It's been ages - sorry.

Ok, so I am never sure how many people check in with this and I have been lazy the past two weeks, so not much has been going on anyways. A lot of time spent by the pool at the Canadian Club and the British Club. Unfortunately very little tan to show for it, as the heat is a little much to take without an umbrella. Anyways, update from this weekend. John and I headed to the Banga Bazaar with Ben (who also goes to Dal) and his friend Nadar (who is Bengali). Banga Bazaar is this crazy place where all the over-runs and flawed clothing is sold from the textiles market here. Early in my trip I realised that other natural disasters and transportation accidents, this is why we in the west should really know Bangladesh, so much of our clothes is made here. I bet you can find at least 10 articles of clothing in your wardrobe made here (girls it is really east - just look in your underwear drawer). Anyways, so Banga has everything and a ton of people to go along with it. The alleyways are tight, the air is sticky and the people are pushy - but their are great deals to be had. Because I was with three guys, somehow we started with looking for caps - all flexfit caps in the world are made here. I had to laugh because any hockey team you want, they have, any golf course, they have - there was even one from the Salty Dog Cafe in Hilton Head. After the hats, we hired a guy who will take you around to the stalls and help you bargain (I have to admit he was pretty good). If you say - I would like women's shorts, he will find them for you. So we started with the boys wanting dress shirts - Calvin Klein, H&M, Hugo Boss, you name it, it was there. Basically I got to follow the boys around while the ticked off their lists - they ended the day with caps, basketball shorts, dress shirts, t-shirts and the one Bangladeshi item - lungis (basically a sarong that is sewn in together, but you still tie it). Finally, I got to do some shopping and walked away with 3 shirts and a pair of shorts for under $6. Nice to have some western clothes to wear during my upcoming travels. Like I said before, lots of women's underwear is made here - I think all La Senza is from here. So you can go into these stalls and there are bags and bags of underwear. I couldn't bring myself to sort through them while and Bangladeshi guy was saying 'how about these', but Ben and John's girlfriends each have a new selection of underwear returning to Canada for them. Anyways, it was a really fun day and nice to have  Bangla speaker along (especially having him tell them to stop taking pictures with their mobiles). We headed to the club for a nice swim and some food. A really good day. 

Ok, so I officially have one week left before I am off to Nepal and I can't wait. As most of you know, things here haven't been perfect and I am looking forward to getting back to my backpacking ways. I also finally got my Chinese visa and so will be meeting Jim in Beijing in 16 days. Will definitely have updates for those. Plus, it is 3 weeks today that I will be back in Canada. Can't wait for Mom's food. 

3 days with the Imams in Sylhet

So I ended up not having to go into work at all this week. It was a holiday on Sunday and Monday I headed up to Sylhet with Junayed. Junayed is one of the program coordinators for the Leaders of Influence Program. They work with religious and community leaders to emphasize development projects and how these leaders can bring some of these projects to their communities. We were heading to Sylhet to the Imam Training Academy (ITA). I have to admit I was a little nervous as Sylhet is noted to be the most conservative area of the country. On Monday, we had a six hour drive which included driving through Srimangal, the tea growing area of Bangladesh. It was a funny moment when I first saw the hills. It hadn't occurred to me that I haven't actually seen any hills since I arrived here. Bangladesh is a super flat flood plain essentially. So that was beautiful. If you've never seen a tea garden, they are quite beautiful - very green, with these amazing rows that look kinda like a maze. When we arrived in Sylhet, Junayed had to go over to the ITA, so I hung out at the hotel. We went out for dinner, chicken kabab for me.Tuesday was my first day at the ITA. I had to cover, which made me a little uncomfortable and I was playing with the head scarf all the time. But the Director of the Academy was actually quite welcoming. Apparently 2 years ago, they had an American woman with them and they wouldn't even let her in the gate, so there has been a lot of progress. When we went into the big room where the sessions were held, it was very strange for me - 100 Imams and me. The Director introduced me and made a point of s

aying how nice it was that I was trying to wear Islamic dress. It seemed like every session he said something about this. I started to realise it was to encourage th

e Imams to accept having me there and to point out the fact that I was being respectful of their culture and traditions. I will say though, it was super hot. No AC and being completely covered. I had a few moments of 'get me out of this damn thing'. 

Anyways, the sessions we did the first day were a basic intro to the Foundation and USAID (who sponsors the program) and then a trip to a school to introduce the idea of pre-school and playing to learn instead of using a stick and a trip to a local clinic that focuses on women and children's health. I had to laugh at the Imams with the little kids at the school. I mean kids are kids and generally they don't care who is there, they will continue playing. The Imams kinda just stood there and ended up just being white pillars that the kids ran around without looking up. I went in and sat down with a group of the kids and of course they started interacting with me. Some of the Imams clicked that they were too tall and they needed to get to the kids level or they will just be ignored. It was like they had never been around kids before. 

Anyways, that night Junayed took me to the shrine of Hazrat Shah Jalal. 

He was the 14th century Sufi mystic who brought Islam to Bangladesh. Apparently he arrived on a magic carpet to save the people from the oppressive Hindu King. It is an impressive site, although I couldn't go see most of it being a woman and a foreign one at that. 

There are also these catfish that are apparently really important there, I just thought they were gross.  

Second day we drove back towards Srimangal to the Lowacherra Forest Reserve to teach the Imams about conservation. Now, in a country of

 160 million people smaller than New Brunswick, conservation isn't really high on the priority list. But this small reserve is trying. It is apparently home to gibbons (although I didn't see any), but there is also a group of natives that live there. Natives here really mean people who are more Southeast Asian in descent rather than subcontinent. There was a talk, which I had to leave because I was too hot. I went to sit in the AC of the van and take the head scarf off for a bit. We then went on a 'hike', which just about killed some of the Imams (most of them are overweight and obviously non of them exercise). 

We walked through a pineapple plantation and went up to the natives little village. Their main income comes from batal leaves. Apparently people just eat them here, I tried one but didn't like it. Their homes are obviously much more influenced by Southeast Asian culture, which was neat to see. They also were wearing much more practical clothing for the hot weather (they didn't have to cover up completely). After lunch (which I had to eat separately), there was a talk about wetland preservation, but I skipped out on that and hung out in the van. It was fascinating to realise that something that is so ingrained in us, is so new to them. 

I was shocked to see a few Imams just throw garbage on the ground, I mean even in a national reserve. Anyways, we stopped for some tea on the way back and then back to Syl

het. 

(that would be me fixing the head scarf, Junayed told me I was being a good Muslim woman and covering my face - thanks)

Final day had a session on safe migration (primarily for migrant workers) and a session on HIV/AIDS prevention. The Imams had to do action plans and then there was a bunch of little speeches (including one from me). I got to hand out some of the certificates (which apparently was a big deal according to Junayed). 

Then the director had us to his office for some fresh pineapple juice - yummy! A 6 hour drive back to Dhaka, although 2 hours of it was sitting in traffic in Dhaka. Met John and Derrick and some others for dinner at the American club and I have to say, it was so good to have some non-Bangladeshi food. Yesterday was a fairly uneventful lazy day, probably the same as today. The trip to Sylhet was definitely a highlight of my time here and I will say I am ready to get out of here. Three weeks left until Nepal and I can't wait. I am tired of the bugs and arguing with rickshaw drivers and am ready to be doing something different. But like I said, only 3 weeks left. 

A long weekend in Dhaka

So, it's a long weekend for us at the Asia Foundation. Because the Foundation is an American organization, we get a day off for independence day - too bad nobody else does. Anyways, it's been a good weekend. On Friday we packed up and moved to our new place. We are house sitting for the head of the Foundation here, while he and his family are on home leave in Canada. So we have a whole house to ourselves. It's pretty nice. Friday night we headed over to Andy's place to plan out the pub quiz that we are in charge of (we won the last one, so we have to set the next one). Andy had made chili, which was fantastic. It was a pretty fun evening with yummy food (including apple pie). Some Americans had fireworks a block away for July Fourth, so we got to watch those too. 

Yesterday I met Derrick and Sara and their daughter at the British High Commission for a morning swim. The BHC is so much better then the Canada Club (my on-going lament). Nice just to chill, but then it started to rain. I met up with John and Andy and we headed over to the Westin for a champagne lunch. Got in the car and their were two others, Jenny (who I've met) and an older man, Steve. Well, Steve and I had a nice chat and ended up sitting across from each other at lunch. So I chatted away with him over lunch. Finally, when everybody was getting ready to head out, Dawn says to me, do you know who he is...nope. He was the new British High Commissioner. Well I would have appreciated someone telling me that before. Anyways, he was really nice and it was nice to have him out with all of us younger folk. The rest of the afternoon was spent at Jenny's and then headed home to watch a movie. Todays plan is the Canadian Club for a run and a swim. 

Tomorrow I am heading up to Sylhet with the Leaders of Influence Programs. It is an Imam training session that I will be attending. Junyed (from the Foundation) was telling me this is probably the most conservative Imam training academy in the country, so it should be fairly interesting. I will try to get pictures...until next time.