I dream of sweets...

Well, a lot is happening but not too much blog worthy I guess - just day-to-day life in Bangladesh playing out. *We are going to the Grameen Bank tomorrow! yay! and it's our last day of orientation - crazy!! - blog post tomorrow or soon after our Grameen tour*

The "death chalk" is working well....maybe too well - I'm getting tired of handling 1/2 dead cockroaches. This morning at 3:30am (when I couldn't sleep) and then again at 7:00 when I woke up there were 1/2 dead cockroaches on their backs (one each time) that had to quickly be handled with a thick paper towel! I'm glad that the chalk is working but can't they just find their own way to the trash bin.?! Anyway, this is not a daily thing at all just something that happened to strike twice this morning...

Today after Bangla class Mira (our table's teacher) took us to her favorite sweets shop (yumm) called SugarBun. They had tons of traditional Bangladeshi sweets, cakes, and breads...My roommates and I decided on 2 sweets to try and bought a box of 4 each (for 134 tk/$2) - pretty cheap, huh? I can't even begin to explain to you how amazingly delicious these sweets were (yeah, were - they're all gone!!)! The kalo jam tasted like a maple syrup doughnut soaked through with syrup! yumm and the other, Kacha Golla was an interesting texture but equally tasty - it tasted a little like a sweet dessert you would make using ricotta cheese. Both were definitely worth the thought of gaining a few extra pounds :)

Inside SugarBun

The sweets

See the Kalo Jam (bottom row, second from the left) and the Kacha Golla (top row, far right)

Street view outside of SugarBun which is within walking distance to AUW

another street view

i love how bright and colorful this city is :)

Here are a few pictures from the past few days....

Street market on our way to Aarong (Tuesday, 16th)

CNG ride home (I have a few videos....another day!)

The heartbreak children outside of Kulshi Mart/Tava....the littlest boy is always very persistent - broke all of our hearts today when it was pouring down rain and he was standing there shivering

Mira, my table's Bangla teacher, and I

Iftar

It's Ramadan here in Bangladesh and while we're not fasting we are certainly enjoying this time. (Except for yesterday when we were at AUW for orientation and school was closed b/c it's the weekend, so we were going to eat at Impala but then realized all restaurants are closed during the day for Ramadan...day ended up being cut short so we could come back to our apt to each lunch. By the time we made it back to our apartment tava had set up their iftar buffet and thus began our new obsession.) All of the restaurants set up buffet lines along the streets with a wide variety of foods to break the fast, called iftar. Our favorite restaurant across the street from our apartment, Tava, has said iftar. The staff is so cute and wonderful. We've eaten in the restaurant twice and the head waiter has memorized all of our names (so cute!). They have a variety of food including chicken kabaabs, pakora, fish fingers, veggie/chicken rolls, samosa, etc. and today I ate the most amazing pineapple pie!!! They also have another desert that has been deemed "funnel cake on crack" by Kelsey (another volunteer) - basically it's a thin dough fried in sugar and it is quite tasty (pictures another day...I bought pineapple pie today instead). This will be our dinner for the next month! no questions.

Tava's iftar set up in front of Khulshi Mart (our closest grocery store)

A few of our waiters - the guy in the middle is one of my faves!

this guy created quite a bit of commotion during our orientation class....i dont need to think about spiders like this crawling around my apartment! so i'll just pretend they are only at AUW!

trapping the spider!

at AUW with Kristen in yet another of my new shalwar kameez outfits

Daily Life in Bangladesh

So I can't believe it's been a week already!! I thought I'd just blog a little about what it's been like so far. There are a lot of things that are not what I expected or are somehow like what I expected but I just didn't know what it would be like to fully develop my expectations before arriving in country. Anyway, here are a few little things about daily life in Bangladesh....

-- The power goes out all the time! I read about this before coming but had no idea what the reality would be like...well some days the power goes out just as quickly as it is turned back on and other days it'll be out for an hour or more. At AUW you usually don't notice the difference because the generator kicks in shortly after the power goes out. At home while the power is out there's an annoying beeping until the power is returned but at least we have a light and fan in each room that function on the generator. Here's an article about Bangladesh's energy instability in the Daily Star, a local newspaper in Dhaka.

-- Don't drink the water!! I knew this beforehand and have done this when traveling in Egypt and Turkey but forgot how hard it can be to not open your mouth while in the shower (bad habit #1 to break!) or not to rinse your toothbrush with the tap water by accident. We're very lucky that AUW delivers water jugs to our rooms. Supposedly it will eventually be on a schedule but right now we seem to run out of water before getting a new jug...surely this will work itself out. Luckily our apartment has somehow timed it, so far at least, that we run out of water the same day new water is delivered.

(My extreme measures to make sure I don't drink the water by accident - notice the duct tape on the cold water knob -- that way I have to think about turning on the water since I don't usually use hot water)

-- There are bugs. Cockroaches are to be expected and I'm surprised/thankful there aren't more. We've had two big ones in our apartment so far...which we happened to name - Crunch and Phillip. One of them is dead -- I made a man from the apartment complex kill it when it appeared on my bathroom mirror while they were in our apartment working on the powerbox. As expected I'm covered in mosquito bites...the first few didn't swell up like usual but the other day at school one attacked my arm and they've all swollen up.

-- People stare/are curious. It's like we have a megaphone announcing our presence wherever we go -- van ride to AUW, shopping, crossing the street, etc. Men just start staring from miles away. When in the van we're an odd site so it's no wonder men stare -- we have a Bangladeshi woman driver, which to have a woman driver is an oddity in itself! then they see the van full of white woman and it's really weird! so they stare even more. Today we went shopping in a cute little shopping complex with about 10 stores all selling shalwar kameez outfits/jewelry/some household decorations. While in one store trying on a few outfits, the entire staff (about 12 men and 1 woman) were all staring at me and asking questions (Where are you from, What are you doing here, How long have you been here) and giving their opinion about how I looked in the shalwar kameez...and giggling when I went back into the dressing room. When I went to the neurologist the other day for my vertigo problems one of the women working at the office came and started talking to Pam (a nurse from AUW) and I, asking us all the usual questions. She was so interested and curious about us.

TANGENT -- My visit to the neuro cost approximately $6, yes $6! and he prescribed me 2 medications for vertigo (that hopefully start working soon) and I paid about $1.30 for a 10 day supply! crazy, huh? A massage or two is looking like a good investment in the hopes of aiding my relief of vertigo!

-- Overpopulation...is an understatement. I've never seen so many people in my life. The streets are packed with pedestrians, CNGs, rickshaws, and cars. However, stores and restaurants are very scarce and it's a wonder how they stay afloat.

-- Bangladeshis are crazy drivers. It's not like Germany where it was organized chaos or in the States where nobody really knows what they're doing/are preoccupied with their phones. No, after riding in a CNG today I'm even more scared for my life as a pedestrian on the streets. Bangladeshis supposedly drive on the "opposite" side of the road like the British but in reality they drive wherever their vehicle will fit - middle of the road, right side of the road, ditches, etc. In some parts of town the two sides are separated by a physical barrier (usually a small brick wall, 2 or 3 bricks high) but most of the time it's a free-for-all, wide-open road. There are no sidewalks here so walking around is a bit of a dizzying situation - dodging ditches/mud/trash piles, feeling the breeze from rickshaws and CNGs zooming around you, and constant honking. You just have to walk with a purpose and hope nobody hits you!! Our CNG ride this evening took us through a part of town I've never seen - side roads that our AUW van would never be able to fit down. The side road was lined with small shops and lots of people and full of ditches! ouch!

Traffic jam on our way home from the Chittagong Club (a members-only club). It took us almost 2 hours to get home....it took us about 20-30 minutes to get there.

My first CNG ride at night!

Below are a few more pictures from the past few days and I've also added more to the picasa album.

The group of volunteers with Omar, Director of Operations at AUW, and his wife at the Chittagong Club

AUW

Karin, Shahirah, and I at the Teacher/Volunteer Tea - they have tea twice a day - 10:00 and 4:00

The group celebrating Calynn's birthday at Tava - a swanky restaurant across the street from our apartment. They have a Chinese, Thai, and Indian menu in one. You can purchase a main course, naan bread, and a drink for about $6

My name in Bangla!! We're taking language classes as part of our orientation....I wish I could say I wrote this myself but Mirah, our table's teacher, wrote this for me. Languages have never been my strong point...

Welcome to Bangladesh

Hi everyone! So it's been a long, busy, exciting, overwhelming, sometimes nerve wrecking few days since arriving in Bangladesh (I can't believe it's only been 5 days!!). There's so much to say but I'll keep it short! Bangladesh is so exciting, new, and different for me and it's even more intriguing because I tried to not have too many expectations (or do too much research) before coming on this trip so I wouldn't be disappointed or upset or expect something to be one way only to find out it's something totally different. Everyday there's something new to see, do, and experience. The almost hour long van ride from the airport was a great introduction to the country. Cars, traffic, honking, cows in the street, people pulling carts amidst all the traffic, lots of staring, street vendors, and an abundance of lush green vegetation!

A little bit about what I'll be doing for the next year... I'll be working through WorldTeach at the Asian University for Women with a few roles:
- teacher at the Access Academy (a pre-University school to improve the students English skills and prepare them for college coursework) - I'm planning on teaching a class on Business Leadership (pending approval still)
- teaching assistant in a university writing seminar class
- business teacher for the women's chamber of commerce in the local community

I'm really excited about this new and different opportunity. I love traveling and living abroad and after living in Germany I was ready for something a little different. I really wanted to be able to get more involved in the community and make a difference in the country I was living, so this seems like a terrific opportunity to accomplish all of the above plus a lot more! We'll also be able to do a considerable amount of traveling on our breaks thanks to a travel stipend from the university (details are still a little fuzzy). The travel stipend supports travel to countries where our students are from, which covers about 14 countries around Asia (Pakistan, Cambodia, China, Sri Lanka, etc.)

Here are a few pictures from the first few days! and as always a few more pictures here

Van ride from the Chittagong airport to our apartment! aka new home for the upcoming year :)

Rickshaws are everywhere! and people sit on top of everything whether it's being carried on a rickshaw, van, bus, etc.

This picture is for mom - probably the lightest I've ever packed in my entire life!! One 50lb suitcase, a laptop bag, and a half-empty hiking backpack

View of Bangladesh from my bedroom window :)

Sunset view from my bedroom! :)

Lunch at a local restaurant (Calynn, Jess (our Field Director), me, and Katie)

My first Shalwar Kameez! I bought two outfits from Aarong, a fair trade store down the street from our field director's apartment complex where our first few days of orientation were held

Street view from the rooftop of our apartment

Lots of driving...

Well, it's been a while since I last blogged...here are some pictures from the last few months in Georgia and my whirlwind trip around VA to see friends in DC and Newport News. More info on my new move in the next blog :)

Memorial Day Weekend -- Finally got my water camera developed - here's a cute picture of Dena and I floating down the Ichetucknee


June 11-15, 2010 -- Natalie and Martin's Wedding Reception in Atlanta
Natalie and Martin were married in December in Munich, Germany but friends and family from the US could not all make it, so this reception was to celebrate with friends/family in the US.

Wedding Festivities included:
Day 1: BBQ and lots of corn hole (my new favorite game!)

Day 2: Pemberton Place -- World of Coke and Georgia Aquarium thennnn the Fiesta Wedding Reception

Lisa Marie and I waiting for our tour to start at the World of Coke

3D fun at World of Coke - FIFA exhibit

FIFA exhibit at World of Coke, yes please!

Georgia Aquarium - Behind the Scenes Tour = amazing!!!!

Lisa Marie and I being cute :)

At the Fiesta Wedding Reception (Me, Natalie, Lisa Marie)

Day 3: White Water Rafting down the Ocoee in Tennessee

Our raft...waiting for all the other rafts that got dumped on the FIRST rapid!! geez

still waiting - lots of fun on the rapids to follow our long wait! Great Day!

Day 4: Stone Mountain

Natalie, Lisa Marie, and I after climbing the ropes course!

Natalie, Martin, Lisa Marie, and I riding the train around Stone Mountain after playing a round of putt putt!

4D movie

Following the wedding festivities, Lisa Marie and I drove to Myrtle Beach for some beach time with my parents and mom's family. Then, we drove to GA for a quick tour of downtown Savannah and a day on the beach with Lisa and Les - they were so wonderful and took Lisa Marie and I out on the boat to the St. Catherines island. Then, Lisa Marie had to go back to Connecticut...

4th of July weekend -- Drove to Gainesville to see Dena then down to Palm Beach to visit with my Aunt Rise and Uncle Peter. We had a great holiday weekend catching up and eating tasty coconut shrimp and thai food!

Uncle Peter, Aunt Rise, and I

July 11 - Marcie came to visit! We "watched" the WorldCup Soccer Final, spent some time downtown, and spent lots of time catching up!

Marcie and I, downtown Savannah

July 16 - Last day at Ft. Stewart

Pretty cake, tasty too!

I drove to work on the 16th with my car PACKED! trunk full (above pict), back seat full, passenger seat full! Immediately after work I drove to NC to see Courtney and Kyle! Our first reunion since they left Germany last summer! It'd been way too long but we had a great time hanging out and catching up.

July 23 - 27 -- Whirlwind tour of VA - DC then Newport News

Katy, Marty, and I after a delicious brunch at La Madeleine's

Random sign in Arlington, VA (Bangladesh is everywhere these days!! signs, clothes, etc)...unfortunately I somehow managed to not take any other photos that night...but we had a lot of fun at Riras (an Irish Pub) in Arlington, dancing the night away to the Sugar Buzz Band

Downtown Alexandria/Old Town - waiting for dinner with A*Phis which didnt work out as planned due to the horrible traffic!! but Christy, Julie, and I were able to get together :)

Christina, Amelia, and I at Maggie Moos in Newport News - after eating Mexican, of course!

I met up with Lacey on campus Tuesday morning -- wow, has it changed! 2 new buildings and a few old ones demolished!