7:00 Wake up and hope we're not on generator power so I can actually have a hot shower (if on generator power, then just pin hair back, put on extra deodorant, and complain for most of the morning).
9:00 Load into the van that takes us from our apartment to the campus. If you're late they WILL leave you.
10:00 Begin orientation, which usually consists of sitting for a bit hoping that the computer will work and the internet will feel like connecting. In the meantime get reminded that "this is just how life is here" several times to fill the empty space. Spend some time reconsidering life choices that led me here.
10:30 Tea break! Best time of the day, when a canister of milk tea is brought up with disappointingly small teacups and sugar for a quick caffeine kick. Delicious but probably not the healthiest thing.
12:00 Break for lunch. Head down to student cafeteria and hope to god they aren't serving that one weird vegetable with the seeds that crunch all gross. Eat a meal starting with fresh cucumbers and carrots. Then grab a piece of flatbread (like naan) and some rice, upon which you dump a couple spoonfuls of either two veggie dishes or one meat and one veggie dish. They're all considered curries because curry here just generally means sauce, and not a particular spice blend. That being said, they all have some level of spice because we're in South Asia. Usually there's a dish with potato or egg that's delicious, but they love including the aforementioned gross vegetable in dishes where it hides until I bite into it and feel the awful crunch sensation.
1:30 Have individual meetings or more orientation. For me that means go off and find who I'm working with and receive an absolutely ridiculous amount of work I don't quite feel qualified for.
4:30 Go home and lay down in the blissful A/C of my bedroom. Unless the generator power is still running, so that the A/C doesn't work. In which case, stomp around for a bit complaining about the lack of hot showers and A/C that day.
This schedule will continue for the rest of this week as the final groups of faculty are arriving and getting settled. Classes begin next Sunday (since that's the start of the work week here rather than Monday) and there's already so much to get done before then! In the meantime we had the chance to view where the permanent campus will one day be and we finally got invited to a wedding!
Our whole batch of fellows
Wall separating some land from what will be the new campus.
These kids were working clearing weeds on what will be the campus.
Another view of the new campus.
I had gone out and bought a fancy new shari (what they call saris here) because we were warned that we would receive invitations to functions like weddings and dinners very often as foreigners in a very un-international city like Chittagong. Much like anyone interested in visiting cultural events while dressed to the nines, I headed out with one of the local fellows, Rimu, who offered to take me shari shopping.
On our way I experienced what remains my biggest regret so far in Bangladesh. Rather than carry my heavy camera throughout the stores we would be shopping at, I opted to leave it in the apartment. We had just hit the main road when a man on an honest-to-god elephant merged into traffic. Just a giant, Asian elephant that was clearly not there for entertainment of any kind. And he was walking through traffic dodging rickshaws and buses like the rest of us. And there I was without a camera. But I've learned since to never leave home without it!
We picked out a gorgeous shari and I picked up the necessary petticoat and blouse to go under it. Come the day of the wedding my Sri Lankan flat-mate wrapped me up and a whole group of us headed to the wedding of some maintenance person from the school that none of us had ever met.
We arrived way too early at around 8:00 PM. We were scheduled to leave at 10:00 PM, wedding or no wedding, so we wanted to fit in as much activity as possible. Imagine our disappointment when we arrived and were the only ones there. It was us, the bride looking bored to tears dressed in an elaborate shari with jewelry and makeup sitting upon a platform, and some kids running around blowing up balloons.
They served dinner early for us, which featured delicious and rich dishes like chicken, fish, and lamp in different savory curry sauces along with rice and whole eggs (probably a fertility thing, but who knows?). Then we sat around for a bit, thanked the bride, and headed home at 10:00. Apparently the groom's family wasn't even set to arrive until 11:30 so we completely missed out on the timing there. The nature of Hindu weddings is that they take place during an auspicious time decided based on the horoscopes of both the bride and the groom. This means that a couple can have their lucky time at 4:00 in the morning, and the whole wedding party and all attendees have to be dressed and ready for then. Certainly a different culture than showing up at noon to the church and heading home by six!
My shari
Until next time!
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