Off to Kushtia

Tuesday 15th July 2003

Bangla classes are finished, the induction programme's complete, so tomorrow the adventure starts for real- leaving at about 7 a.m to go to Kushtia. Will get a lift in a VSO vehicle, so fortunately I won't have to negotiate my belongings on and off a bus, and it also means I shouldn't get lost en route... I'm really looking forward to seeing my new home, but also feeling a bit nervous as to how my Bangla will stand up to my first day at work. Just going to smile, put on my best Salwar Kameez and go for it!

So today is mostly packing, getting a few supplies that may not be available in Kushtia and raiding the library at VSO for a couple of months worth of books. Have had a couple of relaxing days since induction finished- sat by the pool at the BHAGA club yesterday, and our induction group went out for a 'final meal' last night at a Thai restaurant which was excellent. On Friday we held a surprise birthday party at our flat for Bjart- and amazingly enough it was a complete surprise because we thought we'd all been really bad at keeping the secret. We had a fun afternoon seeking out party food and decorating the flat with candles and saris and Happy Birthday written in Bangla script, then a nervous few minutes when it seemed like Ann, Bjart's wife, had not managed to think of an excuse to get him here, but after that the party was a great success. Subrata and Shilpi from VSO who'd organised our induction came and so did our Bangla teacher Swapan- it was nice to be able to say thankyou to them for making it a great few weeks in Dhaka. The evening finished up with Harrison singing Ugandan songs, Jam a Phillipino one and then some Bangla songs. think the Brits among us have now realised we're going to have to come up with a party piece to have up our sleeves...Bjart has promised to learn the Norwegian national anthem, having got stuck after two lines!

Monsoon has been relatively gentle in Dhaka so far, a few more power cuts, slow internet connection and heavy rain showers, very hard to get washing dry but no flooding. Elsewhere in the country things have been a lot worse, particularly with the ferry disasters that have occurred- the papers are reporting on plans to improve ferry safety, but then on the next page show a picture of a ferry overloaded with steel bars as well as passengers. We've been advised to avoid boat travel during the monsoon if at all possible. Experienced some of the flooding on the way back from Rangamati when our vehicle got stuck in floods in Chittagong for 4 hours- I'll write a bit more about my Rangamati trip for the website- where there are some photos from the trip.Website is gillianinbangladesh.co.uk - big thanks to Paul Green for web design and acting as 'webmaster'

Last week's induction sessions were really interesting focussing on gender issues, religion and strategies for getting started at work. Feel that I've been well prepared to go out on placement, but know that there are going to be times, particularly to do with the rights of women in Bangladesh, when I will find myself thinking 'it shouldn't be like this'

We also had an outing to Old Dhaka with our Bangla school and went to see Lalbagh fort- an old Mogul palace- one of Dhaka's few tourist attractions. Almost as culturally interesting as the palace was watching a Mango Juice advert being filmed in the grounds. very Bollywood with some very dramatic actresses and a huge entourage..after take twenty of line one of the song we got a bit bored and decided to look at the palace. Did learn some interesting Bangla words. shooting kor is to film something, and having seen the many illicit couples holding hands in the palace grounds we established that dating kor is to go on a date..in fact if your Bangla verbs fail you trying an english word with 'kor' seems to work! (although it wasn't quite as successful on the morning we had a cooking lesson with the VSO cook.after laughing at us saying boil kor and cutting kor she taught us the proper words and how to make a very respectable curry and dahl)

I've put the packing off for long enough now, so better go, will be in touch again once I've found an internet connection in Kushtia and with a new address. Sorry it's a group e-mail again, I promise to reply to individual e-mails once the connections working well again- thanks for writing it's been great to hear your news.