Holidays

Victory Day, Eid, Christmas, and New Year's.

All of the above fell in 2.5 weeks. Some were more enjoyable than others!
Victory Day was on December 16th. It was in 1971 that the Pakistan army surrendered ending the war of independence. All around Dhaka there were celebrations and flags everywhere.

The next holiday was Eid. This was is not so enjoyable. Families than can afford it buy cows or goats and sacrifice them. Let's just say we stayed in that day. They divide the meat into 3 sections. 1/3 they keep, 1/3 goes to their poor relatives, and 1/3 to the poor. For at least a week before animals were coming into the city from villages. Watching 3 men struggling with a massive cow was somewhat amusing... until I saw a cow hit by a truck because the men couldn't control it.


So in the car garages and on the streets the butcher comes and does away with your animal. That morning looking up our street was not pretty. Animal carcases and blood running everywhere. After Eid the streets are less than sanitary. The smell and sight of blood was disturbing.













YEAH FOR CHRISTMAS! After several attempts at the travel agent to get out of Dhaka for Christmas (as 99% of the people I know did)... we ended up at the Westin. It would have been pretty pathetic to stay home in our apt with no tree or carols with one, if not the best, hotel in Dhaka and only 2 mins up the road!!!




No gifts for Christmas this year... Sleeping on a pillow-top mattress with a duvet was a Christmas present in itself. Okay so I bought myself one present.. and wrapped it myself.. yeah I know.. how sad is that. Oh well.












New Years. Okay...so I am an old woman. When Bangladeshis say they are going to "dance the night away". They mean it. Literally it was 5 am and breakfast was being served and most people were still getting down on the dance floor. I do not have the energy (or the dance moves) to keep up. And apparently neither could Sean.




















FYI... I only have a month and a half left!

Humber comes to Bangladesh

Work... One of the first and probably the ONLY post about work. 2 Humber faculty came to Dhaka to do a 5 day Train the Trainer program. Sheryn came to train the group of 10-12 core trainers on techniques to better facilitate training sessions.
And Jennifer(my boss in Canada) came to oversee all the project activities that Humber has been doing with BWCCI.

It was probably the busiest week I've had since I've been here. Not only were we busy with the Training session, but every night we were busy showing Jennifer and Sheryn around. Although I did get to do some stuff that I wouldn't have had a chance if they didn't come.





We went to Gazipur to visit someone's village. Ha... I even made it to the National Museum. That only took 4 months to get to! (honestly I like museums.. but this on... yeah I could have waited 6 months and not gone at all)







We went to Tangail, which is a village, 2 hours outside of Dhaka to watch some training and talk to some local women. It was one of the best experiences I've had in Bangladesh.





Oh and then Karina left me for over 2 weeks while she went to India for a wedding. Probably the longest two weeks since I've been here.
FYI riding a rickshaw alone is lonely.










Yeah I think the parasite must have affected my memory because I can't remember anything else. I am getting really bad at this blogging stuff. I have become lazy and I think pictures are better than my crappy writing!

Alright I get it.. I haven't written in a while. Nepal update

Okay... So I have been a little busy and just haven't had time to write. Thanks to all of you who felt the need to point out that I was slacking. Thank you. *eyes roll*

ANYWAY!!!... Here is the condensed version. Since the end of October time has flown by. In the chaos that was November... I worked like crazy to get ready for Humber faculty, was passed over by the Bangladesh government for a visa, took a trip to Nepal, climbed Everest, helped with the Humber 5 day training program, went to visit two villages, took part in one seminar, fought off food poisoning, shopped and shopped and learned about fabrics, went to the National Museum, and finally got rid of my parasite!



Start with the most interesting... I went to Kathmandu, Nepal! So like I said before.. the Bangladesh government likes to take its time with things.. and my visa just wasn't on the priority list. Annoying as it was waiting for an extension... I should be happy that I didn't get it because I got an all expense paid trip to Nepal.




After literally causing a fist-fight between taxi drivers over who would get the fresh meat off the plane I made it to Thamel.. the tourist/backpackers hangout spot of town.

1st day spent getting my Bangladesh visa and playing(more like running away from) with the monkeys at the Monkey Temple.

2nd day was spent hunting for my Credit card that the Bank had decided to keep the day earlier.

3rd day I rented a car and driver (who doubled as my tour guide... like I was going to fork over another $40 for a tour guide!!! what a scam). He took me to Bhaktapur, an ancient Newari city and then up to Nagakort for a view of the Himalayans. Oh and early I almost got suckered into doing a fly by of Mount Everest for $130 US.
But come on.. Mt.Everest. Next time...

4th day - Spent at the airport as GMG is a SUCKY airline who have a horrible reputation for canceling fights as their aircrafts are not in "air worthy conditions" and inspectors are constantly taking them off scheduled flights. But do they tell you that noooooo.. They throw you in a hotel half an hour back into the city after you woke up early and got to the airport EXTRA early that morning! Original flight time. 12:15pm rescheduled flight time 7:00pm, re-rescheduled flight 9:30 pm, re-re-rescheduled flight time 11:45 pm, acutal flight time.... 11:49pm. Oh and by the way none of those were guaranteed to leave until 2 hours before the flight time as they weren't sure if an aircraft would reach the airport. FYI you might have to stay at HOTEL PRIME for the night .. compliments of GMG airline... FYI GMG.. Hotel Prime is waaaaaaay past its PRIME!.




That was a summed up version of Nepal. I really wish I had more time and money because after the craziness of Dhaka I really needed a vacation and the ZEN of Buddhists.


Hmmmm.. what else about Nepal?

Maybe after I read my journal I will find some more interesting stories... or maybe not.





Well I did get some Cool Photos!