Yes!

Check us out in The Times of India: Torchbearer of Change

Bangladesh vs. New Zealand

I know next to nothing about playing cricket. Going to a game in Chittagong was less than educational, but it certainly was interesting!

An international cricket game in Chittagong is kind of a big deal, so the stadium was packed. It was the Bangladesh team versus New Zealand. NZ won :(

The Field:

The man next to me gave me us newspapers to put on our heads to block the sun.

Foreign, unaccompanied women seem to attract attention. The "sections" at the stadium were cordoned off by big iron bars. Welcoming design, really. Here's the audience we attracted (not different from the audience we attract . . . everywhere). I figured I was allowed one photo, for the 100+ cellphone photos they took of us weird-looking, light-haired, lone white women:

Language Moment

I like this one:
Asking "Are you healthy?" in Bangla translates literally to asking "Are you fat?"

So:

"Yes, I am healthy." means----> "Yes, I am fat."

UP: Looking and Dressing

This past weekend was the Opening Symposium for the Asian University for Women (AUW). What a weekend.

It began in Chittagong on Wednesday with some visitors (aka donors to impress) and a really nice dinner--including WINE-- outside at the future AUW site. The next day, we piled onto the $2 train (with 129 students in tow) to Dhaka. What a hot, loud, dusty adventure. On Friday, there were several interesting discussions on woman's rights, and about the university in general. Saturday was the most important of all. Fakhruddin Ahmed, the head of the caretaker government, or basically the acting Prime Minister of Bangladesh, spoke to us, as did Mohammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

Some pictures from Wednesday night, in Chittagong, at the future site of the university:

A group of teachers before the Wednesday night dinner.

Set-up chaos:

Security Personnel. I especially liked the female security uniform-- the Security Sharee

This event really came at a perfect time for me. Certain aspects of life at the Access Academy are sometimes quite frustrating, but last weekend reminded me of how incredibly amazing this project is-- check this out, if you haven't already. Its potential is enormous! The school, like any educational institution, is an investment in the future, and I can't wait to see what this place will become in 20 or 30 years. The weekend reminded me why I'm here (for the students). Meeting all the incredible people that support this project renewed my faith in the organization and hearing all the talks reminded me of the importance of woman's education in this part of the world. Its official, I'm an AUW disciple.

Here's a few pictures from the weekend. I wore a sharee for the first time. It was a little stressful! The sharee is basically just a long, long strip of fabric. You tie a petticoat around your waist, wrap the fabric around your body and tuck it in to the waist of the petticoat. Simple enough. Then fold it over, make several pleats, wrap it around your torso and up over your shoulder. Not so easy. The first day, I had a few students dress me. The second day, I put it on by myself, as well as I (plus a bunch of safety pins) could. The sharee made me incredibly conscious of my posture. Slouch, and it looks like I'm wrapped in a towel!

Sharee shopping:

Assembly Required:

with two students, at the events:

After all the hoopla, LauraBeth and I decided to stay in Dhaka for an extra day. We were exhausted, so we didn't get to do too much exploring, but I was fun nonetheless. Although, when people describe Dhaka as the crowded land of traffic jams, they aren't joking.

We took the night bus back to Chittagong. The buses are really, really nice and comfy. I couldn't resist taking this picture of the bus station, with all its dramatic portraits of buses racing through . . . the snow?!
More Nepal pictures are coming, I promise! It just takes forever to load them onto this page . . .

Movie Review

So we found this "stall" (the size of a bathroom) in the bazaar around the corner that sells pirated DVDs-- in English! And they work!

Six movies for $1.25.

Best part is, the descriptions on the back cover appear to literally be things Googled or taken from personal emails about the movie. This is my favorite.

Back-cover synopsis of the movie Come September:

We love the film and have watched it countless times. Last year we were lucky to find out where the location of Mr Talbot's "villa" was. It is in reality one of the most luxurious hotels in the world dominating the hill overlooking the bay of Portofino in the Italian Riviera. The staff in the hotel confirmed that the film was shot there. However, when we view the film, the shots from the terrace down to the harbour don't quite line up, so we imagine that another location was also used. If you ever get to Portofino, it is worth the climb to see the view and the coffee wasn't as expensive as it was down in the harbour. Best wishes, Peter and Ita Kay.

^_^ (eyebrows)

All my efforts at explaining eyebrow threading make it sound as though I pay someone to floss my forehead. So, here's a visual aide:


And I guess that's not too far from the truth. The woman holds a very fine, sharp thread with her hands and her teeth in a loop. She puts the hairs between the strands and pulls quickly. This rubs the threads together and plucks out the hair in the middle. In about 5 minutes, my eyebrows are a picture of perfection. And for only 45 cents!

Trekking in Nepal, Day One

While unsure of the textbook definition of Trekking versus Hiking, I do know that trekking requires added protein:

Breakfast, Day One: Ants in My Honey

After our interesting morning evading a strike, we stopped for a quick breakfast. Then began our slow ascent!

Our first "summit" by 9am. The flags in the foreground are Buddhist prayer flags. We saw them everywhere around Nepal.

Next came rice paddies . . .

Teachers hiking through the rice paddies:

Big Mountains! The whole group, our awesome guides included:

Can't get enough of the view:

We tried dried water buffalo meat, at one point. Here are some wet water buffalo:

Nepalese school children!

The tea house we stayed at, the first night:

View from our tea house:

The bathroom:

Cozy Room!

BYO...TP

Not even toilets are the same all over the world. The sit-down toilet is a [lazy] Western invention. The rest of the world, when actually using a toilet and not the road in front of my window (like half the men of Chittagong seem to do), uses . . . The Squatty Potty!

Here's the one in my apartment:

And an educational video:

I've yet to see one that flushes, although I'm told they exist. The squatty potty runs on a BYOTP (Bring Your Own Toilet Paper) basis. The majority of the world, having not grown up with toilet paper, uses the left hand and a bucket of water (usually provided nearby). That's where the eat-only-with-your-right-hand custom originates.

There are pros and cons to the Squatty Potty. It's far more environmentally friendly (no TP, very little water) and it strengthens the thighs! As for negatives, can anyone say Hepatitis A? It's spread through feces. There's no way to wash your [left] hand at many of these toilets, so they're probably a major contributor to the increased presence of the disease abroad.

Durga Puja

. . . is a Hindu/Bengali festival celebrated in Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and some parts of India. And, of course, by many of our students!

Durga is the name of an important, beautiful 10-armed goddess, who is married to Shiva. Puja means "worship".

A few of us teachers and a busload of students went to visit a bunch of "pandals" -- temporary statues of the goddess set up around Chittagong. There were Christmas lights hanging all over town, making for a carnival-like atmosphere!

Lots of lights!

Decorations at the front of our bus:

We stopped for a snack:

I have no idea what the food was...there were definitely some potatoes and lentils in there, but that is about all I could identify. Tasty!

Some student/Miss Cindy pictures:

Suba, Me, Silojah

On the far left is Tomoko (a staff woman here from Boston to help us get organized for an upcoming big event . . .), Chelvi, Me, Kumary, and Thusha

Me and Kumary

Durga Puja lasts for nine days. On the final day, our students invited us to a celebration in the morning. Apparently, the final day of Durga Puja involves blessings from parents, religious leaders, and sometimes teachers, too (who are third down the totem pole). Since the girls are away from home, they asked us teachers-- they actually called us gurus!-- to give them to blessing.

Each teacher crushed beetlenuts on the forehead of all the Nepali students, and touched their heads:



And then all of the Sri Lankan and many of the Indian students came up to us, one by one, and kissed our feet. That was a new experience for me. They also gave us a blessing:


At the end of Durga Puja, the idols are cast into the water-- symbolic of Durga's return home to her husband Shiva in the Himalayas. They take all of the idols down to the harbor, and send her out to sea! (Wrong direction from Chittagong but hey, minor detail).

This is another one of those holidays that involves goat-slaughtering. We saw these mountain goats on our trek in Nepal (where there is also a large Hindu population). The goats were raised in Tibet, and were being walked (herded?) by shepherds through the mountains down into Kathmandu for the slaughter. We tried to warn them, to no avail!

HR in Bangladesh

From the BBC-- some more information about the Chittagong Hill Tracts (see first blog entry).

Also, just a chance to share some footage of Bangladesh with the folks at home!

Firsthand Foreign Affairs

You know your trip is off to an auspicious start when the flight attendant's departing announcement goes:

"We will arrive in Katmandu, ensh'allah*, at 2:15pm."

*means "god-willing"

Upon arrival in Katmandu, the trekking company told me there was a festival-- "you know, lots of dancing, singing . . . you know"-- so we needed to head for the mountains a day early. In fact, I learned a day later, an anti-Maoist group had scheduled a strike, closing the major highway we needed to take into the hills.

Nepal has been politically unstable for much of recent history. The monarchy was officially and completely abolished last May. In August, a Prime Minister was elected from the Maoist party. The Maoists, or the Communist Party of Nepal, have no actual relation to Chairman Mao-- China disowns the group.

Oh, the mélange of opinions on this new government! The Maoists were elected to a majority of parliamentary seats, so they must have strong support, right? The elections were considered fair, so I'll hope so. And then there is the clear opposition-- like the strike we woke up early to avoid. In the middle there are a lot of people that seemed to not know or care about what was going on.

About a week before we arrived in Katmandu, the new government instituted a curfew on the city. No live music after 10pm, and all bars must close by 11pm. Not surprisingly, this was met with a lot opposition (not only from our group . . . although we were pretty happy with the situation, considering it is an improvement over Bangladesh's Prohibition). I heard some talk that the curfew was to prevent locals from mingling and exchanging too many ideas with Westerners. And it might be so-- Communist governments seem only to function if you keep a good portion of the population uneducated, poor, and relatively just clueless. And limiting nightlife is only going to increase poverty in a place where there is huge potential for the tourism industry (an industry that the government, with all the political turmoil, is already doing a good job of stunting).

Despite a good deal of foreign aid, lots of resources, and some potentially promising political changes, Nepal still ranks low in terms of development. Really low. Ten lowest countries low. The Guardian has an interesting article on the situation.

Point being, we left Katmandu a day early for Pokhara and spent the night (where I took my first hot shower since leaving America! Yes!) We woke up at 3:30am, hoping to beat the strike.


We loaded in the van to drive from Pokara up to the trailhead. Unfortunately, after only a few minutes in the car, the driver stopped. The strike had already begun, and he refused to drive through it. We made a fast decision-- to get out and walk along the road, in the dark, through the strike, to the nearest trailhead.

Sounds scary, right? I was a little freaked out. But as it turned out, the strike only consisted of a few lines of rocks across the road, and a group men dressed in white . . . doing yoga?!

We watched the sun rise over the mountains as we walked through rural villages . . .

Our group on the road, as the sun is coming up.

Walking through clouds!

A small temple/shrine

Apparently, we walked through "Opportunity Village".

Baby goats! I stopped and chatted with this man-- he was excited when I told him I was a teacher. He's a teacher, too!

I remember learning in Social Studies back in junior high about rice terraces. Who thought I'd get to see in real life?! People grow rice paddies in terraces to make efficient use of the land-- can't grow rice on a slope.

Still on the road, long after the sun rose.

And this is how we ended up doing an 8-day trek in 4-days. Who knew anti-Maoists make toned calves?