My Commute

This past week I have been attending Bangla language classes on the other side of Dhaka. I travel by city bus both directions with two rickshaw rides in the middle. The trip costs just over a dollar.

As you know from my last post, Dhaka is a vibrant city full of people. It is the most densely populated city in the world and I've heard estimates of the population as anywhere from 12 to 18 million. It's amazing how people can fit into an area a quarter the size of Toronto. So the pictures you see below are raw Dhaka, bursting with people. It's a small glimpse into everyday life here and of my commute to and from school.

My bus

Live chickens. This man was carrying about 40.

Apartment buildings are the way to go.

A logical place for an A&W.

Bus stand

Train tracks are pretty much a road

Pineapples!

"Yes, I live at apartment B6, Genetic Rhyme."

Janjot! (Traffic jam) A very common occurrence in these parts.

Bangladesh Air Force

This meat shop has a very distinct aroma.

My apartment building

The mosque that wakes me up far too early, especially now during Ramadan.

Well, that's it. I hope you have enjoyed the pictures. They took a long time to upload. Now I expect you all to be able to live vicariously through me.

Love,
Ben

Mailing Address

Just thought I'd let you know where to mail letters should you choose to write them.

Ben Reesor
MCC Bangladesh
G.P.O. Box 785
Dhaka 1000
BANGLADESH

This will be my mailing address for the whole year.

Ben

An Explosion of the Senses

That's the best way I can describe my thoughts every time I walk out the door in Bangladesh. Every sense is experiencing something new at exactly the same time. This picture captures only the sights of Dhaka and certainly does not do the full experience justice. There is a constant busyness. People are always bustling about and on the move. Today I took a walk out to Asad Gate which is about a 10 minute walk from where I'm staying. Even though I had been out that way a few days ago with Phil, everything seemed different and new today, almost unrecognizable.

I have had a fair bit of free time and I have spent a lot of it reading and studying Bangla. I finished A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. It was a very good book and I would recommend it to anyone. It is set in India mostly during the '70s during a time when the country was in a lot of turmoil. It is very sad but well written.

I do enjoy getting out and walking around Mohammadpur. Yesterday I decided to take a walk to the market. On my way there I was stopped by a man who greeted me like an old friend. He then proceeded to ask me if I could help him obtain a visa to Australia so he could visit his brother. I told him I was from Canada and had no experience in this matter. I did tell him he should talk to the Australian embassy. He asked me to write some talking points for him as to what he should say when he got there. I told him to explain why he wants to visit Australia and to give his brother's address. He said he does not know it and sounded to me from his explanation that his brother was an illegal immigrant. I highly doubt he will be granted a visa, but I was happy to help him.

Bangladesh is a very interesting place and I like it already.

Ben

P.S. I took this picture while exploring Gulshan 2 (a region of Dhaka) with Phil. This was in a grocery store and I thought it was kind of funny.

How many brands of "Corn Flakes" can you see?

Small town America to big city Asia

I'm in Bangladesh! I arrived safe and sound yesterday at 10:15 am local time after a grueling 34 hours spent in transit. Lets just say Dhaka is significantly different than Akron.

Boy howdy! It's a car!

Mohammadpur market

I don't have a great picture of traffic here yet, but it sure makes your commute more interesting. Yesterday I was given a tour of the Mohammadpur district of Dhaka by Phil, an MCC service worker that lives in Bogra where I will be in a month. I was feeling very tired by about 5:00 and Phil was kind enough to make me some extra strong coffee. That was able to keep me conscious until I went out for supper with Phil and Joyce, an MCC Dhaka worker living at the guesthouse. I had some traditional Bengali food which was very good. I am looking forward to eating it more (we'll see where I stand on that in a few months). We also rode by rickshaw, a very common mode of transportation here. I use "very" in the strongest sense of the word because I have not seen a stretch of road in this city yet without at least one rickshaw driving along. I have my first Bangla lesson tomorrow and I move in with my host family in a couple days. I look forward to learning some Bangla because then I'll feel at bit less helpless in navigating the city. I have already started learning a few words and phrases. A common greeting is asalaam aleykum, which is actually Arabic and means peace be with you. Another greeting used mostly by Christians and Hindus is namaskar which is often accompanied by a small bow with clasped hands. Well I can't think of much more to write about. It looks like I'll have fairly regular internet access in Dhaka, so hopefully I'll be able to update this blog when there's something interesting to write about.

Ben

Traveling

Traveling is fun and exciting, but also boring at times, like right now. I am currently sitting in Dubai International Airport in, you guessed it, Dubai. I have just entered hour 3 of a 7 hour layover, my last one before getting to Bangladesh. My first thoughts upon entering terminal 3 was how huge this place is. A quick google search confirmed my belief: Dubai's terminal 3 is the largest building in the world by floor space measuring at 16,100,000 square feet. I've spent most of my time wandering the concourse. It takes about 20 minutes to walk from one end to the other. I was also around in time for the evening call to prayers, which was a pleasant surprise. Here are some pictures:


Lamborghini Gallardo. This is what I use to transport my luggage around the airport.

An endless line of gates. I'm at 220.

The last half of orientation was good. We had some blunt but oddly comforting discussions. One session Eva said straight up that there will be a point in our term where we want nothing more than to come home. Usually that happens in the first 2 or 3 months. At first I got kind of nervous, but then I calmed myself. I have been preparing for this for half a year. I have thought of this before. I understand that it won't be easy, but that's why I'm doing it.

It was weird saying goodbye to the other SALTers. MCC tries really hard to get us connected to each other, and I did make some friends, but we were still only together for a week (I think Kim's analogy is a good way to describe it). Basically all you can say is, "Well, see you in a year! Good luck!", and then go your separate ways.

Ben

Akron

For the past day and a half I've been at orientation at the MCC headquarters in Akron, PA. It's been great to meet the SALTers, IVEPers and YAMEN!ers. I'm staying in Asia House, one of 4 continent themed guesthouses on the MCC campus. The first person I met in Asia House was an IVEPer from Cambodia named Pheakday Tim. Turns out he'll be living in Stouffville and working at Willowgrove Farm. He is eager to learn more about Stouffville and who his host family will be, so if anyone has more information on that, it would be appreciated. The MCC campus is very nice and is set up like a small village. I've put up some pictures. I hope you enjoy them.


Guestbooks are fun.

Ben

(Less than) 2 days...

It's hard to believe that I leave my home and native land on Friday. I will be traveling to Akron, Pennsylvania for a week long orientation with fellow SALTers, IVEPers and YAMEN!ers. I leave for Bangladesh the 15th. My flight path is as follows (in case you're curious): Philadelphia to New York, New York to Dubai and Dubai to Dhaka. I'll be in the air for about 20 hours and assuming all planes are on time, I will arrive in Bangladesh 28 hours after leaving Philadelphia. Bangladesh is 11 hours ahead of EST, so I will be arriving on August 17th at 9:40 am. I don't know if anyone reading this really cares much, but I'm just really excited so I like to talk about it. If you're in the Stouffville area and you haven't had a chance to say goodbye, there is an open invitation to stop by my house tomorrow night. There should be iced tea and lemonade (while supplies last). 

Ben