Tanja and the Malumghat holiday

Over the Eid holiday, a dear friend from my other life (the life with snow and lobster) visited me in Chittagong... no big deal, right? You should all come visit! Tanja did happen to be in the right hemisphere, which made this reunion a little easier - and what a sweet one it was! I had stayed with Tanja in Boston back in March while I interviewed for this job at AUW. At that time she was beginning to imagine this journey she'd take to South Asia to partner with anti-human-trafficking organizations that focus on income-generation projects for vulnerable women and girls (Int'l Princess Project, Made by Survivors... see under "links"). She's been in India and Bangladesh since August 1st and is headed next to Nepal and S.East Asia. It was incredible to sit here in my apartment together, remembering our conversations over the past year, now seeing her photos of what we'd only imagined back then. Besides that, we still reminisce about the fact that I was eleven years-old when we first met; Tanja used to take me out for ice-cream in Bath, Maine. A dozen years later I'm negotiating with a rickshaw-wallah to take us downtown for dinner. Several times we broke into spontaneous laughter over the fact that years ago we never would have guessed we'd be in Bangladesh together... very far from Woolwich.

Tanja's visit couldn't have been timed better, since she arrived a few days before my week-long holiday from teaching. On Monday before break she spoke to my smiling, captivated students about her experiences. One student asked her, "Ma'am, what is your greatest ambition?" The students were moved by Tanja's answer, which revealed her dedication to combatting injustices against women.

On Tuesday, we left for Malumghat, to spend four days at the guesthouse and campus of Memorial Christian Hospital. Apart from being close enough (3 hour bus ride) for us to avoid Eid traffic, Malumghat was for many reasons the best choice for a relaxing time away from the city. Also, I had been eager to revisit this place that is an important landmark in our family.

My first visit to Memorial Christian Hospital was in February 1988 to welcome the perfect gift of my brother David into our family. Above, my mother and I are just getting to know little bitty David. Because of that old photo, I was immediately able to recognize the picnic table during this recent visit (pictured below).

Malumghat was indeed the most peaceful place I have visited in my short time here so far, and I have a strong feeling (plus some hints from others who live here) that there are few places that compare.... unless you're a doctor, in which case it's not so quiet. Surrounded by rice paddies, and flowers, and everywhere green, the campus is a paradise after weeks spent in the deafening beats of city traffic and construction.

It felt like it had been years, rather than weeks, since I had locked my arms in streamline position above my head to dive into my favorite form of H2O. I miss swimming, so the pool at the hospital campus was one of my favorite spots. There I met some wonderful little playmates, Silas, Naomi and Seth (children of Dr. Stephen and Monika Welch) who shared my affinity for aqueous fun.

From Malumghat, we took a day trip down to Cox's Bazaar, where first we visited a Burmese market. I had an engaging conversation with an educated Burmese-Bangladeshi shop owner about the current political situation in that junta-run state across the border.

And finally, we saw what Cox's Bazaar is most known for: the longest natural sea beach in the world. My parents actually got engaged here, so again I found myself on sacred ground in my pilgrimage of family landmarks.

Alyssa and Tanja (below) and I enjoyed the late afternoon sun by splashing in the Bay of Bengal in our salwar kameezes. We were so fortunate to find an abandoned stretch of beach; apart from a few cows, we weren't accompanied by the usual crowds of curious onlookers.
The week of respite and adventures wrapped up last Sunday, when Tanja and I took our final CNG ride back to the airport at Patenga beach in Chittagong. On the breezy ride back to my home in Khulshi, already missing my friend, I watched the river boats float quietly in place - their captains away with families for the holiday.

In this world there are many different people...

"Eid Mubarak" - the Eid greeting. This past Saturday was Eid-al-Fitr, though no one knew for sure until last week that it would be that particular day, since it's a holiday based on lunar activity. I utilized my Bangla script and decorated an envelope to give the expected Eid gift to our apartment-building security guards, from the several of us teachers on the top floor. Every time we left he building for the past week, the guards reminded each of us that they were awaiting their money. We were each in turn tempted to say something about how we'd be more eager to give if they'd be more willing to stop giving our water-delivery men such grief about using the elevator. But Eid is not a time for bribery; it's a time to give.

It's hard to believe that I have neglected this blog for over two weeks. Apart from leaving friends and family quite out of the loop, my posting-absence now presents me with the problem-solving task of needing to sift through the recent happenings here in Chittagong and pull out the important details.

So, as temping as it is to publish last night's epic battle with 5 massive cockroaches, ending in the tragedy of my beloved coffee press shattering on my tile floor - (see picture of my pathetic improvisation this morning... Bodum or none, I need my coffee) - I'll back up to the first week of teaching, replacing my current sense of loss with the lovely memories of those eager faces on day 1 of class.

29 September:

6:00am - Went running with Alyssa (fellow-teacher/great-friend) I'm thankful for this blessed daily routine that helps keep us sane through long days sitting and standing and not moving much otherwise.

7:15am - Headed to AUW to prep my classroom

8:00am - Began class with "Silver group." We named the groups according to colors, because students here are quite concerned with rankings (in potentially unconstructive ways). So we don't want it to be too obvious who's in class #1 versus class #8. The class was small - only 9 of the 15 names on my roster were present. I found out later that the Palestinian and Chinese students on my list had decided not to attend AUW, and one Afghani student had left during orientation due to extreme homesickness. Understandable, as many of these girls had never left their village. My 3 Iranian students wandered in about 30 minutes late. It looks like they won't be staying at AUW. They explained to me that coming to Bangladesh has been quite a shock for them, and they do have other great educational opportunities in Tehran.

I dove into syllabi explanation with the rest of the Silver girls - mostly from Afghanistan, in addition to a few Bangladeshis. Another professor here (who spent the last few years teaching jaded undergrads in Iowa) aptly described how wonderful these AUW students are to have in class: "They're so motivated, and it seems to take so little to impress them... I know I'm not that funny, but they laugh at all my little jokes. It's great!" Of course, our job requires more than just impressing students, but having such eager, attentive young women in class is a great esteem-booster for teachers, nonetheless.

2:00pm - In the afternoon, I taught my second 2-hour course on reading and writing, this time to the "Orange" group, of 16 students. I'm sure I'll have many stories to come, regarding my classes. It's going to be a challenge to bring the English level of students up to the undergrad level - especially weeding out the endemic tendency to plagiarize. Students have been taught to memorize and regurgitate. They've also been taught to create "introduction sentences" that usually start with "In this world..." or "All human beings..." regardless of the topic. They also almost always include the words "there are many different," which explains why my students were excited to learn the word "various" from our syllabus on the first day. Anyway, we're working on main ideas and topic sentences this week, so hopefully we'll eventually see some more focused thesis sentences.

Many of my students were fasting during these long first days of classes. I'm sure there will be a notable difference after Eid in their energy in class work and discussions. After 7 days of class, we had our first holiday - a full week off! My next post will detail the adventures of my first vacation, and of my VERY special visitor, Tanja Cesh.

Everyone was out shopping the last week of Ramadan - just picture the shopping malls during Christmas week in the States... it's at least that busy, and lasts late into the night.

A neighbor dropped by a platter of Iftar food. I didn't pull my camera out until we had devoured half of it. Apparently the household which prepared this feast may have had a new bride or wife, and tradition deems that during Ramadan the husband's family gives food to the wife's family and neighbors. Though we've never met this family, I'm pretty darn happy to call myself their neighbor!