Good Evening! (Or good morning... wherever you are). We thought we'd share a little "day in the life of..." post. It's not all that glamourous to tell you the truth, but you might want to know what we're doing way over here on the other side of the world.
We live in Uttara Model Town, Sector 10, Road 9, House 2 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. That's actually our address in case you're wondering. And please- don't send us anything other than a simple note if you wish... we've heard from multiple sources that mail often gets snatched and intercepted. Take the risk if you must, but don't say we didn't warn you :) We wouldn't mind a little oatmeal, or some more coffee, or a little good chocolate, or some quinoa, or flax, or any of the other health foods or small luxuries we're realizing we're gonna miss.
We live with two housemates who are lovely. Nancy is here here from London Ontario- pro star maternity nurse who has heaps of experience and lots of great stories to share. She's a mother of 2 and has done a fair amount of traveling/ aid work- pretty strong and inspiring woman to say the least.
Jim is delightful. He has a MA in nursing, taught in the Philippines where he's from and now works for VSO (Volunteer Services Overseas). Sounds like a fantastic organization! He's here for a 2 year commitment (wow) and basically is helping keep the program afloat. He also used to be ballet dancer and instructor and loves to sing along to pop hits of all kinds. Love this guy!
Angelo was here but has sadly left as his term ended. He's from Vancouver and works on an outpatient basis with Mental Health patients. He's got mad skills in that area and has shared so much wisdom with us. Angelo has literally travelled the world- not an overstatement. He's sparked a huge desire in us to keep travelling and exploring the world. He also has a position with the Canadian Red Cross' Emergency Response Unit. Hook up? We think so.
So back to our home sweet home... we basically live in a concrete jungle. It's a new development hence the " model town" part of it's title. When flying in from Cox's Bazzar we really got a sense of how many concrete apartment buildings and flats there are! Hard to imagine... we'll have to take some photos to add. Our place has no central heating so it actually get's pretty cold some nights. It almost acts like a ice box- warmer outside than in sometimes.
Right now we share a room which we don't mind at all. Good thing we're close friends :) There is a group of students from the university of vermont here right now and when they leave this weekend we will move upstairs and have our own rooms. The beds are hard foam mattresses which our bodies are slowly getting used to and we have to sleep with mosquito nets at night. This isn't a malarial region, but there are lots of mosquito borne illnesses here so best to take precautions. Poor Ricki.
It's only about a 10 minute walk to the University from our house which is nice. The streets aren't really marked and so we've had to work at remembering where to turn (and not turn) in order to get where we need to go. We always pass lots of little tea stalls and shacks selling snacks and many other random items. The men don't talk to us- they just stare. The woman are shy, but the kids are our saving grace. We LOVE them and think they have got to be some of the most gorgeous kids in the whole world! They call "HHHIIII" after us and wave, or string together all the English they know like "HIHOWAREYOUIMFINEGOODBYE". The sand streets are dirty and smelly, full of garbage, "streams" of who knows what, the common goat or group of puppies and the odd cow here and there. Even on these side streets you still have to shoulder check 1000 times to make sure you don't get hit by a car or Rickshaw or CNG or something else. But we really really like our neighbourhood and love that it's becoming familiar to us.
We debated telling our parents about this next bit, but what the heck. Right in front of the University is one of the main roads that leads into and out of Uttara. You don't even want to know how crazy it is. Thankfully during the day there's a traffic patroller of sorts who eventually helps stop the onslaught of vehicles to let us across. It's actually more like a gentle suggestion that they stop and so we still have to run for our lives- hoping that our foreign status will keep us from getting hit. Not likely. Don't worry mum's!!
It gets dark around 5:30-6pm and we don't go out after the sun goes down. Probably safer that way. Which means that we're somewhat housebound in the evenings. But we actually don't mind to much- it's kinda nice to slow down. We have a lot of academic prep to do which eats up a fair bit of time, or we blog, or send emails, journal and tonight, we did some Yoga! Ricki had a 30 min program on her ipad and it actually wasn't all that bad! Nice to get a little bit of exercise. We brought our running shoes along... what were we thinking! Not in a million years would we be out running. Guess you never know until you get somewhere what it's going to be like.
Our mornings are nice. The call to prayer happens at around 5:30 am. It used to wake us up but the past few mornings we've slept through it. Either way we're up early around 6:30 or 7. Breakfast is our responsibility and usually includes toast (white bread) an eggs. The occasional piece of fruit and now, thankfully, the almond butter that Angelo left! And, we best not exclude the MOST important part... the coffee!! Ricki took on the most important job of setting us up with a "coffee station"- Habit coffee, pour over style. Shane would be proud :) It's SO good and such a comforting, nostalgic and familiar way to start the day. It really is the little things in life...
Lunch and Supper are cooked by our lovely housekeepers Choppa and Shillpa- sisters from a small poor village up in the north. They are awesome! Choppa is super feisty, always singing and joking... really like them. The meals are almost always the same. Lots of rice, Dahl, chicken, and some sort of veg really over cooked. But they use the perfect amount of spices and we like it. Heidi isn't so fond of chicken so that leaves her a little more limited but that's OK- it's all good. We're learning lots about patience, tolerance, adaptability, flexibility and mostly how to let things slid off your back. All important skills- especially here.
This is the basic run down and we think we'll close for the night.
Chat to you again soon loyal followers!
Heidi and Ricki
We live in Uttara Model Town, Sector 10, Road 9, House 2 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. That's actually our address in case you're wondering. And please- don't send us anything other than a simple note if you wish... we've heard from multiple sources that mail often gets snatched and intercepted. Take the risk if you must, but don't say we didn't warn you :) We wouldn't mind a little oatmeal, or some more coffee, or a little good chocolate, or some quinoa, or flax, or any of the other health foods or small luxuries we're realizing we're gonna miss.
We live with two housemates who are lovely. Nancy is here here from London Ontario- pro star maternity nurse who has heaps of experience and lots of great stories to share. She's a mother of 2 and has done a fair amount of traveling/ aid work- pretty strong and inspiring woman to say the least.
Jim is delightful. He has a MA in nursing, taught in the Philippines where he's from and now works for VSO (Volunteer Services Overseas). Sounds like a fantastic organization! He's here for a 2 year commitment (wow) and basically is helping keep the program afloat. He also used to be ballet dancer and instructor and loves to sing along to pop hits of all kinds. Love this guy!
Angelo was here but has sadly left as his term ended. He's from Vancouver and works on an outpatient basis with Mental Health patients. He's got mad skills in that area and has shared so much wisdom with us. Angelo has literally travelled the world- not an overstatement. He's sparked a huge desire in us to keep travelling and exploring the world. He also has a position with the Canadian Red Cross' Emergency Response Unit. Hook up? We think so.
So back to our home sweet home... we basically live in a concrete jungle. It's a new development hence the " model town" part of it's title. When flying in from Cox's Bazzar we really got a sense of how many concrete apartment buildings and flats there are! Hard to imagine... we'll have to take some photos to add. Our place has no central heating so it actually get's pretty cold some nights. It almost acts like a ice box- warmer outside than in sometimes.
Right now we share a room which we don't mind at all. Good thing we're close friends :) There is a group of students from the university of vermont here right now and when they leave this weekend we will move upstairs and have our own rooms. The beds are hard foam mattresses which our bodies are slowly getting used to and we have to sleep with mosquito nets at night. This isn't a malarial region, but there are lots of mosquito borne illnesses here so best to take precautions. Poor Ricki.
It's only about a 10 minute walk to the University from our house which is nice. The streets aren't really marked and so we've had to work at remembering where to turn (and not turn) in order to get where we need to go. We always pass lots of little tea stalls and shacks selling snacks and many other random items. The men don't talk to us- they just stare. The woman are shy, but the kids are our saving grace. We LOVE them and think they have got to be some of the most gorgeous kids in the whole world! They call "HHHIIII" after us and wave, or string together all the English they know like "HIHOWAREYOUIMFINEGOODBYE". The sand streets are dirty and smelly, full of garbage, "streams" of who knows what, the common goat or group of puppies and the odd cow here and there. Even on these side streets you still have to shoulder check 1000 times to make sure you don't get hit by a car or Rickshaw or CNG or something else. But we really really like our neighbourhood and love that it's becoming familiar to us.
We debated telling our parents about this next bit, but what the heck. Right in front of the University is one of the main roads that leads into and out of Uttara. You don't even want to know how crazy it is. Thankfully during the day there's a traffic patroller of sorts who eventually helps stop the onslaught of vehicles to let us across. It's actually more like a gentle suggestion that they stop and so we still have to run for our lives- hoping that our foreign status will keep us from getting hit. Not likely. Don't worry mum's!!
It gets dark around 5:30-6pm and we don't go out after the sun goes down. Probably safer that way. Which means that we're somewhat housebound in the evenings. But we actually don't mind to much- it's kinda nice to slow down. We have a lot of academic prep to do which eats up a fair bit of time, or we blog, or send emails, journal and tonight, we did some Yoga! Ricki had a 30 min program on her ipad and it actually wasn't all that bad! Nice to get a little bit of exercise. We brought our running shoes along... what were we thinking! Not in a million years would we be out running. Guess you never know until you get somewhere what it's going to be like.
Our mornings are nice. The call to prayer happens at around 5:30 am. It used to wake us up but the past few mornings we've slept through it. Either way we're up early around 6:30 or 7. Breakfast is our responsibility and usually includes toast (white bread) an eggs. The occasional piece of fruit and now, thankfully, the almond butter that Angelo left! And, we best not exclude the MOST important part... the coffee!! Ricki took on the most important job of setting us up with a "coffee station"- Habit coffee, pour over style. Shane would be proud :) It's SO good and such a comforting, nostalgic and familiar way to start the day. It really is the little things in life...
Lunch and Supper are cooked by our lovely housekeepers Choppa and Shillpa- sisters from a small poor village up in the north. They are awesome! Choppa is super feisty, always singing and joking... really like them. The meals are almost always the same. Lots of rice, Dahl, chicken, and some sort of veg really over cooked. But they use the perfect amount of spices and we like it. Heidi isn't so fond of chicken so that leaves her a little more limited but that's OK- it's all good. We're learning lots about patience, tolerance, adaptability, flexibility and mostly how to let things slid off your back. All important skills- especially here.
This is the basic run down and we think we'll close for the night.
Chat to you again soon loyal followers!
Heidi and Ricki
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