"boss, boss"

while i was living in belize a homeless guy named harry once told me that you can remember anything by saying it five times with your eyes open and then five times with your eyes shut. he was quite a remarkable individual. i am telling you this because in addition to a blog about bangladesh i want it to be a self help blog too.

no not really. i was reminded of harry when i sat down to remember all of my students' names. i do have an alice a grace even a juan. that's about it as far as the familiar names go. for example, sadman, shadman, lubib, lubibur, tashfique, anilla, nazia, nooruddin, kushall......thanks harry for the tip and helping me learn all these names!!! i have class sizes of twelve to twenty-five some of the kids don't speak much english and there are a few that don't speak a lick of it at all. (this always makes teaching much easier...rrright.) it's funny, you would think everyone here spoke english if you were out walking on the streets. people will smile and say, "hello sir, how are you?" i only realized that those were the only words in english most of these people speak when i tried to converse with one individual and they had no idea what i was saying.



also, i am almost convinced that i am in charge of something big. maybe it's the police force or the supermarket or something because everyone.....i mean everyone calls me boss. "boss, boss, money please," boss, food?!" even the guys at work call me boss, "good morning boss, how are you?" actually it's not just me, any foreigner is addressed as boss. i am curious as to where this comes from?! i wonder if sheela will catch on?! kidding my love! ;)

okay so let's write about something interesting.....

my job? maybe not, who knows!?

first of all, i will give you my job description and then the reality of it. i signed a two year contract to work as a pe teacher and the pe coordinator for an international school that follows the IB (http://www.ibo.org/) curriculum. i teach nursery(kaya's age, 3 year olds) to fifth grade and then two high school classes. generally speaking, our school services kids that have parents with some cash flow. we have 80% bangladeshi students and then the rest from all over the place. the staff is quite international! i am one of the few americans here. we have loads of aussies and brits there are some kiwis, canadians, french and the rest bangladeshi. i was quite excited to be working with the aussies. (i have two in my department!)



i love my job right now. i teach some outstanding kids. the PE program is top notch and i have a direct influence in the direction of where it goes. as spiderman's aunt once said, with great power comes great responsibility. (someone famous also said a version of that, but i am sticking with the spiderman side of things.) i do feel a certain amount of pressure to produce and enhance an already stellar program. the side of the job that i consider to be work is the curriculum part. we have to write criterion and various assessments. all that stuff is good, but a lot of work. not complaining one bit, i promise!!



my team as i mentioned before has two aussies, two bangladeshi teachers and six assistants, "the boys." the assistants set up and take down all the equipment for each lesson. every day we write what we want and where we want it.....it's there! each morning i stroll in and they all greet me with, "hi boss." it is so funny. i don't know if i will ever get over it. they work so hard to please not just me, but the other teachers as well. truthfully, i feel a bit spoiled to have them.



our facilities are outstanding. we have a large gymnasium, hard courts that can be adjusted for tennis, basketball, badminton and even football (soccer). then we have a large field where the students do just about everything. including a sport that is very foreign to me....cricket! we also have two "wells" where we conduct elementary school lessons, smaller, but they do the job. finally......we also have a swimming pool!!!! staff is welcome to use it any time we don't have classes going on. i usually get in after school when i complete my runs. i absolutely love having the pool. kaya does too. they strap on those little arm floaties and a waist belt to kayito and he "swims" all over the place! it is quite comical and of course adorable at the same time.



as i write all of this, i realize how lucky i am to be teaching at this school and to have access to such amazing facilities. i do consider this a step in the right direction career wise. i am gaining experience in management/leadership, curriculum development, handling finances for a program, staff development. not to mention i get to live overseas for free and they pay me to do it!!! as much as i love the states...i am not going to find that anywhere. my advice to all you teachers out there.......get the heck out of the states!



well my friends, i must be on my way. kaya wakes up early even on weekends. have a wonderful day and we will try to write more later this weekend. it's Ramadan right now and that has been quite interesting for someone like myself that knows virtually nothing about it.



peace,

chris



sheela's parents are coming soon and we are very excited!!!

Pictures, pictures, pictures

these are just a few of the few pictures we have taken so far. I need to get on the ball with this because so many of you have requested more more more!




the picture on the right is of team hesse at the birthplace of Jesus. kidding.














the photo on the right is of sheela and kaya in the streets of old dhaka. this again is a pretty typical sight to see. loads and loads of rickshaw drivers and people everywhere! this picture shows a random driver that is posing. we get a lot of that here. also a lot of blatant staring. it is a bit strange, but very common and i guess acceptable!?







little kaya loves his nanny! mrthika is her name and again, i have no idea if that is spelled correctly. this is a picture of kaya and her on the top of our building.

boat trip

we went on a "boat trip" the other day. i was expecting, and that was my first mistake, i was expecting....... anyhow, another teacher put together a youtube video from the day. our internet connection is too slow to view it so i figured i would put it out there for you all to see. enjoy....i hope....

from what i have heard, many of you were disappointed that you didn't see me slaying dragons or kaya riding on a dog or something. i would say the video is a good glimpse of everyday life in dhaka....(not that we ride boats every day)......as my good friend robert says, "it is what it is."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC8-2Ah5ToY

kaya's quotes

This is an email Sheela sent to family, I thought I would share it with you all since I find it quite comical. The world is so different when seen through the eyes of a young one!



Hello,

We are just about to go to bed after an evening at the American Club (yay for Thursday being the start of the weekend here!) but I had to share Kaya's top three quotes of the day:

1. Kaya and I were riding in a rickshaw and passed a boy who was holding supplies for shining shoes. Kaya asked what they were, and I explained that he had brushes and wipes and other things to make shoes look clean and new. Kaya looked around for a moment at the dust and trash around us and said, "He should do that to the street!"

2. The rickshaw had taken us to the doctor to have Kaya's medical forms signed for school. After the doctor gave him the most cursory examination in the history of medicine and then dismissed us from his office, Kaya bounded outside and asked, "Did he fix me?!"

3. Coming home from the doctor, the elevator was broken (again) so we were walking up to our 5th-floor apartment. On the 3rd floor landing, we passed a small table with burning incense. Kaya asked what it was, so I was explaining that people burn incense to make the air smell nice. He looked at me suspiciously and said, "What did you say?" I said, "It's incense. People burn it like candles, and it smells nice." Kaya said, "People burn insects??"

Maybe you had to be there, but each of these moments was pretty hilarious. It is great to have a kid's perspective on a place as different as Dhaka.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend,
Sheela, Chris and Kaya

getting to dhaka..."i now walk into the wild"

chapel hill to nashville: 10 hours

nashville to omaha: 14 hours

omaha to houston: 3 hours

layover in houston: 5 hours

houston to dubai: 15 hours

layover in dubai: 7 hours

dubai to dhaka: 5 hours

59 total hours travel time!

"I now walk into the wild,” that’s what I text a few people as we boarded our flight to Dubai and eventually on to Bangladesh. For those of you that don’t know, it is a reference to one of my favorite books, Into the Wild. I got several responses that were quite amusing! “don’t eat any berries,” was my favorite.

I don’t know if our journey is as extreme as Alexander Supertramp’s, but it is an adventure nonetheless. As you can tell by the above it has been quite some journey thus far.

The flight over was not too bad actually. We left Houston in the evening so it was the right time for Kaya to go to sleep. I on the other hand didn’t sleep a whole lot. As you might be able to tell from the picture, space was quite limited. Not to mention some little spoiled brat had their seat reclined all the way back. I refused to inconvenience the people behind me like that so I suffered a bit. I also stayed awake because in his sleep Kaya kept kicking the people’s seat in front of us. (Karma at it’s finest!?) The other little spoiled brat didn’t appreciate it too much! I guess one of the main reasons I couldn’t sleep was because I had a lot on my mind.

I remember when I left for Peace Corps I had many thoughts all over the board. I questioned why I was leaving my family, wondered if it was the right thing to do and began to regret leaving. I found myself feeling similar emotions and thinking about those very moments. This time though, I questioned my judgment in taking my family so far away from “home.” With little room to move and so much space to roam in my mind I committed to watching movies! That took my mind off the issues at hand…..at least for a while. I watched, I am Legend, Iron Man and another more serious movie….oh what was it?! Oh well, can’t remember.

As we were arriving in Dubai, I made sure to look outside and sure enough I wasn’t let down. I had heard of these man made island and peninsula’s that made various shapes and had certain themes. Sure enough we caught a glimpse of the beginnings of a new set of islands. So much money…..so darn hot! The temperature in Dubai was 93 in the middle of the night!

We spent the next 6 or 7 hours entertaining Kaya and visiting the duty free shop. Our final flight was only 5 hours! Only…..can’t believe I would say that. It seemed short compared to what we had just endured both in flights and layovers. Kaya was a super trooper the entire time. Chalk up another two gold medals for both Sheela and Kaya on this trip!

When we arrived in Dhaka, we had no idea what to expect. This is a part I had been dreading for quite some while. We had six bags at 50 lbs each plus the max in carry-on luggage, with a car seat and a stroller (we thought we had a stroller). I was certain we would be paying a large sum of cash for duty. After standing in line at Immigration for what seemed like another couple hours we breezed through and found our luggage right away. A Bangladeshi was right there waiting to haul all 600-700 lbs of our luggage. I had no problem letting him push it along. I wasn’t so sure he could do it, but as we have come to find out…..these Bangladeshi people are quite resilient and surprisingly strong! He then demanded 30 US dollars for is efforts which I was not going to pay him. As we passed by customs I was nervous with all my forms ready to go and my explanations of all our luggage rehearsed. The guy looked at me, without even asking to see anything and said, “go, go.” I almost ruined it by stopping to ask him questions. I finally got my wits about me and realized I had better move on out before we had to pay.

The instant we passed the customs officer we were greeted by staff members from my school. I was so relieved and quite taken back by the welcoming committee. Instantly my worries left me. I again thought back to Peace Corps when I realized things were going to be alright.

The school driver and principal took us to our apartment, which was probably 20 minutes away. I was excited to finally see firsthand the environment we would be living in. My worst fears were that we would be able to breath the air because it would be so polluted and that traffic would be similar to that of Calcutta in India. Fortunately I have an overactive imagination and Dhaka, at least initially, far exceeded my expectations in some ways.

I will say this, and I promise to write more about it later, poverty is ever-present in all that is Dhaka. At each stop beggars knock on the windows asking for food or money or both. Still after a month I don’t know what to do or how to react. I can’t possibly give to all of them. What should I do!? My heart goes out to all of them. The naked kids, the mom’s that look way older than they probably are, the rickshaw drivers……everyone. It’s a bit depressing in many ways, quite educational and enlightening in others.

Our apartment is amazing! It really is 2500 square feet! When Kaya gets his tricycle he will be in heaven!! We have three bedrooms with three bathrooms attached, a kitchen, office, living room, dining room and since we are on the top floor we have easy access to the rooftop! It is an interesting view. I promise to post pics at some point. Needless to say, we were and are happy about he place.

Before we left and close to after we agreed to come to Dhaka we had decided to take on two people as our Maid and Nanny. Now I am sure you must be thinking, “wow, neocolonialism at its finest.” Yeah, that ‘s kind of what we thought at first too. After much thought and several conversations with people here. We decided that for only 112 US dollars a month each we would be more than happy to have help around the place and also provide two Bangladeshi women jobs to support their families. They would otherwise have to look elsewhere and may not find work…who knows?! We are very happy with the decision and Kaya has come to really enjoy both of them. Their names are: Kimboley and Merthika (not so sure on the spelling). Kimboley is the maid and she also cooks twice a week for us. Thank goodness for her, if she didn’t work for us we would most certainly have a problem with various bugs. Merthika is also very helpful with Kaya. He has grown quite fond of her kind heart and warm smile.

I would love to write more, but I have to go to sleep. Time is precious for me here. My job really does keep me very busy and thus the gap in postings….I will try and write more. I am excited to discuss life in Dhaka and what we encounter from day to day. It seems as if this will be another experience that will shape my life, my thoughts, my views on the world……poverty…..people……mankind. I am grateful for the struggles and the joy we find at each corner.

Next time…… School, what we see in the streets and some more pics…..I will have to write about Jalal….our rickshaw driver!

I really want to instead of just report......express.....the pain of Dhaka, the hope in my heart and the joy in being......until next time.....be safe.....bunte i really miss you buddy!

leaving the US

i have been wondering what i will miss the most about the states and i am not sure that i will miss anything (family and friends excluded, of course). i am not sure what this says about me. maybe that my desire for change is greater than my desire for stability. maybe change is my stability. whenever we told people that we were moving to bangladesh, the words that came up most often were courageous and sometimes crazy. maybe they are both accurate, maybe not. when we do something truly extraordinary, then you can call us courageous. until then, hold off on the praise.

our last few hours in chapel hill were a mix of emotions as we rushed to pack up the last of our things and move out of our house. our friends ed and nita were saviours! they brought over their pickup truck and helped us make those last few runs to store, sell, or trash our things. it was amazing how much "stuff" we had, for lack of a better word, even after selling so much of it. we estimated that we have about 50 boxes of belongings between all the things that are in storage, our shipment and our suitcases here.

when we were finally ready to go, just as we were about to get into the car, we heard a fierce rumbling of thunder. sheela and i just looked at each other. the timing was exact..... maybe someone or something saying goodbye?!

the first day, we drove from chapel hill to a small town outside of nashville to visit one of our good peace corps buddies..... none other than..... kevin lee! we stayed at his house for two nights. he drove us out to his family farm and told us about the history of the farmhouse as a civil war hospital and home to many generations of lees. he also told us about all the local characters, like the 80-something year old man named "muscles," who only just got electricity five years ago and still only has one lamp and not so much as a fan in his house. there are also the three brothers down the road.... rabbit, sugarfoot and jimmy..... who own a sawmill and only deal in cash. kevin says they all wear overalls and look exactly like the guys in the movie deliverance! kevin is also full of simple truths and sayings like, there are two things hard to find in the world: a homegrown tomato in wintertime and true love. he is a truly great guy.

after nashville, we set out again toward omaha, our last stop before dhaka. about ten minutes into our trip, we had to stop because i had left the doors to our trailer unlocked, a mistake i vowed never to make again. then, as we passed through st louis, i noticed in the rearview mirror that a car behind us was swerving wildly to avoid something in the road. sure enough, our trailer had come open again. now, there are two theories to explain this occurrence: 1. i am an idiot and made the same mistake twice, but the doors did not open until we had already been driving for about 7 hours, or 2. the roads of st louis are extremely bumpy (which they are) and the lock got bounced around so much that it opened on its own. i am stubborn and refuse to believe that i am an idiot, so i am going with #2. in the end, we lost two things, one of my 220$ hiking boots and my machete that i had brought all the way from belize. needless to say, i was bummed. the rest of the drive went smoothly and we were all relieved to arrive safely in omaha. all together, it was about 24 hours of driving.

when we arrived we realized that rain had leaked into the trailer along the way and our stuff had gotten wet, and some of it was ruined. we had to sort through our things and re-pack the boxes. we had been hoping for some relaxation time in omaha, but the next days were busy with packing, weighing and re-weighing our suitcases, trying to sell our car, opening bank accounts.... it was crazy. thankfully we have an awesome family and everyone chipped in to help out, not to mention throwing an awesome farewell fiesta. it was great to see everyone, including some friends who i hadn't seen in years. thanks to everyone for coming and thanks to our family for everything..... we really appreciate it!!

finally, after months of preparations, we were off.

*note, the original version of this post was accidentally deleted and this rendition is from sheela's memory. i am tired, cranky and have no time to rewrite what i had originally posted. more to come in the near future......

thoughts on getting ready to leave....

oh my lanta i can't believe all the work it takes to get rid of all the "stuff" we own! actually, the hard part is making the tough decisions......should i keep the toaster oven my brother gave me for the wedding?! how could i ever part with the pirate hat i got at the baseball game ten years ago....you know, the major decisions.

the most difficult thing i have had to do up to this point is hand my beloved dog, Bunte, over to friends in boston. Bunte has been with sheela and i for most of his life. sheela received him as a gift from a stranger (long story, involving stolen bikes, US embassy, drug dealers......) and he made it back to the states not by us, but by way of a wealthy bostonian family that heard of the legend of Bunte. he was the ring bearer in our wedding, our protector on late night walks and he always seemed to be there like it or not while cooking or watching tv. he is honestly the best dog i have ever been around and he truly does have an amazing story. unfortunately this is the chapter where i exit. i miss him dearly and kind of regret not trying to push the issue of bringing him to bangladesh. that being said, the people he is with are wonderful and i know he will be extremely happy finishing out his years with them. Bunte, i love you.......

other than Bunte's departure things haven't been as difficult as i had thought. i guess we set the bar high or low with that event. i have been looking forward to purging and parting ways with all the "things" we have collected over the course of five years. we aren't actually getting rid of everything. the school gives us four thousand dollars to ship whatever we choose to dhaka. other important items will be stored in three locations: both our parents' houses and a friend of ours in chapel hill.

so what do you take on an overseas two year adventure!? well, i have done this before....however, the circumstances were a wee bit different. rather than bore you with the stuff i am bringing let me bore you with items i am leaving behind but really want to take:
1. my machete (from belize, a must have in many situations)
2. my hammock (also from belize and also a must have in many situations, don't count this one out just yet)
3. my collection of kurt vonnetgut books
4. my cornhole set (google it)
5. my kayak that i haven't used in two years

yeah, that's about it. to tell you the truth.....good riddance to all the things we don't hold on to!!

our final departure is on august 3rd from omaha, nebraska. there is supposed to be a killer party on the third. that should be fun. i anticipate seeing people i haven't seen since that last time i left the country and telling the same story over about fifteen times. kidding, i am really looking forward to seeing some people from my past.

the flight will be quite lengthy and should prove to be challenging with a two point seven-five year old. we fly to houston (three hours) then to dubai (about fifteen hours) then on to dhaka (five more hours!) to top it off, i work on the next day. that is kind of a bummer.

seems like that's enough for now.