On Tuesday we visited a small slum about a kilometer from my guesthouse. It's amazing how quickly the city landscape changes. Now I know where the rickshaws live. Well, some of them anyway. There were rickshaw "parking lots" overflowing between the metal shacks and shops. And in the middle of all this grey and brown was a beautiful green farm situated on a sort of blackish lake. Granted the smell from the nearby trash heap and the knowledge that there were probably about 10 people living in each little shack made the view sort of bitter sweet, but it made the idea of living there just slightly less miserable.
The view
Shacks on stilts
Trash pile and a rickshaw lot
Working on the farm
The Pretest InterviewYou might also notice the Brazilian and Argentinian flags on top of the buildings in the background and even flying over some of the shacks - for somewhat mysterious reasons, Bangladeshis are crazy about those two teams in the World Cup. When I was out with Rabeya, we drove through an intersection where I could hardly see any buildings under all the flags! Dr. Sabur told me there was some weak connection to Argentina but I forget what, and people just like the colors of Brazil because they're similar to the Bangladesh flag (the green part anyway). This mysterious fanaticism has been taken to extremes of late; Bangladesh is experiencing a severe power shortage because an oil well or something has been out of service for about a month, so the power has inevitably gone out during World Cup games. Rather than respond rationally, people have rioted outside of the power company's offices and tried to set up road blocks nearby. In response, the power company has requested that factories around Dhaka shut down during the games, however garment factory workers have been rioting over factories cutting their hours already.
You might also notice the men are wearing skirts. Actually "lungis" is the right term. They wear them to do the most difficult things, and whether it's because they're cheap or traditional, I can't imagine it's all that comfortable. However, they are almost all brightly colored plaid (my favorite!) and I wish I could wear one.
And here are a few other random things that I've noticed over the last few days...
Yesterday on the way to the office, I saw a car with a University of Michigan sticker on the back window - GO BLUE
Today we had the first real thunderstorm since I've been here. We passed a rickshaw driver with what looked like a condom on his head and I could hardly control my laughter.
I got two big zits at the same time on Tuesday and every single person I saw that day (no joke, even some women at the interview) asked what they were and did I get bit by a mosquito. No one seemed to know the word "zit" or "pimple" and I certainly don't know that in Bengali, so we settled for "it happens, it's normal".
This morning I saw the saddest looking woman looking out her apartment window. I mentioned before that women aren't out on the streets much. While they don't keep strict purdah here (a Muslim practice of keeping women in their houses to preserve their purity), other traditions keep them inside anyway. I'm not sure how these women take that - I get this attitude that I am not capable of doing certain things because I am a woman (like standing, walking moderate distances, etc.) and it drives me nuts (not that I don't appreciate the concern).
While doing some updated literature reviewing today, I encountered "assault using a pesticide" as a cause of death. wtf?
It is interesting how environmentally conscious Bangladesh may lead you to believe that it is - there are several articles about conserving biodiversity in the paper every day, and the Ministry of Agriculture website emphasized saving the environment by buying jute products and using less pesticides, to name a few examples. But aside from banning plastic shopping bags (if Bangladesh can do it, why hasn't the US?), I really haven't seen this attitude in action. Dhaka is one of the most polluted cities in the world, and I don't see many alternatively fueled vehicles or hear about many industrial pollution controls here. Not to mention everyone reuses single use plastic bottles, so while my water may be arsenic and pathogen free, it's still full of BPA. yum
That's more than enough for now, and I just spotted a small lizard on my wall that will need to be removed.
You might also notice the men are wearing skirts. Actually "lungis" is the right term. They wear them to do the most difficult things, and whether it's because they're cheap or traditional, I can't imagine it's all that comfortable. However, they are almost all brightly colored plaid (my favorite!) and I wish I could wear one.
And here are a few other random things that I've noticed over the last few days...
Yesterday on the way to the office, I saw a car with a University of Michigan sticker on the back window - GO BLUE
Today we had the first real thunderstorm since I've been here. We passed a rickshaw driver with what looked like a condom on his head and I could hardly control my laughter.
I got two big zits at the same time on Tuesday and every single person I saw that day (no joke, even some women at the interview) asked what they were and did I get bit by a mosquito. No one seemed to know the word "zit" or "pimple" and I certainly don't know that in Bengali, so we settled for "it happens, it's normal".
This morning I saw the saddest looking woman looking out her apartment window. I mentioned before that women aren't out on the streets much. While they don't keep strict purdah here (a Muslim practice of keeping women in their houses to preserve their purity), other traditions keep them inside anyway. I'm not sure how these women take that - I get this attitude that I am not capable of doing certain things because I am a woman (like standing, walking moderate distances, etc.) and it drives me nuts (not that I don't appreciate the concern).
While doing some updated literature reviewing today, I encountered "assault using a pesticide" as a cause of death. wtf?
It is interesting how environmentally conscious Bangladesh may lead you to believe that it is - there are several articles about conserving biodiversity in the paper every day, and the Ministry of Agriculture website emphasized saving the environment by buying jute products and using less pesticides, to name a few examples. But aside from banning plastic shopping bags (if Bangladesh can do it, why hasn't the US?), I really haven't seen this attitude in action. Dhaka is one of the most polluted cities in the world, and I don't see many alternatively fueled vehicles or hear about many industrial pollution controls here. Not to mention everyone reuses single use plastic bottles, so while my water may be arsenic and pathogen free, it's still full of BPA. yum
That's more than enough for now, and I just spotted a small lizard on my wall that will need to be removed.
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