So far Bangladesh..

What I love…

1-      The green… Bangladesh is an urban jungle, full of beautiful trees, ponds and fields

2-      All this fruit…mango, lychee, jackfruit trees everywhere

3-      Fuschka ….ridiculously yummy!

4-      The hospitality of Bangladeshis (For example we randomly knocked someone’s door to use their loo on our way to the community. They not only let us use their bathroom but also offered us some mango)

5-      You can find SILENT in LISTEN!

6-      Smiley and shy locals, women in colourful salwar kamiz and beautiful sarees

7-      Sudden storms! They are so dramatic. Love watching the rain pouring down and the lighting followed by a scary thunder. It is very much like a horror movie. 

What surprises me:

1-      The obvious class difference… Expensive cars vs ramshackle rickshaws… modern cafes inside worn-out buildings

2-      There’s a Mustafa Kemal street in Dhaka and our project coordinator who studied history is a big fan of Ataturk

3-      I’ll be teaching BANGLA (this isn’t a joke) along with my counterpart during ICO.

4-      People bathing, doing laundry, brushing teeth, washing food in the ponds. I’m so tempted to take some photos but it may not be a wise move.

5-      STARES…constantly…if you go somewhere, anywhere there’ll be people coming to see you, following you and making you feel like an animal at the zoo. It’s strange but I’m getting used to it.

6-      Thumb up is rude here (kept doing it until I found out but never came across any frowns. Phew )

Challenges

1-      Heat heat heat

2-      Being lost in translation or sometimes not being translated at all

3-      Bengali time (always later than British time)

4-      Power cuts

5-      Nothing is straightforward. There’s often a complication in anything

For example, we went to visit a host home. There were two people (mother and son) living in the house but the mother would move to another house just to host the volunteers. Later we found out the other house wasn’t theirs but a stranger's who wasn't a local and wanted to rent out his place. In the mentioned house,  there wasn’t a bathroom (only toilets) but they’d build one in 2 weeks’ time. In the middle of this strange chain of information,the youth club president appeared our of the blue bringing along his aggression and unpleasantness.Apparently there are some rules within that village which say that no host homes could be visited unless they are informed. Oh my world… My plan for a quick assessment visit turned out to be a long mission and in the end we were still short of one host home!

6-     Crazy driving! I’m scared stiff from time to time. It feels like I’m on an ever-lasting ride at a theme park. The adrenalin goes up, up and the moment it goes down and you are kinda relaxed then another crazy move and I scream.

7-      Cold food. I’m used to it now.

8-      In one of the villages the tea stall guy refused to serve us tea. I suspect it was a male & female together thing.

9-      Facebook requests and religion inquires. Oh there is also the marriage question

What I’ve learnt:

1-      More about the project and what VSO Bangladesh’s been implementing here

2-      Sexual reproductive health + rights and its impact in Bangladesh.

3-      Menstruation myths

4-      A number of national and international NGOs working in Bangladesh.

5-      What bum gun is and how it is used (haven’t tried!)

6-      What bodna is

7-      Eating with hands (still not very into it)

8-      Different types of transport; Bangla vans (I find them hilarious and dangerous, bumpy and jumpy on the village roads), rickshaws, CNGs.

What I miss the most;

1-      Him and all my awesome friends

2-      My bed and pillow, avocados, cheese and proper English breakfast tea also some booze on a hot summer day!
3-      Cycling
4-      Less rice
5-   Creature comforts
6-     Freedom of behaviour and summer clothes on these hot days! 

All in all, I'm loving this experience and so looking forward to meeting with team and going to the community real soon!!