Arrival

Hey,

I guess as my first real post this should be a really interesting one but unfortunately this will not be the case. I'm pretty tired and have a cold.

Arrived in Dhaka at 10ish yesterday after an arduous journey via Heathrow and Dubai..and a two hour wait for baggage we were met by VSO staff and transferred by bus to the main office. Immediately a few things hit you when you go outside of the airport: firstly you meet your first few beggers and secondly you only meet a small number of them because the rest of them are all outside of railings and being held back by the police/army. They were not very intimidating but it does feel odd to arrive in a country and to be immediately cut off from its people.

The trip to the office was however a great introduction to life in Bangladesh with noise, people and CNGs(gas fueled rickshaws)everywhere; buses crammed to the roof, traffic jams allowing opportunities for roadside beggars to approach and even at this stage in late January a sleep inducing heat. All of these details however combine to make for an extremely mental but energetic atmosphere.

Following an introduction and lunch at the office we moved into our temporary accommodation. It's a flat for 6 volunteers (all of whom have arrived yesterday)and it will be our home for the next month of training and language classes. While there is no hot water and electricity is touch and go, it's otherwise well equipped, spacious and in a safe neighborhood.

Undertook my first adventure last night as myself and Kevin (Scottish volunteer)set off in search of the other volunteers' house...we had a rough map but after one wrong turn we were completely lost...rickshaws everywhere with no lights whatsoever, 20 different people giving random directions like 'It's over there' while pointing to the sky!!!. Eventually we made it back to the flat but while the locals were not exactly gifted with directions (not helped by our complete lack of Bengali), we never once felt the slightest bit of aggression...may have something to do with the complete unavailability of alcohol. (needless to say we may be able to overcome that particular issue in due course).

Anyway, being a Friday and a Muslim country, today is a day-off (as is tomorrow, though apparently we'll be working Sundays...oh lord!) so been recovering from the jet-lag and a sticky Irish cold.

Overall, things going really well and happy to be here. A very poor, noisy and polluted country but other than that, it seems quite cool.

Til next week when I'll add some photos.

Michael