In My Life

Back home

2010-07-29T22:31:00.002-04:00

I arrived back home two days ago. It's a strange feeling to be home. In some ways it feels like I never left. Other than some noticeable changes around town, Stouffville is Stouffville. I went on a bike ride today on my 21 speed mountainy bike. Very different from solid steel one speed with curved handle bars that I rode in Bogra. I noticed the lack of a bell. I felt my finger inch toward where it should be whenever I saw a car approaching. Luckily, there were less rickshaws, people and animals to dodge, and no stupid chickens.

I spent the past week in Akron, PA, debriefing with my fellow SALTers from around the world. It was great to see them all again and to share stories. In many ways our experiences were different but in many others they were similar. We all had common challenges and joys. It was a great time to relax and play frisbee. I hadn't had any major physical exercise for the past year, so I was sore after a couple games of ultimate. It felt good to play again though.

I'm going to Waterloo tomorrow to visit some friends at school. I don't have many plans for the next month before school starts. I imagine I'll do some work on the farm and try to catch up with family and friends. This will probably be my last blog post. It's time to put this baby to bed. Now that my SALT year is over, I don't imagine I will have any particularly interesting insights to share with you. Not that I imagine life here to be dull, but I just assume we are now having similar experiences. If you are really interested in what I'm doing, just ask. :-)

See you around,

Ben

As I came, so I go

2010-07-18T00:50:00.003-04:00

I came to Bangladesh 11 months ago with mixed emotions. I was mostly excited, but I was also a little nervous. I didn't know what to expect. I was coming to a new country, a new culture and a new language. It seems kind of strange leaving now, because I finally feel settled in. My fluency in Bangla is at its best, and all the things that seemed strange or unusual before are just normal now.

As I prepare to leave, I have similar emotions as to when I came. This time, however, I'm going to a familiar country, culture and language. I suppose the nervousness comes with the anticipation that home won't be quite as familiar as I might have remembered.

I fly out of Dhaka on the night of July 20th. I arrive in Akron, PA 36 hours later, assuming everything goes according to plan. Leaving Bangladesh is different than leaving Canada. When I left home, I knew I was coming back in a year. I don't know if I'll ever be back in Bangladesh. I told Piyash that I would come back for his wedding. His mother said that will be in 20 years. She seemed pretty confident on that number, so I guess its settled. I wonder what Bangladesh will be like in 20 years?

A common phrase these days as I say goodbyes: Ami asha kori amader abar dekha hobe - I hope we will meet again.

Highway symbiosis

2010-07-05T01:49:00.002-04:00

Symbiosis is a biology term used to describe a relationship between two or more organisms that are unrelated taxonomically, but help each other survive in some way. When I refer to symbiosis on a Bangladesh highway, I mean many different forms of transportation using the same road and some how manage to get people to their destinations without (many) casualties. I've been using highways in Bangladesh for the better part of 10 months now, but I have yet to describe it in a blog post for you curious readers back home. I remembered this on a recent trip to and from Dhaka.

The Dhaka-Bogra highway is two lanes and undivided. I should say it is two lanes by markings of paint only; certainly it accommodates many more vehicles. The shoulder, for example, is a legitimate place to drive, as well as right down the middle if there is no oncoming traffic. Really, there is no place I have been in Bangladesh where lane markings have any say in where people drive.

The users of the road vary considerably. I will list them more or less from smallest to largest, which also happens to be least to greatest asphalt priority: chicken, duck, cat, dog, goat, child riding goat, human, bicycle, motorcycle, cow, cow pulling cart, rickshaw, vangari, rototiller thingy, autorickshaw, tempo, homemade tractor, tractor, car, pickup truck, small truck, small bus, big truck, big bus. The speed limit really is as fast as you can drive without hitting something else.

Passing ettiquette: Passing is acceptable in all circumstances, as long as your vehicle is faster than the one in front of you. Passing with oncoming traffic is not a problem; once your vehicle's nose is past the vehicle you are passing, said vehicle must hit the brakes to let you in front so the oncoming traffic does not hit you. If the oncoming traffic is of lower asphalt priority than you, they simply head to the shoulder.

Horn ettiquette: The horn is the most useful part of the vehicle. If the horn is broken, you might as well consider the vehicle totalled as it is not road worthy. Luckily, there are repair shops that advertise horn replacement, so no worries. The horn is mostly used whenever you are passing another vehicle. Because mirrors and signals apparently haven't been accepted by the general population, they are most necessary for the smaller vehicles in order to avoid getting crushed. The general rule when driving is to concern yourself only with what's ahead. Those behind and beside will make their presense known to you by the horn.

High-beam ettiquette: When driving at night, the horn is given a break and the high-beams are used instead (for the most part). When passing with oncoming traffic, the high-beams signal to the driver heading your way to slow down, or head to the shoulder. I just assume (almost definitely incorrectly) that Bangladeshis are immune to high-beam blindness.

You probably get the idea that highway driving is not for the faint of heart. Its an action packed adventure of dodging people, livestock and other vehicles while trying to drive as fast as possible. City driving is similar, but usually significantly slower. I have seen many totalled buses and trucks on the side of the highway, crushed into trees, rolled down embankments, etc.

MCC does not allow service workers to drive motorcycles in Dhaka because of how dangerous it is. Bangladeshis are very peaceful, but if a driver strikes and kills a pedestrian, an angry mob will soon form to lynch the driver and torch his/her vehicle and possibly other vehicles that happen to be present.

To paint this in a slightly more positive light: there probably are less fatal accidents per capita in Bangladesh than in Canada because vehicles are travelling slower. I said people drive as fast as possible, by realistically cars rarely hit 80 km/h on the highway. Also, there are not nearly enough paved roads in Bangladesh for all the vehicles to pass freely, so maybe this is the best method? My Western sensibilities tell me that well organized, enforceable traffic laws would work better, but in my heart I want to believe Bangladesh has it right. That said, I won't be shedding any tears for Bangladesh's highways when I head home in a couple weeks.

Ben

Monsoon's a-comin'

2010-06-30T06:03:00.002-04:00

The sun peaked through the clouds today. It's the first time he's shown his face in four days. It's been raining off and on most of the time. I don't really mind though, because the temperatures have been comfortable. I slept with a sheet covering me last night.

The monsoon season is important for Bangladesh. Around 80% of the yearly rainfall comes in these 3 months. However, the monsoon can also bring devastating cyclones and massive floods.

The region of Sylhet has the greatest monsoon in Bangladesh. It is located just south of the Himalayan foothills, so the hot, humid air from the Bay of Bengal rises and condenses right above Sylhet. One year, a town in the region reported a 1 metre rainfall in a 24 hour period! That's crazy! The same town averages 11 metres per year.

A couple weekends ago I was sitting at home reading when it started to rain. I walked out in my room to watch for a bit. Pintu and Bishaw came out of their room and asked me if I wanted to go walk out in the rain with them. I said sure. Wearing only our lungis, we went for a stroll. We walked the length of the dirt road along the river and through a few neighbourhoods I hadn't been to before. We saw a frog. Frog in Bangla is bang. Not quite the same pronunciation as in English though. The ng has a bit of a nasal sound to it. Bishaw said he ate frog once and it tasted like chicken. I agreed with him.

Ben

Bishoi Kap

2010-06-20T02:30:00.003-04:00

I know my last post was about the World Cup, but really this is the event that's defining my life these days, so I thought I'd write about it again. Most of my conversation with my host brothers revolves around football nowadays. Bishaw was disappointed with Germany's loss to Serbia and I was less than impressed with England's lack-luster effort against Algeria (0-0 draw). So far the Brazil and Argentina fans have nothing to complain about, which is, as I mentioned earlier, almost the whole country.

When I last posted the games hadn't begun. I could only speculate on what a World Cup in Bangladesh is like. I had questions like "Why does everyone like Brazil and Argentina?" My own hypothesis was proven wrong when I asked Mokhles. He told me that Bangladeshis love watching flashy, big name players and Brazil and Argentina have had their fair share. Players like Pele, Ronaldo, Kaka, Maradona and Messi are household names.

Near my house is a biggish road with a bunch of shops and stalls. Someone has set up a big white sheet over a billboard and projects the night games here. I was really surprised to see this, but it's great. The power usually goes off at around 8:00 pm (the start time for the second game) but to my even greater surprise, I found that the projector is hooked up to a car battery so we can watch the games when the power is off! These times when the power goes out I would normally spend sitting on a bench outside my house trying to catch a cool breeze. Now I can watch the game.

It's fun watching games with 500+ Bangladeshis. We pretty much clog the road meaning vehicles trying to get through have to constantly lean on their horns (not really abnormal though). I went to the first Brazil game at 12:30 am and there were hundreds of people out even at that hour. They play again tonight at the same time, and I plan on going. I read in the paper that a bunch of people were watching the first Argentina game in Dhaka when the power went out. This sparked a small riot and involved a few torched cars. The government has asked the power companies to try their best to limit load shedding during the matches.

It really is impossible to not be caught up in the excitement surrounding the World Cup. I can't imagine what it's like in South Africa. I've begun making tentative plans for going to Brazil 2014. Who's in?

Bangladesh: The unknown South American nation

2010-06-09T01:04:00.003-04:00

I am fully aware that Bangladesh is located in South Asia, nestled in India's armpit. However, by walking down the streets nowadays it's easy to forget this. The World Cup is two days away and most of Bangladesh has made their support known. It's basically between Brazil and Argentina, and their flags can be seen everywhere. I honestly don't know why. I heard that the 1998 World Cup was massively followed in Bangladesh, so much so that the millions of TVs crashed the power grid for four days. In that tournament Argentina and Brazil did pretty well, so maybe that's where the support comes from?

There is an Argentinian flag painted on the outside of my house. I assumed everyone in my host family supported Argentina until I took a poll. Kaka, Swapan and Shipon support Argentina; Pintu and Biplob support Brazil, Bishaw supports Germany, Boudi and Kaki-ma do not have a favourite (although their husbands like Argentina) and Piyash didn't understand the question. I have officially given my support to England. I suppose being the lone English speaker in my house I have felt some kinship with the English people. Also, their colours are the same as Canada: red and white.

So for the next few weeks the world is going to have a party. Your country may not be in it, but you can still have fun. Even if you don't watch soccer, pick a team and follow them. You may even get into the spirit of things!

God save the Queen,

Ben

Carpe that diem

2010-06-05T11:03:00.003-04:00

"Come on, Steve. We've got a diem to carpe!"

"Carpe the diem. Seize the carp."

There probably isn't a Latin phrase that has been more perverted by English speakers than carpe diem. It's OK though; Latin is a dead language, so no one is offended.

Now that we're into June, I've begun to realize how rapidly my time in Bangladesh is winding down. I only have 6 weeks left. In those 6 weeks I have quite a bit to do. I need to bring closure to my work, write some reports and do an end of term evaluation. Now more than ever my thoughts are straying towards home. Over the past 9 months or so, I've been trying my best to focus on the present. Of course, I've thought about home quite a bit. I miss all of you a lot. I think I've done pretty well in taking in Bangladesh and keeping my focus here but it hasn't always been easy.

Carpe diem is a phrase taken from a Latin poem "Odes" by Horace. The whole stanza goes like this:

Latin: carpe diem quam minimum credula postero

English: Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the next

I don't need to trust the next day. All I need to do is trust that God will provide for me. So far I haven't been let down.

"Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary."

Ben

P.S. Try to guess the movies those quotes were taken from. If you give up, look here.

The village life

2010-05-30T02:30:00.006-04:00

For the past couple weekends, I've had the opportunity to visit the village. Last weekend I went to my host brother Pintu's village and the weekend before was my Boudi's village. While my family lives in Bogra town, they all come from the village, which is common for city dwellers. They come to the big towns for work or education, but their real home is out in the countryside. I do like the village. Life is more relaxed, the air is fresh and the people are friendly.

Pintu's village is about a 4 hour commute from Bogra. It probably isn't more than 100 km away, but the various modes of transportation required make it much longer. We took 3 different buses, a rickshaw and a funny little homemade looking tractor (you see them a lot here). The local buses are always an experience. They're crammed with way too many people. There are probably 45 seats with a further 30 people standing in a vehicle about half the size of a Canadian school bus. There are often a dozen or so on the roof. I think if the bus would've rolled over, more people would die of suffocation than anything else. When I'm traveling in these buses, either way I go (sitting or standing) I'm too big to be comfortable. The seats are squeezed really tightly together so my legs don't fit and the ceiling is too low for me to stand up straight. I'm not even that tall.

When we arrived, we changed into our lungis and walked around. This is mainly what one does on a visit to the village; walk around in your lungi talking to people. (By the way, a lungi is a tube-skirt type garment worn by pretty much every Bangladeshi male.)

Another thing to do in the village is eat ridiculous amounts of food. This mainly applies to visitors (i.e. me). As is Bangladeshi custom, hospitality is best shown be seeing how much food your guest can put away. This is one of my least favourite aspects of Bangladeshi culture. For example, yesterday, by the time noon came around, I had eaten 8 mangoes. This is because we had been walking around visiting people and the logical thing to do this time of year is to give your guests mangoes. To refuse would be rude. My host brother had also eaten this many mangoes, and he got a little tired of them so I was given an out. Of course we also ate heroic amounts of rice.

I stayed in a two storey house made entirely of mud, cow dung and bamboo. They are quite amazing constructions with walls that are sometimes a couple feet thick. They can last for up to 100 years.

We came back much the same way we went, this time foregoing two buses for a long tempo ride (a tempo is a little three-wheeled, two-stroke vehicle with bench seats in the back). Again, a bit too small for my comfort, but whatever, I'm used to it now.

So that's about it. On a side note, the Bangladesh government has temporarily banned Facebook. Apparently some caricatures of political leaders and Mohammed were found there and deemed unsuitable for the greater population. If you need to communicate with me and would usually use Facebook, feel free to e-mail me instead at ben.reesor@gmail.com.

Ben

8,000 words

2010-05-19T04:23:00.004-04:00

I'm hot.

2010-05-10T04:07:00.002-04:00

You're not.

Unfortunately, I don't think any of us are particularly pleased.

Work

2010-05-05T02:12:00.007-04:00

I guess I've been keeping you in the dark a bit about what I've been working on for the past six months. Some of you are probably interested, so I'll try to enlighten you. There have been three main things I've been working on: Agriculture research, the constructed wetland and the Analog Forestry Database.

Basically when I came, my boss Mokhles said that they were interested in testing methods of intensive farming, particularly vertical and urban gardening. My job was pretty open-ended. The previous SALTer had done some stuff with that, although I didn't really know much of what he did. So I did a bunch of reading and research and designed some experiments of my own. One of my main experiments was growing potatoes vertically. I planted potatoes in cardboard boxes and old tires and as the plants grew, I added soil around the stems. When necessary, I built the boxes higher. This may sound weird, but its been known to work. The theory is, once the plant matures, tubers will form along the buried stem. My first attempt didn't work out so great. The plants ended up dying before they could reach maturity, so I only harvested some tiny new potatoes. Aref, another crop researcher here, is interested in trying this method again next year. I wrote up a fairly detailed report on my hypotheses of why it didn't work this time and things that he should try next year. The main reason seems to be that the variety we used was early season, when ideally we would have planted a late season variety. Hopefully next year will be better.

Back in November, I talked about the constructed wetland at the AKB. Since then I've learned a lot about natural systems of water purification from further reading and research I've done. A few months ago, we did proper tests on the water. The system we have doesn't seem to be doing a good job at removing nitrogen, with the concentration of nitrate increasing as the water moves along the system (opposite of what should happen). I hypothesized that this was because we don't have a proper living environment for the aerobic bacteria required to break down ammonia in the dirty water. We decided to test this and so I designed a reedbed that should provide a better environment for those bacteria. The reedbed is in a barrel and consists of layers of brick shards, medium gravel, fine gravel and sand. The "common reed" (the kind you would find in swamps) is planted in the sand. We built the bed a week ago, but we don't have reeds yet. Apparently, they should be available next month when the rain starts in earnest. The reedbed we made isn't big enough to handle all the water from the house, but it should be fine for our experimental purposes.

Finally, when I'm not working on other stuff, I work on the forestry database. This basically involves entering data I find from books, documents, websites etc. Not really the most interesting of work. The hope is that once the database is finished, the information can be used by our partners for agroforestry, land reclamation and reforestation projects. I've recently finished going through each plant we currently have (63 in total) and exhausting all the resources I have access to on each species. I have also assembled 63 documents providing further information on each species, such as some of its common products, how to grow and harvest, some common diseases and pests and any other useful info that the database itself doesn't include. These documents will be attached to the plant profiles. Mokhles has been taking pictures of the trees as he travels around the country and I've been uploading them.

I'm down to about 2 and a half months left in Bangladesh. I've learned an incredible amount of stuff while I've been here. I've certainly fulfilled the Learning part of SALT, but I what I really hope is that I've also done the Serving part. I realize now how short a year really is. It seems so long at the beginning, but now that its winding down, I have a new scope and I can see its insignificance. If I've made any contribution to MCC program in Bangladesh, I don't know it now. The chances are I will never know, and I've accepted that.

The field at the AKB as it looks now

The reedbed with the wetland in the background

Take 'er easy,

Ben

Just a thought

2010-04-22T04:45:00.006-04:00

One of the great things about not being in school is I get to read whatever I want. I've always loved reading, but when I'm in school I feel guilty if I read anything other than my textbooks. I have a lot of time to read in the evenings, and I try to take full advantage of it.

Currently I'm reading a book called The Discoveries: Great Breakthroughs of 20th-century Science by Alan Lightman. Its a book I've been meaning to read for a while, and I finally have the chance to do so. The author has chosen 24 of the most important scientific papers of the 20th century and compiled them into one book. He prefaces each paper with his own essay which gives some historical background, a brief biography of the scientist and a summary of the paper if you don't feel up to reading the whole thing.

The book is organized chronologically and I'm about halfway through. However, I'm still not into the 1920s. Its amazing reading about the breakthroughs in the first quarter of the century, especially in physics. There were so many great minds then: Planck, Rutherford, Einstein and Bohr to name a few. I've read 11 or 12 of the papers and other than one on the discovery of hormones, all have been related to physics.

I study biology in university, but a little known fact is that in high school, I really wanted to be a theoretical physicist. I had read a couple books by Brian Greene and some books about Einstein and the subject fascinated me. I am now rediscovering this fascination.

The interesting thing is that a lot of these concepts are now taught in high school. I remember learning about the Bohr-Rutherford model of the atom in grade 9 science class. Both Bohr and Rutherford won Nobel Prizes for their work back near the turn of the century. At the time, it was cutting edge. Of course, I never learned the theory behind the model, and the math was far out of my league, but the concepts were accessible nonetheless. Its fairly common acceptance now that the atom consists of a nucleus (of protons and neutrons) with a cloud of electrons buzzing around it.

It may not be such common knowledge that atoms are mostly empty space. Lightman made an insightful analogy in his preface to Bohr's paper on the quantum model of the atom: If an atom is represented by a baseball stadium, the size of the nucleus would be equivalent to a pea in centrefield. We now know 99% of the atom's mass is found within the nucleus, so the electrons might be likened to specks of dust whizzing around the stands.

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be a little person living on an electron. Would you look out into the endless space around your spinning orb and ask, "Is there anyone else out there?" You might know you are orbiting around a nucleus and maybe you can detect other electrons, but they're too far away to know much about them. It would take a leap of faith to conceive that you were actually part of a larger organism. What if you were told that your atom was part of trillions of other atoms making a human brain, and that electrical signals consisting of your electron are creating complex thoughts, feelings and emotions in that person's head? Maybe those human thoughts and feelings are the same as the ones you are having. "Is there life outside of my planet? Am I a part of Something greater than I can comprehend?"

Hello, Ben

2010-04-17T22:57:00.002-04:00

Every so often while I'm walking down the street someone will call out, "Hello, Ben!" or, "How are you, Ben!" I will look at them and not have a clue who they are. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. There are maybe a dozen foreigners in Bogra, and over 200,000 Bangladeshis. People often ask me my name as I walk down the street. I can't remember everyone, can I?

The lack of foreigners is one thing I like about Bangladesh. If you walk up to someone on the street and ask them a question in English, 49 times out of 50 your question will be met with a blank stare or an awkward smile. I like that. I've always been a little annoyed at myself when I travel because as a native English speaker I can go pretty much anywhere I want without making an effort to learning a new language. While I have definitely taken full advantage of this convenience, I feel kind of cheap. Here I am, Johnny Monolinguist just expecting the rest of the world to speak my language. In a way, its an excuse for ignorance and a modern face for imperialism. Now, here in Bangladesh I can communicate in a foreign language and it feels good.

Bengalis have died for their language. In 1952, when the government in West Pakistan decided that the national language would be Urdu, students protested in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). They were killed. Afterwards the UN declared February 21st as International Mother Language Day. I am proud to have been able to learn Bangla, a language that brought together a nation. Would you give your life for English?

That said, lack of English speakers is probably part of the reason why tourists don't come here. I must confess, as much as I love Bangladesh, I wouldn't suggest anyone pick up a Lonely Planet and head on over. You're just setting yourself up for disappointment. One time I saw a foreigner in the main market in Bogra. I knew he didn't live here, firstly because I know every foreigner in Bogra by name and secondly because he was looking at some sort of guide book or map. I considered going over and asking if he needed any help but I thought, "Well, he's made it this far..." I think Bangladesh is great if you have at least 4 months to commit. You can learn some of the language and learn about the people and culture. That would make it worthwhile. I can't imagine stepping of a plane in Bangladesh without knowing the language or anyone living here. You go to a taxi driver and try speaking English. He stares back at you blankly. Now what?

Nomoshkar,

Ben

Pictures

2010-04-10T02:25:00.001-04:00

Click here to see some pictures of Cambodia.

Cheers!

Au Cambodge

2010-04-05T23:11:00.007-04:00

A few days ago I returned from Cambodia. It does feel good to be home. Traveling is fun, but also exhausting. I'll try to describe the trip, although I dislike listing events day-by-day because its really boring for me. Is that selfish?

We started the trip by flying to Malaysia. This is a necessary stop for the cheap AirAsia flights we took. We spent the night next to the airport in the Tune Hotel. Its a little budget hotel chain. The rooms were tiny, but modern. The bed took up about 75% of the floor space, with a further 23% being bathroom. The first thing I noticed stepping off the plane was that the air was really hot and humid. Just a taste of things to come in Cambodia and now in Bangladesh.

The next day we had a morning to kill before our afternoon flight. We didn't have time to go into Kuala Lumpur so I walked around the airport shops marveling at, but not partaking in, the Starbucks and McDonalds. My stomach had been a little off that morning, and I felt a bit worse as we arrived in Phnom Penh. We were greeted by Lana and Andy Miller (MCC South-East Asia reps) and picked up by an air conditioned bus to head down south to the coast. Lana and Andy had gotten some sub sandwiches for our supper, and while I wasn't feeling particularly hungry on account of my stomach, I felt like I had to eat. I hadn't had a good sandwich in over 7 months. And mine had bacon on it!!! Six inches of sub and one root beer later, I wasn't feeling so great. Right as my body decided to get sick the bus decided to break-down. So we pulled over to a little rest stop to wait a couple hours while a new bus came. I've gotten pretty good at waiting around during my time in Bangladesh, but its not so great when you have diarrhea. So I took some Imodium and tried to sleep in the hot, stuffy bus. I woke up at the sound of our new bus, aka my savior. I thought I was feeling better, but I realized 5 minutes into the bus ride that I was just telling myself that. Long story short, we made it to Sihanoukville after one of my worst bus experiences, got our rooms, went to bed and I felt quite a lot better in the morning, albeit very dehydrated.

The rest of the week was really nice. We had group sessions with Andy and Lana in the mornings. They started with worship and then into individual and group activities. We did some things with Myers-Briggs personality indicators and I think I learned quite a bit about myself and others on the MCC Bangladesh team. For lunch we had Khmer food at our guesthouse. I really enjoyed Khmer food. The curries are a lot more coconutty and sweet compared to Bangladeshi curries which are tumericy and spicy. The afternoons were free time. We went swimming, snorkeling, kayaking and sandcastle making. I had never been ocean kayaking, but it was quite fun. For supper we would often have barbecue. I had marlin, barracuda, tuna and squid as well as pork ribs. Pork would be a common theme in my meal selection throughout the trip.

After our week was over, we headed back to Phnom Penh. I visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum while I was there. Before and during my time in Cambodia I did some reading on their recent history, namely the Khmer Rouge regime. Its a really sick and sad story. The Genocide Museum was Security Prison-21 from 1975-1979. Over those four years, about 20,000 people came through the prison. There, "enemies of the party" were tortured, forced to confess to their imaginary crimes, before being taken to be executed. Only seven people made it out alive. Our tour guide lost her father, a brother and a sister to the Khmer Rouge. She, along with her mother and other sister, became refugees in Vietnam. The building, which also used to be a high school, is still very raw. The tiny cells are still there, as well as barbed wire fences and blood stains on the floor. Torture instruments such as shovels, chains, knives and waterboards are also on display. Overall, a really depressing and chilling place to visit. Seeing Cambodia today, its hard to tell that they have this history from just over 30 years ago. For that matter, its hard to believe Bangladesh had a bloody civil war 39 years ago.

After Phnom Penh, I headed to Siem Reap with some other MCC folks for some vacation. We spent three days visiting the ancient temples at Angkor. We got around by tuk-tuk (a wagon pulled by a motorcycle) for two days and by bike for the other day. It was really hot, but really fun. Also in Siem Reap, we visited a silk making place. It was interesting to see the process from worm cocoon to scarf.

On the way back, we had another night in Malaysia. We stayed in Kuala Lumpur in Chinatown. That night we went to eat at a small food court. We found a Bangladeshi restaurant, which was closed, but the owners were happy to chat with Daniel and I. I don't imagine many Bangla-speaking foreigners come through there. To be honest, I probably wouldn't have eaten there even if it were open. I still have four months of Bangladeshi food to look forward to.

The next morning, we saw a bit of Kuala Lumpur before our afternoon flight to Bangladesh. KL is a very modern and developed city. We took an LRT to the Petronas Towers and walked around the park. At the base of the towers you can find a mall sporting stores such as Gucci, Prada, Armani and Hugo Boss. Definitely a bit of a culture shock. Before leaving, I will admit I had McDonald's for lunch. I couldn't help it. Plus, you just have to make sure its still the same. And believe it or not my double cheeseburger tasted exactly as I had remembered it.

Arriving in Dhaka, we stepped out of the airport into an onslaught of people and heat. We argued with the taxi drivers and chatted with the beggar children. When our taxi pulled into the swollen, honking sea of traffic I realized I was home.

I'll add some more pictures to Facebook soon. These are just to whet your appetite.

Ben

A dead bird and elephant soccer

2010-03-14T00:58:00.003-05:00

Well I guess I found something interesting to write about.

The circus has come to town! Yesterday evening I went with some other MCC folks as well as the Allens, an American family that is here with the Baptist mission. I was surprised at how big the fair grounds were. I expected a bunch of tents and shops all packed together with a ton of people. This has been my experience of Bangladesh so far. However, the fair grounds were large and expansive with a few tents and shops and not too many people. At the far side we could hear the main event getting ready to start. There was a large tent with music playing outside. We bought our tickets and went in. The show was pretty fun complete with acrobats, contortionists, clowns beating up midgets and, of course, elephants playing soccer.

For the past few months, there have been some birds living in the office. They often fly by my desk on their way to their nest above a doorway. Well yesterday I was minding my own business when I heard a clunk, thud and felt something smack my shoulder. I looked down on the floor and saw a dead bird. It took me a few seconds before I realized it had been cleaned out by the ceiling fan that was whirring above my desk. I had always thought it would be an inevitable event as the birds have to dodge two fans on their commute from the window to the nest. It hasn't been a problem for them for the past few months because the fans have been off. Now that it is steadily getting warmer, I wonder how many more birds will find a similar fate?

Blog post

2010-03-12T02:02:00.004-05:00

I don't really have anything interesting to say. Life is flowing on. I'm sure I'll have a more interesting post when I return from Cambodia. I added some pictures to my Bangladesh Facebook album as well as uploaded my India pictures from December.

Bangladesh pictures are here.

India pictures are here.

Have a good one,

Ben

Holi, it's March!

2010-03-02T05:23:00.002-05:00

Apparently its March. I don't know where the time's going. February seems like a blur. I am kind of sad I missed most of the Olympic spirit. I got a few updates online, and it seems like I missed a good one. I wonder when they'll come back to Canada?

Last week was Holi, a yearly Hindu festival. It was a pretty fun week. In the evenings I would go with my host family to the place where the main events were happening. There were vendors selling balloons, food, candy, jewelry etc. There was even a small ferris wheel made from bamboo poles and powered by two guys pushing it. I didn't have the opportunity to try it out. The main tent had a shrine with statues of the gods Ram and Krishna. There were people dancing, singing, praying and offering little white candies and incense to the gods. Once the people had said their prayers, they would toss the extra candies to the crowd. They taste like pure sugar and I think I had a pretty good sugar rush going every night. Afterwards we would eat fuchka and jilapi, two of my favourite foods here. We had some visitors from the village stay at our house, so I shared my bed with one of my host brothers. I have a single bed, so it was a little tight!

On the 19th I'm heading to Cambodia for a couple weeks. MCC is having a retreat there and I'm taking a week afterwards of vacation. I'm very excited for that! I'll definitely buy a camera before I go so I can share some pictures with you when I return.

Dhan, chal, bhat

2010-02-22T22:17:00.003-05:00

The literal English translation of the title is "rice, rice, rice". It makes sense that there are multiple names for it in Bangla because one can see it in many forms on a given day. Dhan is rice still in the field. Right now the paddies are being planted in my area. As I ride through the villages on my bike, the sight all around me is small green plants popping up through water in the fields. Chal is rice after it has been harvested but still uncooked. It is often sold in huge 50 kg sacks. Finally bhat, as you might have guessed, is the fluffy white stuff you eat. I eat bhat at least twice a day here. Bangladeshis aren't satisfied with a meal unless they have eaten rice. A common way of asking someone if they have had their meal is saying "Apni bhat kheyechen?" (lit.: "Have you eaten rice?") Sometimes people ask me what my parents do. I tell them my mom is a teacher and my dad is a farmer. A common question is "Oh, how much rice does your father grow?"

In Bangladesh, rice is the undisputed staple food. The per capita consumption here is higher than anywhere in the world. I've read that 70% of the average Bangladeshi's caloric intake is from rice. It's hard to describe the reliance on rice here. It also gives a new definition to what food security means for the people here. If the price of rice goes up even 10 or 15 taka (15 or 23 cents) per kg, people starve. If the rains come late or a cyclone hits the south, people starve.

When I first came to Bangladesh, I was overwhelmed a bit with the amount of rice I was expected to eat. In Canada I would eat rice a few times a week. I thought that was a lot. Now when I tell Bangladeshis that I might eat rice 2-3 times per week in Canada, they laugh at me. They can't believe that we survive on bread, noodles and corn.

But there's a lesson to be learned here. In Canada, we eat because it tastes good. A side effect is that it keeps us alive. Here, its the other way around. I used to crave food from home, but now I'm fine with rice twice a day. Because nothing keeps your belly fuller than a big plate of bhat.

Brishti hoyeche

2010-02-15T22:27:00.004-05:00

This morning I was woken up early by rain on the tin roof. It was the first time it had rained since I moved in with my current host family over four months ago. My sleep deprived mind first jumped to "why is it hailing?" because it was really loud. But then I realized it was rain and I rolled over and went back to sleep.

Yesterday evening I got a haircut. It was long overdue. My host brother's friend has a barbershop so I got it cut there. He did a good job, but I forewent the massage this time.

Tonight I get a new shirt. My host family gave me a piece of cloth for my 21st birthday last weekend. I took it to a tailors and it should be ready today. Usually on my birthday, I feel older. When I was in school I often was older than my classmates because I have a birthday early in the year. Now, however, I'm about the youngest person I have regular contact with. Piyash bests me with only 2 years under his belt. Also, I think this is the first birthday since 16 that doesn't have a milestone associated with it. At 16 I could get my G1 licence, at 17 I could get my G2, 18 I could vote, 19 I could buy alcohol and tobacco and 20 marked my second decade of living. I guess 24 or 25 I can rent a car (or something like that).

Hopefully I'll get a new camera sometime soon so I'll have more pictures to share. Until then, take care.

Ben

Sylhet

2010-02-07T23:20:00.002-05:00

Last Saturday I had nothing to do, so I started writing this nice, long informative post about my trip to Sylhet. I was planning on adding some pictures but when I went to get my camera it wasn't in my bag. I looked all over but I couldn't find it. My conclusion is that it fell out of my bag onto the luggage rack in the bus when I was getting a book out. This discovery put me in a bit of a funk and I no longer felt like blogging. I'm hoping to contact the bus company today, but I'm not holding my breath. Anyway, I decided I owed you a post regardless so I'll recap some highlights of my trip.

Sylhet is in the north-east corner of Bangladesh. The countryside is quite pretty with nice rolling hills and expansive tea gardens. Other than here and Chittagong, Bangladesh is flat and boring as far as topography is concerned. After a 10 hour overnight bus ride, we arrived in Sylhet town. I made the mistake the previous night of not claiming a seat on the bus before joining the others at the tea stall, the result being I was stuck with one at the back behind the rear axle. While the bumps might have exhilarated me when I was in grade 5, my 20-year-old self was not pleased when the time came to sleep. I didn't get much of it.

We first checked out a tea garden. We saw how tea is processed as well as how rubber is made. Rubber has nothing to do with tea by the way, just the plantation had a small rubber making operation. In the afternoon we visited some burial sites of old Mughal conquerors. They are now pilgrimage sites for Muslims. It's interesting how that works. The remains of men who once conquered the Bangladeshi people by military force and converted them to Islam are now revered.

The next couple of days were spent visiting some local NGOs and national parks. The national parks were quite nice. One of them had a waterfall. I believe it is THE waterfall in Bangladesh. It was a pretty location. There would be a picture here, if that were possible. A quick note on litter. A while back I made a post on garbage. I commented that I understood the reasons for garbage being everywhere here. However, I thought it was gross that in the national parks there was still litter everywhere! People threw garbage into the waterfall. There were even signs stating "Do Not Litter". True there weren't any garbage cans, but I feel like the parks don't have the budget to hire people to empty them. It can't be too difficult to keep your trash in your pocket or bag and dispose of it outside the park. But I guess that's my Western bias again. I suppose if you consider that until maybe 30 years ago pretty much all trash produced in Bangladesh was decomposable, it makes sense that those habits of tossing waste haven't died yet.

On our trip we ate at hotels for all our meals. Hotels are small restaurants that can be found almost everywhere you go. It is amazing to me how cheap one can eat at a hotel. Breakfast of two naan, dal, an egg and tea is 38 taka (60 cents). Lunch or supper consisting of rice, dal, meat, vegetable curry and tea goes for 90 taka ($1.25). Fish is even cheaper. One can eat very well for a whole day on $3.50.

Overall it was a good trip. I got to see another part of the country and a lot of the REAP staff did too. I was surprised how many of my co-workers had never been to Sylhet. Most of them are in their 30s and 40s and have lived in Bangladesh their whole life. Well that's it for now.

Ben

Big Yellow Taxi

2010-01-31T05:30:00.004-05:00

There's a song by Joni Mitchell called "Big Yellow Taxi". One of the lines goes:

"Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?"

This song has been going through my head a lot lately, because that line seems to be ridiculously true. Before leaving for Bangladesh, I was craving a change of scenery. I couldn't wait to get out of Canada. But now as I'm about halfway through my term, I find myself really looking forward to returning home. It's funny though because I'm really happy here. I like where I'm living, I like my job, I like everyone I work with. Most of the time I really don't want to be anywhere else. What I miss most about home is no doubt family and friends. A familiar culture and language are some other things I miss. Sometimes also the food (Bangladeshi food can get quite repetitive).

So now I need to get my head thinking about the meaning of those words for when I do come home. I know by this time next year I'll be in the thick of midterms and I'll be wishing I never left Bangladesh. I guess it's just the way these things work.

In other news, tomorrow I'm leaving for Sylhet for a five day learning tour with other REAP staff. We'll be visiting some local NGOs as well as visiting the tea gardens in Srimangal. Sylhet is basically across the country from Bogra, so I have a nice long bus ride to look forward to. Also, last week was Piyash's 2nd birthday. A bunch of people came over and we had special birthday food. It was a pretty good time.

Piyash getting help from his Grandpas

A Temporary Triumph

2010-01-21T04:13:00.003-05:00

(I composed this "poem" on a ride from the office to AKB this morning after a stop at a bike shop. This is what happens when my ridiculous mind has an unfortunate amount of time on its hands. I thought you might find it amusing.)

As I rode my two-wheeled motion machine,

I could sense the presence of a force unseen.

Somewhere on my bike its coefficient was high,

As evidenced by pain in my left and right thighs.

I knew for a fact that my chain was well oiled,

The knowledge of which had me momentarily foiled.

Where O where could this culprit be,

That is making my commute true misery?

When suddenly upon me great insight bestowed.

Why not check the place where rubber meets road?

Surely my problems must be cowering there?

If so, its just a matter of getting more air.

So I got off the road, and pulled to the side,

And gracefully alit from my solid steel ride.

The air pressure was, as I found with a pinch,

Much less than the recommended pounds per square inch.

I found a small shop where a pump could be found,

After a little searching and looking around.

A bit later I was off, like a ball from a pitcher.

The man with the pump being five taka richer.

So the point of this story, (if there is one at all)

Should the fickle beast Friction ever summon the gall

To break down your bike, make it slow to a stall

I might have a solution, so give me a call.

The Slideshows of my Childhood

2010-01-17T01:15:00.003-05:00

Growing up, MCC was a name I heard a lot. I had family that had worked or were working with MCC and I heard many stories of the good work they did. In the early 90's, when I was 4 or 5 some of my extended family members were working in Haiti with MCC. I remember after they came back, every once in a while they would lead the church service. This usually involved turning off the lights and wheeling in the the slide projector so we could see some pictures. I remember these church services vividly, which is saying something because I can't remember any other church services at that time in my life. In those days I usually spent the service under my chair eating Cheerios and colouring in my colouring book. On these occasions though, I would pay attention. I don't know if these memories are the reason why I decided to serve with MCC this year, but I'm fairly certain they played a part. So I have finally added some photos to Facebook, which is to this decade as the old school projector was to the last several. Except this way there's no chance on the wheel getting stuck, or pictures showing up upside down, or all the slides falling out all over the floor. If you wish to see these pictures, click here. You don't even need a Facebook account to see them. Who knows, maybe these photos will inspire someone else...

Ben

P.S. I will be adding photos to this album periodically, so feel free to keep checking it every once in a while.

A South Asian Christmas

2010-01-01T11:21:00.008-05:00

Christmas in this part of the world is different than any Christmas I have experienced before. In Bangladesh, about 0.7% of the population is Christian, so the "Christmas Spirit" is markedly absent here. I really hardly thought about Christmas because I was counting down the days until my family came on the 22nd.

A lot has happened since my last post. My family came to visit on the 22nd, and we toured around Bangladesh a bit before heading to India for a family vacation. It was nice showing my family around Bangladesh. My Bangla is good enough now to get around with ease. I can explain to a rickshawalla to follow mine and my mom's rickshaw closely because my dad and brother don't speak Bangla, nor do they have any money. This is important. We spent the 23rd in Dhaka seeing the sights while trying not to get hit by traffic. The 24th we went to Mymensingh to visit some of MCC's projects there (see this post). That afternoon we headed over to Bogra. Christmas day was spent in Bogra. We had a brunch with the other MCCers and saw the AKB where I do some of my work. That evening we visited my house and had supper there. My host family prepared some great food and they were very happy to meet my family. I don't think my family was prepared for the amount of food they were expected to eat, but it was a good time nonetheless.

On the 27th we headed to India. Our first stop was in Jaipur, followed by Agra then Delhi. We saw some amazing old Mughal forts and palaces made of white marble and sandstone. I'll let my pictures do the talking. I would've liked to spend a month in India, but, alas, that was not possible. India in some ways is similar to Bangladesh and in other ways very different. The first thing I noticed was the lack of rickshaws. In Bangladesh rickshaws are anywhere with a significant human population (basically the entire country). And the rickshaws in India were really lame. They aren't jazzed up or anything, though they are a little bigger. We took a rickshaw ride in Old Delhi and our rickshawalla spoke English! What?! I guess that probably has something to do with tourism. Sometimes I wonder how different Bangladesh would be if tourists actually came here. It would probably be less fun. Anyway, here's some pictures of the Reesor family Christmas.

Rickshawing Bangladeshi style

Mom

The Pink Palace in Dhaka. An old Mughal fort.

Snake charmers in Jaipur

Elephants at the Amber Fort in Jaipur. Tourists can ride them.

Guy burning fibres off the back of a carpet.

You call that a rickshaw? Not nearly enough paint, chrome, streamers, sequins and old CDs.

Ganesha giving us luck on our journey.

There were a lot of people milling about here so we checked it out. Apparently it's kinda famous.

There are lots more pictures. Maybe I'll make a facebook album. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Ben

A big fat Hindu Wedding

2009-12-20T03:05:00.004-05:00

This post is a little overdue. I went to a Hindu wedding a couple weekends ago. The wedding was for the daughter of my host family's landlord (I think). The reason I mention it was Hindu as opposed to "Bengali" is because Hindu and Muslim weddings are quite different. Hindu weddings are more "moja" which means happy. Not to say that Muslim weddings are bad, but that's how Bengalis describe the difference. I must say this Hindu wedding made our tradition back home look like a funeral. I'm not even exaggerating. It's a little depressing.

Anyway, the night of the wedding I got ready at around 9 pm. I put on my panjabi (see previous Eid post) and headed to supper with my family. We ate (early) in a big tent. I went back home briefly and boudi put Piyash to bed. Then I went out with my host brother to the main event. The groom was sitting on the ground under a small tent with a couple priests. I think they were blessing/praying for him.

Did I mention he was wearing a huge hat?

There was a guy with a video camera and spotlight there and as soon as he saw me, he pointed the camera in my direction. So now there's about 15 seconds of footage of a bideshi looking like a deer in headlights on that couple's wedding tape. Anyway, my host brother hadn't eaten yet, so we went to another food tent. I didn't want to go because I had eaten and I knew if I sat down in the food tent I would get food. But there was nothing I could do, so I just rolled with it. You do that a lot in Bangladesh.

Well after my second supper (around 11 pm), we went back to the ceremony again. We left soon after to go to the place I ate my first supper. This is where the actual ceremony would take place. On the way we got some paan, which I tried for the first time. It consists of a betel leaf with areca nut inside. Didn't really like it very much. I suppose its an acquired taste.

We waited for a while then we heard the band coming in the distance. We walked to the entrance and saw the groom being carried on someones shoulder into the compound. The band was very loud but joyful. The ceremony continued under a similar little tent. At this place the bride was in a room with a bunch of other women (including my kaki-ma). At one point the bride and all the women started crying loudly. I don't know if they were genuinely sad or whether it was part of the ritual.

The bride, if you didn't guess already

I ended up leaving around 2 am. I didn't see the couple when they were actually married, but I was tired. Apparently the celebrations continued the next day. I'll try to upload a video I took. Pictures may say a thousand words, but words only tell half the story.

Garbage

2009-12-10T21:28:00.002-05:00

One of the first things I noticed when I arrived in Bangladesh is all the people and all the garbage. People are everywhere and their waste is too. A foreigner may see this situation and think "Wow, this is gross. Why don't they dispose of garbage properly here?" I admit I used to feel that way. But where will it go? There's no garbage collection service here, but even if there was it would probably end up being dumped in a river (a lot of it already is) or in a landfill (land is scarce in Bangladesh). A couple days after moving in with my host family I blew my nose with a Bashundhara (Kleenex to you). I asked my boudi where I should dispose of my soiled tissue. She walked over to the window, opened it, and told me to throw it out. So I did, and I still do. I can't yet bring myself to throw plastic out the window but I do toss biodegradable stuff out.

So this made me think a bit. I am certain that the people of Canada produce much more waste than the people of Bangladesh even though we're only a fifth of their population. The problem we have is we don't see it. We toss it in the garbage can, the bag is taken out, given to a sweaty guy in a big truck and dumped somewhere far out of sight and mind. What if our garbage service was cancelled and everyone had to toss all their waste out their windows? If we had to live with our garbage on our lawns and streets, would we use less?

Harvest and Cricket

2009-12-04T03:46:00.006-05:00

Its harvest time here so it feels right to have celebrated Thanksgiving last weekend. Slowly but surely the once lush, green rice paddies are turning brown and dry. Everyone gets in on the fun. I was biking through the village one day and I saw a group of kids playing in a big pile of straw much like Canadian kids would play in a big pile of leaves. A couple weeks ago I took this picture. There were probably 60 people working in this field at the same time. Many hands make light work I guess.

Cricket is a big deal here. Everyone loves it. I've been here 3 and a half months and I still haven't learned how to play, but it's on my to do list. On the weekend, any place where there is an open field you see people playing cricket. This morning I was on my bike and I saw 3 games in progress.

A few days ago I was biking back from AKB and I saw some people playing cricket in a recently harvested rice field. They were either quite good or no one had anything better to do because there was a pretty big crowd gathered. I was intrigued and so I decided to pull over and watch for a while. Well it seems like everyone else there thought the same thing about me and as soon as word spread that a bideshi was in attendance the game abruptly stopped so all the players could turn and stare at me. Pretty soon a crowd had gathered around me. I don't think there is any length of time that I could live here and not feel awkward in this situation. So I took some pictures answered a few questions and pedalled off.

So the moral of the story is this: I am more interesting than cricket.

Before the bideshi sighting

Pobitra

2009-12-01T22:11:00.002-05:00

About a month ago I visited some of MCC's projects in Mymensingh. When I got back I started writing a blog post about them, but I didn't have the right words to say, so I deleted the post. MCC is doing good work there and it makes me proud to be a part of this organization. Here's an article that says it better than I can.

http://www.mcc.org/stories/news/mcc-teaches-new-job-skills-former-sex-workers-bangladesh

Ben's Excellent Adventure or Thanksgiving and Eid part 2

2009-11-26T22:17:00.003-05:00

Well, yesterday was American Thanksgiving. Because the rest of the MCC team here are Americans, we had a little get together in Dhaka including real turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes etc. It really hit the spot, especially after my Excellent Adventure...

I got a pretty good start out of Bogra Thursday morning at 10:30. The 250 km trip is usually about 4.5 to 5 hours by bus. I wanted to come to Dhaka a bit early because I had some work to do at the office in the afternoon. I also wanted to give myself some extra time in case traffic was bad because Eid al-Adha is on Saturday. I assumed that most of the traffic would be coming out of Dhaka because everyone will be going to their home villages in the country. The going was good for the first 3 hours or so until we hit traffic about 50 km outside of Dhaka. Basically, it was stop and go for that final stretch. So I didn't make it before the office closed at 5:30, nor did I make it to the 7:00 meal. I finally arrived at 9:30 after 11 hours on the bus. There was still food for me and it was delicious especially because I had only eaten a packet of potato crackers and a soggy shingara (samosa) since breakfast at 8:00 am. I don't think I have been more thankful for a Thanksgiving meal.

I was blessed to have a good seat mate, Rashed, to talk to on my journey. He spoke good English so we could hold a meaningful conversation. He was a "pious" (his word) Muslim, wearing a prayer cap, beard and panjabi. He told me about Islam, Eid al-Adha, his job, ambitions and goals. The conversation was a bit one sided which was fine for me because I'm a better listener than talker. I think he might have been subtly trying to convert me, but I was just happy to learn about his religion. I can share with you about this Eid too, now from a primary source instead of good ol' wikipedia.

Eid al-Adha is the Festival of Sacrifice. This year it falls on Saturday. The festival commemorates the day God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son and Abraham's willingness to do so. So on Saturday cows and goats will be sacrificed to represent the ram God gave to Abraham to sacrifice instead. The practice is for Muslim families (that can afford an animal) to give one third of the meat to the poor, one third to neighbours and to keep one third for themselves. No poor person is to go without food for the 3 day celebration.

There you have it. My Thanksgiving story. I made a friend and had a good meal. Overall, I think it was a good day.

Chickens are dumb

2009-11-21T21:20:00.007-05:00

Maybe you already knew this, but chickens really aren't intelligent animals. They may fool you; the way they strut around pecking stuff, or how you can enter a barn silently and they all immediately acknowledge your presence. I have stumbled across this nugget of information as I bike through the villages almost everyday. While on these bike rides, I encounter many animals: goats, cows, sheep, dogs, ducks, geese but chickens are the dumbest of them all. I can be biking along and I see a chicken on the side of the road walking the same direction as me. As soon as I get close, I put my hands on the brakes because I know what's coming. The stupid chicken is not going to keep walking, nor is it going to move further off the road. No, its going to wait till the last second then run right in front of my bike. Sometimes they get in front and just keep running like I'm chasing it! I fear one day I'll actually hit one and I'll feel really bad because chickens are valuable here. So to all you vegetarians who disapprove of the killing of chickens, I tell you this: those chickens are going to die anyway because they're really dumb.

I wonder what this chicken is thinking? Oh yeah, nothing.

Ekhon ami shusto

2009-11-15T23:22:00.005-05:00

Now I'm healthy (ekhon ami shusto). I was fine by yesterday afternoon. I just thought I should let you know.

This morning I ate ruti (flat bread) and dal (curried lentils) for breakfast. My little host nephew Piyash was eating his dal from a little bowl. I said, "Do you like dal Piyash?" He just turned to me with a huge smile and a face covered in dal. He is the cutest little guy. Here's a picture of him with my hat (sans dal).

Ektu oshusto...

2009-11-14T23:58:00.003-05:00

It seems about once a month I get ektu oshusto (a little sick). It doesn't involve a fever or vomiting, just some stomach pains and "loose movements". Right now is one of those times. Even though it is not a big problem, the last place I want to be is in Bangladesh. The little everyday annoyances get that much more frustrating. I suppose its just a psychological thing. Last night I went to bed happy and contented ready for a new day. This morning I woke up and went to the latrine twice within the hour. I was feeling better by the time I got to the office so I decided to bike out to the AKB to do some work. By the time I got there the bumpy roads had jostled my aching stomach around and I didn't feel well. I did a bit of work but not as much as I had planned. The bike ride back wasn't fun. My stomach was churning and I only seemed to see the worst side of Bangladesh: open sewers, garbage, big diesel trucks belching at me. So now I'm back at the office, hoping I will feel better soon. I think my Pepto will help.

Some things I'm doing...

2009-11-08T03:21:00.006-05:00

I think I should say something about my job, since I left you hanging on my first post in June. My job description is becoming more clear as time moves on. I am a program assistant for REAP (Research Extension and Activities Partners) and that means I can do pretty much anything that tickles my fancy. REAP is an MCC program based in Bogra and currently it has projects on HIV/AIDS education and awareness, peace education, livestock research, agricultural research, and appropriate technology development. So far my work has mostly been with the last two things.

There are 5 bideshis (foreigners) in Bogra including me. Nate and Daniel are engineers for the appropriate technology program. Phil is a socio-economist and Jodi works with the livestock program. Nate, Daniel and Phil are currently living outside Bogra at the new model homestead called Adarsho Kamar Bari (AKB). Basically this is the place where the appropriate technology research happens. I've been doing some work out there with the "living machine". The living machine is basically a method of purifying wastewater by emulating a natural wetland ecosystem. The water passes through a series of aerobic and anaerobic tanks where a whole host of bacteria breakdown the solid waste. The final four tanks are all aerobic (oxygen requiring) and open air. In these, plants and fish can live and help to purify the water. We're still in the early stages, seeing if this will work. I still need to go out and do some tests on the water (pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrates etc.), but today I planted some tomatoes on styrofoam rafts in the water. Hopefully there's enough nitrate and micronutrients in the water for the plants to survive.

I'm also doing some work on an Analog Forestry Data

base. This is basically a lot of research and data inputing. It's far from complete, but you can see it here: mccb.org/analogforestry

I have a few other ideas for urban gardening that I'm planning, but you'll have to wait to hear about that because this post is already too long.

AKB House

Workshop

Living Machine (last 4 tanks)

My tomatoes

Just so you know I'm still completely normal.

Ben

Wisdom from Rock

2009-10-29T12:13:00.004-04:00

Those of you who know me may be aware that I enjoy classic rock. Today I was traveling from Bogra to Dhaka and I was listening to Jimi Hendrix on my iPod. Some of the lyrics are trippy and weird, but some of them were really quite profound and seemed to apply to my life. So I thought I'd write a blog about it. I've heard from a bunch of people that they enjoy reading this blog and I kind of like updating it, so here we go.

"A rolling stone gathers no moss."
- Jimi Hendrix from "Highway Chile"

At SALT orientation, we were asked "why are you doing SALT?" and then the follow up, "why are you really, really doing SALT?". It was kind of hard for me to answer as there seemed to be a lot of reasons. However I think I realized that my main reason was because I wanted to experience something new and out of the ordinary. I've enjoyed the past two years at university and have made a bunch of friends that I now miss dearly, but I felt like the more comfortable I got, the more uncomfortable I became, if that makes any sense. I felt the need to do something different. Is this selfish? SALT stands for SERVING and LEARNING TOGETHER. I really truthfully am interested in serving and learning and I hope I am doing that (I already have learned a ton), but I am very thankful for a change of scenery. All that to say I think it's important to be a rolling stone sometimes because if enough moss gathers, you may become stuck. This quote also relates to my spiritual journey over the past few years. I've been trying my best to live an "examined life" of which a big part is my faith. I find it's easy to be bogged down in everything ordinary and everyday and when that happens, I seem to lose sight of what really matters. I feel the need to constantly restate to myself what I believe, and I find that it's always changing.

Well, I hope this rambling was somewhat coherent.

Ben

"Walk on brother, don't let no one stop you."

My Life Flows On

2009-10-27T03:18:00.001-04:00

October is almost over, and the past month has seen many changes in my life. I've moved to a new town, started a new job, lived with a new family and set a new routine. Sometimes changes can be overwhelming. I haven't really felt that yet (maybe I'm not easily overwhelmed) but still it hasn't been easy. Before I left Akron, I wrote down one of my favourite hymns in my journal. There are a lot of great ones, but this one I am especially fond of, particularly when many changes are happening around me. I think nowadays hymns don't get the respect they deserve, especially in the younger generation (dang kids). I would take any hymn over contemporary worship music any day. This is a beautiful song. The lyrics are below. The tune is probably familiar to those of you who have spent a significant amount of time in a Mennonite church.

My life flows on in endless song,
Above Earth's lamentation
I catch the sweet, though far off hymn
That hails a new creation.

Refrain
No storm can shake my inmost calm,
While to that rock I'm clinging
Since Love is Lord of heav'n and Earth,
How can I keep from singing?

Through all the tumult and the strife,
I hear that music ringing
It finds an echo in my soul.
How can I keep from singing?

Refrain

What though my joys and comforts die?
The Lord my Saviour liveth
What though the darkness gather round?
Songs in the night he giveth

Refrain

The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart,
A fountain ever springing
All things are mine since I am His!
How can I keep from singing?

My New Family

2009-10-22T06:28:00.002-04:00

A few days ago I moved in with my new host family. As I mentioned before they are Hindu. The family consists of Swapan (pronounced: Show-pon), his wife Moli, son Piyash and Swapan's mother and father. There are two young men that live with them (though I don't think they're related). The first is named Pintu and he owns a small photo/cellphone top-up shop. I would say he's about 25 years old. The other is also named Swapan and he is a university student. My house is near a river on the outskirts of Bogra in a Hindu community.

It's easy to tell that family is very important in Bangladesh. It is common for parents to live with their sons when they get old. Every relation has a different name in Bangla. For example, there is a different word for your older brother's wife and your younger brother's wife. You don't call your father's older brother the same name as your father's younger brother. In Bangladesh you never call anyone older than you by their first name. I call Swapan Swapan-da where the da is for respect. I call his wife Boudi (older brother's wife). I call his father kaka (uncle) and his mother kaki-ma (auntie). My Bangla teacher gave me a list of all the names for family members and it is one and a half pages long. Hindus and Christians use the same titles but Muslims have an entirely different set. This means a lot of confusion for me.

A couple nights ago I went to kaki-ma's mother's (my didi) house for a birthday celebration. A little boy was turning one and I forget his relation to kaki-ma (maybe great-nephew?). It is a big family and I was introduced to a lot of people and I remember absolutely no names or anyone's title. I hope this doesn't come back to haunt me. Anyway, in Bengali fashion they fed me a lot of food. To start I had pouri (puffy flat bread), shobji torkari (vegetable curry) and dal (lentils). Then I had more. Then I had some mishti (very sweet things made from milk and a lot of sugar). I also had more of that. Then they fed me payes, which is a very sweet, milky rice pudding. Believe it or not I also had a second helping of that. To top it off I was given a Bengali version of Red Bull, called Royal Tiger. By the end of it I was pretty wired. All the food was very good though. I suppose I've been lucky so far. I seem to like everything I've eaten. Except burnt fish paste. That was gross.

I was asked dozens of times "where is your country?" and "are you married?" Standard questions for bideshis (foreigners). In the middle of all this, eating, trying to converse in Bangla between mouthfuls of food, I realized I can never fit in here. It isn't possible for me to be a Bangladeshi. Even if I lived my entire adult life here I would still be a bideshi. However, that doesn't mean I can't try.

Thanksgiving

2009-10-13T06:12:00.002-04:00

Another Thanksgiving has passed and I think it is the first in my life that I have not had any kind of celebration. Needless to say, I kind of missed it. I suppose a common Thanksgiving tradition is to say some things you're thankful for, so here goes:

the opportunity to live in Bangladesh this year
a new host family (I have not yet moved in)
an increasing knowledge of Bangla
friends and family
my first piece of mail (which I received Thanksgiving Day)
my first piece of mail (feel free to take the hint)

The list could go on, but I think I'll stop it there.

I am still doing language study, now 4 days per week. I've also been getting some Bangla script lessons which is quite interesting. It's funny learning a language from the ground up. I suppose that's what it's like for children, stuttering along with a limited vocabulary. Learning to read again brings back a few distant memories of "sounding it out" and a sense of accomplishment when I can read and understand a big word. Today I read বাংলাদেশ (Bangladesh). Maybe soon I can start on some children's books!

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

Ben

Bogra

2009-10-08T01:10:00.005-04:00

I have been living in Bogra for the past 4 days now. This is where I will be based for the rest of my term. I haven't been here long but I already prefer it here over Dhaka. It's cleaner, quieter and smaller: more like what I've grown up with. I have been living at the Bogra guesthouse with the three other Bogra MCC workers, Nate, Phil and Daniel. On Sunday I will move in with my new host family! I am looking forward to that but also a little nervous as well. I'm sure they'll be great. I don't know much about them except that they're Hindu which is pretty cool. My family in Dhaka was Christian so my entire family experience in Bangladesh will be with minority groups which is interesting.

So the Bogra office takes up the first two floors of an apartment building with the guesthouse taking the other two. The fifth floor goes out to the roof where there is a small building used for staff trainings. I have a desk on the second floor. It looks like this:
I've never had a desk at a place of employment before, so I feel pretty qualified now.

I suppose you're all wondering what my work is. That's a good question. I met with my boss Mohkles on my first day here and he said I will have quite a lot of freedom in my work. This can obviously be a good or bad thing depending on whether you are a good self directed worker. It looks like my work may be involving rooftop gardens/anything that interests me. Hopefully I'll update you later when I make a more clear plan.

A couple days ago I went out with Phil for my first Banladeshi haircut which turned out better than expected. The haircut cost less than 50 cents and even included an upper body massage. After cutting my hair the guy proceeded to massage my scalp which felt good. He than started rubbing my hair around which kind of hurt. Then was the shoulders and upper back. I wondered if I should ask him to stop because he obviously wasn't a professional and he was a bit aggressive. But I didn't mostly because I was curious how far he'd go. He massaged my back while I was sitting in the chair leaning forward which bucked me around a bit. Then he massaged my arms which involved a somewhat painful Indian Sunburn. He shook them around a bit and jerked them up to pop the socket. He also cracked my fingers for me. All in all it was the most interesting haircut I've ever had. You can judge for yourself on the quality.
Take care.

Ben

Good News

2009-10-01T23:29:00.004-04:00

I figured I owed you another update, so here it is. I have confirmation that I will be heading to Bogra on the 4th. I am excited for that. They also might've found a host family for me too. Also, my work permit has come through and I've been told it is very likely that my visa will be extended too. If you're unaware, the visa I got before coming was only good for 3 months. Swapan in the Dhaka office has been working on getting me a one year visa so I don't have to leave the country every 3 months. Things seem to be falling more or less into place.

I also suppose to be fair, I also owe you a wikipedia account of Durga Puja. Last Monday I went to my Bangla teacher's house for lunch. Afterwards he took me to a Puja. Durga Puja is a Hindu festival named after the goddess Durga. Durga has ten arms and you might've seen pictures of her before. The festival also includes the gods Shiva, Lakshmi, Ganesha, Saraswati and Kartikeya. The Puja is a clay statue depicting all these gods and is usually set-up at the front of a large room or tent. After the 5 day festival the Puja is thrown in the nearest river. Apparently in Bangladesh Durga Puja is a big festival and often observed by people that aren't Hindu. I suppose it's kind of like Christmas in North America. The day I went was the last day of the festival, so everything was winding down, but I took some pictures anyway.

Have a good one.

Ben

Ramadan and Eid ul-Fitr

2009-09-24T04:25:00.004-04:00

As most of you probably know, Bangladesh is a predominantly Muslim country with about 88% of Bangladeshis identifing themselves as Muslim. Bangladesh is though, a secular state and does not practice Islamic law (Shari'a) as part of its government and judicial system. Still, five times a day you will hear the call to prayers echoing throughout the streets of Dhaka. I really like the call to prayers. They can be annoying if you get woken up at 4:30 am, but you get used to it. I think Arabic is a very beautiful language especially when sung in a prayer.

The past month has been Ramadan, the 9th month of the Muslim calendar. I have done some researching and learning about Ramadan and the festival Eid ul-Fitr and I would like to share some with you. Naturally I used the most comprehensive research tool for a basic understanding of any topic under the sun: Wikipedia. One more benefit to not being in university this year.

Ramadan is a special month as it is a time of fasting. It is similar to Lent though much more intense and widely practiced. Everyday for one month Muslims around the world refrain from eating, smoking, unnecessary frivolities and even drinking water from sunrise to sundown. They are expected to give the extra money that they save on food to the poor. This month is supposed to be a time to purify oneself and become closer to God by getting rid of unwanted distractions. Ramadan is also the month where God revealed the first verses of the Qur'an to the prophet Muhammad. In Bangladesh I don't imagine many people refrain from drinking water because you would likely die especially if you do work outside.

Eid ul-Fitr (called Rojar Eid in Bangladesh) is a festival marking the end of Ramadan. This year Eid was celebrated on Monday the 21st and the two days following. Eid also marks the time when the angel Gabriel came from heaven to give white clothes to Muhammad's grandchildren. For Bangladeshis it is a family celebration. For the past week Dhaka has been unusually quiet as half the population has left for the villages. Many people will stay on vacation until next week because Durga Puja (a Hindu holiday) falls very close to Eid this year. So the usual traffic jams are no more for awhile just as I finished my daily commute across the city last week. Oh well...

So all that brings me to what I was planning on writing all along. On Monday night I was invited to an Eid meal at the home of Sagar (last name I don't know). Sagar works in the MCC Dhaka office. He lives on the top floor of an apartment building in Old Dhaka and therefore has a great view across the city from his terrace. He also has a very cute 8 month old son. For supper we ate special rice. It is smaller and has a more distinct flavour than the everyday stuff. On the rice we had chicken and beef curry with some kind of pickled mango on the side. Everything was very delicious and once again it was "suggested" by my host that I eat a lot. I was fit to burst after the first course but in a minor plot twist it was revealed that we still had dessert to tackle. We ate a special Eid dessert that is unique to south Asia. It is called shemai and consists of skinny egg noodles in a pan baked with raisins, milk and a whole lot of sugar. The end result is a brown product resembling a large birds nest. I quite enjoyed it. By the time we finished dessert I was really full and ready to fight anyone who said otherwise.

All in all, I had a good evening. A good chuck of Sagar's family was there: his wife and son, two aunts, one uncle, one young cousin, his mom and his grandmother. The aunt without the corresponding uncle is living in Regina, SK where the rest of her family currently is. She is visiting Bangladesh for a few weeks. As is custom in Bangladesh I wore a panjabi like I mentioned in my previous post. I also promised a picture, so here it is:

Also, some pictures from Sagar's terrace:

The buildings may appear to be touching, but actually there are very narrow roads between them. Eid Mubarak and Happy Durga Puja!

Ben

The Weekend

2009-09-20T04:08:00.002-04:00

I had a good weekend. I didn't necessarily do a whole lot, but it was good. For those of you who may be reading this on Sunday morning in Canada, I am not losing it. The weekend in Bangladesh is Friday and Saturday so Sunday is a weekday.

On Friday evening I was asked to speak at my host family's church. The church is held in an apartment on the bottom floor of our building (NOT the aforementioned Genetic Rhyme as my misleading caption lead some people to believe). There are ~15 members. It was my first sermon and it was translated by my host brother Sagar. I kind of like being translated like that when I'm giving a speech/sermon because it gives me a good excuse to choose my words carefully. I say a sentence, it gets rendered into Bangla and in the meantime I can think of my next sentence without any awkward silences. So that was good.

I did a little music exchange with my host brothers. I got a USB thumb drive and put some of my English music on it to give to Sagar (pronounced Sha-gur) and Saikat (pronounced Shoi-kot). Michael Jackson for Sagar, Linkin Park for Saikat, two of my favourite Beatles albums (Abbey Road and Rubber Soul if you must know) and of course "War" by Edwin Starr. They returned the favour with some of their most loved Bangla artists. That was also good.

Last night (Saturday) they had a special meal for me as it was my last supper with them. We had egg soup to start followed by a heaping bowl of chicken biryani and cold Coke for dessert. My host mother Laizu told me straight up that she will know I like her special cooking if I eat a lot. So I obliged. It was my first taste of Coke in Bangladesh and wouldn't you know it tastes the same! That's one of the wonders about Coke: from a tiny village in Africa to a mega city in Asia and everywhere in between you're never far from a cold Coke. And it tastes (pretty much) the same anywhere you go. I'm sure some may be quick to inform me of the evils of giant multinational corporations such as Coca-Cola and their dubious business practices, but I don't care it's still pretty amazing to me. So I said goodbye this morning and said I would try to visit again sometime. All that was good too.

Now I'm at the MCC Guesthouse where I will live once again until I leave for Bogra in October. I have been invited to an Eid party tomorrow night and so today I bought a panjabi, traditional formal dress for men. I promise to upload some pictures when I have them.

Ben

Time flies

2009-09-16T05:21:00.004-04:00

As of tomorrow I will have been in Bangladesh for one month. It doesn't feel like it's been that long. On Sunday I say goodbye to my host family for the past month. Originally the plan was for me to go up to Bogra next week, however that has changed slightly so instead I will move to Bogra during the first week of October. I will live at the MCC guesthouse in Dhaka for 2 weeks before I head north. I don't have a whole lot to report. I am trying my best to learn Bangla. I've been told by both my teachers that I am a fast learner, so that is encouraging when I still feel somewhat helpless in expressing myself. It's strange going from a country where I can perfectly explain any complex thought or opinion I might have, to a place where it takes concentration to say where I'm from, where I live or what I'm doing in Bangladesh. I did a rough estimate recently and my vocabulary seems to be around 300 words. It'll come.

My day to day life hasn't changed much since my earlier update My Commute. I did take a picture today that I hadn't before. Every morning I walk by freshly slaughtered cows and soon-to-be slaughtered cows on my way to the bus stop.
I apologize to the faint of heart. Lucky for you a rickshawalla walked in front of (most of) the cow being gutted just as I was taking the photo. Today must've been a special day because there were two cows already dead and an unprecedented five waiting in line. Usually there's only 3 or 4 total. Its funny how something so different than what I'm used to can become normal so fast. I don't bat an eye anymore when I see the butcher cutting up a cow in the mud on the side of the road. When you think about it, this is probably more sanitary than the industrial slaughterhouses in Canada. I would imagine when one man kills and cleans an animal by hand there is much less chance of contamination than a mechanized mass killing and cleaning operation. Anyway, enough of that topic.

One last story I want to share. Last night I was sitting up to supper with my family. My host dad Nekbar is a funny guy. He doesn't speak much English so the majority of our conversation is in Bangla. We were having hard-boiled eggs in a curry sauce. Pointing to an egg, he said, "Eta ki?" (what is this?). He likes to test my Bangla, so I replied "Ota dim." (that's an egg.) He said, "Nah, eta murgi har na." (No, it's boneless chicken.) I laughed for a while and it felt good.

Ben

My host family: Nekbar, Laizu and their son Sagar (two years younger than me). They have another son (Shiakat) who is my age and currently at university.

Septembers past

2009-09-09T05:16:00.002-04:00

It is now September and everyone's going back to school, except me. It's a strange feeling. This is the first September in 15 years that I will not be heading off to any formal education. In a way it's a relief, to get away from school for awhile. But I find myself missing it. A few days ago I had a hankering for some organic chemistry. Yes the devil itself. I don't know what to make of that. Anyway, good luck to everyone who is heading off to or is already in school. Have a great year.

Ben

Foreign to Familiar

2009-09-03T06:34:00.004-04:00

The title of this blog may remind fellow SALTers/MCC service workers of a nice little book we were asked to read before starting our assignment. This post has nothing to do with that book.

Last night I was in my room reading a book and listening to my iPod. My host brother Sagur comes by and asks if he can see my iPod. I said sure and I gave him a headphone and asked him to pick a song. He goes straight to the Michael Jackson. He seems to like MJ and "soft" music in general. So next I played him "Golden Slumbers" by the Beatles and I said that they're my favourite band. We go back and forth a bit, playing songs we like. I played some of UW's own Waterboys which he seemed to like a lot. The next song I played was "War" by Edwin Starr. I thought it would be quite different from anything he'd ever heard: some African-American funk/soul from the '70s. As soon as I played the song he burst out laughing. He said he recently saw the movie Rush Hour and so he pictures Jackie Chan singing along to this song in a funny Chinese accent. This caught me off guard: something I figured would be so foreign turned out to be very familiar to him

It's funny how things happen like that, when you least expect it. I apologize for those unfamiliar with "War" or Rush Hour. I hope I haven't wasted your time. Maybe this will help a bit.

Enjoy!

Ben

My Commute

2009-08-27T02:47:00.005-04:00

This past week I have been attending Bangla language classes on the other side of Dhaka. I travel by city bus both directions with two rickshaw rides in the middle. The trip costs just over a dollar.

As you know from my last post, Dhaka is a vibrant city full of people. It is the most densely populated city in the world and I've heard estimates of the population as anywhere from 12 to 18 million. It's amazing how people can fit into an area a quarter the size of Toronto. So the pictures you see below are raw Dhaka, bursting with people. It's a small glimpse into everyday life here and of my commute to and from school.

My bus

Live chickens. This man was carrying about 40.

Apartment buildings are the way to go.

A logical place for an A&W.

Bus stand

Train tracks are pretty much a road

Pineapples!

"Yes, I live at apartment B6, Genetic Rhyme."

Janjot! (Traffic jam) A very common occurrence in these parts.

Bangladesh Air Force

This meat shop has a very distinct aroma.

My apartment building

The mosque that wakes me up far too early, especially now during Ramadan.

Well, that's it. I hope you have enjoyed the pictures. They took a long time to upload. Now I expect you all to be able to live vicariously through me.

Love,
Ben

Mailing Address

2009-08-22T05:05:00.003-04:00

Just thought I'd let you know where to mail letters should you choose to write them.

Ben Reesor
MCC Bangladesh
G.P.O. Box 785
Dhaka 1000
BANGLADESH

This will be my mailing address for the whole year.

Ben

An Explosion of the Senses

2009-08-20T04:14:00.005-04:00

That's the best way I can describe my thoughts every time I walk out the door in Bangladesh. Every sense is experiencing something new at exactly the same time. This picture captures only the sights of Dhaka and certainly does not do the full experience justice. There is a constant busyness. People are always bustling about and on the move. Today I took a walk out to Asad Gate which is about a 10 minute walk from where I'm staying. Even though I had been out that way a few days ago with Phil, everything seemed different and new today, almost unrecognizable.

I have had a fair bit of free time and I have spent a lot of it reading and studying Bangla. I finished A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. It was a very good book and I would recommend it to anyone. It is set in India mostly during the '70s during a time when the country was in a lot of turmoil. It is very sad but well written.

I do enjoy getting out and walking around Mohammadpur. Yesterday I decided to take a walk to the market. On my way there I was stopped by a man who greeted me like an old friend. He then proceeded to ask me if I could help him obtain a visa to Australia so he could visit his brother. I told him I was from Canada and had no experience in this matter. I did tell him he should talk to the Australian embassy. He asked me to write some talking points for him as to what he should say when he got there. I told him to explain why he wants to visit Australia and to give his brother's address. He said he does not know it and sounded to me from his explanation that his brother was an illegal immigrant. I highly doubt he will be granted a visa, but I was happy to help him.

Bangladesh is a very interesting place and I like it already.

Ben

P.S. I took this picture while exploring Gulshan 2 (a region of Dhaka) with Phil. This was in a grocery store and I thought it was kind of funny.

How many brands of "Corn Flakes" can you see?

Small town America to big city Asia

2009-08-18T00:13:00.004-04:00

I'm in Bangladesh! I arrived safe and sound yesterday at 10:15 am local time after a grueling 34 hours spent in transit. Lets just say Dhaka is significantly different than Akron.

Boy howdy! It's a car!

Mohammadpur market

I don't have a great picture of traffic here yet, but it sure makes your commute more interesting. Yesterday I was given a tour of the Mohammadpur district of Dhaka by Phil, an MCC service worker that lives in Bogra where I will be in a month. I was feeling very tired by about 5:00 and Phil was kind enough to make me some extra strong coffee. That was able to keep me conscious until I went out for supper with Phil and Joyce, an MCC Dhaka worker living at the guesthouse. I had some traditional Bengali food which was very good. I am looking forward to eating it more (we'll see where I stand on that in a few months). We also rode by rickshaw, a very common mode of transportation here. I use "very" in the strongest sense of the word because I have not seen a stretch of road in this city yet without at least one rickshaw driving along. I have my first Bangla lesson tomorrow and I move in with my host family in a couple days. I look forward to learning some Bangla because then I'll feel at bit less helpless in navigating the city. I have already started learning a few words and phrases. A common greeting is asalaam aleykum, which is actually Arabic and means peace be with you. Another greeting used mostly by Christians and Hindus is namaskar which is often accompanied by a small bow with clasped hands. Well I can't think of much more to write about. It looks like I'll have fairly regular internet access in Dhaka, so hopefully I'll be able to update this blog when there's something interesting to write about.

Ben

Traveling

2009-08-16T13:16:00.006-04:00

Traveling is fun and exciting, but also boring at times, like right now. I am currently sitting in Dubai International Airport in, you guessed it, Dubai. I have just entered hour 3 of a 7 hour layover, my last one before getting to Bangladesh. My first thoughts upon entering terminal 3 was how huge this place is. A quick google search confirmed my belief: Dubai's terminal 3 is the largest building in the world by floor space measuring at 16,100,000 square feet. I've spent most of my time wandering the concourse. It takes about 20 minutes to walk from one end to the other. I was also around in time for the evening call to prayers, which was a pleasant surprise. Here are some pictures:

Lamborghini Gallardo. This is what I use to transport my luggage around the airport.

An endless line of gates. I'm at 220.

The last half of orientation was good. We had some blunt but oddly comforting discussions. One session Eva said straight up that there will be a point in our term where we want nothing more than to come home. Usually that happens in the first 2 or 3 months. At first I got kind of nervous, but then I calmed myself. I have been preparing for this for half a year. I have thought of this before. I understand that it won't be easy, but that's why I'm doing it.

It was weird saying goodbye to the other SALTers. MCC tries really hard to get us connected to each other, and I did make some friends, but we were still only together for a week (I think Kim's analogy is a good way to describe it). Basically all you can say is, "Well, see you in a year! Good luck!", and then go your separate ways.

Ben

Akron

2009-08-10T07:57:00.009-04:00

For the past day and a half I've been at orientation at the MCC headquarters in Akron, PA. It's been great to meet the SALTers, IVEPers and YAMEN!ers. I'm staying in Asia House, one of 4 continent themed guesthouses on the MCC campus. The first person I met in Asia House was an IVEPer from Cambodia named Pheakday Tim. Turns out he'll be living in Stouffville and working at Willowgrove Farm. He is eager to learn more about Stouffville and who his host family will be, so if anyone has more information on that, it would be appreciated. The MCC campus is very nice and is set up like a small village. I've put up some pictures. I hope you enjoy them.

Guestbooks are fun.

Ben

(Less than) 2 days...

2009-08-05T16:46:00.002-04:00

It's hard to believe that I leave my home and native land on Friday. I will be traveling to Akron, Pennsylvania for a week long orientation with fellow SALTers, IVEPers and YAMEN!ers. I leave for Bangladesh the 15th. My flight path is as follows (in case you're curious): Philadelphia to New York, New York to Dubai and Dubai to Dhaka. I'll be in the air for about 20 hours and assuming all planes are on time, I will arrive in Bangladesh 28 hours after leaving Philadelphia. Bangladesh is 11 hours ahead of EST, so I will be arriving on August 17th at 9:40 am. I don't know if anyone reading this really cares much, but I'm just really excited so I like to talk about it. If you're in the Stouffville area and you haven't had a chance to say goodbye, there is an open invitation to stop by my house tomorrow night. There should be iced tea and lemonade (while supplies last).

Ben

Fundraiser

2009-07-09T19:40:00.000-04:00

Last Friday Addison, Kim and I had our fundraiser. We had good music, good food and a good time. Here are some pictures:

Thanks to all for coming!

My Blog

2009-06-25T19:37:00.003-04:00

Welcome to my blog. As you can see this is my first post. A lot of people have been asking me if I'll keep a blog while I'm away in Bangladesh. I have consistently promised that I would and now I am carrying out that covenant.

In case you don't know, I am taking a year off school to participate in Mennonite Central Committee's Serving and Learning Together (SALT) program. This year there are 60 participants from Canada and the US that have been placed in jobs in over 30 countries around the world. SALT is a year long program, and jobs come from a wide range of fields including teaching, child care, health care and technology.

I will be spending the next year in Bogra, a town located in the north-west region of Bangladesh. I will be working for MCC with an appropriate technology program called REAP (I don't know what the acronym stands for). My job description:

The MCC Bangladesh REAP program is working with 18 partner organizations, mostly nongovernmental organizations, to improve the food security of the rural poor of Bangladesh. Most of the partners are located in the northwestern part of Bangladesh and are involved in micro credit. Through the partnerships, REAP helps build the capacities of these partner organizations, particularly in the area of agriculture (crop, vegetable, livestock and fish). A model farmstead is being built that will address many aspects of rural living, including gardening, food preservation, lighting, cooking, animal husbandry, etc. A new Appropriate Technology Center is also being developed to be attached to the farmstead. The SALTer will be charged with assisting with research, implementation, extension and training associated with bringing new ideas and old ideas to the Partners who in turn will extend it to farmers in the region. This person will work directly with REAP staff, Partners and the people. This first hand experience of working in the community provides the person in this position a unique opportunity to learn about the life of rural Bangladeshi people and the poor being served by MCC.

The description seems extensive, but I really don't know what to expect. Once I am in Bangladesh I will hopefully gain a better idea of what I'll be doing and I will be sure to post as I learn more.

It seems that time is flying by. I leave the country August 8th for a week of orientation in Akron, Pennsylvania. I leave the continent August 15th. Everything is happening fast. It seems like I still have lots of paperwork to do before I go. So many small little things nagging me. This past Tuesday, I got to meet the other SALTers from Ontario. We met at the MCC Ontario offices in Kitchener. It was really great to meet everyone. We will see each other again at orientation.

The SALTers and their countries are (from left to right): Kendra (South Africa), Kim (Bolivia), Iris (India), Katie (Chad), Simon (Lesotho), myself and Adrienne (Bolivia). Absent: Yolanda (Rwanda). Thanks to Kendra for the picture.

Well I have written a lot. More than I thought I would. Hope you have enjoyed it. One more thing. If you are interested in supporting me financially, I am having a joint fundraiser with Kim Walker at Willowgrove Farm in Markham. The event is on July 3rd at 7:00 pm. There will be sweet corn, music, drama and (weather permitting) outdoor games. If you are reading these words now, you are invited. Feel free to invite your friends, neighbours, local grocers, fellow inmates, whatever. We would love your support.