Week 9: Modelling causes bad eyesight (or A trip to the Martyr's Memorial)

9^th-1st in Dhaka 10/31

After class, Shakil and I went to Aarong to return my two fotua I thought were too big. For the price of those two, and a small bit more amount of cash, I was able to buy four new shirts. Tried on a whole bunch and found the ones I liked. Then realized I had forgotten my credit card and didn’t have much taka on me. So I couldn’t buy one of the shirts, and to make up the price of my returned items, had to buy a small something to meet the price: bought a small rickshaw toy.

Afterwards I dropped by Aktel’s advertising agency Benchmark. We discussed the advertisement they want me to model for. They said they were looking for an international, young, professional looking person to model for them…supposedly I fit the bill. The ad, which will be for the Virtual Local Number option in Aktel’s service, will run for about a month in The Daily Star, the biggest English newspaper in the city. There are also might be billboard. So in the photo shoot, which will be Saturday at the airport, I am to bring my nice clothes (jacket, shirt and tie) so I look professional. Also was asked that I be clean shaven and trim my hair just a bit. All makeup will be done at the airport. I’m real interested to see what’s going to come of this.

Forgot when it was, but I saw fights 7 and 8 the other day.

9^th-2nd in Dhaka 11/1

Santa and I went down to Ahsan Manzil to go inside as class trip. She had never been down there, and I had never been inside. Went through the Hindu part of Old Dhaka, and she told me how she loves the smell of it, since she is Hindu. Well Ahsan Manzil was closed, only on Thursdays…of course. Why would you ever want to have something open? So now we needed something to make of our trip. We decided to just walk down the river to see if there was anything else. We walked until the road turned to mud, then decided to hire a rickshaw to take us back to Gulistan.

In Gulistan, couldn’t find anything to eat, so she came with me to Dhanmondi where we got some fast food for a late lunch. Ended up not being that eventful, despite our big plans.

Afterwards met Farhan and Ayon and some others at a concert in Dhanmondi. It was inside in a café, and although it was billed it as the Wireless Sessions, implying acoustic, the bands played anything they wanted on whatever electrified instrument they wanted, except they were sitting down instead of sitting. I liked it better than acoustic…which I don’t really care to go watch. The bands mostly played American popular hard rock songs, some alternative, and Bangladeshi rock songs. Very few bands actually played their own music. A few bands were bad enough to get booed, and told to leave stage: this happens by the whole crowd chanting ”boowa boowa”…the band on stage looked like it’s about to cry. One band gave a horrible performance of Korn’s “Freak on a Leash”…they ruined it entirely.

Midway through we got some fuchka and some water. But otherwise just chilled and watched the bands. The crowd mostly sat on the floor in front of the stage, rimmed by two rows of standing folks…perhaps a crowd of 100-150 people watching, with another 30-50 sitting on the couches, unable to see. It was a continuous stream of people walking in and out. (pics: two bands from the show with crowd in front)

I’m glad this was in Dhanmondi, because it’s so close to where I’m going to live soon.

I left the concert late, around 10 pm, and by that point, the buses I’m used to taking home weren’t running anymore. So I needed to figure out how to get across the city. Luckily it was late enough that rickshaws could go wherever they wanted, no street restrictions. I ended up taking a rickshaw to Farmgate, where many of the local buses have a hub, took a bus to Gulshan 2, then from there to my house. It was more expensive than a bus, but in all reality, 3 rickshaw rides and the local bus cost me less than $1.

9^th-3rd in Dhaka 11/2

Went to Ayon’s for the day. Farhan, him, and myself chilled in his room, looked through his sister’s wedding photos, listened to music, and worked on fixing his computer. Had lunch at his place, his mom made excellent food. Was very filling. He used to share a room with his sister, but now that she’s married and moved out, he has it all to himself.

Note on new money: New money is delivered in an interesting way. As far as I can tell, new notes are delivered on a piece of string. So each note has a little hole through it, as it is forcibly removed from the end of the string (in a knot.) It looks like the bigger notes have this, Tk 100 and Tk 500, and less often on the smaller notes. Obviously I’m not an expert, can’t say for sure.

Also, one of the most watched sports on TV here, besides soccer and cricket, is pro wrestling, I’m talking about WWE. Vince McMahon and his entertainment wrestling is popular here. Many times I’ll see many men gathered around a TV on the street, and peering over their shoulders, I’ll see men in spandex bodyslamming each other in the ring. Friends always ask if I watch the WWE, and I have to tell them, “No, I think its silly.”

Went to dinner with Nafisa and some of her friends. Pretty good Italian food. Fun dinner, lots of joking around. Afterwards, checked out the upstairs of the restaurant which is a dance club, couples lounge, and movie lounge. Interesting place to say the least. Nafisa left but the rest of us went to Cofi 11, where we got some coffee beverages.

9^th-4th in Dhaka 11/3

Today Jennifer McFadden, another Fulbright, and her husband Ben arrived. Really cool to have two new roommates.

Went to play ultimate this morning at the American Comissary, the place where you can get American goods. They have a big field apparently. Well when I got there, about 6 people were outside waiting. They said they commissary complex wasn’t letting them in. They weren’t “on the list”…people who were “on the list’ were inside the guardhouse fighting for us to be let in, because they obviously wanted more people to play. We all waited for about 45 minutes, growing to be about 8 upset people, and ultimately they didn’t let us in, we even had an American security chief come to help us…it sucked. Next week I’ll make sure I’m on that list. It also sucks because they guy who invited me, Steve, a Fulbright from last year, is leaving soon, and I just met him, and will never see him again.

Megan came over to cut my hair later, to trim my neck line, since I needed it for the photo shoot.

Rajibul, one of the guys from Benchmark came over around 1 to pick me up for the Aktel photoshoot. He reviewed my wardrobe here, and also told me to bring a suitcase as a prop. We went to Benchmark’s office first. There they review my wardrobe again. They sent some of my clothing with an office helper to get them ironed at a dry cleaners. We chose my red tie, Aktel’s color. I sat around and waited, talked to the photographer and some other employees. Lunch was served, some rice and egg curry. Afterwards I had makeup done. This was my first time ever having this happen. It was real weird to have some guy adding all this stuff to my face…but truthfully afterwards it didn’t look like I had anything on, I guess that’s a job well done? They then re-did my hair, to make it look young executive style…I would never style it they way they did.

We headed out to the airport for the photoshoot afterwards. This is my first time at the airport since I arrived two months ago, and it was my first time seeing it during the daytime. We had special clearances to come in today, for a short time. We were escorted to the baggage claim area by an airport employee, where we were planning on doing the photo shoot. All the columns had Aktel’s ads on them, so it made sense to do it here I guess. They had to make sure they didn’t have the GrameenPhone signs in the background of shots, or the Banglalink trolleys! The whole airport is sponsored by the phone companies!

During the photoshoot they had me wear glasses to make me look “more executive.” I was fine with this except that they didn’t give me fake glasses, they just gave me some guy’s glasses. So wearing them hurt my eyes and during the shots I had to deal with blurry vision. I rested them on the end of my nose between shots. The photographer took a bunch of different angles, me looking different places, holding my arms different ways, smiling different ways. He shot from different distances, and with and without the suitcase. With me standing, and with me “walking.” For every shot I had a phone to my ear and was smiling. The phone was from one of the Benchmark employees, mine isn’t fancy enough!

On the ride back from the airport, I saw a CNG bus which had exploded. It was still raging in flames when we passed. Tons of people were watching, but didn’t look like anyone was hurt. Later saw fire trucks rushing to the scene, first time seeing fire service here! I see ambulances frequently, and police vehicles sometimes.

And one other neat thing, Rajibul asked me come with his friends and him to Kuakata next weekend. I told him definitely, never thought I’d make it there. Its at the bottom side of the county on the ocean. For some reason at this place you can see the sun rise and sun set over the ocean…don’t exactly understand how this works, but I’ll get to see!

Went to internet café to get emailing/facebooking/fantasy football done. Internet has been down for too long now, and I need to get things done. Only Tk20/hr!!! And real fast connection too! Was there for 1.5 hours. And got a lot done.

Got some pizza at Margherita Pizza and brought it home to eat. Then studied for test as much as I could.

9^th-5th in Dhaka 11/4

Today’s midterm was fun. I think I did real well. The listening portion was good. I only missed a little bit of grammar, and wrote a good passage. And in the speaking part, we all ended up laughing and having a good time.

After class I came home found internet to be working after 3 days of being down, and got some needed browsing done.

Headed over to Lauren Clay’s place after, she’s the newest Fulbrighter. Right now she’s house sitting some really rich woman’s place. We chilled there and talked for about 2 hours. The place is on the edge of the Army Cantonement, so you could see inside!

We went around to buy her a fridge, AC unit, hot water heater, and TV. I ended up talking to many of the store owners in Bengali about their products…that was interesting. Was a struggle at times, but fun. Not a situation I usually put myself in. the whole thing was good for me as well since I learned the prices of certain things I’ll have to buy soon enough.

We went to dinner at Nirfa’s…had Thai food. Really creepy Mickey Mouse costumed entertainer there for a child’s first birthday. It had the head of Mickey and big orange furry body…very creepy looking. And it stood there bouncing two balloons. For some reason I found it very scary. Took a picture with it. Dinner was good, and Megan came as well. (pics: view from Nirfa's onto Gulshan-2, scary Mickey Mouse beast watching me eat dinner while waving his balloons, me and the Mickey Mouse & Pluto monsters)

9^th-6th in Dhaka 11/5

Today marks two months here!

Today in class got my test back! 41/50…they were very proud of me. Found out Shakil won’t be here certain days now, since he is helping Jen with her Fulbright research.

After class, Shakil, Santa, and I went to the Mag Pai Restaurant and had some chicken briyani. We then hopped on a bus to Farmgate and from there on a bus to Savar. We were off to the see Sriti Shoudho, the National Martyr’s Monument. Took us awhile to get out there due to traffic, I ended up dozing off, and when the bus braked hard one time, my head flew forward and hit the seat ahead of me, despite Santa’s attempt to prevent it.

The monument is made of seven isosceles triangles, stacked one behind the other of different sizes. It honors the three million people who died in the struggle for freedom in 1971. The seven triangles honor the seven stages of the national movement that led to the independence of the nation: starting with the language movement in 1952, five major uprisings in the following two decades, and lastly the war in 1971. Its purpose is to honor the victory fought for by a country full of patriots and freedom fighters. Construction began in 1972, and the entire grounds are 84 acres in size. The place was gorgeous, amazingly landscaped, with bridges and walkways going all over the property. The centerpiece, the monument, can be seen from all different angles, and looks different from behind, the side, and the front. It was very impressive. I took tons of pictures, and so did Shakil, we’re nuts about it. There is a helipad from which there is a great view of the monument. Was very proud to see it. It closed after sundown, and we were there for about 45 minutes. After we went to a restaurant, had a deep fried omelet and some tea. (pics: Shakil/Santa at Sriti Shoudho, myself in front of the monument, monument from the side (looks very different), monument from the border of the grounds, Shakil/Santa walking the grounds, Sriti Shoudho near closing time from outside the grounds)

And funny story: finally brought my fingernails into equilibrium. A few weeks ago I clipped my right hand’s fingernails first, like I usually do, but then got a phone call and had to leave my house. Didn’t have time to clip my left hand. And just forgot to do this for a week when I noticed the left had gotten really long. However, at the time of the second clipping, the right hand wasn’t read to be clipped yet. The left was unbearable, and had to be done…so over the last few weeks I consciously adjusted my nail clipping schedule so that I could bring both hands to a point where they weren’t too short to cut, but not too long that I couldn’t bear it anymore…

Perhaps only I think this was quite a predicament, or I’m that bored here (not true,) but this the whole situation was very interesting for me. I’ve never had my fingernails on my hands be on different clipping schedules.

9^th-7th in Dhaka 11/6

Since I snapped a photo of some this week, let me talk about wedding lights. When a family is having a wedding, they hang lights from their house. Usually its just long chains of Christmas-like lights, all white, but I did spot one house with a pretty “elaborate” display (unless it’s not for a wedding, which could very well be, see pic below.) It’s neat to see these hanging around. And I guess during “wedding season” in December, the town will be lit up!

Later met up at NSU to see Jayita. We got some food at Western Grill and talked for 2.5 hours.

Went bowling with Tamzid after. Bowling alley had 6 lanes, electronic scoring, and some greasy bowling balls. The lanes looked in decent condition, couldn’t tell if there were any deformations in it, but maybe. Tamzid has only bowled a few times. We played 3 games, I got 100, 160, then a pitiful 89, worst score in years. 160 is my best since I bowled 190 this summer, and I was glad since I have been averaging 136 since then. Well until my 100 and 89 today. We’ll blame those two scores on first time in bowling in Bangladesh! (pics: Tamzid bowling, myself bowling...and I swear I got a strike on that throw)

After we went to a Vietnamese restaurant. I couldn’t tell you if it was authentic or not, but it was delicious. We got the wrong food, and ended up being there a long time since we had to wait for the order to be fixed.

One note on menus, since I’m talking about restaurants. Errors in English on menus or shop signs are very frequent. In fact, the majority of menus at a cafés may have between 15-20 errors in spelling. Never to the point where you can’t determine it, but enough to the point that it makes reading an adventure.

Week 8: Always at NSU it seems, and then I see the sites

(lost internet in my house for several days, posting from internet cafe, but can't get pics to load...that is why this is late, that is why there are no pics yet)

8th-1st in Dhaka 10/24

Tried on my new fotua this morning, and they look bigger than they did in the store. Will need to go back to Aarong to exchange.

Class today, I taught Shakil how to use facebook in Bangla. That was a fun way to have a conversation class. And I had a good verb practice class. Class has been going very well. I feel I’m improving at a better rate now. My listening is a bit better, I feel I’m thinking of things faster and am more comfortable with complex structures.

Mosquitos have just picked up. Its getting cooler, and they will increase as time goes on. There are more and more in my room every night, and my arms have been eaten up. Need to put my mosquito net up soon around my bed.

Today after class I went to the American Center to pick up a package and a postcard. Afterwards met with Jayita at her university. Just cool to hang out for two hours. Went to a store to buy a gift for a friend of hers, I tried on two different fotua, but the sleeves were too short for my arms. Went to a bakery and got some snacks, sat and ate them and talked. Saw her cousin Sreyoshi twice in the afternoon. North South University is a small place. Just a few buildings over 1.5 city blocks. All skyscrapers. You need an ID to enter any of these buildings. So when it comes to me hanging out there, it has to be on the streets. Stayed around til she went to class.

Had dinner at Nafisa’s aunt’s home. Hung out with Ishfaq and her for a bit, then Ishraq came home. We had dinner, and it was delicious. They gave me “a seat at the table.” Had dessert. Her cooking is great, and I really enjoyed being there, like part of the family. Ishraq invited me to play soccer on Friday. I think I’ll go. It’ll be fun.

8th-2nd in Dhaka 10/25

Wanted to touch on the fact of English words in the Bengali language. It seems my fellow students and I all have the same problem of pronouncing out an English word in Bengali script. This mainly comes from the fact that English words in Bengali end up having conjuncts, two letters forming into one, because that’s how English is structured in its sounds. Also, we’ll sound out a word when reading, and ask our teacher what it means, and they tell us it’s an English word…we rarely realize. One example I’ll always remember was sounding out “apple” written in Bengali script. I asked my teacher what it meant, and she was shocked…it’s “apple” duh!! But we always expect something different. And even if you’re expecting English words, sometimes the word isn’t as you would expect it to be sounded out. For example, the word “winner” when pronounced from Bengali script looks like “u-i-ner”…because there is no “w” in Bengali. So it can get quite confusing, and I’m not alone. All us students have the most trouble with these the most…the teachers are always boggled and confused with us.
Names are tough too. There is no capitalization, so you never know which words are names of places or people. You sit there and look in the dictionary, and can’t find it there, and get stumped. But I’ve had native speakers say that sometimes they are confused as well. Glad to have company.

Shakil, Santa, and I took a CNG to Bashundara City, the place I have been wanting to go to since arriving. I had first read about it on wikipedia when I started learning about Dhaka. It’s the largest mall in the city, with the largest cinema. At eight stories tall, its enormous. Tons of stores on all the floors. 8th floor is only eateries, huge food court, at least 40 stores. 7th floor is empty, not enough tenants to fill it in yet. The place is sectioned off into different areas…so if you want to buy electronics you go to the first floor east side. Sharees are almost an entire floor. Men’s clothing is floor 4. After eating lunch with Santa and Shakil (a small one for me since my stomach still wasn’t happy) Santa left, and Shakil and I explored the mall. So much cool stuff that I want to buy at such cheap prices. Of course, this is an expensive place to buy it, but good to brainstorm. Shakil said only the upper class shop here. Middle class will come only to browse and watch people. (pics: Shakil/Santa at Bashundara City for lunch, Bashundara City exterior, stained glass roof there, 8 stories of shopping, a never ending hallway of shops)

Shakil and I headed down to Nilkhet market after. Let me tell ya, if you ever want to have something copied, this is the place. In all directions all the shops were just there to make copies. I don’t know what the demand is, but its enough that this place exists. Shakil said he printed and bound his entire thesis here. Pretty neat. We met a friend of Shakil’s there. (pic: just one of hundreds of copy centers)

We went next to Chandrima Uddan. This monument is to the once president of Bangladesh Ziaur Rahman. He played a pivotal role in the war of indepence in 1971. He was murdered a decade after in a military coup. The monument is right near the parliament building. Since it was at night, both were lit up gorgeously. What a sight! A bridge crosses a thin man-made lake to get to the shrine. His coffin is there in the middle of a pool of water, with a patch of grass growing on top. A pyramid of steel beams tops the monument, supported on four sides by concrete walls holding up slopes of earth. Behind the monument, opposite side from Parliament, is a library, but it’s not in use. We spent only a few minutes here. Shakil and his friend seemed to be in a rush to get somewhere. But it’s gorgeous. I guess I’ll go back some other time in the light, which will make it all look different. This place was packed though. Familes, people on dates, friends…it was jammed. (pics: a blurry one of the inside of the monument; Ziaur Rahman's tomb with grass on top, water around, and moon above; view from library to Chandrima Uddan with parliament in background(a bit blue))

Lastly we went to BCS Computer City. Where every store sells computer stuff at low prices. I was going to buy a Flahs drive, 4 GB to back up my pictures here. Shopped a few stores, but prices didn’t vary much. Ended up buying it for Tk3350, less than $50.

8th-3rd in Dhaka 10/26

Today my Dad Vail bracelet fell off. It was during a game of basketball. I went up for a shot and the defender graced my arm enough that the weak bonds still holding the plastic together could not stay. I saw it laying on the ground right after. So lonely, without a home. I am proud to have worn it so long. 5 months and 15 days. Halfway around the world. (pics: broke exactly where I said it would when I circled it, the broken Dad Vail bracelet)

Today I also went with Megan to the house of the artist who paints the paintings in her house. He’s good friends with the man who runs our language program, whose house Megan is using. He’s been all over the world showing his artwork. He taught at NC State as a guest teacher for a bit, so he even knows about Raleigh. Never met an artist in his studio before, can’t recall if I’ve ever met a professional artist before. His home is covered with half finished to almost finished paintings. We had lunch with his wife, a young Spanish friend of his, and another man who occupies a room in his house.

Later went to play soccer and basketball with Ishraq at Gulshan Park. He meets with a group of guys on weekends to play pickup games. We played 2 games of basketball and one game of soccer in about 2 hours. I haven’t sweat or been exercising like that in a long time. I’ve taken it easy since crew ended. I felt great though to play. I’m not the best at either, but great to run up and down the court. We played both games on the basketball court, so it was a small soccer field.
Bought TimTams at a local store…did some Tim Tam Slams!

8th-4th in Dhaka 10/27

I went to Farhan’s place. He lives in Mogh Bazar. Way back, over the train tracks. We basically hung out in his bedroom for 5 hours. We snacked on potato chips and oranges and some 7up. We talked mostly about music. I gave him a CD full of mp3s of my favorite bands, and we listened to some of that. He played me some of his Bangladeshi music, and his other favorite American music. We jammed on guitar.

Picked up dinner beforehand from Margherita Pizza, watched the soccer game til food was ready, and brought it to Megan’s place to eat.

8th-5th in Dhaka 10/28

Met up with Farhan and Saquib at North South University to see a photography exhibit by the NSU photography club. Some pictures from the club’s trip to Rajasthan in India. Hope I get to go there.

Went to lunch with them and Sreyoshi and another friend of hers at Dominous Pizza. Pretty good pizza. Just hung out there for like 2 hours eating, chatting, and taking pictures. A lot of fun. They don’t always speak in English, which is expected, but I try really hard to understand what they’re saying in Bengali. It’s real good for me to listen to them speak. Farhan came over to my place after to just chill and we looked through some of my pictures.

8th-6th in Dhaka 10/29

Played a word game in class for 45 minutes. Say a word, last letter has to be the first letter in the next person’s word. Just a game to help me think of all vocabulary I know. Fun way to have a class.

This morning when I woke up, Saifullah had texted me about being part of an Aktel advertisement. Said his coworkers had liked me for an advertisement they are putting out.

After class I went straight to NSU again. Hung out with Farhan, Ayon, and Saquib. We chilled at a pool hall for a bit waiting to get a table. Meanwhile they read my Bengali journal, not by my wish. They saw my writings while we were sketching Ayon and Jayita’s family tree so I could understand how they were exactly related, and then asked me if they could read what I’d written in Bangla. They then corrected my mistakes. Later met at Salsa, another Mexican place for lunch with Sreyoshi and another of her friends. We all got some rice and just chatted. Jayita came by later. It was cool just to be there for a few hours. (pic: Sreyoshi and friends on NSU's street in Banani, Saquib and Farhan being photographed/disturbed while eating)

I’m keeping up with some of their conversations. It’s good. I’m not too alone in Bengali anymore. And I’m adding my bits in my speech as much as I can. Farhan even pointed out at one point that he was asking questions in English and I was answering in Bangla, and I hadn’t even realized.

Afterwards, Sreyoshi had the idea to take a walk along the Baridhara side of Gulshan Lake, near my house. Well, surprisingly, I was the only one who knew how to get there as I do it all the time, and they never have a need to. So I led them over, and got two rickshaws for us. Five of us, Sreyoshi, Farhan, Saqub, and Ayon. We got there, and walked the length of it, snapping some photos and fooling around. I’ve always wanted to go this place with friends. I told Saquib, who is a good photographer, to take some shots with my camera since he was without his. Sreyoshi was extremely happy, apparently she’s wanted to do this for a long time. (pics: Ayon/Sreyoshi/me walking down path at lake, the guys: Saquib/Farhan/me/Ayon, Sreyoshi/Farhan/me/Ayon, making Saquib and Farhan laugh)

8th-7th in Dhaka 10/30

We went for a boat trip after class, Shakil, Santa, and me. Hopped on two different buses to go all the way out to Mirpur.

For the next part to make sense, let me describe how 3-4 people sit in a rickshaw. There is only seating for two, so the first person sits on the top of the back of the seat. One leg goes in the middle of the seat, and the other outside the rickshaw on the wheel cover. Person 2 sits between person one’s legs, on the edge of the seat. Person 3 squeezes next to person one’s inner leg and sits on the seat….person 3 has the best seat. Person 4, if necessary, would sit behind person 3, like person 1 behind person 2. (pic: best photo of how this is...I'm sitting in Shakil's "lap", his left leg is between Santa and me, he's sitting up on the edge of the back of the seat)

We got to Mirpur, and took a rickshaw to the river, three of us jammed in. The road was horrible, many parts missing, with huge potholes. Wasn’t a pleasant ride. The river is embanked with tall dikes, with a road running along the top. Got to the river, and found a boat stand. When we told the rickshaw driver to stop, he thought it’d be a good idea to pull off the road, onto the shoulder, which went down at a steeper slope. Shakil and I are sitting pretty much in each other’s laps, I’m person 2, on the outer side of the rickshaw (shoulder side). So when we pull off, our side is the first to leave the road, and the weight imbalance almost makes the rickshaw tip over…if I hadn’t stuck my leg out to brace us, we would’ve flipped. The rickshaw’s tire on our side bent as we tipped. It was the driver’s fault. And we were a bit pissed he risked it like that.

To recover we got some tea and cookies at a riverside stand before getting in our boat. (pic: recovering at tea shack)

Got in the boat, which was about 3 feet wide, 15 feet long, and was covered for most of its length by a curved roof. It was pretty tippy, and Santa was freaking out near the beginning. Rightfully so, Shakil and I sat in back with the boat paddler, and so we were weighted down in back, with Santa’s end sticking high out of the water. The middle wasn’t a good spot to sit since it was covered, and you can’t see anything. So in a few minutes I crawled up to the front with Santa, and I stayed there because we were more balanced. Took tons of photos The two of them are a lot of fun to hang out with. The sun set while we were on the water; out there for about 45 minutes. (pics: Shakil, captain of our lil' craft; me/Santa at the bow of the boat; Shakil at stern, Santa in the bow, with the roof between; Shakil after the sun set; me laying down along the floor of the boat)

After, we took two rickshaws back to Mirpur, no tipping this time!!! Santa and I took a bus back to Gulshan since she lives near me, and Shakil went back to his house. Santa and I got dinner at a restaurant on Bishwa road, I had pasta with alfredo sauce!!! Yumm…and had some of her kebabs.

Week 7: Durga Puja and the buying of a jump rope

7^th-1st in Dhaka 10/17

Was planning on going to a concert today, but Nafisa and Rizwan backed out. She because of work, and he because he thought the show wouldn’t be too good.

Spent most of the day in Café Mango, just to be out of the house and in a new environment. Typed up journal there. Got a coffee drink. Planned to do some homework, but didn’t get far, not really feeling like it. Compiled my blog entry. No internet here, so I just have it ready to go when I get some.

And the street fight tally is now at six…saw two more last week.

7^th-2nd in Dhaka 10/18

Today I walked to Banani and back. Goal was to find a dry cleaner, and maybe some more Bangladeshi clothing, probably a fotua. Didn’t find any in my price range. Also shopped around for a flash drive and computer speakers. Still pricing around. Want to buy a 4GB one to backup all my pictures here.
Ended up buying two more pairs of pants since I like the ones I have so much, and they’re so cheap.

Went to Nafisa’s aunt’s house tonight. It was an Eid party. Hung out with her cousins, Nafisa, and relatives. Dinner was incredibly good, her Aunt is a great cook. I think I’ll go by this week for dinner, she keeps inviting me.

7^th-3rd in Dhaka 10/19

Finding out more about my cook slowly. He has a son. He spent three years of his life in Kuwait, which he did not like. He went for work. I always have a hard time understanding him, but I think he said he cooked for a real rich household. He was upset that they would throw out their leftover food instead of reusing it. He also can speak at least five languages: Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, and English.

Today took bus down to Dhanmondi to visit Farhanaz and her family. After getting to Dhanmondi, I found my way to Farhanaz’s house after only three wrong turns!
Her sister met me downstairs. Talked with her sister and Farhanaz before lunch. Her husband and father went to Friday prayer during this time. Her sister has very similar interests to me. She admits she and Farhanaz are exact opposites, and I have to agree. How she compared the two of them made me laugh. She’s in her last year of high school but has been reporting for the Daily Star, a big English newspaper here, on underground music for the last 2 years! Right now she’s grounded and can’t go to shows, but after January she’ll be able to go with me. She told me of all the bands I HAVE to listen to.
Farhanaz and I just talked about NCSU, things here, language. It’s so great seeing her again. I’m very happy for her that she’s having a baby. Her father and mother came in before lunch and talked to them as well in Bengali.
Lunch was deliciously prepared, Farhanaz kept saying how bad her cooking is compared to what her mom does. I thought they both are excellent cooks, but she didn’t want to hear it, very modest.
After lunch we sat in the living room and just talked. Mostly in Bengali, which is still a big deal for me. She was very happy to hear me talk though. She really is a reference point. She knows where I was at in May, and is so impressed at how far I’ve come since then. It’s almost like instant improvement for her. She was beaming. I conversed with her dad, her, her cousin, her husband, and mom. Couldn’t resist teasing her a bit, about things she said or did back in the US…they laughed…she blushed. (pic: Farhanaz/me/Diya, her younger sis)

Then got ready for wedding. Went later than expected. Jayita was running late. Finally got the call to leave. It was at the Shooting Complex south of Gulshan 1, a Tk30 rickshaw ride. The downstairs room was set up with tons of chairs facing a stage with an awning. Under the awning sat the bride, beautifully dressed, and with lots of jewelery. Jayita said this is a relatively quieter night, where both sides of the families get to meet the bride and groom, since the past few nights have restricted attendees, and the bride and groom don’t attend the other side’s holud. The upstairs is where we ate. The majority of people ate a first sitting. Then, a few of us ate after, and at the head table. I was there along with Jayita, her uncle Ayon and his friends, the bride and groom. It’s a head table, but at the same time it’s not. Not many people were left upstairs by the time we all ate. So, at that point, weren't really "head" of anything. (pics: bride and a collection of female family members, myself with Ayon and friends, dinner floor, Jayita's cousin Sreyoshi/me, at head table for dinner, bride and groom under awning)

7^th-4th in Dhaka 10/20

Today Erin, Megan, and our teacher Farah left in the morning to head to two Durga Puja celebrations.
It was neat to see the sculptures of Durga destroying the demon Mahishasur, and her children on her sides. The sculptures are made every year brand new because on the third day of the festival they are thrown into the river/lake. Durga is the most important goddess to the Bengali Hindus, and thus this is their biggest holiday, a 3 day event where going to the shrine to pray in front of Durga is very important.

The first shrine we went to was in one of the city’s parks. They had a huge tent covering the permanent shrine and the Puja shrine. About fifty people were there praying, listening to a man in front of the shrine reciting from a text. One younger guy there came up to me and talked to us about what was happening. (pics: tent at park for Durga Puja, Durga Puja shrine)

We went Dhakeshwari temple after. This is the temple I went to earlier in my stay, and it was relatively empty then. Now it was packed. The sculptures we saw them working on last time were now complete and on the shrine. There were tons of food vendors, and people selling Hinduism related items. Various trinkets, bindis, jewelery, and incense. We watched people give flowers to the Puja shrine which was outside the main temple complex. Then into the main temple we went. Men and women were separated, so I was now alone. But both got to up to the shrine, just men on the left, women on the right. Offerings were being made to the main Dhakeshwari shrine. People were everywhere. Drums were played inside this temple. Lots of incense was burning. People were getting cream colored bindis drawn on their forehead. (pics: Durga Puja shrine at Dhakeshwari temple, vendors with items for Durga Puja, Dhakeshwari temple filled with celebrators, myself there.)

After getting some street food, we headed back home.

In the evening I hung out with Jayita for a bit. Then later hung out with Megan, getting dinner at Café Mango.

7^th-5th in Dhaka 10/21

Glad to see the Wolfpack win, and sad to see the Indians lose.

Met Megan in the evening to have some tea and a snack from a small tea shack near our house. We talked on the streets. Later came over for dinner.

One thing I’ve been meaning to write about is that the trucks here all painted bright colors. I don’t know why. But bright blue, green, yellow, pink, red, orange adorn all the trucks. The 18-wheelers aren’t, but the dump trucks, tankers, and bed trucks are. (pics: examples of colorful trucks.)

7^th-6th in Dhaka 10/22

Today I went to Dr. Haque’s office after class. We were meeting to go over the GPS stuff again. Took a bus to get there. Only Tk8…if I had taken a rickshaw, it would’ve been at least Tk40. I love these buses.

The rickshaw I took to go to Aarong afterwards brought me far from where I had specified. So I start walking down the road to Aarong. I stop in some sport stores along this road to see how much a rowing machine cost. Way too much. $200 at least, and I wouldn’t be keeping it…so not worth it. And not Concept2, some other lame brand…

At one of the stores though, I asked about the prices of some weights, a badminton racket, and a jump rope. Asked where I can play badminton around here. Guy told me most people will just gather into groups at parks and play. Cool. I’ll buy a racket later. But I bought the jump rope, a nice simple way to get cardio workout in my bedroom. Real cheap too!

Walked the rest of the way to Aarong. The store sells only Bangladeshi made items. It's supported by BRAC, an organization involved in sustainable human development. Thus by buying from there, you know the clothing supports Bangladesh. And its fashionable too, thus hip? I bought a panjabi and 2 fotua for less than the price than my last panjabi.

On the way there I got splashed by a bus going through a puddle. My sandals and lower part of pants got wet. But instead of being laughed at by the doorman and passengers, they said sorry. I was surprised, I would’ve laughed at myself. I didn’t mind. It happens.

Time Out for dinner, a courtyard which is surrounded by five restaurants. You can order from any of them, and the waiters bring it to you from there. Only of the restaurants is called Time Out, but people associate the complex with that one. I got some Mexican food, glad to have some. Nachos and a burrito. A South Asian version of these central American foods. Not so much cheese either. Bread more of the South Asian variety.
Megan came by later, and joined me to eat. Then Tamzid and Nashad came by. We all had dinner and had a good time chatting. Glad we were all hanging out.

A server offered us the Paan menu. Paan is a leaf from a certain tree, and you chew it, and it has a flavor, and will help your digestion. It typically comes wrapped around some sweet stuff, betel nut, and spices. You put the whole thing in your mouth, its big, and chew it. Tamzid and Megan encouraged me, and would join too. Nashad said it was gross. Well I guess I have to try it at least once. I did, and it was a bit too much for me. A lot to put in your mouth at once. Very interesting flavor. You chew it, “like a cow”, said Nashad grimacing. I did, you chew for at least 10 minutes. Swallowing slowly. Not sure if I’d do it again.

7^th-7th in Dhaka 10/23

Went to Aktel to register my phone. This is necessary because apparently they will (might) deactivate your phone number if you don’t register it. It requires passport size photos, valid id (for me passport) and a copy of your passport (which I had to before getting there)

Registered, and let Shuvon (who works for Aktel) know I was downstairs from his office, hoping I could go up to see him and where he works. But he wouldn’t reply to texts. So after grabbing some ice cream and finding ways to stall, I headed to Gulshan 2…well he called back when I was almost back so I turned around.
It was good though. In his office for about an hour. Met his coworkers, and he showed me pictures from his most recent trip.

Picked up my pants from the tailor and my dry cleaning. Well actually left the pants there so they can move the button to the left pocket where I like to keep my wallet.

For dinner all the Fulbrighters currently here met at Harvey’s house, he is the one in charge of us here. It was a good dinner. Mexican fajitas and tacos…lots of cheese…no guacamole, dang… but I brought some salsa home for my morning eggs. It was fun to talk to all the different embassy folks who were very interested in us. Nafisa and I had a fun time talking. Also talked to Harvey’s wife about football (Wisconsin Badger), our states, etc.

And identified today where my Dad Vail wristband will break. There are two plastic layers on the bracelet, and the inner one, against my skin, has a crack that goes the full width. The outer side’s crack is growing, from both ends. It’s only a matter of days. I circled it, so I can watch the progression of the crack, and to say,“I called it” later on. (pic: Dad Vail wristband and where it will break.)