Back in Dhaka

I made it back to Dhaka. Now, it is the middle of the night and I am wide awake.  My body thinks it's Monday at 2pm, but my body doesn't know everything.  Or does it?  I figured this would be a good time to write.  I flew back without my family and it was quite strange.  I did a lot of reflecting over the course of the 3, 15 and 5 hour flights I took to get here.  I have always enjoyed people watching, but I noticed the families much more this time and my heart went out the mothers that were doing their best to calm their kids during these ridiculously long flights.  I thought a lot about Sheela and the boys and how much I already missed them.  As a child, my father said he passed up opportunities to travel to parts of the world for work because he didn't want to be away from us.  I know how he felt.  Sheela, the boys and her father will be flying on the 24th.  Let's just say, I can't wait!!

The flight(s) to Dhaka are always interesting and as you get closer to Bangladesh they can become frustrating.  In our three flights to Dhaka, we first have a trip to somewhere in the middle east.  Our first year we flew to Dubai and now we have flown to Doha in Qatar.  I always like to see who is flying to the middle east.  This trip was no different from any other, a nice mixture of everyone, with me being a minority and also the tallest.  Since I knew 15 hours would be a long time to be sitting wedged between two people I didn't know, I requested to be placed in an emergency row.  The thought behind this is that I would at least be able to stretch my legs out.  In retrospect, this my not have been the best idea.  I had forgotten that people use this middle emergency row for a passageway to the other side of the plane.  I had my toes and clothes stepped on and even my glass of orange juice spilled on me.  Finally, I set up a blockade with the tray and flip up movie screen.  This worked well for the adults, but this wily little girl continued to play toe tag with me as she woke me several times.  GRRR...

I had mixed emotions as I was in flight.  I definitely felt the empty void of being without my family.  I wished I hadn't left them behind and missed them desperately.  I was also starting to question my decision to go abroad and be away from family, friends and all that living in the States has to offer.  It was the same feeling I had in my gut as I left for Peace Corps oh so many years ago.  I didn't recall ever feeling this way since that first trip abroad.  I think the fact that I had a great summer and did so many exciting things coupled with the mild addiction to coffee (that I solidified this trip) made this exit a difficult one.

Getting onto the last leg for the trip, I was reminded of (and mildly amused by) the Bangladeshi approach to getting on any vehicle or going anywhere.  Push, crowd and cut in front of anyone you can!!!  Of course I am not saying all Bangladeshis do this, but in general, it has been my observation that any flight into Dhaka has been plagued with disarray and the flight attendants trying to coerce folks into forming lines, turning off cell phones, keeping seat belts on and staying seated during landing.  I am glad I can still laugh at this scene.

Hours away from Dhaka, I was wondering how I would feel as I landed.  Years ago, Peace Corps Ed told me that you could tell if you really liked a place by how you felt as you were about to land.  In this case, I still had the mixed emotions.  The guy in the row next to me that stood up the exact second a wheel touched the ground and not know it, he reminded me that I would be returning to a land where people do what they can to survive and are so different from myself.  The lessons I learned (and sometimes forget) from Peace Corps have helped me to survive here in Bangladesh.  The cultural differences are so vast and so many that I sometimes focus on them rather than the moment, the similarities and the experience.  I looked at that person and had to smile as the flight attendant attempted to make him sit down.

Eventually, I made it through immigration and over to baggage claim where I was promptly greeted by one of my Bangladeshi friends!  A mosha, or mosquito as we call them, landed on my arm as if to say, "Welcome back my friend, we are here for you, would you like a dose of malaria or dengue!"  I collected my bags and then proceeded through customs, pretending to not hear the customs person as I was carrying an extra bottle of spirits.

When people ask me what Bangladesh is like, I always say, "intense".  I walked out of the airport where hundreds of people were reaching through the fences, asking for anything and everything.  Mofiz, the van driver, was there to greet me and we were soon off.  The latest news from him was exactly the same as when he picked me up on a previous trip: "Lot of rain and very hot sir."  We left the airport and got stuck in a traffic jam.  After several days of travel, I was home at last.

After an extreme year last year, I don't know what this one will bring, but I know that I am very lucky in so many ways and I am ready to learn from all the challenges life has to offer.  When I landed in Dhaka this time, I longed for my family, but was excited to begin a new chapter in life.