site visit and general insights

HI from the Desh,

Moving on to the site visit and all the sillyness that is Bangladesh... Ok,
I'm going to a town called Braimabria... It is about 2 hours by train East
of Dhaka. Yes, right now I have gone so far away from home if I go any further
I will be on my way back home... My train left at 7:40 am so I had to leave
Gazipur (training site) around 6 (it takes an hour to get to Dhaka) for some
reason there is no direct train from Gazipur to Braimbaria even though there
is a train station in Gazipur.... Like most things if you want something or
need to get someplace Dhaka is the place... Alright so I get up at 5 am and
take the coldest shower ever, yes I have no hot water and to make things
worse the handle is bright red that I get to turn every morning... After
doing my pump up dance to get ready for the coldness.... Yes, I do a dance
and I don't think I will ever get used to cold water... Anyways, I'm out the
door and off. I have with me one of my bags, (you remember the bag we took
to LA and Chicago? this one is twice that) so I lug that to the end of my
road which is a couple blocks, catch a rickshaw, and the poor rickshaw wally
guy tries to lift my bag and has no chance at it, it has to weigh twice as
much as he does, (keep in mind that average Bangladesi is about 5 foot 6 and might weigh 120 pounds dripping wet) Next stop the bus station and since it is ramadant right now, everyone is late or does nothing... Which ends up being a bonus for me.. I get to ride in style to the bus station, or so I thought, after riding in a mini van where the driver thought it was Crazy taxi (a great video game to play) I got droped off in Old Dhakawith my escort (yeah, I had someone with me to make sure I got to the train ok) some comments about Old Dhaka... It's old run down and I don't recomend visiting, I"m glad it was early morning.... to call Dhaka dirty is like
calling grass green. People here don't use trash cans, or for that matter
even know what trash cans are, so trash or anything else one doesn't want
just gets thrown on to the ground...

Alright, so after being hasleted for money and getting the same questions
that I always get it was bus riding time... The train is much more gentle
compared to the bus, Once in Bramimariba or however you spell that silly
twon a member of my host family was waiting for me and we where off to his
home... Once there a guy by the name of Johnny meat (he is a B6) and we were
off to see the highlights of the town... I was introduced to some
importation people, and saw some things that made me go ummm... For example
did you know that a swasitka, (Nazi symbol) is also a Hindu symbol and they
have some large ones outside their timples?? Neither did I....

Anyways, I meat up with this cat named Martin and he really is the man, he
runs a couple things speaks really good English and has things figured out.
He will be the reason why I stay in the Desh for two years. He's the man, so
basicly I spent all 3 days riding around with him in his priviate
car....Please keep in mind that his car is something like a 95 toyota
corrola, the small one and he and the people of the town view it like a Benz
or BMW... When riding it in, I could only ride in the back and by the way he
has a driver to... Moving on to some high lights and funny stuff from the
trip, I took Iftar at a Mosk... I was the gust of honor but, on first glance one could of thought I was at a taliban traninning site, you know those guys you see on TV... That's what this place looked like, anywho, they were all chill and asked some good questions which lead me to this comment. One cat asked me if I liked the desh (these aren't exact words) and I said yes, then he followed up with how do we know you are speaking from the heart. " You know I am geniun just by me showing up" To
which I got total sinclence... Thanks for coming out, next!

So first day I get my host family serves me water I ask if it is
boiled and they say "it is very good water" Well, it wasn't boiled and I
spent some time in the bathroom.... The next morning they serve me water
again and I ask, Is it boiled? This time they say no, it's fried. What in
the world does that mean? Can you even fry water!??! To make a short story
shorter, I don't take any water and after that I got my open special jug of
boiled water! That's right What Travis Wants Travis Gets!!! (yes, I said
that)

we were coming home from visiting some other teacher guy and about 6
of us were cramed in a CNG and this idiot says to me twin towers 9/11 boom!
to which I reply, AUg 17 (there was a massive bombing attack all around
bangladesh 4 days after I showed up) to which he looks at me like Oh, my
god, I can't believe you said that... ANd then is quite for the rest of the
ride, after returing home my host brother makes a point to tell me that his
friends are just joking around and they mean nothing by what they say....

Life right now in the Desh is starting to wind down. This morning we all took our final LPIs which is how they test us on how well we speak the local language.... Mine was much like a roller coaster. It started off pretty bad. I was asked (in bangli) please compare PST (peace Corps training) with your life back in the states. I start laughing and say back that's funny what is my real question?? I hear back that is my real question. After stumbling along for a couple minutes and putting together some sentences that make no sense what so ever we move on to talking about the things I know. I.E what kind of foods I like, what I do all day and why I am here. (Peace Corps english teacher) basicly, I have the vocabulary of a 6 year old. Which I'm fine with. I hit a home run with my role playing draw. I have to buy a bus ticket back to Gaziupr. This is one of the more simple tasks that exist. For example, the last time I had to do this for real the guy spoke english to me. I go up to the stand and ask gazipur jabo? He responseds to me yes we have a bus to Gazipur and it will be along in 15 min, that will be 12 teka. (this is all in English) My inner thoughts: Are you kidding me, why in the world to I need to learn this language when anyone and everyone speaks english!!! Ok, so that most likely isn't true, but so far I must adimt I am surprised at how many people do speak english here....