Blogs from Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Asia

Let me start off with a quick lesson on Bangladesh. There are six seasons in Bangladesh (summer, monsoon, autumn, late autumn, winter and spring), and the best times of the year are winter and spring. When we came in January, it was winter and the temperature was about 20-25 degrees during the day and 15-20 degrees at night – though the nights for some reason felt much colder. The winter season is when Bangladesh is most nice. It’s when people can enjoy the sun without dying of a heatstroke and wear clothes that don’t become drenched in sweat within minutes. Winter is therefore also the season when most Bangladeshis get married, hence the nickname the wedding season. I must admit, I found the mornings and evenings to be a little too chilly compared to my expectations ... read more

So much is going on down here; it is hard to find the time to write it all down. But this time, I wanted to give you all an idea of what “our” area looks like. Keep in mind, Gulshan is a fancy area, host to expats and rich Bangladeshis that want to mingle with the upper crust. Knowing that, Gulshan doesn’t strike me as a place of abundance (beggars roam the bigger streets and many of the houses look shabby), but I guess it will once I’ve been to Old Dhaka where the slums are. Last weekend when the boys were on their bike ride and Rikke was occupied with work, I went on a walk. It was really nice to just go for a walk with no specific destination or goal in mind – ... read more

It’s been a busy first week in Dhaka! It’s dark outside and I’m half sitting, half lying on the couch with a blanket around my lower body and the laptop in my lap to keep warm. It might be 27 degrees outside but the apartment is as cold as a fall night in Denmark. Unfortunately, there were only three duvets in the apartment when we moved in (and a fridge that was fully stocked with expired food), so I have slept with two blankets and still felt like a Popsicle all night. The apartment could get a chapter on its own; the Internet malfunctioned on the day we moved in, the maid doesn’t seem to have cleaned in the last six months, and small cockroaches make an appearance from time to time in the kitchen. But ... read more

Hello, the monsoon has begun and the rain is amazing. An umbrella makes you feel like you are at least protecting yourself a bit, but the rain comes from every direction and I am wet in no time. Add to this that the most frequent mode of transportation is cycle rickshaw. The rickshaw drives give you a piece of plastic to cover yourself with, however when they hit a pot hole or the car next to them hits a pot hole it is really a waste of time. I went into Old Dhaka with the VCC students, a student from Simon Fraser University and the VSO volunteer. We hired a van and driver from the university to carry the 7 of us around and it was a good thing. The drive from Uttara where we live ... read more

Hello, I hope that today finds you well. On Saturday all VCC students and me went on a walking tour of the village that is directly beside and behind our apartment. The tour was conducted by a student from Nursing at IUBAT and it took us approximately 2 hours to complete the walk. According to our guide the area is for lower to middle income people. As with everywhere in Dhaka the area is under construction. When asked what would happen if developers came and built in the area and took away their places to live, our guide replied that most families would have to find another place to live - unless they owned the property. The village is home to approximately 25,000 people, but no one is positive how many actually live there. The community ... read more