My first Bangladeshi birthday

I celebrated my birthday this week with a surprise party at work. I happened to share my birthday with the IT guy at work so we got two cakes, two bouquets of flowers and a card for each of us!

Anyway, I felt very loved and it was nice to celebrate my first birthday here with my new colleagues.

A few photos from my first month

Well it's hard to believe, but tomorrow will represent six weeks that I've been here in Dhaka. On the one hand, it feels like it should have been longer, given all that I've done, but the time really has flown.
Looking back at the photos I've taken over the last month or more, I thought I'd share a few of my favorites:

This is a view of the Bangladesh Parliament building, designed by Louis Khan, as I was flying out of Dhaka

 A cat that must have thought it was hiding behind this big plant when I was in Barisal.

 This was at a nutrition training in Khulna - I love the colors and faces.

 This was at a ferry crossing in Patuakhali, in Barisal division in Southern Bangladesh

 These girls were waiting outside a community clinic in rural Barisal

 This woman was measuring the weight of a fish that she had pulled out of the community pond to check and see how their hatchery was doing.

 This little boy seemed not to want to sit down during this community discussion group on nutrition.

 I like this picture of the women in their sarees heading to the pond to check on their fish.

 Just to give you a sense of the amount of water that Bangladesh has, this is a photo I took as we were about to land in Dhaka - you can see how the electrical lines are built on these tiny spits of land.

 This was our 'fan base' as we visited a community clinic in rural Khulna.

More time in the field

I have had the pleasure in the first few weeks on the job to get to travel down to see many of the villages and communities where our project is working. Right before the Eid holidays, we traveled down to Khulna to a few villages in Jessore Sadar to see some of our work.

These were a few of my favorite pictures from that trip.

This is a group of village women that meets several times a month to discuss best feeding practices for their baby and to learn how to grow nutritious food that they can use to feed their families.

This is that same group of women planting some of the veggies that we encourage them to grow.

People typically don't have much land in the poorer areas where we work so they use whatever space they can; this family was using their tin roof to successfully grow a type of gourd we advocate them growing.

This man works as an agriculture extension worker and through his work with our project he incorporates nutrition messages into his ongoing agriculture networks and trainings. The plate in front of him is representing some of the foods that he is recommending that the women incorporate more into their diet.

This baby was too cute - despite all our commotion and pictures, he or she just kept on sleeping, paying no attention to the world. Looks like a pretty good life.

My first homemade dinner and some exciting food finds

I 'inaugurated' our new kitchen last night with typical food from the subcontinent: I made a vegetable jalfrezi (green peppers, cashews, eggplant, tomatoes, onions, garlic and of course lots of spices) served over basmati rice, which I enjoyed with some chalta pickle and paratha bread. (Chalta is a type of sour apple that pickles quite nicely.)

I've been pleasantly surprised with all of the comforts from home that I've seen in the stores here already. Some of it is nice to see, such as veggie burgers, mike & ikes, lay's, spicy mustard, peanut butter, grapenuts and the like. There are also some head scratchers that I have to wonder why on earth are being marketed here (or why they're popular): mayonnaise, tang, mountain dew, processed cheddar cheese and folger's coffee.

Much to Kathleen's delight, I even found an air popper for popcorn here along with halloumi cheese, aged white cheddar cheese and other nice cheeses.

I recently discovered that they have a few American chains here too - Pizza Hut, Domino's, Baskin Robbins, KFC and Gloria Jean's coffee. They also have the South African chain Nando's!

Out of sheer curiosity, I tried ordering from Pizza Hut for lunch today. It definitely tasted like Pizza Hut - they've done a good job keeping their brand consistent! 

Settling in

Well I am now officially moved in and am getting settled in our new place in the neighborhood/district of Gulshan-2 in Dhaka.

 The apartment we selected was unfurnished, so we had to get A/C units, ceiling fans, a washer, stove, fridge and a few other things. Those have now all been installed and the apartment is now fully 'functional'.

I am now the proud owner of one futon (known here as "sofa-cum-bed") and coffee table (which also converts into a computer table, as well as a mosquito net and a small tv which I have propped up on two of the A/C units. Nothing but class for me. :-)

So this will probably be the way things are until our shipment arrives in December or early January. Let's just say I've got a lot of different rooms to sit in if I need a change of scenery.

It's nice to be out of the hotel and to feel like I have a more permanent spot. This week is a holiday week with both Hindu and Muslim holidays being celebrated, so I'll be settling in at my new place, doing some work from home and taking the opportunity to finally unpack my bags!

Poland meets Bangladesh

So it was much to my surprise when I got a plane to Khulna earlier this week and discovered that all of the signs on the plane were in Polish (well, English and Polish).

The plane only had rear loading capabilities, but otherwise seemed to be a perfectly safe and reliable aircraft. It was definitely a bit strange flying over the Ganges (Padma) and thinking of the much cooler climate this plane was probably more accustomed to flying over in its previous life.

Bangladesh brands

So there are definitely some interesting takes on brands here in Bangladesh.
Coca-Cola has managed to keep its signature look even in Bangla. This is what the can looks like here (in its special Eid holidays commemorative can):

 And similarly, this is what Sprite has done to keep the look the same but adopted to Bangla:

 Even American TV shows have taken off here. "Bangladeshi Idol" premiered a few months back and has done very well so far. It has all the same features as its American equivalent, down to the intro music and titles.

 I've recently learned that my name is actually easy for people to grasp, once I mention the very popular local store "Aarong". I tell them it's like the store, but without the final 'g'. Aarong is a for-profit store run by the world's largest NGO, BRAC - a Bangladesh NGO that works on eliminating poverty and working with people who are illiterate, ill and/or have other handicaps. The profits from this store go to furthering the NGO's work.

 There are also the few brands that seem to not care that they are direct knock-offs of other international brands. This is "Sun Chips":

 And these are "Doreo" cookies, described as 'black chocolate sandwich cream biscuits". :-)

Field visit to Barisal

This last week I traveled down to the division of Barisal in Southern Bangladesh to visit some of the sites where we are working. We were hosting a VIP from Washington and got to spend two full days in the field, visiting a lot of different villages across this division. We took an amphibian plane, taking off on land and "landing" on water in Barisal.

This is a view of Dhaka as we were flying out.

I took this picture in a remote village where we are working with the local farmers and villagers to encourage them to consume indigenous and highly nutritious fish to improve their overall nutrition, especially that of women and children. This little boy was very excited about the fish they had caught!

This was in a different village, quite some distance away. These women were being taught about fish culture and how to tend to their ponds.

 Another thing we teach the villagers that we work with is about raised beds for their gardens. Because this part of Bangladesh gets so much rain, often crops are washed away, leaving them with limited access to food, given how little money they make. The simple technique of raising beds allows the crops to remain protected and continue growing. This woman was proudly showing off her raised plot and how the plants had survived the recent heavy rains.

This is a picture of the Ganges River, known as the Padma in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is both blessed and cursed by its water. It was a beautiful flight back from Barisal as we came into Dhaka. And a really nice trip all around.

Finally found an apartment

I'm happy to announce that, as of yesterday, we are now the proud owners of a set of keys to an apartment in Dhaka! It's walking distance to the office, in a nice part of the city and has two nice balconies. I'm excited!

This is the front of our new place. With a bit of luck, I'll be able to move in early next week, after they install the air conditioners and a few other needed furnishings (fridge, etc.).

Today I'm heading out to find a few needed kitchen appliances and basic necessities so that I can transfer from the hotel to our new place next week.

I'll definitely post more pictures soon!