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Published: August 10th 2007
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By tomorrow morning I will have spent a week in Dhaka although it feels like longer! I'm here on a year contract to teach English language and lit at a local school in the city.
I am knackered even though I have done nothing all day! It's about 35'C or more here, and with the intense humidity it just makes you so lethargic and feeling not very ladylike as you are sweating the entire time, proper sweating, not gently perspiring!
My parents are shareholders along with approx 25 other people who own 3 boats, they can fit about 20 people - usually less though - and the boat is covered with cushions and throws on board, as well as a proper loo! so you can just sit back on the cushions, bring a picnic and 'watch the world go by' as my mother says. Dhaka can be pretty intense as it's so busy, teaming with traffic and people and pollution and overall heat, so it's nice to escape that every few weeks by going out on the boat with friends, for a few hours either in the afternoon or at night.
When I went out on the boat
last time (6 months ago) it was the end of winter so the water levels were extremely low. This time, you can guess what it was like, if you've seen the news lately about flooding in Bangladesh! The water levels are the highest in ages and as we floated on the water we could see people's homes had been partially submerged and they're currently surviving on a small patch of land with water all around them, but using their little boats to get about. We pass lots of boats, small and large on the way and the way back so everyone on each boat waves to the other! It's really hot outside but at least on the boat we're covered and have a slight breeze as we trundle along.
Yesterday was my 25th birthday and the day before was David's, a mate of ours who works with my dad and was 27 on the 8th of August, so a load of us went bowling at a place called 'Sports Zone'. We weren't sure what it was going to be like - we expected a dive! - but it was fine, about 6 bowling lanes, fussball, pool, air hockey, and
even a Baskin & Robbins ice cream stand! I'm rubbish at bowling cos I've only been about five times in my life if that, but it was quite fun and we'll go again next week before my brother leaves. Afterwards we met some more people for dinner at a Mexican restaurant called 'El Toro' where I met a couple who are going to Zim soon as the bloke is from Zim, so we swapped addresses and are going to try and work out if we know someone in common from Zim, which I'm sure we do!
The traffic is so mad here. Dhaka is built on the water pretty much so we're surrounded by water and rivers etc, so there's only so many roads yet an umpteen number of cars, vans, baby taxis, taxis and rickshaws that have to negotiate this small number of roads. Today as we drove to where we were getting on the boat, all the roads were flooded to about 20 cms above ground level so there were loads of rickshaws getting stuck and the poor drivers having to get out and wade through the sewage and various crud that was in the water. It
my parents' house and giant car
..where i am currently staying (in the house that is, not the car) takes a good 5 hours to do 1 or 2 things on your 'to do' list. For example if you just want to go to the nearest supermarket and then look at DVDs at another shop, that could easily take you 3 hours. Traffic getting there, getting back, finding a parking space (a real issue here as there's no allocated parking spaces, just whatever space you can find off the road) and getting into the store. So you just come back home feeling knackered and hot and want to sit in front of the air conditioner for the rest of the day!
This past week I've hardly done anything except buying a few shalwaar kameezes for work. These are kind of tunic dresses which can reach to your calf or more commonly about knee level, with a matching (or not!) pair of baggy trousers underneath. They tend to be made of silk or cotton or a mix of both cos it's so hot here there's no point in getting anything made in any other kind of material. I like them as they are comfortable, cooler than Western clothes and very colourful but I am still getting used to wearing them as they do make you feel a bit bigger than normal as they are so baggy compared to most Western styles. The scarf also annoys me intensely. If you're a woman you've basically got to hide your 'womanly assets' (!) so the shalwaar kameez does this, except for your front, so when you go out in public you've got to wear this scarf which you drape over your chest so you don't show your boobs. It just gets irritating cos it slips off your shoulders the whole time and gets hot sometimes, but you feel more comfortable with it if you're out and about.
I've also been spending a lot of time at the British High Commission club. Each embassy here has its own club, eg Australian club, Finnish club etc etc. They all have a bar, various rooms for gaming and hanging out, a restaurant, where you can read English language mags and newspapers, a pool and a couple of tennis courts. Once you're a member of one you can go to the others. The British High Comm is really close to the house - though it doesn't feel close when you are walking to and from it in the heat! - so we've been going to the pool this week and cooling off which has been great, I love swimming in open pools and I've even picked up a tan!
Tomorrow, Saturday, is the last day of the weekend in Bangladesh as Friday is the holy day here so everyone goes to the mosque and some places are shut. We live opposite a park and on the other side is a mosque so at prayer time we hear the 'aaaaahs' of the prayers which is kinda nice! I'll have to get used to going to work on Sundays. There's a small local band here and they need a singer so I am, ahem, trying out with them tomorrow afternoon which should be...interesting as I am pretty rusty but might be fun. This coming week is the inset week for us teachers, so I'll go into my new school which I still haven't seen, meet the staff, find out my timetable and see my classrooms etc etc. I've been told I even have a 'homeroom' class i.e. a class of kids I'll see to take register etc etc. I'll also get my calendar for the year so I'll know when my holidays are so maybe one or two of you can come visit!
Until next time...
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