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