Back home

I arrived back home two days ago. It's a strange feeling to be home. In some ways it feels like I never left. Other than some noticeable changes around town, Stouffville is Stouffville. I went on a bike ride today on my 21 speed mountainy bike. Very different from solid steel one speed with curved handle bars that I rode in Bogra. I noticed the lack of a bell. I felt my finger inch toward where it should be whenever I saw a car approaching. Luckily, there were less rickshaws, people and animals to dodge, and no stupid chickens.

I spent the past week in Akron, PA, debriefing with my fellow SALTers from around the world. It was great to see them all again and to share stories. In many ways our experiences were different but in many others they were similar. We all had common challenges and joys. It was a great time to relax and play frisbee. I hadn't had any major physical exercise for the past year, so I was sore after a couple games of ultimate. It felt good to play again though.

I'm going to Waterloo tomorrow to visit some friends at school. I don't have many plans for the next month before school starts. I imagine I'll do some work on the farm and try to catch up with family and friends. This will probably be my last blog post. It's time to put this baby to bed. Now that my SALT year is over, I don't imagine I will have any particularly interesting insights to share with you. Not that I imagine life here to be dull, but I just assume we are now having similar experiences. If you are really interested in what I'm doing, just ask. :-)

See you around,

Ben

As I came, so I go

I came to Bangladesh 11 months ago with mixed emotions. I was mostly excited, but I was also a little nervous. I didn't know what to expect. I was coming to a new country, a new culture and a new language. It seems kind of strange leaving now, because I finally feel settled in. My fluency in Bangla is at its best, and all the things that seemed strange or unusual before are just normal now.

As I prepare to leave, I have similar emotions as to when I came. This time, however, I'm going to a familiar country, culture and language. I suppose the nervousness comes with the anticipation that home won't be quite as familiar as I might have remembered.

I fly out of Dhaka on the night of July 20th. I arrive in Akron, PA 36 hours later, assuming everything goes according to plan. Leaving Bangladesh is different than leaving Canada. When I left home, I knew I was coming back in a year. I don't know if I'll ever be back in Bangladesh. I told Piyash that I would come back for his wedding. His mother said that will be in 20 years. She seemed pretty confident on that number, so I guess its settled. I wonder what Bangladesh will be like in 20 years?

A common phrase these days as I say goodbyes: Ami asha kori amader abar dekha hobe - I hope we will meet again.

Highway symbiosis

Symbiosis is a biology term used to describe a relationship between two or more organisms that are unrelated taxonomically, but help each other survive in some way. When I refer to symbiosis on a Bangladesh highway, I mean many different forms of transportation using the same road and some how manage to get people to their destinations without (many) casualties. I've been using highways in Bangladesh for the better part of 10 months now, but I have yet to describe it in a blog post for you curious readers back home. I remembered this on a recent trip to and from Dhaka.

The Dhaka-Bogra highway is two lanes and undivided. I should say it is two lanes by markings of paint only; certainly it accommodates many more vehicles. The shoulder, for example, is a legitimate place to drive, as well as right down the middle if there is no oncoming traffic. Really, there is no place I have been in Bangladesh where lane markings have any say in where people drive.

The users of the road vary considerably. I will list them more or less from smallest to largest, which also happens to be least to greatest asphalt priority: chicken, duck, cat, dog, goat, child riding goat, human, bicycle, motorcycle, cow, cow pulling cart, rickshaw, vangari, rototiller thingy, autorickshaw, tempo, homemade tractor, tractor, car, pickup truck, small truck, small bus, big truck, big bus. The speed limit really is as fast as you can drive without hitting something else.

Passing ettiquette: Passing is acceptable in all circumstances, as long as your vehicle is faster than the one in front of you. Passing with oncoming traffic is not a problem; once your vehicle's nose is past the vehicle you are passing, said vehicle must hit the brakes to let you in front so the oncoming traffic does not hit you. If the oncoming traffic is of lower asphalt priority than you, they simply head to the shoulder.

Horn ettiquette: The horn is the most useful part of the vehicle. If the horn is broken, you might as well consider the vehicle totalled as it is not road worthy. Luckily, there are repair shops that advertise horn replacement, so no worries. The horn is mostly used whenever you are passing another vehicle. Because mirrors and signals apparently haven't been accepted by the general population, they are most necessary for the smaller vehicles in order to avoid getting crushed. The general rule when driving is to concern yourself only with what's ahead. Those behind and beside will make their presense known to you by the horn.

High-beam ettiquette: When driving at night, the horn is given a break and the high-beams are used instead (for the most part). When passing with oncoming traffic, the high-beams signal to the driver heading your way to slow down, or head to the shoulder. I just assume (almost definitely incorrectly) that Bangladeshis are immune to high-beam blindness.

You probably get the idea that highway driving is not for the faint of heart. Its an action packed adventure of dodging people, livestock and other vehicles while trying to drive as fast as possible. City driving is similar, but usually significantly slower. I have seen many totalled buses and trucks on the side of the highway, crushed into trees, rolled down embankments, etc.

MCC does not allow service workers to drive motorcycles in Dhaka because of how dangerous it is. Bangladeshis are very peaceful, but if a driver strikes and kills a pedestrian, an angry mob will soon form to lynch the driver and torch his/her vehicle and possibly other vehicles that happen to be present.

To paint this in a slightly more positive light: there probably are less fatal accidents per capita in Bangladesh than in Canada because vehicles are travelling slower. I said people drive as fast as possible, by realistically cars rarely hit 80 km/h on the highway. Also, there are not nearly enough paved roads in Bangladesh for all the vehicles to pass freely, so maybe this is the best method? My Western sensibilities tell me that well organized, enforceable traffic laws would work better, but in my heart I want to believe Bangladesh has it right. That said, I won't be shedding any tears for Bangladesh's highways when I head home in a couple weeks.

Ben

Monsoon's a-comin'

The sun peaked through the clouds today. It's the first time he's shown his face in four days. It's been raining off and on most of the time. I don't really mind though, because the temperatures have been comfortable. I slept with a sheet covering me last night.

The monsoon season is important for Bangladesh. Around 80% of the yearly rainfall comes in these 3 months. However, the monsoon can also bring devastating cyclones and massive floods.

The region of Sylhet has the greatest monsoon in Bangladesh. It is located just south of the Himalayan foothills, so the hot, humid air from the Bay of Bengal rises and condenses right above Sylhet. One year, a town in the region reported a 1 metre rainfall in a 24 hour period! That's crazy! The same town averages 11 metres per year.

A couple weekends ago I was sitting at home reading when it started to rain. I walked out in my room to watch for a bit. Pintu and Bishaw came out of their room and asked me if I wanted to go walk out in the rain with them. I said sure. Wearing only our lungis, we went for a stroll. We walked the length of the dirt road along the river and through a few neighbourhoods I hadn't been to before. We saw a frog. Frog in Bangla is bang. Not quite the same pronunciation as in English though. The ng has a bit of a nasal sound to it. Bishaw said he ate frog once and it tasted like chicken. I agreed with him.

Ben

Bishoi Kap

I know my last post was about the World Cup, but really this is the event that's defining my life these days, so I thought I'd write about it again. Most of my conversation with my host brothers revolves around football nowadays. Bishaw was disappointed with Germany's loss to Serbia and I was less than impressed with England's lack-luster effort against Algeria (0-0 draw). So far the Brazil and Argentina fans have nothing to complain about, which is, as I mentioned earlier, almost the whole country.

When I last posted the games hadn't begun. I could only speculate on what a World Cup in Bangladesh is like. I had questions like "Why does everyone like Brazil and Argentina?" My own hypothesis was proven wrong when I asked Mokhles. He told me that Bangladeshis love watching flashy, big name players and Brazil and Argentina have had their fair share. Players like Pele, Ronaldo, Kaka, Maradona and Messi are household names.

Near my house is a biggish road with a bunch of shops and stalls. Someone has set up a big white sheet over a billboard and projects the night games here. I was really surprised to see this, but it's great. The power usually goes off at around 8:00 pm (the start time for the second game) but to my even greater surprise, I found that the projector is hooked up to a car battery so we can watch the games when the power is off! These times when the power goes out I would normally spend sitting on a bench outside my house trying to catch a cool breeze. Now I can watch the game.

It's fun watching games with 500+ Bangladeshis. We pretty much clog the road meaning vehicles trying to get through have to constantly lean on their horns (not really abnormal though). I went to the first Brazil game at 12:30 am and there were hundreds of people out even at that hour. They play again tonight at the same time, and I plan on going. I read in the paper that a bunch of people were watching the first Argentina game in Dhaka when the power went out. This sparked a small riot and involved a few torched cars. The government has asked the power companies to try their best to limit load shedding during the matches.

It really is impossible to not be caught up in the excitement surrounding the World Cup. I can't imagine what it's like in South Africa. I've begun making tentative plans for going to Brazil 2014. Who's in?

Bangladesh: The unknown South American nation

I am fully aware that Bangladesh is located in South Asia, nestled in India's armpit. However, by walking down the streets nowadays it's easy to forget this. The World Cup is two days away and most of Bangladesh has made their support known. It's basically between Brazil and Argentina, and their flags can be seen everywhere. I honestly don't know why. I heard that the 1998 World Cup was massively followed in Bangladesh, so much so that the millions of TVs crashed the power grid for four days. In that tournament Argentina and Brazil did pretty well, so maybe that's where the support comes from?

There is an Argentinian flag painted on the outside of my house. I assumed everyone in my host family supported Argentina until I took a poll. Kaka, Swapan and Shipon support Argentina; Pintu and Biplob support Brazil, Bishaw supports Germany, Boudi and Kaki-ma do not have a favourite (although their husbands like Argentina) and Piyash didn't understand the question. I have officially given my support to England. I suppose being the lone English speaker in my house I have felt some kinship with the English people. Also, their colours are the same as Canada: red and white.

So for the next few weeks the world is going to have a party. Your country may not be in it, but you can still have fun. Even if you don't watch soccer, pick a team and follow them. You may even get into the spirit of things!

God save the Queen,

Ben

Carpe that diem

"Come on, Steve. We've got a diem to carpe!"

"Carpe the diem. Seize the carp."

There probably isn't a Latin phrase that has been more perverted by English speakers than carpe diem. It's OK though; Latin is a dead language, so no one is offended.

Now that we're into June, I've begun to realize how rapidly my time in Bangladesh is winding down. I only have 6 weeks left. In those 6 weeks I have quite a bit to do. I need to bring closure to my work, write some reports and do an end of term evaluation. Now more than ever my thoughts are straying towards home. Over the past 9 months or so, I've been trying my best to focus on the present. Of course, I've thought about home quite a bit. I miss all of you a lot. I think I've done pretty well in taking in Bangladesh and keeping my focus here but it hasn't always been easy.

Carpe diem is a phrase taken from a Latin poem "Odes" by Horace. The whole stanza goes like this:

Latin: carpe diem quam minimum credula postero

English: Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the next

I don't need to trust the next day. All I need to do is trust that God will provide for me. So far I haven't been let down.

"Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary."

Ben

P.S. Try to guess the movies those quotes were taken from. If you give up, look here.

The village life

For the past couple weekends, I've had the opportunity to visit the village. Last weekend I went to my host brother Pintu's village and the weekend before was my Boudi's village. While my family lives in Bogra town, they all come from the village, which is common for city dwellers. They come to the big towns for work or education, but their real home is out in the countryside. I do like the village. Life is more relaxed, the air is fresh and the people are friendly.

Pintu's village is about a 4 hour commute from Bogra. It probably isn't more than 100 km away, but the various modes of transportation required make it much longer. We took 3 different buses, a rickshaw and a funny little homemade looking tractor (you see them a lot here). The local buses are always an experience. They're crammed with way too many people. There are probably 45 seats with a further 30 people standing in a vehicle about half the size of a Canadian school bus. There are often a dozen or so on the roof. I think if the bus would've rolled over, more people would die of suffocation than anything else. When I'm traveling in these buses, either way I go (sitting or standing) I'm too big to be comfortable. The seats are squeezed really tightly together so my legs don't fit and the ceiling is too low for me to stand up straight. I'm not even that tall.

When we arrived, we changed into our lungis and walked around. This is mainly what one does on a visit to the village; walk around in your lungi talking to people. (By the way, a lungi is a tube-skirt type garment worn by pretty much every Bangladeshi male.)

Another thing to do in the village is eat ridiculous amounts of food. This mainly applies to visitors (i.e. me). As is Bangladeshi custom, hospitality is best shown be seeing how much food your guest can put away. This is one of my least favourite aspects of Bangladeshi culture. For example, yesterday, by the time noon came around, I had eaten 8 mangoes. This is because we had been walking around visiting people and the logical thing to do this time of year is to give your guests mangoes. To refuse would be rude. My host brother had also eaten this many mangoes, and he got a little tired of them so I was given an out. Of course we also ate heroic amounts of rice.

I stayed in a two storey house made entirely of mud, cow dung and bamboo. They are quite amazing constructions with walls that are sometimes a couple feet thick. They can last for up to 100 years.

We came back much the same way we went, this time foregoing two buses for a long tempo ride (a tempo is a little three-wheeled, two-stroke vehicle with bench seats in the back). Again, a bit too small for my comfort, but whatever, I'm used to it now.

So that's about it. On a side note, the Bangladesh government has temporarily banned Facebook. Apparently some caricatures of political leaders and Mohammed were found there and deemed unsuitable for the greater population. If you need to communicate with me and would usually use Facebook, feel free to e-mail me instead at ben.reesor@gmail.com.

Ben

8,000 words

I'm hot.

You're not.

Unfortunately, I don't think any of us are particularly pleased.

Work

I guess I've been keeping you in the dark a bit about what I've been working on for the past six months. Some of you are probably interested, so I'll try to enlighten you. There have been three main things I've been working on: Agriculture research, the constructed wetland and the Analog Forestry Database.

Basically when I came, my boss Mokhles said that they were interested in testing methods of intensive farming, particularly vertical and urban gardening. My job was pretty open-ended. The previous SALTer had done some stuff with that, although I didn't really know much of what he did. So I did a bunch of reading and research and designed some experiments of my own. One of my main experiments was growing potatoes vertically. I planted potatoes in cardboard boxes and old tires and as the plants grew, I added soil around the stems. When necessary, I built the boxes higher. This may sound weird, but its been known to work. The theory is, once the plant matures, tubers will form along the buried stem. My first attempt didn't work out so great. The plants ended up dying before they could reach maturity, so I only harvested some tiny new potatoes. Aref, another crop researcher here, is interested in trying this method again next year. I wrote up a fairly detailed report on my hypotheses of why it didn't work this time and things that he should try next year. The main reason seems to be that the variety we used was early season, when ideally we would have planted a late season variety. Hopefully next year will be better.

Back in November, I talked about the constructed wetland at the AKB. Since then I've learned a lot about natural systems of water purification from further reading and research I've done. A few months ago, we did proper tests on the water. The system we have doesn't seem to be doing a good job at removing nitrogen, with the concentration of nitrate increasing as the water moves along the system (opposite of what should happen). I hypothesized that this was because we don't have a proper living environment for the aerobic bacteria required to break down ammonia in the dirty water. We decided to test this and so I designed a reedbed that should provide a better environment for those bacteria. The reedbed is in a barrel and consists of layers of brick shards, medium gravel, fine gravel and sand. The "common reed" (the kind you would find in swamps) is planted in the sand. We built the bed a week ago, but we don't have reeds yet. Apparently, they should be available next month when the rain starts in earnest. The reedbed we made isn't big enough to handle all the water from the house, but it should be fine for our experimental purposes.

Finally, when I'm not working on other stuff, I work on the forestry database. This basically involves entering data I find from books, documents, websites etc. Not really the most interesting of work. The hope is that once the database is finished, the information can be used by our partners for agroforestry, land reclamation and reforestation projects. I've recently finished going through each plant we currently have (63 in total) and exhausting all the resources I have access to on each species. I have also assembled 63 documents providing further information on each species, such as some of its common products, how to grow and harvest, some common diseases and pests and any other useful info that the database itself doesn't include. These documents will be attached to the plant profiles. Mokhles has been taking pictures of the trees as he travels around the country and I've been uploading them.

I'm down to about 2 and a half months left in Bangladesh. I've learned an incredible amount of stuff while I've been here. I've certainly fulfilled the Learning part of SALT, but I what I really hope is that I've also done the Serving part. I realize now how short a year really is. It seems so long at the beginning, but now that its winding down, I have a new scope and I can see its insignificance. If I've made any contribution to MCC program in Bangladesh, I don't know it now. The chances are I will never know, and I've accepted that.

The field at the AKB as it looks now

The reedbed with the wetland in the background

Take 'er easy,

Ben

Just a thought

One of the great things about not being in school is I get to read whatever I want. I've always loved reading, but when I'm in school I feel guilty if I read anything other than my textbooks. I have a lot of time to read in the evenings, and I try to take full advantage of it.

Currently I'm reading a book called The Discoveries: Great Breakthroughs of 20th-century Science by Alan Lightman. Its a book I've been meaning to read for a while, and I finally have the chance to do so. The author has chosen 24 of the most important scientific papers of the 20th century and compiled them into one book. He prefaces each paper with his own essay which gives some historical background, a brief biography of the scientist and a summary of the paper if you don't feel up to reading the whole thing.

The book is organized chronologically and I'm about halfway through. However, I'm still not into the 1920s. Its amazing reading about the breakthroughs in the first quarter of the century, especially in physics. There were so many great minds then: Planck, Rutherford, Einstein and Bohr to name a few. I've read 11 or 12 of the papers and other than one on the discovery of hormones, all have been related to physics.

I study biology in university, but a little known fact is that in high school, I really wanted to be a theoretical physicist. I had read a couple books by Brian Greene and some books about Einstein and the subject fascinated me. I am now rediscovering this fascination.

The interesting thing is that a lot of these concepts are now taught in high school. I remember learning about the Bohr-Rutherford model of the atom in grade 9 science class. Both Bohr and Rutherford won Nobel Prizes for their work back near the turn of the century. At the time, it was cutting edge. Of course, I never learned the theory behind the model, and the math was far out of my league, but the concepts were accessible nonetheless. Its fairly common acceptance now that the atom consists of a nucleus (of protons and neutrons) with a cloud of electrons buzzing around it.

It may not be such common knowledge that atoms are mostly empty space. Lightman made an insightful analogy in his preface to Bohr's paper on the quantum model of the atom: If an atom is represented by a baseball stadium, the size of the nucleus would be equivalent to a pea in centrefield. We now know 99% of the atom's mass is found within the nucleus, so the electrons might be likened to specks of dust whizzing around the stands.

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be a little person living on an electron. Would you look out into the endless space around your spinning orb and ask, "Is there anyone else out there?" You might know you are orbiting around a nucleus and maybe you can detect other electrons, but they're too far away to know much about them. It would take a leap of faith to conceive that you were actually part of a larger organism. What if you were told that your atom was part of trillions of other atoms making a human brain, and that electrical signals consisting of your electron are creating complex thoughts, feelings and emotions in that person's head? Maybe those human thoughts and feelings are the same as the ones you are having. "Is there life outside of my planet? Am I a part of Something greater than I can comprehend?"

Hello, Ben

Every so often while I'm walking down the street someone will call out, "Hello, Ben!" or, "How are you, Ben!" I will look at them and not have a clue who they are. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. There are maybe a dozen foreigners in Bogra, and over 200,000 Bangladeshis. People often ask me my name as I walk down the street. I can't remember everyone, can I?

The lack of foreigners is one thing I like about Bangladesh. If you walk up to someone on the street and ask them a question in English, 49 times out of 50 your question will be met with a blank stare or an awkward smile. I like that. I've always been a little annoyed at myself when I travel because as a native English speaker I can go pretty much anywhere I want without making an effort to learning a new language. While I have definitely taken full advantage of this convenience, I feel kind of cheap. Here I am, Johnny Monolinguist just expecting the rest of the world to speak my language. In a way, its an excuse for ignorance and a modern face for imperialism. Now, here in Bangladesh I can communicate in a foreign language and it feels good.

Bengalis have died for their language. In 1952, when the government in West Pakistan decided that the national language would be Urdu, students protested in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). They were killed. Afterwards the UN declared February 21st as International Mother Language Day. I am proud to have been able to learn Bangla, a language that brought together a nation. Would you give your life for English?

That said, lack of English speakers is probably part of the reason why tourists don't come here. I must confess, as much as I love Bangladesh, I wouldn't suggest anyone pick up a Lonely Planet and head on over. You're just setting yourself up for disappointment. One time I saw a foreigner in the main market in Bogra. I knew he didn't live here, firstly because I know every foreigner in Bogra by name and secondly because he was looking at some sort of guide book or map. I considered going over and asking if he needed any help but I thought, "Well, he's made it this far..." I think Bangladesh is great if you have at least 4 months to commit. You can learn some of the language and learn about the people and culture. That would make it worthwhile. I can't imagine stepping of a plane in Bangladesh without knowing the language or anyone living here. You go to a taxi driver and try speaking English. He stares back at you blankly. Now what?

Nomoshkar,

Ben

Pictures

Click here to see some pictures of Cambodia.

Cheers!

Au Cambodge

A few days ago I returned from Cambodia. It does feel good to be home. Traveling is fun, but also exhausting. I'll try to describe the trip, although I dislike listing events day-by-day because its really boring for me. Is that selfish?

We started the trip by flying to Malaysia. This is a necessary stop for the cheap AirAsia flights we took. We spent the night next to the airport in the Tune Hotel. Its a little budget hotel chain. The rooms were tiny, but modern. The bed took up about 75% of the floor space, with a further 23% being bathroom. The first thing I noticed stepping off the plane was that the air was really hot and humid. Just a taste of things to come in Cambodia and now in Bangladesh.

The next day we had a morning to kill before our afternoon flight. We didn't have time to go into Kuala Lumpur so I walked around the airport shops marveling at, but not partaking in, the Starbucks and McDonalds. My stomach had been a little off that morning, and I felt a bit worse as we arrived in Phnom Penh. We were greeted by Lana and Andy Miller (MCC South-East Asia reps) and picked up by an air conditioned bus to head down south to the coast. Lana and Andy had gotten some sub sandwiches for our supper, and while I wasn't feeling particularly hungry on account of my stomach, I felt like I had to eat. I hadn't had a good sandwich in over 7 months. And mine had bacon on it!!! Six inches of sub and one root beer later, I wasn't feeling so great. Right as my body decided to get sick the bus decided to break-down. So we pulled over to a little rest stop to wait a couple hours while a new bus came. I've gotten pretty good at waiting around during my time in Bangladesh, but its not so great when you have diarrhea. So I took some Imodium and tried to sleep in the hot, stuffy bus. I woke up at the sound of our new bus, aka my savior. I thought I was feeling better, but I realized 5 minutes into the bus ride that I was just telling myself that. Long story short, we made it to Sihanoukville after one of my worst bus experiences, got our rooms, went to bed and I felt quite a lot better in the morning, albeit very dehydrated.

The rest of the week was really nice. We had group sessions with Andy and Lana in the mornings. They started with worship and then into individual and group activities. We did some things with Myers-Briggs personality indicators and I think I learned quite a bit about myself and others on the MCC Bangladesh team. For lunch we had Khmer food at our guesthouse. I really enjoyed Khmer food. The curries are a lot more coconutty and sweet compared to Bangladeshi curries which are tumericy and spicy. The afternoons were free time. We went swimming, snorkeling, kayaking and sandcastle making. I had never been ocean kayaking, but it was quite fun. For supper we would often have barbecue. I had marlin, barracuda, tuna and squid as well as pork ribs. Pork would be a common theme in my meal selection throughout the trip.

After our week was over, we headed back to Phnom Penh. I visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum while I was there. Before and during my time in Cambodia I did some reading on their recent history, namely the Khmer Rouge regime. Its a really sick and sad story. The Genocide Museum was Security Prison-21 from 1975-1979. Over those four years, about 20,000 people came through the prison. There, "enemies of the party" were tortured, forced to confess to their imaginary crimes, before being taken to be executed. Only seven people made it out alive. Our tour guide lost her father, a brother and a sister to the Khmer Rouge. She, along with her mother and other sister, became refugees in Vietnam. The building, which also used to be a high school, is still very raw. The tiny cells are still there, as well as barbed wire fences and blood stains on the floor. Torture instruments such as shovels, chains, knives and waterboards are also on display. Overall, a really depressing and chilling place to visit. Seeing Cambodia today, its hard to tell that they have this history from just over 30 years ago. For that matter, its hard to believe Bangladesh had a bloody civil war 39 years ago.

After Phnom Penh, I headed to Siem Reap with some other MCC folks for some vacation. We spent three days visiting the ancient temples at Angkor. We got around by tuk-tuk (a wagon pulled by a motorcycle) for two days and by bike for the other day. It was really hot, but really fun. Also in Siem Reap, we visited a silk making place. It was interesting to see the process from worm cocoon to scarf.

On the way back, we had another night in Malaysia. We stayed in Kuala Lumpur in Chinatown. That night we went to eat at a small food court. We found a Bangladeshi restaurant, which was closed, but the owners were happy to chat with Daniel and I. I don't imagine many Bangla-speaking foreigners come through there. To be honest, I probably wouldn't have eaten there even if it were open. I still have four months of Bangladeshi food to look forward to.

The next morning, we saw a bit of Kuala Lumpur before our afternoon flight to Bangladesh. KL is a very modern and developed city. We took an LRT to the Petronas Towers and walked around the park. At the base of the towers you can find a mall sporting stores such as Gucci, Prada, Armani and Hugo Boss. Definitely a bit of a culture shock. Before leaving, I will admit I had McDonald's for lunch. I couldn't help it. Plus, you just have to make sure its still the same. And believe it or not my double cheeseburger tasted exactly as I had remembered it.

Arriving in Dhaka, we stepped out of the airport into an onslaught of people and heat. We argued with the taxi drivers and chatted with the beggar children. When our taxi pulled into the swollen, honking sea of traffic I realized I was home.

I'll add some more pictures to Facebook soon. These are just to whet your appetite.

Ben

A dead bird and elephant soccer

Well I guess I found something interesting to write about.

The circus has come to town! Yesterday evening I went with some other MCC folks as well as the Allens, an American family that is here with the Baptist mission. I was surprised at how big the fair grounds were. I expected a bunch of tents and shops all packed together with a ton of people. This has been my experience of Bangladesh so far. However, the fair grounds were large and expansive with a few tents and shops and not too many people. At the far side we could hear the main event getting ready to start. There was a large tent with music playing outside. We bought our tickets and went in. The show was pretty fun complete with acrobats, contortionists, clowns beating up midgets and, of course, elephants playing soccer.

For the past few months, there have been some birds living in the office. They often fly by my desk on their way to their nest above a doorway. Well yesterday I was minding my own business when I heard a clunk, thud and felt something smack my shoulder. I looked down on the floor and saw a dead bird. It took me a few seconds before I realized it had been cleaned out by the ceiling fan that was whirring above my desk. I had always thought it would be an inevitable event as the birds have to dodge two fans on their commute from the window to the nest. It hasn't been a problem for them for the past few months because the fans have been off. Now that it is steadily getting warmer, I wonder how many more birds will find a similar fate?

Blog post

I don't really have anything interesting to say. Life is flowing on. I'm sure I'll have a more interesting post when I return from Cambodia. I added some pictures to my Bangladesh Facebook album as well as uploaded my India pictures from December.

Bangladesh pictures are here.

India pictures are here.

Have a good one,

Ben

Holi, it's March!

Apparently its March. I don't know where the time's going. February seems like a blur. I am kind of sad I missed most of the Olympic spirit. I got a few updates online, and it seems like I missed a good one. I wonder when they'll come back to Canada?

Last week was Holi, a yearly Hindu festival. It was a pretty fun week. In the evenings I would go with my host family to the place where the main events were happening. There were vendors selling balloons, food, candy, jewelry etc. There was even a small ferris wheel made from bamboo poles and powered by two guys pushing it. I didn't have the opportunity to try it out. The main tent had a shrine with statues of the gods Ram and Krishna. There were people dancing, singing, praying and offering little white candies and incense to the gods. Once the people had said their prayers, they would toss the extra candies to the crowd. They taste like pure sugar and I think I had a pretty good sugar rush going every night. Afterwards we would eat fuchka and jilapi, two of my favourite foods here. We had some visitors from the village stay at our house, so I shared my bed with one of my host brothers. I have a single bed, so it was a little tight!

On the 19th I'm heading to Cambodia for a couple weeks. MCC is having a retreat there and I'm taking a week afterwards of vacation. I'm very excited for that! I'll definitely buy a camera before I go so I can share some pictures with you when I return.

Dhan, chal, bhat

The literal English translation of the title is "rice, rice, rice". It makes sense that there are multiple names for it in Bangla because one can see it in many forms on a given day. Dhan is rice still in the field. Right now the paddies are being planted in my area. As I ride through the villages on my bike, the sight all around me is small green plants popping up through water in the fields. Chal is rice after it has been harvested but still uncooked. It is often sold in huge 50 kg sacks. Finally bhat, as you might have guessed, is the fluffy white stuff you eat. I eat bhat at least twice a day here. Bangladeshis aren't satisfied with a meal unless they have eaten rice. A common way of asking someone if they have had their meal is saying "Apni bhat kheyechen?" (lit.: "Have you eaten rice?") Sometimes people ask me what my parents do. I tell them my mom is a teacher and my dad is a farmer. A common question is "Oh, how much rice does your father grow?"

In Bangladesh, rice is the undisputed staple food. The per capita consumption here is higher than anywhere in the world. I've read that 70% of the average Bangladeshi's caloric intake is from rice. It's hard to describe the reliance on rice here. It also gives a new definition to what food security means for the people here. If the price of rice goes up even 10 or 15 taka (15 or 23 cents) per kg, people starve. If the rains come late or a cyclone hits the south, people starve.

When I first came to Bangladesh, I was overwhelmed a bit with the amount of rice I was expected to eat. In Canada I would eat rice a few times a week. I thought that was a lot. Now when I tell Bangladeshis that I might eat rice 2-3 times per week in Canada, they laugh at me. They can't believe that we survive on bread, noodles and corn.

But there's a lesson to be learned here. In Canada, we eat because it tastes good. A side effect is that it keeps us alive. Here, its the other way around. I used to crave food from home, but now I'm fine with rice twice a day. Because nothing keeps your belly fuller than a big plate of bhat.

Brishti hoyeche

This morning I was woken up early by rain on the tin roof. It was the first time it had rained since I moved in with my current host family over four months ago. My sleep deprived mind first jumped to "why is it hailing?" because it was really loud. But then I realized it was rain and I rolled over and went back to sleep.

Yesterday evening I got a haircut. It was long overdue. My host brother's friend has a barbershop so I got it cut there. He did a good job, but I forewent the massage this time.

Tonight I get a new shirt. My host family gave me a piece of cloth for my 21st birthday last weekend. I took it to a tailors and it should be ready today. Usually on my birthday, I feel older. When I was in school I often was older than my classmates because I have a birthday early in the year. Now, however, I'm about the youngest person I have regular contact with. Piyash bests me with only 2 years under his belt. Also, I think this is the first birthday since 16 that doesn't have a milestone associated with it. At 16 I could get my G1 licence, at 17 I could get my G2, 18 I could vote, 19 I could buy alcohol and tobacco and 20 marked my second decade of living. I guess 24 or 25 I can rent a car (or something like that).

Hopefully I'll get a new camera sometime soon so I'll have more pictures to share. Until then, take care.

Ben

Sylhet

Last Saturday I had nothing to do, so I started writing this nice, long informative post about my trip to Sylhet. I was planning on adding some pictures but when I went to get my camera it wasn't in my bag. I looked all over but I couldn't find it. My conclusion is that it fell out of my bag onto the luggage rack in the bus when I was getting a book out. This discovery put me in a bit of a funk and I no longer felt like blogging. I'm hoping to contact the bus company today, but I'm not holding my breath. Anyway, I decided I owed you a post regardless so I'll recap some highlights of my trip.

Sylhet is in the north-east corner of Bangladesh. The countryside is quite pretty with nice rolling hills and expansive tea gardens. Other than here and Chittagong, Bangladesh is flat and boring as far as topography is concerned. After a 10 hour overnight bus ride, we arrived in Sylhet town. I made the mistake the previous night of not claiming a seat on the bus before joining the others at the tea stall, the result being I was stuck with one at the back behind the rear axle. While the bumps might have exhilarated me when I was in grade 5, my 20-year-old self was not pleased when the time came to sleep. I didn't get much of it.

We first checked out a tea garden. We saw how tea is processed as well as how rubber is made. Rubber has nothing to do with tea by the way, just the plantation had a small rubber making operation. In the afternoon we visited some burial sites of old Mughal conquerors. They are now pilgrimage sites for Muslims. It's interesting how that works. The remains of men who once conquered the Bangladeshi people by military force and converted them to Islam are now revered.

The next couple of days were spent visiting some local NGOs and national parks. The national parks were quite nice. One of them had a waterfall. I believe it is THE waterfall in Bangladesh. It was a pretty location. There would be a picture here, if that were possible. A quick note on litter. A while back I made a post on garbage. I commented that I understood the reasons for garbage being everywhere here. However, I thought it was gross that in the national parks there was still litter everywhere! People threw garbage into the waterfall. There were even signs stating "Do Not Litter". True there weren't any garbage cans, but I feel like the parks don't have the budget to hire people to empty them. It can't be too difficult to keep your trash in your pocket or bag and dispose of it outside the park. But I guess that's my Western bias again. I suppose if you consider that until maybe 30 years ago pretty much all trash produced in Bangladesh was decomposable, it makes sense that those habits of tossing waste haven't died yet.

On our trip we ate at hotels for all our meals. Hotels are small restaurants that can be found almost everywhere you go. It is amazing to me how cheap one can eat at a hotel. Breakfast of two naan, dal, an egg and tea is 38 taka (60 cents). Lunch or supper consisting of rice, dal, meat, vegetable curry and tea goes for 90 taka ($1.25). Fish is even cheaper. One can eat very well for a whole day on $3.50.

Overall it was a good trip. I got to see another part of the country and a lot of the REAP staff did too. I was surprised how many of my co-workers had never been to Sylhet. Most of them are in their 30s and 40s and have lived in Bangladesh their whole life. Well that's it for now.

Ben

Big Yellow Taxi

There's a song by Joni Mitchell called "Big Yellow Taxi". One of the lines goes:

"Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?"

This song has been going through my head a lot lately, because that line seems to be ridiculously true. Before leaving for Bangladesh, I was craving a change of scenery. I couldn't wait to get out of Canada. But now as I'm about halfway through my term, I find myself really looking forward to returning home. It's funny though because I'm really happy here. I like where I'm living, I like my job, I like everyone I work with. Most of the time I really don't want to be anywhere else. What I miss most about home is no doubt family and friends. A familiar culture and language are some other things I miss. Sometimes also the food (Bangladeshi food can get quite repetitive).

So now I need to get my head thinking about the meaning of those words for when I do come home. I know by this time next year I'll be in the thick of midterms and I'll be wishing I never left Bangladesh. I guess it's just the way these things work.

In other news, tomorrow I'm leaving for Sylhet for a five day learning tour with other REAP staff. We'll be visiting some local NGOs as well as visiting the tea gardens in Srimangal. Sylhet is basically across the country from Bogra, so I have a nice long bus ride to look forward to. Also, last week was Piyash's 2nd birthday. A bunch of people came over and we had special birthday food. It was a pretty good time.

Piyash getting help from his Grandpas

A Temporary Triumph

(I composed this "poem" on a ride from the office to AKB this morning after a stop at a bike shop. This is what happens when my ridiculous mind has an unfortunate amount of time on its hands. I thought you might find it amusing.)

As I rode my two-wheeled motion machine,

I could sense the presence of a force unseen.

Somewhere on my bike its coefficient was high,

As evidenced by pain in my left and right thighs.

I knew for a fact that my chain was well oiled,

The knowledge of which had me momentarily foiled.

Where O where could this culprit be,

That is making my commute true misery?

When suddenly upon me great insight bestowed.

Why not check the place where rubber meets road?

Surely my problems must be cowering there?

If so, its just a matter of getting more air.

So I got off the road, and pulled to the side,

And gracefully alit from my solid steel ride.

The air pressure was, as I found with a pinch,

Much less than the recommended pounds per square inch.

I found a small shop where a pump could be found,

After a little searching and looking around.

A bit later I was off, like a ball from a pitcher.

The man with the pump being five taka richer.

So the point of this story, (if there is one at all)

Should the fickle beast Friction ever summon the gall

To break down your bike, make it slow to a stall

I might have a solution, so give me a call.

The Slideshows of my Childhood

Growing up, MCC was a name I heard a lot. I had family that had worked or were working with MCC and I heard many stories of the good work they did. In the early 90's, when I was 4 or 5 some of my extended family members were working in Haiti with MCC. I remember after they came back, every once in a while they would lead the church service. This usually involved turning off the lights and wheeling in the the slide projector so we could see some pictures. I remember these church services vividly, which is saying something because I can't remember any other church services at that time in my life. In those days I usually spent the service under my chair eating Cheerios and colouring in my colouring book. On these occasions though, I would pay attention. I don't know if these memories are the reason why I decided to serve with MCC this year, but I'm fairly certain they played a part. So I have finally added some photos to Facebook, which is to this decade as the old school projector was to the last several. Except this way there's no chance on the wheel getting stuck, or pictures showing up upside down, or all the slides falling out all over the floor. If you wish to see these pictures, click here. You don't even need a Facebook account to see them. Who knows, maybe these photos will inspire someone else...

Ben

P.S. I will be adding photos to this album periodically, so feel free to keep checking it every once in a while.

A South Asian Christmas

Christmas in this part of the world is different than any Christmas I have experienced before. In Bangladesh, about 0.7% of the population is Christian, so the "Christmas Spirit" is markedly absent here. I really hardly thought about Christmas because I was counting down the days until my family came on the 22nd.

A lot has happened since my last post. My family came to visit on the 22nd, and we toured around Bangladesh a bit before heading to India for a family vacation. It was nice showing my family around Bangladesh. My Bangla is good enough now to get around with ease. I can explain to a rickshawalla to follow mine and my mom's rickshaw closely because my dad and brother don't speak Bangla, nor do they have any money. This is important. We spent the 23rd in Dhaka seeing the sights while trying not to get hit by traffic. The 24th we went to Mymensingh to visit some of MCC's projects there (see this post). That afternoon we headed over to Bogra. Christmas day was spent in Bogra. We had a brunch with the other MCCers and saw the AKB where I do some of my work. That evening we visited my house and had supper there. My host family prepared some great food and they were very happy to meet my family. I don't think my family was prepared for the amount of food they were expected to eat, but it was a good time nonetheless.

On the 27th we headed to India. Our first stop was in Jaipur, followed by Agra then Delhi. We saw some amazing old Mughal forts and palaces made of white marble and sandstone. I'll let my pictures do the talking. I would've liked to spend a month in India, but, alas, that was not possible. India in some ways is similar to Bangladesh and in other ways very different. The first thing I noticed was the lack of rickshaws. In Bangladesh rickshaws are anywhere with a significant human population (basically the entire country). And the rickshaws in India were really lame. They aren't jazzed up or anything, though they are a little bigger. We took a rickshaw ride in Old Delhi and our rickshawalla spoke English! What?! I guess that probably has something to do with tourism. Sometimes I wonder how different Bangladesh would be if tourists actually came here. It would probably be less fun. Anyway, here's some pictures of the Reesor family Christmas.

Rickshawing Bangladeshi style

Mom

The Pink Palace in Dhaka. An old Mughal fort.

Snake charmers in Jaipur

Elephants at the Amber Fort in Jaipur. Tourists can ride them.

Guy burning fibres off the back of a carpet.

You call that a rickshaw? Not nearly enough paint, chrome, streamers, sequins and old CDs.

Ganesha giving us luck on our journey.

There were a lot of people milling about here so we checked it out. Apparently it's kinda famous.

There are lots more pictures. Maybe I'll make a facebook album. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Ben