A little bit about Bangladesh

After reading through a few posts, I realize now that I really haven't told you THAT much about the country or culture of Bangladesh!  Bangladesh is really dirty, really crowded, really noisy.  But it is also really friendly and beautiful in its own way!  One thing to get used to is when you walk down the streets here, people stare.  They stare at everyone no matter the race or gender.  They are just very curious people.  I've had random people come up to me and say, "Excuse, where are you from?"  So I tell them.  Then they smile and walk away.  When I walk to work, I always find a lot of people smiling and saying "good morning!"  Everyone we meet is so kind and welcoming.  We've met two of our neighbors from our apartment building, a Malaysian man and an Indian family, and they've either invited us to dinner or asked to throw us a party!

Obligatory shot of me on a rickshaw

Bangladesh is a majority Muslim country, but there are Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians here.  All religious holidays, Muslim, Christian, or otherwise, are government holidays which I think is very progressive for such a third world country.  Right now we are in the month of Ramadan, the holiest Muslim month.  Muslims fast while the sun is up, and break their fast at sundown with a meal called Iftar.  Kajori's family invited us to have Iftar with them a few weeks ago and it was really nice!  We had spicy chickpeas and lentils, dalpuri (which is quickly becoming my favorite Bangladeshi treat), sweet coconut rice, fried eggplant, fried onion fritters, and a really good spicy soup with meats and lentils among other things!  

In the month of Ramadan, Muslims are often more charitable than usual, so this attracts more beggars to the city from smaller villages in Bangladesh.  This is one of the toughest things about living here.  There are SO many people asking you for food or money.  Some are very disfigured, deformed, disturbing.  Some have small children with them (which sometimes are not their own).  But most are pretty persistant.  We had three children follow us home from the grocery store last weekend for almost 10 minutes.  "Madam! Baak Sheesh! I'm hungry!"  It's tough.  When you're in a car, they knock on your windows and peer into your car asking for help.  To go shopping at the markets here, we kind of have to prepare ourselves mentally and the trips are usually exhausting.

Speaking of trips to the market... Most foreign families living in Dhaka have hired help.  Our little intern family is no different!  We have what you call a bearer, named Misti, who works 5 days a week cleaning our house, making beds, washing clothes and sheets, going to the grocery store for us, and cooking dinner!  This is very inexpensive.  Many families have 4 or more people working for them, a bearer (the cleaner), a cook, an aya (nanny), and a driver.  A very interesting culture to get used to (Although I'm loving it!  I'm already SO spoiled! yikes!)

Another interesting thing about Bangladesh is that they are seriously lacking in infrastructure!  Traffic is always just insane.  Completely insane.  There are so many people, and there is no such thing as obeying traffic rules/signs.  There are a few lights, but they are kind of suggestions.  We have a car, but I haven't gotten up the nerve to drive, even on weekends when traffic is better, although my roommates have.  I'm usually the person that helps watch out for people crossing the street, dogs, rickshaws, other cars, etc...  Also, the power goes out all the time.  Sometimes 6 or 7 times a day at our house, sometimes less.  Most places have a generator, but we don't yet, so when the power's out, we have no lights, fans, a/c, etc.  My roommate Konrad actually got stuck in our elevator a week or two ago when the power went out.  No worries though, he had his cell phone, and the guards helped us rescue him!

In other news, we are fostering a new baby Bangla kitten my roommate Kajori and fellow teacher, Kristen, found in the street!  We named her Tiapaki, or Tia for short.  Tiapaki is the Bangla word for parrot!  She climbs up and sits on your shoulder and often falls asleep there.  She also squawks non-stop!  We're hoping that goes away soon!  She's super cute though! And tiny!

She likes to climb really near your face and falls asleep in the strangest places.

"Look what I found!  Can we keep her?!"

She's so tiny!  But SO loud!