your hand is all messy and greasy, you wash it at the same sinks afterwards. In homes, sometimes there is a sink right in the dining room for washing.

In the evening I went to Nafisa’s aunts house for dinner. Talked with her uncle and his friends for the beginning. One guy was in from Florida and he works for the Florida DOT, so we talked about one project he is working on, the new Orlando beltway.
Hung out with Ishraq for dinner. Dinner was delicious as usual. They had a lot of company over. After dinner had a conversation with one of their sons there. A 9 year old boy who was proud to show me he could speak English. So we had a conversation, him speaking English and myself speaking Bengali.

13^th-3rd in Dhaka 11/30

Went to Saquib’s house today. Was a great time.
I waited for Farhan at the bus stand since I got there when he told me to meet him but he arrived 30 minutes late. While I waited I talked to two of the bus ticket guys sitting at their tables under their umbrellas. They asked what I was doing, how I know Bengali, the typical questions. I asked them how long they sit there every day, what time they arrive. 8 hours a day, 7 days a week they work these counters. I think it’s a fun job. All this action around you, ever few minutes a mad rush for tickets. Friends come to hang out with you and talk. In fact, conversations always seem to spring up at these ticket counters.
Farhan arrived and we took the bus to Uttara.

We chilled in Saquib’s room for most of the day. Looked at pictures, listened to music, and watched music videos. Opu and Ayon showed up after about an hour separately, it was the 5 of us all day. Arm wrestled, listened to music. Sometime after a delicious lunch served my Saquib’s mom, we went up to the roof, cricket ball and bat in hand! (pics: Farhan/Ayon arm wrestling, Saquib taking a photo of Farhan/Opu arm wrestling, Ayon sporting Saquib's hat, Saquib/Opu)

On the roof we played cricket. It was a lot of fun. For the first time I got to bowl and bat. Ayon taught me the basic points of each. We switched off who was bowling, batting, and fielding in a cycle. We had to bowl and bat softly since we didn’t want the ball going off the edge of the roof and falling seven stories to the ground. Well, one of my bowls was maybe too hard, and Opu’s hit too hard as well, and the ball went over the side into the grassy area 7 stories below next to the apartment building. Three of us went downstairs and had to get some kid to hop the fence for us to get our ball back. (pics: our playing area with Saquib/Farhan/Opu, Opu hitting a ball bowled by Ayon, Ayon batting, oooooopsssss ball is now 7 stories down, myself batting, Ayon giving me pointers on batting, myself hitting a ball bowled by Farhan)

Later we climbed above the elevator shaft building to get an even better view. Uttara is quite impressive. 5-8 story apartment buildings as far as the eye can see. And it’s growing! It’s the main suburb of Dhaka. People are migrating out here at a good rate. In fact, just from the roof of Saquib’s apartment building, a 360 degree turn will allow you to spot over 50 new apartment buildings nearby. The growth is incredible. Its places like Uttara that is causing Dhaka is growing as fast as it is. (pics: how many new apartments being built can you spot in Uttara?, Saquib/Farhan on Saquib's roof in Uttara, Opu/Ayon, Opu/Ayon/me/Farhan posing)

I took a bus to Dhanmondi where I was meeting Nafisa and Khalid for a late Thanksgiving dinner at Khalid’s grandmothers house. Lot of people I knew there, Elizabeth and her Australian roommate, Naira’s and Khalid’s friends Nadia and Samia.
Desert was pretty delicious. They made a pumpkin “cake” and were worried about the results. A delicious chocolate cake, the kind that makes you want to get a drink afterward…milk would be best, but even a coke or water will do. Yum. (pic: Nafisa/Khalid cutting the pumpkin "cake")

13^th-4th in Dhaka 12/1

I went running, longest yet. Measured out that Baridhara is roughly 1000 meters long for running, and about ¼ mile wide. My old runs were about 2 miles, and the run I did today was about 2.75

How do you count? Just with you fingers? Well the Bangladeshi way is much more effective. I’d seen it for a few weeks, but I’d never thought twice about what was happening. But it was Megan who finally pointed it out to me. Bangladeshis use the lines on their fingers to count. Look at your hand, on each finger there are 3 pronounced lines, even on your thumb…look close! Then, if you add your fingertip, each finger has 4 points to count. Bangladeshis count this way, tapping their thumb along each line and then on the finger tip…and lastly use their index finger to count the thumb. In this way, you can get up to 20 on just one hand! 40 using both hands! It’s quadrupling your hand counting capacity! Pretty neat. Try it out, maybe you’ll get converted.

13^th-5th in Dhaka 12/2

I headed out to find Guide Tours to book my parents and my trip to the Sundarbans in March. Finding the office was a bit of an issue. Sat down with them and received trip options that I’ll explore and choose for my parents and myself. It’ll be a 4-day 3-night trip, likely at the end of their stay due to the timing of things.
Left, and went across the circle to check out if I could get the strap on my hat shortened…my favorite cap from H&M has a real long strap, and I thought it looked silly. And since they say you can get anything and everything done on the streets here, I was searching out someone to cut it and resew it. Found a guy with a sewing machine on the streetside, in the back of bazaar, asked him. He did, and I gave him Tk 20. We chatted about his son and my studies while he worked. Some other guy came over during and also talked with us.
Next went to find a badminton racket. Checked three stores, two sport specific stores and one shop in the bazaar. After asking about prices and the like finally decided on a racket in my price range. Also but a shuttlecock. I bought a low-to-mid range racket so if it gets stolen I won’t be sad. And at least its not cheap and break in the first game.

After dinner went to Gulshan Park to play badminton. It’s been a few months, so my lack of skill to those I was playing with really showed. I got to play 4 games, the first 2 with a guy who asked me if it was my first time every playing L Played the other 2 games with folks who seemed to be of lesser skill level, the category I fit into. I only played co-ed intramurals with Kristen in college and took badminton as a course sophomore year.

I like that pickup games just happen at local parks, every night, for a few hours. They only play in the winter because it’s cooler out unlike the hot hot summer. But they’ll play all winter. I’m looking forward to doing this most nights. Talked to a few people there, but was nervous to say the least. My skill isn’t as good, in badminton or in Bengali, so I’m sure I look a bit foolish. I’ll try my best to keep my head up.

13^th-6th in Dhaka 12/3

Headed down to Bangabandhu national stadium. A big soccer match today! Mohammedan vs. Abahani, the two best teams in the country. It was a best-of-3 series, with proceeds benefiting the Sidr victims. This was game 1. Apparently whenever the two teams play, it is always very heated, so even though these were Friendly matches, they aren’t necessarily friendly. Fans or players. A bit of history on what makes these teams such big rivals, as explained to me by Shakil:
Sheikh Mujib Rahman’s (the leader of the Liberation Movement in Bangladesh in 1971) eldest son started Abahani. Because the Awami League political party rose out of this family, leading eventually to Sheikh Hasina, recent president of Bangladesh and now in jail, this team is frequently supported by those who are in the Awami League.
Mohammedan was first organized by the royal family of Dhaka who lived in Ahsan Manzil in Old Dhaka. It was started in the 1930s and in modern times has received support from those in the government of Bangladesh, mainly because the Bangladesh National Party has been in power, and they are rivals of the Awami League. In fact, those who don’t like the Awami League support Mohammedan, plain and simple. Much of this team’s fan base is in Old Dhaka, because the ties the royal family had with that part of the city.

Abahani has its own practice field in Dhanmondi, while Mohammedan practices on either some of the Army’s fields, or the police’s fields.
Abahani’s colors are light blue and yellow and Mohammedan is black and white.
Because Ayon supported Abahani, I decided I would too, but by the end of the game, I was against Mohammedan for valid reasons.

The game resulted in a tie. Many scoring chances throughout the game, but nothing materialized. The action got hotter throughout the game. With about 10 minutes left, a fight broke out in the midfield. And the captain of Abahani (also the captain of the Bangladesh national team) and one of the best defensemen of Mohammedan were ejected. They both left the stadium to much riled yells from both sides of the crowd. The crowd, just like at concerts when they don’t like a band, started yelling “boo-wah, boo-wah!” (pic: the fight which got the two players ejected)

The crowd was definitely heated toward each other, even in the more expensive seating section in which Ayon and I were sitting. At one point, the Abahani goalkeeper made a miraculous save, and one guy supporting that side next to us stood up and gave a yelp of joy, shaking his arms in the air. Some guy 5 seats over, supporting Mohammedan, immediately stood up and started barking at the Abahani fan, “Sit down, sit down, shut up!!”…very emotional on both sides. And this wasn’t even that crazy of a match apparently! (pic: guy on far right was the Abahani supporter and four guys over is the Mohammedan supporter during a heated point in the match)

What made me decide to dislike Mohammedan was how they treated the end of the game. After the two squads tied, Abahani quickly came back to wait on the field for the expected shoot-out. However, Mohammedan went to their bench and started collecting their things. No one knew what was happening. Then Mohammedan began to walk off the field! Mayhem! Crowd is booing/cheering, going crazy. Abahani is just standing there wondering what is going on. Then, one of the VIPs who was sitting near us in a special booth goes down to the field. Ayon pointed out to me earlier this man was one of the great players in Bangladesh history, now much older. He used to play for Mohammedan. He goes down and talks the players back into doing the shootout. Meanwhile people all over the field are yelling at each other. The crowd is cheering going wild and seem to be on the verge of fighting. I was pretty turned off by Mohammedan’s action. What would stop you from playing a shootout for CHARITY?! Anyway, they ended up winning the shootout…dang, I wanted Abahani to win. (pics: Abahani waits midfield for a shootout while Mohammedan walks off, ex-Bangladeshi soccer star convincing his former team to do the shootout, Mohammedan wins the shootout they didn't even want to play)

The food during the game was interesting. There weren’t any official stadium food vendors. All food vendors were from the street who bought a ticket to come into the stands, and then sold their food. Peanuts, tea, potato chips, water, and soda were some of the options. As well you could buy a crushed chick pea, tomato, and onion with spices mixture which is real popular. We bought some peanuts, tea, and the chick pea stuff. Prices weren’t any higher than they would be on the street, except for the tea guy, who blamed it on having to buy a ticket to the game. (pics: Ayon with his tea, nuts wrapped in old Bangladeshi newspaper, food hawker who had to buy a ticket to sell his food, the popular snack he sells)

From the stadium you can see the National Mosque. The game lasted through two azans, so it was neat to hear the azan singing while the game was happening. About 50 fans gathered near the north end of the stadium and did their prayers in the stands during the game. (pic: white building outside stadium is the National Mosque)

The Boy Scouts were helping out at the game. They helped collect tickets and during the game they were the ballboys. Also carried a banner when the teams were brought out. They had similar uniforms and some of the same patches as those in the US. I got some pictures with some of them after the game. We talked about scouting in our own countries for only a short time, but enough to exchange some ideas. Since we shook with our right hand, I asked them why they don’t shake with their left, as this is supposed to be the international scout handshake. Well they explained to Ayon and me that Bangladeshi scouts used to shake with their left hand, like all scouts in the world, but when Ziaur Rahman was President of Bangladesh, he gave a decree that all Bangladeshis should shake with their right hand, and thus the scouts followed suit, a show of loyalty to the then young nation. I also asked where they meet, and with the help of Ayon’s translation, we understood that there are two branches of scouting here, the educational branch and the non-educational branch, the latter which he was part of. Not exactly sure what that meant, but I’ll guess and say it means certain troops are associated with schools, while he, at 21, is not in school anymore, and its only a club. I think what he does is similar to the US’s Venture Scouts. Ayon told me that the common activities Boy Scouts are known for in Bangladesh is camping and service projects. Just like American scouts! Was very excited to meet them, and I hope vice versa. (pics: Boy Scouts with a banner midfield before the game, a Boy Scout ballboy, Bangladeshi Boy Scouts, and a shot with me)

After the game, I bought a Bangladeshi flag on the street and a headband for Ayon and myself for next time we go to a match. Victory Day is coming up, so flags are being sold all over now.

Day ended poorly. Sadly. I accidentally put a lock on my phone, and don’t have the code to unlock it. Spent a lot of time tonight trying to figure out what to do. Sujit tried taking it to the store to get it unlocked, and they couldn’t help. My friend Toma, who works at Aktel, my service provider, assured me online she could get it to work, so I’ll go by tomorrow.
Also got upset at badminton, I think I was being teased in Bengali for my lack of skill. Eh, that’s never fun.

13^th-7th in Dhaka 12/4

We cooked khichuri and three types of fish today in class. Our second cooking class in one week. Food was good again. We made a dessert this time called firnni. It requires to be stirred the entire time! So that was my job for about 15 minutes. All was delicious in the end.

Midway through, I had to go to the Aktel office to get my phone fixed. Toma met me there, and gave me all my codes, and helped me get the phone working again.

Went to Lavendar’s (grocery/everything store) upstairs where they have toys. Saw a really cool board game where you have to navigate the streets of Delhi, India in your taxis, collecting fares, avoiding traffic signals, and competing for things…I thought it was a real cool transportation related game! I’ll buy it at some point.

The use of bamboo here is quite impressive. Its strength is used in many applications, whether to construct carts to pull heavy machinery around or to make ladders for workers. But one of the most impressive uses is to support the formwork for setting concrete. As buildings go up floor by floor, the bamboo takes the load of the wet concrete. Also, on this note, many buildings are occupied even while being constructed. Many buildings are occupied in the lower levels since they have been completed, and as the owner’s get more money, they complete the building floor by floor. So it’s common to see a several story apartment building, with drying clothes hanging out windows, and the top floor is a forest of bamboo posts holding up the next floor of setting concrete. (pic: bamboo supporting new concrete)