First Week

I have now officially been in Dhaka for one week. What a week it has been. In fact, I feel like I have done and learned so much in this last week that I should have updated my blog earlier. I will blame my lack of communication on the intermittent internet at my apartment, even though in truth it was just me taking it all in and not being used to writing a blog.

I am slowly adjusting to life in Dhaka. The city itself is absolutely nuts. Walking down the streets the first few days my body was on sensory overload. There are so many people, cars, rickshaws, buildings, shops, street vendors, beggars, dangling power lines and the occasional hole in the sidewalk to avoid that I found myself fatigued after being out for more than a couple hours. I am assuming this is also the reason why I lost my cell phone literally the first time I was out on my own. I am still not quite sure if the phone just slipped out of my pocket or if a hand slipped into it, but somehow I managed to lose my phone in record time. The good news is, I was able to buy a new one for 1,200 Taka, or about $18. 

Noda Bazaar, right outside Baridhara, Dhaka

After two days of wandering the streets of the tri-state area, a name used to describe the three adjoining neighborhoods of Baridhara, Gulshan and Bonani (and not to be confused with the tri-city area of White Stone, Irvington and Kilmarnock, Virginia), I started my first week of class. After only two days in Dhaka, I was eager to start learning Bangla because English is not widely spoken outside of the highly educated population.

Somehow I really lucked out because there are only two students enrolled in Bangla classes this semester at Bangla Language Institute (BLI). Moreover, I am the only beginner Bangla student, so I am in a class all by myself with two teachers. This is pretty awesome and the only real drawback is that if I can’t learn Bangla I have no one to blame but myself. So far I have learned basic greetings, the alphabet, numbers 1 through 20, some random vocabulary, directions and pronouns. I am not only learning how to speak Bangla, but I am also learning to read and write it. This is proving to be quite challenging but also a bit fun. In Bangla, there are a lot of words that are the same as in English (i.e. the Bangla word for pencil is pencil). It had been a while since I have needed to sound out words, but this week I slowly sounded out table, chair and America!

Bangla class goes from 9am to 1pm (with a 30 minute cha break in the middle), so I have the afternoons free. I have done a lot of exploring around Baridhara, my neighborhood, during my afternoons. Just down the road from my apartment is a long street market that sells all sorts of food and goods. This is a fun place to explore and really helpful since Baridhara, is mostly residential. 

 My other new favorite local spot is the cha whalla a few blocks away. If your not looking for him, you could pass is little storefront without even knowing it existed. However, once you find his door, you enter into a little room with dirt floors, a wooden bench and the best cha I have had in a long time. For 5 Taka (70 Taka to the dollar) you get a delicious small cup of tea sweetened with condensed milk. YUM.

Other than these two spots though, Baridhara does not offer much else. Baridhara is an interesting place to live though. Just about everyone I have spoken with says Baridhara is not the ‘real Dhaka’ as it lacks the chaos, noise and general nuttiness that is so very characteristic of the rest of Dhaka. Instead, this is a much more tranquil part of Dhaka where diplomats and embassy workers live. In fact, a wall surrounding the neighborhood practically makes it a gated community.

I have mixed feelings about living here in Baridhara. In some ways it is truly pleasant compared to the rest of Dhaka. It is nearly entirely residential and as a result it is a lot quieter. After spending a few hours in the ‘real Dhaka’, I have found myself happy crossing into the calmness of Baridhara. However, Baridhara also feels a bit isolated from the rest of Dhaka, especially because there is not much within the neighborhood other than houses. Additionally, I feel as though I am not getting the full experience of living in Dhaka by living in Baridhara. For now though, I think it is a good and safe way to ease my way into living in Bangladesh. 

Rickshaws waiting in Baridhara, Dhaka

Having gone nearly an entire week without leaving the tri-state area, I decided to spend my first day off from school downtown in the real Dhaka. I headed out this morning and haled a CNG (compressed natural gas) to take me to New Market. First, a CNG is a motorized 3 wheeler that in Dhaka runs on compressed natural gas, thus its name. The fact that these little pods on three wheels run on CNG is pretty amazing and greatly reduces the amount of air pollution in Dhaka. 

View from inside a CNG. While stuck in traffic a boy comes by
selling photocopied books. Gulshan-1 Circle, Dhaka

Street near New Market, Dhaka

Now about New Market. New Market is Dhaka’s largest open-air market and it is literally overflowing with everything and anything you could ever imagine, from kitchenware to jewelry to clothing to peanut shaped erasers, they have it all. I spent hours with two other Fulbrighters walking around the market and its overflow bargaining and talking to vendors. In markets like this, bargaining is essential. At times this can be frustrating, especially when it is something that you need to have (i.e. toilet paper), but for other things it can be a fun interaction and a good way to practice Bangla. In the end, I left New Market with a few new scarves (it has been unusually cold here) and more importantly, having visited the real Dhaka. 

Food stand in New Market, Dhaka

New Market, Dhaka

Street near New Market, Dhaka