I had a relatively uneventful flight via Emirates Airlines (highly recommended), with a quick stop in Dubai where I had time to grab breakfast with Rachel Perkins, a fellow Ross MBA, and finally made it to Dhaka at about 7:45 p.m. local time, Tuesday, May 11 (9:45 a.m. EST).
My new friend Biplop
I was picked up from the airport by Biplop, a CARE employee, who was a wonderful welcome to a new country! Biplop filled me in on life in Bangladesh and geared me up for my first day of work. For CARE he acts as a driver, providing shuttle service to/from work, airports, sites, etc., and does some other work for them as well. He let me know where I could buy clothing, find an ATM, go to a Buddhist temple (as a fellow Buddhist, he even offered to take me!). He also gave safety advice, warned me not to indulge my love of walking to get to work, despite the fact that it's just 3 km away, because traffic gets very bad and, of course, people don't prescribe to the level of driving regulation we find in the U.S.
My impressions of Bangladesh so far: wonderful! And hot - at night it's about 98/99 F, so I only imagine what the day will bring (I'm told around 110 F), and very similar to Sri Lanka. The area I'm staying in is considered the nicer "foreigner" area of town. CARE provided me with plenty of comfort. They have two staff apartments, each with probably four or five rooms. I am occupying one of the rooms in one of the apartments. There is another bed, but I don't have a roommate yet. I have wireless, I have my own bathroom, the apartment has a cook! I feel entirely too spoiled.
I'm looking forward to my first day at CARE.. am obviously jetlagged since I woke up at 4:21 a.m. and decided blogging was more interesting than sleeping. I may regret this decision shortly..
I was picked up from the airport by Biplop, a CARE employee, who was a wonderful welcome to a new country! Biplop filled me in on life in Bangladesh and geared me up for my first day of work. For CARE he acts as a driver, providing shuttle service to/from work, airports, sites, etc., and does some other work for them as well. He let me know where I could buy clothing, find an ATM, go to a Buddhist temple (as a fellow Buddhist, he even offered to take me!). He also gave safety advice, warned me not to indulge my love of walking to get to work, despite the fact that it's just 3 km away, because traffic gets very bad and, of course, people don't prescribe to the level of driving regulation we find in the U.S.
My impressions of Bangladesh so far: wonderful! And hot - at night it's about 98/99 F, so I only imagine what the day will bring (I'm told around 110 F), and very similar to Sri Lanka. The area I'm staying in is considered the nicer "foreigner" area of town. CARE provided me with plenty of comfort. They have two staff apartments, each with probably four or five rooms. I am occupying one of the rooms in one of the apartments. There is another bed, but I don't have a roommate yet. I have wireless, I have my own bathroom, the apartment has a cook! I feel entirely too spoiled.
I'm looking forward to my first day at CARE.. am obviously jetlagged since I woke up at 4:21 a.m. and decided blogging was more interesting than sleeping. I may regret this decision shortly..
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