Final Exams

Read the list of words. Then write the topic:

1) fish, mutton, beef, chicken

This was a question on one of my exams. I got a variety of answers, including:

"not vegetables"
"meats non-vegetarian"
"kinds of curries"
"protein foods"
"foods"
and, a few: "meats"

Teaching English is a lot more fun than I thought it would be, especially with the lower-level classes. But it has its challenges, too. For example, "mountainous nurse" is not an appropriate way to describe a large nurse. And I have no idea what it means to "mesmerize the window". Try explaining the difference between "ice" and "snow" to students from rural Sri Lanka. Then there was the student who, in her summary of a book about a man who loves his wife but is angry with his father wrote "He is making love to his wife, but he is not making love to his father." Figured I better correct that one pretty fast.

On the flip side, I think that having no context and preconceptions of English words and phrases gives non-native speakers an incredibly unique power of expression. The girls describe their thoughts and life experiences in limited English-- which means short, direct, poignant sentences.

I admit I took this job mainly because I thought it would be awesome to live in Bangladesh. Now that I'm here, though, I'm starting to realize the importance of learning English. Ah, globalization and the hegemony of America. Learning English is the key to a good job, whether that be working with tourists or a global corporation, or even in order to get a high-quality education. Knowledge of English opens many doors for people-- doors that, as a native English speaker, were already opened for me. Lots of the girls here are really smart and will go far. They just have an incredibly challenging game of catch-up to play first. I'm now quite grateful that English is my native language.

Ms. Chinty (it's Cindy...so close) is finally done grading exams. Time for a nap, then off to Nepal for Eid (the holiday after the holy month of Ramadan) Break!

Its beautiful under the mosquito cockroach net.

A Parade

I took this picture out our window one special morning. There was a parade for...National Literacy Day.



The literacy rate in Banlgadesh is 48%, according to UNICEF. I like the idea of parading with a purpose!

Tell Miss Cindy...

that she has TWO packages!

A box of goodies from home (contacts! sunglasses! and more!) AND an entire box of dark-chocolate peanut M&M's from Aunt Mary Jo! I could not ask for more.

The highlight of my day:



One was mailed from America on August 12, the other on August 21. They both arrived yesterday. The best part was, it cost me over 1,000 taka (around $10) to collect my packages. Apparently packages take less than a week to make it to Bangladesh. Then they sit around in customs, where every single box is opened, and everything is unwrapped and inspected. So that $10 I paid...they call that the "repacking fee". Don't unpack it, and I won't have to pay you to re-pack it! Oh my.

Obama, ensh'allah

The man's got world-wide appeal:


He may not have enough foreign policy experience, but he does have the edge in international celebrity.

There's a good deal of anti-American sentiment abroad (I don't mean here, in particular. In general). People say the same thing. They like Americans once they get to know them, but they still don't like America and its leaders.

Flying home from Beijing last winter, I sat next to a Mongolian man travelling to Canada. When he found out I was from America, his jaw dropped and he said, "Aren't you scared?". He was referring to America's lack of gun control laws. It was a situation he viewed as completely archaic, and representative, in his eyes, of our slide downward as a country. While not all Americans are the gun-toting, speed-racing highway robbers he imagined-- if this is what foreigners envision, it is time for us to flip things around.

There's nothing Bush can do to gain favor abroad, at this point. By the same token, unless Obama makes a huge mistake as President, it won't be easy for him to tarnish his image. People across all continents are raving about Obama. The "stardom" contest currently underway on the campaign trail in the U.S. probably isn't the best way to select a leader. But why not use Obama's star power abroad to our advantage?

More Birthdays!

Speaking of birthdays, last week was Jen's birthday (one of my roommates). While roaming the streets of Chittagong, looking for the perfect gift, we came upon this display:


Little tufts of grass, for sale! They were about 6 cents each.

So we got her a present to remind her of home. A little piece of America!

Me, at 23

At midnight on my birthday a few weeks ago, some students found me (still lesson planning downstairs) and told me, "Come quick, there's an emergency upstairs!".

There was a fire, all right. Fire in the form of birthday candles! They surprised me with a cake (which they all had to feed into my mouth. It's tradition.) and some presents. It was really sweet, especially since I had not told any of them that it was my birthday! I was really touched. It was a great day. Here's a couple pictures from the celebration:

B-Desh Fun Fact

Here at the Access Academy is, undoubtedly, the fastest internet connection in Chittagong. Yet its difficult to Skype, and it takes forever to download attachments or load videos. The internet is s-l-o-w.

When I decided to move to a developing country, I wasn't counting on having great internet access, or any internet access for that matter. But its the reason behind the slow internet...

Years ago, "they" were installing the fiber-optic cables all over Asia. These cables laid the groundwork for fast internet connections all throughout the continent.

When approached with the offer to install these cables, Bangladeshi officials apparently were horrified and rejected the offer. They thought it was a terrorist plot.

So now we have internet, but its very slow, and very very expensive. Who knows if this is true. But I don't care; its funny!

Press!

There is an article about us in the Boston Globe. Check it out!

Good to Eat

Minor clarification-- I'm not eating rats! And there aren't a million rats running around Chittagong either, thank goodness. It is a problem in the rural areas.

Another thing I am not eating: Vegetables. I do miss those.

What I am eating, though, looks like this:


Our cafeteria serves some of the above for lunch and dinner. There is always rice, roti (the pancake/bread things), and daal (a soupy yellow mixture with the occasional lentil). Sometimes there is naan, a thick fried bread-- this is delicious! Those are the staples. They typically serve a mushy, oily vegetable curry (potatos and pumpkin, sometimes carrots), too. And some sort of meat: chicken, mutton, or fish kebabs (my favorite, surprise). I'm sad pineapple season is ending; we used to get fresh slices at every meal!

I try to eat cafeteria meals at least once a day, since its free. I'd eat there every meal if my stomach could handle it. Otherwise, I'm a big fan of bread and butter. And oranges, I eat a lot of oranges!

There are two other main components of my diet:

Pepto-bismal:



and antacids. They taste just like candy!

The food here is very spicy! My personal tolerance of spice has hit a whole new level. All the spice, plus all the oil, takes a pretty big toll on my stomach. Half the time, I have no idea what sets it off when I get sick. It could be something as little as eating off a plate that was not dried completely after being washed in tap water (the water quality here is pretty poor)...and I'm in the bathroom all night. Woo!

The Bengali diet is all about just getting enough calories, it seems. A novel concept for an American, of course. Every thing here is either swimming in oil, or tastes extremely sweet. Even the bread. But everyone is so skinny!

Pro-Choice?

If there's one thing most Americans have in abundance, it's choices.

There are major Decisions, like choosing a college, buying a house, and deciding where to spend Christmas.

But there are many little choices that we tend to overlook each day. We decide what to wear, which newspapers to follow, and what to do on the weekends. "What's for dinner?" is a legitimate question, as is "Where are you going?” We decide who our friends are, and what movies we want to go see.

At a whole other level of over-looked-and-taken-for-granted, we decide who to marry, and whether we want to stay married or file for divorce. (I don't think arranged marriage is quite so simple as a lack of choice. It's also about deeply ingrained cultural concepts of love. Maybe I'll talk about that another time.)

We have so many options, we even start looking for ways to limit them. "I hope I don't get both jobs," people say, "so I don't have to decide."

I certainly took these choices for granted before I came to Bangladesh. I never realized how meaningful "choice" is! Its obvious that people here, and in many other parts of the world, just don't have the luxury of making decisions that we make every day in America.

Choice isn't necessarily always a good thing, or always a bad thing. Take food, for example. All cultures have their own "cuisines" for a reason: it’s the easiest, cheapest way to get the main nutrients everyone needs, using only local flora and fauna. So that is what everyone eats, every day. Rice and Curry, Rice with Curry, Rice on Curry. I look through the shops here, and mentally compare them to the ones at home. Even in the nicest stores, the vegetable section is more like a "corner", and put together, the shelves equal maybe one long aisle at Wegman's. But who needs 52 kinds of cereal? What rationale justifies picking the "ultra-heavy-duty" paper towels versus the "super-ultra absorbent" roll? How do we even decide?!

Some books and movies are banned (I hope to read The Satanic Verses while I'm here-- how often does one get the chance to read a banned book, in a country where it actually, currently is?), and the media is censored. I recently heard of someone buying an issue of the Economist, only to realize that certain articles about Bangladesh were torn out. Reporters Without Borders' Worldwide Press Freedom Index ranks Bangladesh at 134 out of 169 countries.

There aren't too many clothing choices here, either, if you're a woman. It’s important to wear loose, baggy clothing, and be covered. Rules out most Western fashions.

In Bangladesh, if you're a woman, your friends are your sisters and your cousins; you don't see anyone who is not family. Women don't leave the house. The main reason people leave the house is for work. A wife or daughter outside the house is an indication to the world that your family is poor and desperate, I'm told.

Short-changing of women is the common theme, eh? And I'm not even touching the dowry, or arranged marriage.

Why do we have so many choices in America? How do we explain this difference between America and the majority of the world? Americans are well-equipped with a quick response. "Freedom! Freedom of choice! It's what our country is built on!" We can't tell you why it is good or bad (or why there are certain things it doesn't apply to). But we know we have it, we fought for it, and we aren't letting go of it.

Choice, it seems, is deeply embedded in our national psyche. Or is it?

I discussed the Gender-Related Development Index today with some students. The U.S. ranks at number 12. In what direction do we want to slide?

Trying to be subtle. Welcome, Sarah Palin.

Ramadan Kareem!

The sighting of the moon marked the beginning of the month of Ramadan today.

Some of the students begin fasting tomorrow (no eating, drinking [or sex] from sunrise to sundown). Only about 60% of our students are Muslim (the rest are Hindu or Buddhist), so we aren't planning on changing the schedule.

They say they get used to fasting. And I sure hope so, because I just assigned a big project.