Week 27: Fed hourly in the village of Bhaberchar

27^th-1st in Dhaka 3/5

Today marks 6 months. Technically this is the halfway mark of my Fulbright grant. Yes, it feels like it’s been that long. I’m not the one to say, “Wow, time flies.”

I had a meeting at 10am at BUET with two of the undergrads who will help me, Arjun and Adnan. Arjun said a third, Shegufta, a girl in their class, was coming as well. After they’d all arrived, I went over what I’d been doing recently and how I need their help. Gave them brief introductions into the data collection process. Tried to establish times they could come out with me, and Adnan seemed to be the first to be able, coming tomorrow.

To get to the places I needed to today, I used bus routes that I’m studying. Even if they go past where I need to go, I take the bus to the end, and then backtrack if necessary. Headed up to Baridhara via the Winner bus, collecting data on the route to the end. Backtracked to the American Embassy to pick up my passport with its twenty new pages added into it!

Went to the American Center to pick up a package from my parents. There the security guards from the American Embassy the other day were working. Looks like they take shifts at the three American buildings. They were as chatty as last time.

Had lunch at the Mexican place in Banani. Wanted to get the lunch special, but it wasn’t being offered, because it has chicken in it, and they’re not serving chicken anymore.

Took a new bus today, Dibanishi. It has a neat practical route, hitting some real good spots. They are very organized at their bus stands with real lines and everything! Took it all the way to the end. Then took a bus from there, not doing data collection, to Mirpur 1. Picked up my camera there. The smudges and dirt which were ruining my pictures for about two months are now cleaned off, and I’m ready to start taking good photos again!

Took a bus back down to Pantha Path. There I paid for the bus ticket from Khulna to Dhaka for my parents. Then went to the rental car office and talked about it one more time before putting down an advance. Got all that worked out.

Since I was already there, I went by the furniture area and picked up my last dinner table chair and a desk chair. Now my furniture shopping is complete. Took them both back home by rickshaw.

27^th-2nd in Dhaka 3/6

I got to teach the undergraduates today how to do the data collection. Only two out of the three could come. Funny because Adnan, the one who didn’t come, was the only one who originally said he could come today. I took Shegufta and Arjun around, we took two routes. On the first one I taught them my methods and showed them how to record the data. On the second route I let them practice. It was a neat sight seeing the two of them sitting in the front seat of the bus, voice recorders to their mouths, and keeping track of the data. I think they did well, and was proud to have trained two team members. They seemed pretty excited about doing it. Their comments about it indicated that they thought it was a bit difficult. I think it was especially harder for Shegufta since she does not usually ride buses. Not only is she getting use to the routes, stops, and data collection, but just bus riding in general. It takes some getting used to.

Did three other routes by myself today too. So spent a lot of time on the bus today, riding 6 total routes. Met Megan and Aaron for dinner at Bella Italia in Gulshan for pizza and pasta. Was able to time my bus routes correctly to make it. After dinner Megan and I called Abusaleh and Ashraful and scheduled to come to their village on Saturday.

Came home, and ate a second dinner. Really the dinner at Bella Italia was my lunch, hadn’t eaten all day.

27^th-3rd in Dhaka 3/7

Today I finished Dune. So great to complete the novel. I enjoyed it more and more as I went along. Definitely in my top 3 of science fiction novels.

Headed out to New Market, and brought my suit jacket along. Wanted to get some things adjusted on it from January. Brought it to my tailor, and he told me he could shorten the arms and the body of the jacket without a problem. Then we went downstairs and I selected my fabric for my next suit. Wanted to get a lighter suit for summer occasions. The guy selling the fabric was real helpful like last time. They brought me juice too! And then he brought the price down a lot, without any bargaining. Perhaps he was just saying that to make me think I got a “deal.” But then, after paying, he decided to give another Tk300 more off! I didn’t even ask. He said I was a returning customer and would give me even more off. I wasn’t expecting it all. I was content paying the first price, but he gave me Tk300 and told me to take it. Made a big impression on me.
I then went upstairs to the tailor’s shop and we prepared the order for this new suit.

Met up with Nipu at DPavement, which we’ve been trying to go to for awhile. No success this time, “Private Party“ sign on the door. So we headed down the street to Nando’s and had some delicious peri-peri chicken burgers. Nando’s, famous for their chicken, has taken an interesting approach to the avian flu issue. At each table setting they have left pamphlets with 7 FAQs that you can take with you and read. Very informative, and spreads correct information in a good way. Have to commend them. And the t-shirts they wear at the restaurant are about how they are serious about Avian Flu, with the same logo as the pamphlet. Plus the food is always tasty. (pic: the pamphlet answering the FAQ about avian flu)

27^th-4th in Bhaberchar 3/8

Megan and I headed out past Sonargaon today to Bhaberchar where the guys, Abusaleh and Ashraful who we met on our Sonargaon trip, live in their village. Ashraful, however, didn’t meet up with us today, and we spent the day with Abusaleh. We had a lot of traffic heading out of Dhaka, so showed up to his place an hour late.

We were fed many times throughout the day. I count five. Of those, only one was a full meal, the rest were sweets and snacks. So full by the time we left. (pics: the full meal, Megan eating meal #4 of 5)

Abusaleh showed us around the village, his old school, his current school, the college his sister goes to, the primary school some of his family works at. He pointed out the homes of each of his aunts, uncles, and other extended family members. (pics: Megan/Abusaleh admiring the Shahid Minar at his sister's college, Megan talking with Abusaleh's sisters friends in their college, getting fed meal #2 of 5 at the primary school, Abusaleh asked us to pose with a poster some girls at his school were drawing)

The neatest school stop off was the primary school. After sitting and talking to teachers for a bit, they showed us each of the classrooms with about 30 students each. When we walked all the kids stood up, saluted us, and said, “Salam walekum.” The teachers introduced us to the top boy and girl in each class and made the kids ask us questions. Some were too shy to say a word. But the second we left each classroom we heard it explode in chatter and laughter. I noticed the top kids in the classes sat in the front. Megan explained to me after that in most schools in Bangladesh she has been to, the kids sit in order of their rank in the class, girls on one side of the room, boys on the other, So the kids with the lowest marks sit in the back row, and the kids in the front row have the best marks. The number one boy and girl in each class sit in the inner side of the front rows, directly in front of the teacher. (pics: browsing through the first level English book the students study from, the boys' side of grade 4 classroom, teachers have the top girl in the class ask us questions, students being told to ask us questions...nothing tougher than our name and where we come from)

At one point we meandered through a rice paddy to get to one part of the village. First time walking through one, despite it probably covers more land area than any other crop (or all other things perhaps. (pics: Abusaleh standing in the rice paddy, Megan/myself standing in the rice paddy)

Later one of the teachers took us back to her home and then to her husband’s home. It was then back to Abusaleh’s after that. His older sister and mother talked to us a lot. They enjoyed being hosts to us. As well, Abusaleh’s youngest sister, only 1.5 years old, was there and was constantly the center of attention. (pic: Abusaleh and his younger sister)

Tried a few swings on the field in front of Abusaleh’s home at cricket. Got to play 3 overs, batting twice, missing a lot! Oh well. Neat to play on a real pitch. They definitely were gently tossing them to me, and I still missed.

Abusaleh commandeered my camera the entire day. Thus almost every picture was taken by him, except for the few times I managed to get it back to take a shot of him doing something. He did this last time in Sonargaon. I also must note that I was asked several times if I'll be getting these printed out and giving them to him. (pics: some of Abusaleh's pictures he snapped: baby sister and younger brother, baby sister, father with his cows, myself/Megan with Abusaleh's three sisters (baby sister, in red, and in pink) mother (in white/yellow) and others at the household)

I also must note that Abusaleh's mother changed her clothing a minimum five times during the day. She also changed her baby daughter's clothes that many times too. I don't know if she was just trying to show us her entire wardrobe or just likes to wash clothes to keep busy. She didn't announce her new clothing at all. Just each time we saw her, she was wearing something different.

The bus ride back was a bit bad as I got stuck standing the whole ride back. I don’t mind standing for less than an hour, but after that it gets exhausting.

27^th-5th in Dhaka 3/9

Moweena was feeling sick this morning. She was exhausted and hot from cooking and asked me to turn on the fan in my bedroom just so she could sit below it.

Discovered today that the data processing takes a lot longer than I expected. Minimum one hour per bus to listen to my voice recordings and get the data to the computer. I thought it’d take long, but it just didn’t sit in my mind how long that actually was. Might need to collect 4 days a week and process 2. I spent today getting the database ready for all of that, making it easier for me. Was in the BUET lab all day working on this.

I had heard about a play that Ishita was performing in tonight from her cousins Ayon and Jayita. She called me about it midday and told me to come this evening. They were performing their interpretation of Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None”. I told her I’d come. It was being performed at the National Playhouse, a rickshaw ride away from BUET.

The play was being put on by Ishita’s school, North South University. Specifically their drama and cine club. They’ve been practicing for months. The students themselves (four of them in the club) took on the incredible task of translating the play into Bengali to put it on.

I got there early, coming straight from BUET. Sat around, and at least got to talk to her beforehand. Ayon, his sister, Onita and her new husband came later, and I sat with them at the back of the theater. I understood a lot more tonight than I did last time at NSU Cultural Club’s night. Probably because it was not songs, but dialogue, so you can follow it better. Also there I likely have improved in listening in the last three months. There were two acts, so during the intermission Ayon updated me on things I might’ve missed. I think the acting was good because even when I couldn’t understand what they were saying, their acting helped me. Ishita was great to watch, she brought her character out wonderfully.

27^th-6th in Dhaka 3/10

I worked 12 hours today over a 14 hour period! I realized the pressing need to get the voice data uploaded. I saw how long it took yesterday and made a push today to do as much as I could. I finished uploading six routes into the database. It takes time because I have to go through each voice file and record the time that each boarding happens. It’s like reliving each bus route. Almost gives me a headache listening to honking and bus driving all day through headphones.

I did the first three routes at home, and then finally decided to get a change of scenery and headed to BUET. Had lunch at Rifles Square on the 6^th floor bowling alley. I knew they had a gyro, but I have to say I was disappointed. But they’re garlic cheese bread wasn’t too bad.

At BUET I was in the lab for a few hours except for a few minute snack break. Lab closed at 9pm, and I could’ve stayed their longer. I was in a groove and could’ve worked at least another hour. But came home, bought some groceries from the streets, and had dinner at home.

27^th-7th in Dhaka 3/11

One thing you get to experience on the bus, when riding it all the time, is the continuous bus hawkers and beggars. The newest items I’ve seen being sold on buses are small quick use Bengali-English dictionaries and teeth cleaning scrubs which can be carried on one’s person. At some point I’m going to tally up how much I would be paying if I gave money to each bus beggar and bought one item from each bus hawker.

Riding the buses so much means I’m starting to see repeats in hawkers, and I’ve seen their song and dance for their products several times. Hear the same jokes again and again!

I spent the morning doing some data processing, than decided to head out to do some bus routes. Did three today on Trans Silva, which is a fairly long route. I tried out a new method today that I think could quicken the data processing. I am doing the data pre-processing on the bus, right after I collect it, instead of waiting days later to do it at a computer. The pre-processing only needs paper and the voice file, which I have with me on the bus. I plug headphones into the voice recorder and do the pre-processing while I’m stuck in traffic (which is a lot of course in Dhaka.)

Weighed myself today for the first time in a long while. Got it done on the side of the street, which costs Tk1. A man sits there with a scale and you just walk up, step on the scale, get your weight, then give him a Tk1 coin. The fancier weight peddlers’ machines also can measure height, and have flashy lights, these might cost up to Tk4.

Been meaning to see how skinny I’ve gotten here for awhile. I had lost 13 pounds in the first few months, but hadn’t weighed myself since. Well the newest weight: 23 pounds below my arrival weight! Yes, that is a lot.

Granted, when I arrived I was the heaviest I’d been in my life at 168 pounds, and dropping to 145 puts me just below some of my college rowing weights, and exactly where I was when I left South Africa at the end of sophomore year. And it’s still heavier than when I cut to 138 to make the flyweight division at the Canadian Henley Regatta.

Week 22: Sonargaon was the capital before Dhaka even knew how to spell "government"

22^nd-1st in Dhaka 1/30

Woke up and throat wasn’t much better. Gargled with some warm salt water for the third time. Then drank some warm water, easier to go down. Changed and went to the hospital. Bundled up in warm clothes.

The hospital wasn’t as clean or state-of-the-art as US hospitals. Diya and Farhanaz’s mom, the doctor with whom I was meeting with, told me it is because this hospital is kept affordable for middle class families. I met her in her office, the pathology dept, and she took me upstairs to a throat doctor. He took a look down my throat, said I had an infection, and prescribed me four pills to take (one antibody, two painkillers, and one antacid.) She got me some hot coffee and told me to drink it. Also gave me soup to bring home. Only warm liquid foods today. Told me to keep gargling salt water

Saw that the NY Mets are getting Johan Santana from the Twins. What an awesome deal. Looks like we’ll be contenders again and hopefully won’t have another end of season crash-and-burn.

Watched Philadelphia, staring Tom Hanks. It’s one of those movies I remember my parents watching when I was little, but I never actually watched, but still knew what it was about. I really liked it. I especially liked how the movie skipped big chunks of time at once. It gave you the impression of time flying by. And as he has AIDS, you get the feeling that his life is running out of time quickly. Makes you realize how little time he has to live. Helped the movie feel real to the viewer.

Dip came over later so i could go over his essay with him. I was reviewing some of his college essays that he's using for the slew of US schools he's applying to. Giving advice on how to make them stronger.

22^nd-2nd in Dhaka 1/31

I woke up feeling a lot better. Had kichuri and egg for breakfast, along with hot water to sooth my throat.

Went to BUET. Ok, so the university has a really weird schedule. Its weekend is not typical, even for Bangladesh: Thursday and Friday. The whole country is off on the holy day of Friday, but usually Saturday is the day taken to make a two day weekend. Well BUET decided to go Saturday through Wednesday. It would be like a US university having class Tuesday through Saturday. Of course, some universities, such as the famous Dhaka University, go six days a week, Saturday through Thursday. I showed up today and the computer lab I have permission to use was closed. I was directed to go to the central library. Getting in there without a student ID was a hassle.
Central library computer lab has 42 computers...some Dells, some HP. All are running Linux.

One thing I kept meaning to mention was something I read in the Dhaka’s STP. It is that there isn't much parking in Dhaka, and its because the need isn't recognized by those important enough to be doing the planning. Because people have private drivers, the lack of a parking spot doesn’t really occur to them, or get mentioned enough to make it an issue. It is not a perceived issue. Plus, a private driver stays in the car, so a parking lot can be real dense since the drivers can always move when needed to let another car out.

Came home and bought some fruit from the streets. Oranges, apples, and for the first time pomegranates. Thought they’d be good for eating with my cereal. Gave them to Moweena, our boua, to cut open and seed for me. She was glad to. I had kept reading people rave about them on NCSU’s student message board, and since they were so cheap here, decided to purchase.

Saw a bunch of people staring at something. Huge crowd…what could it be!? Oh, it was just a construction site. Everything here gathers an enormous crowd. Our bus got pulled over by a cop the other day, and I counted 13 people on the sidewalk who stopped to watch the cop talk to our bus for the entire duration of the conversation, about 5 minutes. (pic: a large crowd of about 20 people gather around a nighttime construction site to watch)

The girl whose Fulbright essays I helped review, Samantha Huq, made it to the next round of Fulbright. Very proud of her. Glad she moved along. Would be neat to actually meet her after talking online so much.

22^nd-3rd in Dhaka 2/1

Watched NCSU blow it against Duke this morning. So upsetting. Up by 9 at the half, only to lose by 20!!! GRRRRRR.

It’s the first of the month. What does that mean? It means everyone is moving! Like I should’ve been, but oh well. Every apartment rental starts from the first of the month, so on the street today were many rickshaw vans taking around people’s furniture. Big stacks of furniture, chairs, and household items. Sometimes the owner rides on top. (pics: two shots of different furniture moving by rickshaw van)

Talking about moving, moving big stuff in Bangladesh is always interesting. Whether you have product for your store, or a big bundle of things you bought, or delivering something for a business, there seems to be a large upper limit to what a rickshaw, rickshaw van, or hand cart can carry. Long things, fat things, tall things, or stacks of many things. It’s great when the owner rides with it, and especially on top. I think the pictures speak for themselves. Some stuff looks real heavy to carry. Sometimes the hand carts have extra pushers to move items like steel or cement. I like the rickshaws full of bags of items the best. Oh and the big stack of metal containers which always towers over the driver. Also am impressed by the bravery of the people who carry new computer towers in their laps on rickshaws! Eek!! (pics: steel rebar being transported by hand cart with pushers helping, transporting lots of stuff on top of a rickshaw van and holding tight to that TV, transporting 2 chairs by rickshaw van and taking a seat while riding (this picture keeps making me crack up...just sitting in his chair as he gets driven around), bravely transporting your computer in your lap on a rickshaw, transporting big sacks of something by rickshaw and taking the top seat, typically the biggest thing stacked I see on the streets: metal pots in giant sacks piled on top of rickshaw van)

Went to lunch with Lauren clay and some of her friends at Café Mango. They had just gotten back form Nepal and China, so heard her friends’ stories. After meeting there, went to Lauren’s to take the TV and DVD player I said I’d buy. Well the TV was smaller than she had advertised, so decided not to take it. Only took DVD player. Will take fridge at a later date.
Dropped DVD player off at home then met the girls at new market. Bought another scarf while there. Went cloth shopping with Lauren, in real tight quarters. She was buying for her bed back home, when she goes back. During this process we decided I would buy her cloth she’s using as window drapes for my place before she leaves. Found out I can make them into permanent drapes for Tk30 each piece.

Painters coming tomorrow said the landlord. I’m excited because I’ll have nice walls when the place becomes mine. She told us to lock up our valuables just in case, that you never can trust people coming into your place to work. Spent part of the evening getting things safe for their arrival, putting all electronics in my suitcase in preparation to lock it on the veranda. Also cleaning up lose items so they couldn’t find or drip paint on them.

When I went out to the shop in front of my apartment to buy some goods, the shopboy, who I’ll guess is 12 years old, asked me if I wanted to play badminton in the street. He’s always playing with his friends there and always sees me with my racket. So I said sure, and we hit it around, no net, just back and forth in our thin street for about 20 minutes. Kept having to pause to let walkers pass, and when customers came to his shop.

Spent time researching University of Texas tonight. 2 grad schools down, 9 to go.

22^nd-4th in Sonargaon 2/2

Woke up and headed out to Gulistan to meet with Megan. Before leaving, finished preparing the room for the painters. Wanted to make sure nothing could get dripped on, and all expensive things were packed and stored. Mohan said he might try and get the painting date changed so one of us could be home.

Ride out from Gulistan was uneventful minus having to keep changing seats on the bus because some were near broken. We found a bus that was express to Sonargaon, so that was convenient. When we got down from the bus, rickshaws were just waiting to take us to the tourist sites (every time I read that sentence I think of the line “They’re just waiting to give you your money!” spoken by Alec Baldwin’s character in Glengarry Glen Ross, one of my favorite speeches that I enjoy watching anytime…watch it here, and if you don't like swear words, the quote I'm referring to is at 3:55…of course its also funny because the rickshaw drivers are thinking exactly what Baldwin says!) They know why we’ve all come. So we just jumped on one, and he started pedaling us to the historical area.

A bit of history on Sonargaon, because I found it quite interesting (adapted from Lonely Planet’s guide to Bangladesh.) It was the capital of Bengal, and during the 13^th century it was the Hindu seat of power for the region. It became the Islamic capital of the region when it was taken by a sultan in 1280. In the 1300s, the first official sultan of Bengal established his capital there. It was the capital of east Bengal for 270 years, until the Mughals invaded and got rid of the sultans. They thought Sonargaon was too exposed since it was close to the Meghna river, and they moved the capital to Dhaka. Not much remains of the original city, except for some mosques, tombs, and stupas. Most of the architecture we saw there were from the Mughal period and later, and was mostly built in the late 1800s.

The first stop was Sadarbari, which was built in 1901 and was a rajbari for the area (a royal family’s home.) It houses a folk art museum but has beautiful architecture in two facades. We skipped it first and headed to the newer museum, with the intent to save the best for last. Newer museum in a modern building was definitely not the main attraction at this place. People seemed to just walk in, do a quick loop, and come quickly out.

Roamed the grounds. Took a ride on a ferris wheel. If you remember from one of my earlier posts, these things are made of wood, very rickety, and are spun by men pulling on each cart as it passes. Megan and I decided to try it. The operators always need to ensure the whole thing is balanced properly, so they give specific instructions on where to sit. Some of the extra operators took seats in other cars to make sure it was balanced. It was wild, stomach plummeted on each spin. Crazy to be on it when they’re spinning it with their hands. (pics: ferris wheel which is hand spun by its operators, operator hand spinning the ferris wheel by pulling down on one of the cars)

Finally came back to Sadarbari proper, and went inside the folk art museum/beautiful building. I took a lot of photos of the architectural details. While walking around the place, two guys started talking to us. They offered to take our photos for us and helped lead us around, and were being generally helpful. Names were Abusaleh and Ashraful. We were asking them questions too. They lived nearby and kept asking us to come see their home after we saw all the sites. We went outside and took pictures out front of the exterior. Then walked the grounds to the northern exit of the huge garden complex. (pics: front courtyard in Sadarbari, myself/Megan in rear courtyard of Sadarbari, Abusaleh/crazy looking stuffed person/Ashraful in folk museum, myself/Megan in front of Sadarbari)

Next stop was to see another rajbari. This area we went to was called Painam Nagar. You ride in on rickshaw through tons of old Hindu merchant’s mansions, very ghost town like. People don’t live there anymore. This whole area was built between 1895 and 1905 on top of the old capital city. The last one we got to was the rajbari. It’s being refurbished by two Chinese architects. Walking around the rajbari was neat. It was being repaired at points, made me wonder how stable it was. Told Megan that this is where I’m certain musical artist Habib’s music video for “Krisno”, which my friend Ishita played a part in (the building and her first show up at 1:45, Ishita is the one in the red saree..) Told the guys this, and they instantly recognized it and agreed. I knew it was in Sonargaon just didn’t know which old building. Wanted to go to the second floor, but stairs were clearly out of repair…as in they had collapsed. (pics: rajbari with man bathing in pond in front, Abusaleh/Megan/Ashraful inside rajbari where music video was shot)

We then walked back through Painam Nagar, looking at all the old mansions, taking photos of the ghost town. I couldn’t get over this single street lined with old homes. Some awesomely decorated but boarded up. Some locals had taken up temporary residence as squatters. Local kids were playing amongst the buildings. (pics: the ghost town which is now Painam Nagar, century old Hindu mansion in Painam Nagar, myself standing in Painam Nagar, myself/Megan standing in the entry of one of the mansions)

Megan had really wanted to see Goaldi mosque, one of the few buildings in the area actually from when it was the old capital. We had to ask around on where to find it, and we got rickshaw drivers who did. Guys took one rickshaw, we took another. This mosque was built before the Mughals arrived, and is a single domed mosque, and smaller than what we saw in Tangail. Apparently in 1700s it was falling apart, so they built a newer mosque across the street in the Mughal style. Now they are both there and only the newer one is in use. I enjoy seeing all these mosques, as it is one of my favorite architectural forms. And especially the craft that goes into detailing. (pics: Goaldi mosque with Abusaleh and Ashraful in front, Goaldi mosque on the left built in 1519 and the newer Mughal style mosque in the back left built in 1705)

After this, Abusaleh and Ashraful begged us to come back to see their village. Even though we knew we had to be back for pizza at 5pm with Diya, we thought we could make it since they said their home was really close, 10 minutes away, and we had 2.5 hours until we had to meet. From the bus stop, however, the bus took about 20-25 minutes, and then of course there is the 5 minute walk to their home from the bus stop. So total, that adds about 50 minutes onto the trip just with the going there and back. There was still a chance we could make it on time if traffic was as smooth as this morning, and we didn’t stay too long.
But we did stay too long. I was still glad we went, despite that we were now going to be late. We were given snacks and had to wait for Abusaleh’s mom and dad to come home to meet them. Abusaleh showed me his cucumber field, his main crop. Gave me some fresh picked ones. When his mom finally came home, we said hello and then said we really had to leave. Told them we’ll come back, which is true, probably in a month. (pics: Abusaleh showing us his cow, standing in Abusaleh's cucumber field, Megan and Ashraful in Abusaleh's home, Megan holding up traffic on the bridge out of Abusaleh's village)

Bus got stuck in some traffic. Then getting a bus to Jigatola from Saidabad station was easier said then done. Showed up at Pizza Hut 55 minutes late. Luckily Diya was there with her friends, so she wasn’t bored. They had already eaten a full pizza. I apologized for my poor judgment in arriving on time. We ordered another pizza and Megan and I ate that one primarily. This Pizza Hut just opened a few days ago, the second in Dhaka, third in Bangladesh. It was gorgeous, two stories, and delicious. Ice cream was amazing too. Might be a place I’ll go to too often.

22^nd-5th in Dhaka 2/3

Worked on fixing up my notes and ideas about data collection. I’d been writing them by hand, but needed to get them into a word document to arrange them coherently. See what my thoughts are.

Met with Dr. Rahman after lunch in his office. Brought my letter from Fulbright, but he said he won’t be able to get me a university ID since I’m not a student or staff. But he said he’ll get me a letter on university paper and signatures. I will show that to people who hassle me about using things. That’ll be good.
Told him about my progress on the project, how I was happy with my pace, and that I enjoyed the literature review. Told him about my data collection ideas, and how I knew I’ll definitely need two people at all times during data collection to do things correctly.
In the office as well was one of his senior students. He said I’ll get to meet all of them next week, but this one, Arjun, was especially interested in my project. I asked about these seniors, and tried to gauge what their senior projects were like, how much time they are supposed to devote to it, and how much time I should ask of them if they help. Didn’t want to overwork or expect too much of anyone.

After the three of us met, Arjun and I went outside and chatted. Learned about each other. Told him about the project. Asked him more in depth questions about the senior project process. Appears that for senior projects, the teacher highly recommends what they do, but they have the option to design and do their own project. He could jump on with me and make his research topic close to mine. Also found out that senior projects are not a class, but just an outside thing, meeting only with professors weekly and working independently. They get their advisors by picking professors’ names out of a hat from a certain discipline…so he picked Dr. Rahman’s name out of the transportation topic hat.

He showed me his dorm room too. He lives in the all-Hindu dorm. All the other dorms are all-Muslim dorms. And then there’s one girl dorm. Three students to a room, which is a bit bigger than what I lived in one other student at NCSU. Each student gets a table, chair, and bed. All rooms face outside.

Went to dinner with Jen and Ben. Hadn’t seen my old roommates in a long time. On the way over my tempo had a flat tire. More than half the people said screw it and went to find another vehicle, but I stuck with the poor guys. Didn’t mind a 4 minute wait. They had it replaced real quick and we were on our way. Conductor was laughing how this was probably the least profitable trip he’s ever had.

Found Jen and Ben’s place….enormous but the price isn’t too high. We walked to road 27 and got some Chinese food. My stomach was on edge a bit, possibly from some tea I took from a tea shack earlier, but I felt great after eating.

22^nd-6th in Dhaka 2/4

Woke to see that NCSU had beaten Wake Forest. It was a pretty bad game for us as we trailed for most. But we came back to tie on a 17-7 run, and then took the lead into the end. We were up by 2, and J.J. Hickson had a chance to seal the deal with two free throws but couldn’t. Wake Forest then scored 2 points with 3 seconds left to tie it. We had once last chance to prevent it from going to overtime. Ben McCauley inbounded it to Gavin Grant at half court. They were all expecting him to drive the lane, but instead he put up a 3! It bounced off the rim, but what happened next was incredible. Ben McCauley, comes out of nowhere, across the entire court, and dunks the shot back in! Incredible. Watch the video, it still gives me chills. What an awesome way to go out.

If it wasn’t for the giants beating the patriots in the Super Bowl that would’ve been all over ESPN’s Sportscenter top 10.

Sitting outside in warm sun to do some of my work. Inside the CE building it’s surprisingly cold. And the warm sun after lunch was very soothing. Today was going over some of the tougher questions I needed to consider about the data collection. For example, if a bus is stuck in traffic, and people are getting on and off as it sits there, how do you classify those movements in terms of stops on the route? Those kinds of questions needed to be answered.

Met up with Santa at Sonargaon Rd and Elephant Rd. We had talked about a trip to Rajshahi this weekend, because I’ve been thinking about going. We made our plans on times and such, and then went to the bus ticket office to book tickets for Thursday. Will be neat to get out of town and see a calmer place.

I was going out to buy things after dinner and Mohan asked me to bring back “ek hali dim”…which I thought was a type of egg. Told the guy at the store I wanted those types of eggs, and said I wanted 4. When I got home I assed mohan what type of egg that was, “ek hali.” And he said 1 hali is equal to four of something, just like one dozen is equal to twelve of something. Had no clue about this. This changes my life because “four” is the hardest number for me to say. People always confuse my “four” for a “six” (4 = “char” 6 = “choy” and my “r” isn’t very hard) but now I can just “hali” from now on if I want four of something…makes it so easy!

22^nd-7th in Dhaka 2/5

Spent a little bit of time researching MIT this morning. The third school I’ve randomly chosen from the eleven schools to research.

Had lunch with Naira. We went to the restaurant I’ve been frequenting, and had soup and noodles. Afterwards we walked around BUET’s campus, obviously not her first time, but her first time in the CE building.

Avian flu has come to Bangladesh. Very scary. Don’t think I’ve ever been that scared of a disease before. The fact that you have such a short time to find out if it’s a cold or avian flu if you have symptoms is scary. They had to kill thousands of poultry in northern Bangladesh. Luckily no human cases yet. Luckily the disease is inefficient and doesn’t transmit very well.

More on that New Zealand rowing rivalry. This past weekend Drysdale beat out Waddell in their most recent head-to-head matchup, but only by half a boat length. They’ll face off one more time at the Natl. Championships before the Olympic Trials in March.

After leaving campus I went to Naira’s place to play badminton. She invited me to play at her neighbor’s house where I played once earlier. The bus ride took 1.5 hour to get there. And was exhausting as I was standing the whole time. There were tons of people at badminton, and thus in the entire night I only got to play two games in 2.5 hours of being there.

Faisal, Naira, and I went to Bella Italia after. Bella Italia is apparently the best Italian restaurant in Dhaka, and it definitely lived up to its reputation. Pizza, two pastas, and tiramisu were all well done. They were nice enough to drop me off at home in Dhanmondi.

Week 5: Village dinner and buying stuff for Eid

5^th-1st in Dhaka 10/3

Class was a mix of emotions. I got very frustrated at some point because I wasn’t understanding the grammar. Boredom followed. Then apathy. I explained to Shakil how hard it is to be “on” all the time, what essentially both of us always have to be. We are always vividly discussing grammar or correcting me.

Went to the office at the university to pay my housing bill. Went to wrong office, and left emptyhanded. “Magically” some man came by later to drop off the bill. Went to bank to pull out money to pay for housing, it’ll require 3 trips since I can’t take out that much money at once.

Went to dinner at Megan’s. Her table’s glass top broke in half. She’s renting from a NCSU professor who comes only in summer. The table had been cracked, but it expanded quickly during dinner. We got stuff off it on time. When it finally cracked all the way through we had to remove the big half so it wouldn’t crash to the ground. Her table is now useless.

5^th-2nd in Dhaka 10/4

Today went to the village of my teacher Farah’s husband’s. This was after a good day in class. Shakil did some new things today that kept me engaged. It was a good time. For our conversation class we took a walk along the lake and talked there.

After lunch, Erin and I went with Farah, her husband, son, and another teacher Nadia west of Dhaka about 30km to her husband’s village. This is where his father grew up, and his uncle still lives. It’s a small compound with several structures, some concrete, some corrugated metal. All around the compound, on all sides, is water. The compound floods to waist level in monsoon season. The road to the village from the highway, was about 1 km, and was one lane wide. Sometimes the road is real thin, parts have fallen into the water due to flood erosion.

Farah’s husband took us to a sweet shop he always went to as a young boy. He told us these sweets are made of more natural ingredients than what we’ll find in the city. Thus better. I couldn’t tell, I haven’t eaten them my whole life. (Below, picture of one structure in compund and the Bangladeshi sweets at the sweet shop.)

The water around the compound and along both sides of the highway apparently won’t be there in 2 months. It’ll all mostly dry up, and this is where they will grow rice. But for now, it’s flooded, and boatmen fish.

From the village you can see about ½ km in all directions over the flooded fields. In front of the compound is the village mosque. At the end of the road, after where the pavement stops, is the village school. (Below: Shot of highway bridge from village, small temple in the village, school at end of road, village mosque and those attending.)

Iftar was standard Iftar fare. Dinner was briyani (fried rice and beef mix.) Lights when off at 7 because of loadsharing its called. For example, within a district, the engineers rotate who has electricity off during the peak hours 6pm-10pm. So for an hour, ¼ of the people don’t have power. Sometimes this is done at the local level. But it needs to be done to conserve power usage. It’s part of life for those who live here.

The road there and back was a 4 lane divided highway. National martyrs’ monument is on the way there. As well as a few factories and a college. Once you cross the river west of Dhaka, scenery changes to much more rural. Way home was very dark, passing rickshaws in headbeams.

5^th-3rd in Dhaka 10/5

Went to bank to get more money to pay for rent. Roamed through the market on the way there.

Then called Tamzid, and he picked me up after dinner. His friend, him, and I went shopping for panjabis. The first place we went was very expensive. I was looking for a colorful one, so I can wear it for other occasions beyond Eid.

The next place we went to was Shopper’s World. It had decent prices, and according to the guys I was with, would price things based on how well made they are. So I could find cheaper ones if I desired. While they were searching for white panjabis, I stayed in the color section. I found some decent ones, but all still out of my price range. Tamzid finally came over and suggested some, and those were cheap and looked good. We chose one that was olive green, and after the employee sized me up, I tried it on. First one too small, didn’t go past my knees enough. Second just right.

I then paid the Tk 5000 for it (about $80.) While I was waiting for the other guys to find their panjabis, another store employee who had overheard me speaking Bengali came over to talk with me. He wanted to know why I understood Bengali, where I learned it, where I’m from, etc. Several other employees, upon learning I could speak the language, had the same conversation with me. It was neat that they wanted to hear me speak.

As we were leaving I received a phone call from Farhanaz. I picked up and she asked if I was in Shopper’s World. I told her yes, and she exclaimed, she was here too and had just seen me on the stairs. We met on the stairs, hugged, and then she brought me into the shopping area to meet her husband. We both remarked, “heard so much about you.” And then we all talked for a few minutes. She told me about how she’s expecting a baby, and I told them congratulations. It was just great to see her. She was a huge part of why I got here since she wrote my language recommendation letter. Plus, she taught me the majority of what I knew coming here. Spending 3 days a week with her was a big part of my senior year in college.

After leaving, Tamzid and I went to Numayer’s (Tamzid’s sister Nashad’s fiancée) home, where his family was having dinner. Nashad was there as well (who said what I wrote on her facebook wall in Bengali was 90% correct.) Dinner was good. Had ice cream. Then Tamzid dropped me back off at my home. Made plans with him and Nashad to have dinner at Pizza Hut on Wednesday.

5^th-4th in Dhaka 10/6

Saifullah, who I met on facebook in an effort to find an apartment to share, picked me up early in the morning. We just browsed some shops, he ran some errands, for most of the morning. Just chatting, getting to know each other.

His best friends are all the guys he went to high school with. They all went to Cadet College, military school. There are 10 cadet colleges in the country, and they went to the one in Rangpur in the northwest. It is with some of these friends he was looking to set me up with.

He finally got in contact with his friends. We stopped by Shahbag. We bought some DVDs. Then to a café where we met his first friend, a med student in the north part of the country and in Dhaka for a few days. So we sat in the café for a bit, I got two cold drinks on their nudging. We then went upstairs to the apartments above the mall. There we met Saifullah’s friend’s brother and friends. They are all mostly doctors or medical students living “bachelor style.” In this case it meant about 4 of them sharing a no-frills room, some sleeping on the floor. Books of medicine and the body are all along the walls on the floor. Clothes hang on most surfaces drying. The guys are living minimally while preparing for their exams and work. We sat and talked for a bit. They told me how staying here is an option for me, and that rooms/beds will open up, but they are snatched up quickly by med students/engineering students looking to get an apartment near campuses and hospitals.

Then Saifullah’s second friend came so we could head over to his place, the apartment Saifullah thought I’d be most likely to take. Rickshaw ride over. On the way over, Saifullah asked me about Bush, and I briefed him on what is happening right now in regards to next year’s elections. We talked a bit about his country’s politics too. Lots of traffic jams on way over, so time to talk.

We finally arrived at this new apartment. It has one bedroom, where I would share with Saifullah’s friend. Bathroom has squat toilet, and shower head is in center of bathroom, so showering is meant to get the whole room wet. Kitchen small, and they have a cook. I asked about installing AC. It’s in a real neat area, close to Dhamondi fun, and the street was neat and looked safe. Its only $50/month too, very cheap!

We then went to Boomer’s café for Iftar. It had pictures of American rock artists all over the walls and ceilings. Pretty good Iftar spread. Met two more of his friends there. Afterwards we walked to Dhanmondi lake, right next door, got some tea from a street vendor, and some of them had a cigarette. The lake was gorgeous at night, and there was lightening striking in the distance. There’s a huge mansion on the lake as well, which was built to look like a boat; it grabbed my attention.

5^th-5th in Dhaka 10/7

Went and got the rest of my rent money. Talked to Altaf on phone about Comilla. It was raining hard on walk home, and I couldn’t find a rickshaw.

5^th-6th in Dhaka 10/8

Went to office to pay my bill for my house. Walked in with 103 Tk 500 bills, almost an inch thick. But that’s the biggest bill there is, and I had to pay a large amount for my house. Besides a wait, it was flawless. Then Shakil showed up. I waited while he received his check. He asked where I was going, and he said he’d go with me.

I was merely going to go to Bata, the shoe store chain to buy nice sandals for Eid, since my panjabi but my Timberland sandals are not.. After trying on several pairs, I finally settled on a pair of Hush Puppies (so very Bangladeshi.) Prices there did not differ much from what you find in the US for all kinds of sandals.

Since it had just started to pour rain, we decided to walk through some stores for fun. We looked at electronics and household appliances and cameras (he’s looking for a second one.) We meandered into another mall. I inquired about the prices of flash drives (similar price to US) and computer speakers (very very cheap, probably not authentic.) Then we found our way into a tailor. I decided to finally buy some pants. I chose my fabric, and then after measuring 8 measurements of my lower body (waist, stomach, hips, crotch front to back, upper thigh, lower thigh, ankle, length) they asked how many pleats I wanted, how I want my pockets shaped, how many back pockets, and whether I wanted cuffs or straight leg. I bargained the price down from Tk900 for one (650 for fabric, 250 for preparation) to Tk1600 for two. One dark, one light. They are thin, so hopefully I won’t sweat. A little over $20 for two pairs of custom trousers. And they’ll be exact size for me…that’s kinda neat.

We had trouble finding a rickshaw in the now heavier rain…he had to go home though. So under our umbrellas we roamed the streets, but no rickshaws wanted to go to where we wanted in the rain. Finally, one agreed. Prices are usually bumped up in the rain since the rickshawwallah gets soaked. Also, since its getting close to Eid, prices are high for that too.

Went to Megan’s for dinner. We decided to take out from Margherita Pizza: a burger, a shwarma, and some pasta. The plan was also to watch How I Met Your Mother, but downloading didn’t go so well. Ate and watched some snippets of HIMYM before the internet cut out. On walk home the streets had flooded from rain, about 3” deep and fast flowing.

Spent the rest of the night getting a lot of homework done.

5^th-7th in Dhaka 10/9

Spent day after class at home. About to go traveling, and its raining today a bit. No desire to go out in rain.

Watched Pursuit of Happyness. Enjoyed it. I teared, cuz I’m sucker for all movies that want to make you cry, and even those that don’t. I’m the target audience.

Gonna pack for tomorrow. Shakil and I bumped our trip to Comilla up one day to avoid the Eid crazy traffic by at least one day extra. Had to push back Pizza Hut with Megan, Tamzid, and Nashad.