Old Dhaka

Friday, July 30 
Day 3. Feels like I have been here forever! All of the new teachers are the greatest people. They have lived such adventurous lives in Thailand, Ukraine, Korea, Ethiopia, Mexico and more. Everyone has great stories and life advice. They are one of the most unique and inspiring group of people I have encountered in a long time and I have only met about 2 dozen members of the staff! Nari had today off since it is Friday, so we made a quick breakfast and headed to the school. The schedule was supposed to be: Trip to Old Dhaka from 8:30-12:30 followed by optional shopping. However, the schedule changed in the afternoon… 

Old Dhaka was a sight. The roads are narrow and winding because they were originally designed for people to use horse drawn carriages and those boxes that had sticks on the front and back that 4 people carried. 

Since it was Friday, there wasn’t supposed to be any significant traffic. I cannot imagine what it is like to head to that part of the city on any other day. For Bangladeshis, a little traffic is equal to the frustrating kind of traffic in Virginia. There are no rules on the road. You drive on “the left” and there are “stop”lights, but no one seems to pay attention to these rules unless they are beneficial to them at the moment. The second the car comes to a stop at an intersection or in a jam, there are people all around the car knocking on the windows begging. Young girls with naked babies in their arms to old men… you see a wide variety of people at your car window. The staff gave us a few tactics on coping with this in the beginning- so far I have been avoiding eye contact and trying not to look because it can be pretty depressing. In time, I’ll try out the other tactics to see what works best with me. 

It is very uncomfortable, but it is the way this city is since it has 14 million people in such a small space. We only got out in Old Dhaka at 1 place- an old Armenian Church. Whenever the school takes a field trip, the AIS/D security director informs local police officers where we will be heading so they can be on guard to manage any potential issues. Really it is to make sure we can cross the road safely;) The church is a diamond in the rough… it is a pale yellow against a cement backdrop. There are gravestones surrounding the church from many years ago, most adorned with notes from loved ones (in English). It was so quiet compared to the hustle bustle of the city streets and nearby markets. 

I felt as if I was transported to a whole new place. Inside the church were a few rows of pews and a spiral staircase. We took it up into the upper level and then opened the windows to climb into the bell tower. I was so tempted to ring them, but since there was construction on the outside of the tower I thought maaaaybe that could have a bad ending. Instead we climbed up one more layer to the top of the building and had a beautiful view. The contrast of the yellow church, the green trees, and the grey buildings is incredible. It is hard to believe that everything can exist in the same place, let alone right next to one another. When it was time to go home, we sidestepped the open grates in the sidewalks to get to our bus. The drainage system in Old Dhaka is just huge gaps between the road and the sidewalk—making it not so fun to drive there on any day but Friday because you don’t want to get tipped over into one of these smelly drains! 

On the way home there was suddenly a lot of traffic and our administrators got on their cell phones. The garment workers had decided to have an organized agitation today. Their unruliness has been building up because their wages are so low. Right now they are only making about $25 a month and working long hour days. The agitation blocked the main arteries that lead back into our neighborhood, (the Gulshan and Baridhara areas are where the expat community is) so we couldn’t go home! We made a number of U-turns until we found our way to a 5-star hotel to chill until we could drive home--- saaweeeeet!!!! Rich treated us all to a delicious lunch buffet. 

The hotel set up a table for 20 in the middle of the dinning room looking out over a beautiful pool area. (Again with a backdrop of grey buildings and bamboo supports). We had fresh mango juice which was so thick and delicious I felt like I was drinking a mango from the straw! It was quite the affair! The head of security at the school came and met us at the hotel and made sure, when it was time, that we got back to school safely. It looked like nothing had changed in Baridhara, and life was back to usual! Due to the delay, the afternoon shopping trip was cancelled so Sav and I tucked away in one of the offices to catch up on email before having Jamal take us home to get ready for dinner. 

When we got home, we decided to check out our rooftop situation. We are on the 6th floor (hello penthouse!) so it is just a quick staircase to get to the roof. We climbed up a few more cement blocks to get the highest view and realized we were SUPER close to the school! There was a nice breeze and I was reminded how stoked I am for my shipment to arrive (it has a nice deck chair I can take to the roof to relax!). Dinner tonight was at a HS History teacher’s guesthouse. It was incredible (I feel like I’ve been saying that about everything- but it is true!). He had his own private guards (well, I guess we all do), an ornate foyer and stairwell with beautiful artifacts from who-knows-where, and the rooftop leading into the reception room was totally-not-Dhaka. There was a shallow pool that lined a walkway with fancy fish and plants. Once inside, the entire ceiling was woven straw-like material.

He had the table set up for all of us with local flowers and candles making a beautiful centerpiece. He had a large staff who waited on us, brought dishes to us, and individually served the courses to our plates! There were about 8 spoons that I had no idea what to do with, but no one else seemed to either- such fanfare! After a few glasses of red wine and a belly full of a delicious day of meals, it was time to call it an early night.