Bogra

I have been living in Bogra for the past 4 days now. This is where I will be based for the rest of my term. I haven't been here long but I already prefer it here over Dhaka. It's cleaner, quieter and smaller: more like what I've grown up with. I have been living at the Bogra guesthouse with the three other Bogra MCC workers, Nate, Phil and Daniel. On Sunday I will move in with my new host family! I am looking forward to that but also a little nervous as well. I'm sure they'll be great. I don't know much about them except that they're Hindu which is pretty cool. My family in Dhaka was Christian so my entire family experience in Bangladesh will be with minority groups which is interesting.

So the Bogra office takes up the first two floors of an apartment building with the guesthouse taking the other two. The fifth floor goes out to the roof where there is a small building used for staff trainings. I have a desk on the second floor. It looks like this:
I've never had a desk at a place of employment before, so I feel pretty qualified now.

I suppose you're all wondering what my work is. That's a good question. I met with my boss Mohkles on my first day here and he said I will have quite a lot of freedom in my work. This can obviously be a good or bad thing depending on whether you are a good self directed worker. It looks like my work may be involving rooftop gardens/anything that interests me. Hopefully I'll update you later when I make a more clear plan.

A couple days ago I went out with Phil for my first Banladeshi haircut which turned out better than expected. The haircut cost less than 50 cents and even included an upper body massage. After cutting my hair the guy proceeded to massage my scalp which felt good. He than started rubbing my hair around which kind of hurt. Then was the shoulders and upper back. I wondered if I should ask him to stop because he obviously wasn't a professional and he was a bit aggressive. But I didn't mostly because I was curious how far he'd go. He massaged my back while I was sitting in the chair leaning forward which bucked me around a bit. Then he massaged my arms which involved a somewhat painful Indian Sunburn. He shook them around a bit and jerked them up to pop the socket. He also cracked my fingers for me. All in all it was the most interesting haircut I've ever had. You can judge for yourself on the quality.
Take care.

Ben