where's Dhaka again?

The past 4 days have been a blur, "I cannot be awake, for nothing looks to me as it did before, or else I am awake for the first time, and all before has been a mean sleep." W W

All 55 of us depart4ed Gazipur on friday afternoon, around 2:30. Aftr watching the b bus driver do something to the engine while the bus wa going down the highway. We arrrived in Dhaka at our hotel. It's amazing that some of the buses even run here. I've ridden in some vechicles and busses that I wouldn't even attempt to get on in the states.Anyways, at 5:00pm we had a meeting in the lobby of the main hotel... The boys are in one hotel and the girls are in another and the married copules are in yet another hotel as well. No worries though, all 3 hotels are located on the same streeet and are so close you can see the signs for each of them standing at one... We are on our own for dinner, a couple of people along with myself decide to have some mexican food. It was really good, the inside of the place looked authantic and could easily pas for a mexican place in the states. This included a mexican flag and a huge cow skull above the door. I got 2 borritos, rice, and re-fried beans. It was really good, and not all the expensive. Only 350 teka for that and an apptiser plus a plate of nachos. Lots of meat but hardly any chips, I counted only 6!!! The place was about a 30 min walk from the hotel to Gulshan 2. Gulsahn is one of the districts in Dhaka. It's funny, people that work in the Embassy are not allowed to leave the Gulshan or Bannani districts for safety reasons...After getting back to the hotel and unpacking we excitledy turned on the TV and looked for ESPN! The american one!!! after flipping through the channels we stumble upon it! But, there is no sound!! Like all good things in the desh, there is always a catch. It turns out that none of the hotels we were staying at had ESPN with sound.. The rest of the night was spent relaxing and enjoying the A/C, soft pillows and beds along with coffy chairs. Our hotel rooms were pretty big and way posh. When I say posh, I mean like a motel 6.

The next day we have no programs whatsoever so most people go shopping in New market or some other place I cannot remember the name of... The big event of the day for me was: watch the Arsenal vs hotsuprs soccer game. After that it was off to buy some booze. Normally this would be so simple, that it wouldn't even be worth talking about... But, Bangladesh is a muslim country and one cannot really drink here. They have a few places that sell booze, you just have to find them. In order for "locals" to drink they must have a signed dotors note saying that they need to consume alchol for medical reasons. THis also includes having booze in the house. One must obtain a permit. I'm a foreginer so they look the other way for me... I"m told to just be smart about it. We are off to find a place called Da-beers(it's not spelled that way but it sounds like that) After taking a 5-6 min CNG ride we get to the bottom of the flyover (a huge over pass in Dhaka) Get lost several times but finally come to it after seeing the sign. One note the sign says "foreginers only" We have no idea just what we are getting ourselves into. We walk into a place that looks like an office. It has a high counter with desks behind it and a few guys at computers. A man walks up and asks us, "hi, may I help you?" then he pulls out a sheet of paper with prices and what can be bought. It is very much like high school all over again. After much debate and looking at the "display" bottles and cans. We dicide to get a case of beer and a couple of bottles. The booze is directly from America. Gilbilys gin, Simmeroff vodka and I've never seen or heard of the wiskey or scotch they had.. The beer on the other hand was more on an adventure. They had one of two choices: ONe was 8.5 percent alochol and brewed in Holland, and the other kind began with a B and had spanish orgins. We choose the spanish and we later were happy to find out that we made the right choice

Time for check out, we each were given a sheet of paper and told to walk around to the side of the building. Once to the side a man walks out of a door under a carport and asks us for our papers. He takes the papers and comes back with our beverages and asks us were our car is at. We don't have a car so we put everything in our backpacks( yes, a case of beer can fit in my backpack) Success! We set off back to the hotel all very proud of ourselves. After unloading everything and taking a quick nap we aer off to check out a place called the horseshoe. It is some shopping complex that is in the shape of a U. It was alright, nothing all that special. It would be safe to say that my room back in the states is much coolier! At one of the stores they had nothing but every fake jersey you could think of. At some place I did pick up a Bangli National Cricket team jersey!

After shopping it was time for Iftar and we were off to A&W for the Iftar special. All you can eat burgers, fires, chicken sandwiches, fried chicken, and a bottomless glass of root beer! All this for 316 teka. We put on a true display of American power and eat well over 1,500 worth of food. We kept score. We each ate (5 of us) 4 chicken sandwiches, 5 burgers, 2 plates of fires, 3 pieces of fried chicken and 5 glasses of rootbeers. We were so stuffed that James threw up on the walk back home. ON our walk back home this little kid (beggar) follows us the whole way home. Keep in mind that this is a few mile walk... Walking beside us the whole way fake crying asking for money...The beggers here are instense. They come right up to you and are often mad at you if you don't give them any money. To make matters worse they are eveywhere! This little kid ginally stopped at the gate of our hotel by the guard and stood there for a few minutres...

After taking some time to let all of our food deigest. It was time to start partiing hotel style. This night was a warm-up for the next night when we would be offically Peace Corps Volunteers. The next morning we had to be up and ready to go at 9:15 because we were getting the Offical office tour. And they had some money to give us or wwe had to sign something saying that our Bank Account was opend and make suer eveyone had/has the proper account number.

Back to the hotel to change and get ready for the embassy. No cell phones or cameras allowed inside... The U.S embassy looks strikingly like the castle you must conquer at the end of Super Mario Brothers, the first one... Once through the security and talking to some rather large marines it was time to take our seats in the US Embassy Atruim. First I had to buy a Gatoradie though. It was expensie but is was so worth it! (It's funny what I miss about the states) The ceremony lasted a little over an hour. The best speech was by Gene Geroge who is in charge of USAID for Bangladesh... Many other VIPs were presnt as well, it was such a big event that it was on TV. It's safe to say that I am a big deal in the desh.

Next up on the list of events was to check out the American club. A place that anyone can join but its more exclusice than any country club in the states. After putting away a few cold beverages it was time to head over to the X-pat house for the REception. One more comment about the American club. Inside the walls, thier is a gym, 2 tennis courts and a bar and resturant, plus a pool with a slide! All this can be yours for 80 US dollars a month. On the very rich and X-pats are members. WE get a comped membership because we are Peace Corps Volunteers. (which is a bonus)

The life of an X-pat is very nice and I could see myself making the adjuestment reather quickly and without many problems... After we drank and ate everything that the house we were off to the Marine house were things really got silly. They were nice enough to ponen up their house and bar for us. The house would put some frat houses to shame. On the top of 5 levels was a game room with a ping pong table, darts, pool table, and some other stuff I cannot remember. Each floor had a lobby type area that had a huge flat screen TV and this place is nice is when thinking like an American. Your tax dollars really do buy some nice stuff.

Finally, some days when I don't eat lunch at my host famlies house, they always aske me what I had to eat and if I don't say rice they become bery worried and start telling me that I must be very hungry and how in order to be healthy I must eat at least rice twice a day. In Bangladesh, Rice really is life...