Sunburned, Drenched and Lost in Dhaka

Saturday, August 21st 
A seemingly normal Saturday began in a harmless fashion.  We got up early to go to school and sign up for Community Ed classes. The school has programs for teachers, parents, and other ex-pats in the area (we are taking Boot Camp 3 times a week with Wendy!).  We arrived a little before sign-ups began and were able to get places in the class we wanted without any trouble.  If only our luck had lasted past this moment; it was the calm before the storm.

Next, even though the prediction was 60-70% severe thunderstorms all day on the hourly weather report (hello, foreshadowing), we donned our bathing suits and headed to the American Club for some much needed vitamin D. It was very cloudy, so I didn't think I'd be getting any sun...just laying there sweating, journaling, sweating, drinking a banana thick shake (the waiter emphasized the word "thick" as if it were an ingredient) and sweating.  After realizing we might want to bring our body temperatures back to normal before running the hash, we packed our books and headed home.

I fell right into bed and took a nice mid-afternoon nap, where I dreamed of flooding rivers and confusing dark Dhaka streets (not really, but that would have been good foreshadowing, too). After waking up, I had a pleasant reminder of how close we are to the equator here in beautiful Bangladesh.  Two shiny red cheeks surrounding a Rudolph nose glowed back at me in the mirror matching my pink shoulders and chest.  Even through thick and ominous clouds, the sun's strength left it's mark on me.  I put on some lotion, smothered myself in a coat of Deep Woods Bugspray, and climbed into a pair of hot pink UVA running shorts and a DeeZee Recruitment shirt (always reppin'). Savanna and I gave a carefree "see you soon" wave to Bree and headed to the car.  We were going to follow Kasey (my social buddy-or should we say bunny- and one of today's hares) to the Hash starting point because it was in an area we had never been before (dun dun dunnn).

TIMEOUT for a Wikipedia Reference: What is the Hash? Hash House Harriers is an international group of non-competitive running, social and drinking clubs who refer to themselves as Hashers. Hashing originated in 1938 in Kuala Lumpur when a group of British colonial officers and ex-pats began meeting on Monday evenings to run.  It isn't just any regular jog- hashing involves a group of Hares (who lay a paper trail) and the rest of the group (the Pack).  The paper trail is laid the day before the Hash and is exactly what it sounds like- mounds of shredded paper that mark the way along a particular trail.  The Hares try to trick the Pack by laying false trails along the way.  There are conveniently placed check points where the trail seems to converge at a paper mark that could go in 2, 3 or more directions.  These areas allow those more experienced runners to continue on ahead (trying out the different directions) and those less experienced runners to catch up and catch their breath (ahem, me).

Ok TIME IN.  While driving to AIS/D to meet our caravan, it started to sprinkle.  The sprinkle quickly morphed into a steady rain, and shortly thereafter was a full on downpour.  Under the impression that it would pass over in no time, as all storms here have done thus far, we continued to follow our Hashing friends to the start point in Bashundara.  On the way, we decided that we were going give up on the Hash and save it for a day sans monsoon. However, we did not know how to get back to our house, so we went on to the meeting point with the intention of getting directions the heck out of there and going home to curl up in sweats with hot tea.  To our dismay, 38 dedicated Hashers showed up in the monsoon (I soon found that they are an awesome group of people in Dhaka for a wide range of reasons, but all looking for a fun, social and physical outlet!).  Running simply from our cars to the awning to check in with the Hash Master, my white shirt was already wet enough to show signs of my blue sports bra underneath. From the eager faces of our soon-to-be-hash-mates, we were encouraged to go ahead with the run and promised to clorox wash each other afterwards to try to detox from the sludge we were sure to encounter on our journey.  We went to purchase some Hash Coupons (tk 125 good for 1 run, 1 beer, or 1 t-shirt), but were informed that as Virgins (one who has never hashed), we could run for free.  The gathering soon resembled a scene from a British pub with people screaming obscenities (which I later found out are the Hashers' nicknames) and chanting songs to get prepared for our wet run.  The Hares jokingly said they hoped their paper trail had not yet been washed away, and sent us off in the direction opposite of town- towards endless reclaimed land.

Hoping the information we received on the rainwater being safe to drink was correct, I swallowed some as we ran! We took off down a "path" and soon found our way onto mounds of wet sand running along the river.  We ran on the crests of sandy hills and leapt over rushing streams/puddles that were on the paper trail... sometimes having to splash through puddles that came pretty high up my legs.  Whenever we found paper, someone yelled, "On, On!" which means we are on the trail.  When we reached the end of a path, we tried to figure out where to go next and then if you picked the right way, you yelled to everyone that you were on, and if you went the wrong way, the hares yelled (your inappropriate hash name) to come back and join the right path! We ran with each other, racing each other, sang songs with funny hand motions, ran with dogs, ran past confused looking locals, one man ran with an umbrella before he realized it was totally pointless, and we also ran with cows (one individual one and one small herd).  It ended up being about an hour and a half of fast-paced darting around, dodging dangerous puddles and pushing through marsh grass a few feet above our heads! About halfway through the run it stopped raining, but we were so drenched by then we didn't notice.  When we reached the end of our journey everyone gathered in a Hash Circle and we had introductions and shared stories/made fun of things that happened during the Hash.  As Virgins, we were brought into the circle, introduced, given beers to chug, and then sang about.  It was all really well organized! They had water at the end, and the system of turning in coupons for beers worked well! They even had little Iftar boxed dinners for those who ran (or did the Hash Walk- same idea, but different trail and power walking) and were needing to break their fast.  Standing in the circle I started to shiver, and it was a strange feeling! I was actually cold and I was outside!

We climbed into the car and agreed to follow Kasey back out to Baridhara since we still had no idea where we were.  Unfortunately, in the darkness and Dhaka-traffic, we lost her.  Feeling invincible after our run, we thought we knew what road we were on.  We were wrong.  About 20 minutes into Dhaka with crazy traffic, no streetlights, rickshaws, pedestrians, and baby taxis everywhere, I felt totally lost, isolated, and kind of scared.  I was seriously regretting purchasing a wimpy Nokia pebble phone and wishing I had a GPS function on it. After making a few phone calls, we successfully got a hold of Kasey and she gave us directions home.  We had only gone out of the way by about 15 minutes, so another nerve-wracking 15 minutes later, we saw our little candy-stripped sign to Baridhara and rejoiced as we turned on to Dutabash Road and were back in our cozy 'hood. Being lost in a city that either lacks road signs or the road signs are all in Bangla characters is very upsetting (in Gulshan and Baridhara, road signs are pretty frequent- anywhere else, good luck!).

When we got home, I peeled off my monsoon soaked clothes, shoes, and socks and laid them out to dry in our foyer.  I put some water on the stove to boil and hopped in a nice hot shower.  Feeling clean and hungry, I returned to the kitchen to make some noodles for dinner. I poured them in, and up floated 3 little black bugs. They were boiled instantly to death, thankfully, but I let out a scream and lost my appetite simultaneously.  I settled on a cup of hot tea and an evening skype with Mike and then Catherine and Katie. They brightened my mood and I was able to get to bed and sleep peacefully after my day of unfortunate events.