Hellow, How ar youuuu...

Hello everyone!! Sorry it took so long for me to blog. We arrived safe and sound in Dhaka, Bangladesh on May 3, but when we got to the RDRA guesthouse we didn't have a computer so we had no internet for the first couple days. Now that we are in Rangpur (7 hour drive) we have internet!!!

To try and cut out the the dry stuff I will first just outline the last couple days :)...sorry I am very wordy:

May 1-2:
            -arrive at Winnipeg airport @ 4am ( ps I was totally on time for once in my life )
            -say good bye to our families and get in line, where a school group tries to cut us because they have
            25 passengers and one of the teachers got there before us...clearly Dylan flexed some muscle and
            got us through :)
            -2 hour flight to Chicago, lay over in Chicago for 4 hours and took my first malaria pill with some
            nasty pizza, saw a monk though, which was pretty BA!! I paparazzied him like no other!
            -6am leave for Seoul, Korea, 13 hour flight :S... impressed myself and actually got 6 hours of sleep
            in on this flight...worst part is waking up after 6 hours of sleep to find out that you still have 7 hours of
            flight...but the 7 hours meant that I got to read an entire book, "Tuesdays with Morrie" :)
                                          -some where in here it became May 2nd lol
             -1.5 layover in Seoul than at 5:40pm (their time) we got on the plane for Bangkok, Thailand
             - apparently in Seoul it is cool to wear the identical out fit as your girlfriend/boyfriend lol multiple
             couples in the Seoul airport were dressed identically, even down to the shoes and socks (yes i took
             pictures)
             -9:30pm arrived in Bangkok, Thailand. Stayed the night in a hotel across the street..beds are the
            most wonderful invention in the whole world after a long flight!
May2-3:
             - 10:30 am got on the plane for Dhaka!!(2 hour flight) (Thai airlines is the happiest looking plane
             ever!! yellow, pink and purple seats, it makes you think nothing could ever go bad on a flight lol)
             - also a bonus was that there was no one on our flight so we all got
May 3:
             - arrive it Dhaka!! saw our first cockroach...way too entertained by this bug...went to the RDRS
             guest house...let the stares and crowds begin!
             - met with RDRS staff  and went for an eye opening walk around Dhaka
May 4:
             -went to the Canadian Console for a safety briefing...a pretty fancy place
             -got money out from the ATM ( up to this point my debit card was either not accepted or didn't
             work so it was a huge relief to have it work, 1 Canadian dollar = 72 takka, thus took out 7200 moo
             haha )
             - went shopping!!
May 5:
            -8am headed for Rangpur on an intense 7 hour drive, where I rode in the front seat...Canadian
           driving will never be the same,
            - arrived safe and sound to the Rangpur guest house, which everyone else forgot to mention is like
           the x-men mansion lol
            - took my first tuk tuk(10 takka, 2 people fit comfortably) and rickshaw rides(5 takka a person, 7
           people) to the market to get Delaney some clothes.

     So that's the basics of our last couple days in Bangladesh... in the future my blogs will be a lot more fun to read, but I didn't want this one to be thirty pages long like my journal lol. 

     Over the last couple of days we have gotten a crazy introduction into Bangladesh life and culture. It is definately one of the more colorful nations I have ever encountered. From the tuk tuks to clothing to the food to the buildings, everything here is colorful!! Since we went shopping, I am happy to announce that I am now part of the color as well :) When we first began our shopping trip in Aarong (there version of a brand name store) I was very discouraged. I had been warned that since I am a little taller and bigger that shopping might be very difficult for me, but in Aarong I help very hopeless. At first it was difficult to figure out our sizes and then the few clothes I liked were too expensive (4150 takka= about 57 canadian). Then we went to a store around the corner and finally I found lots that fit and were cheap. In the end, I bought a teal and cream outfit for 850 takka, a black embroidered top for 750 takka and a red/orange outfit for 1350 takka( total around 40 dollars). My favorite are the pants, which remind me of Aldaddin pants!! I have a bright orange pair and a bright teal/gold pair!
      Unfortunately there is also alot of poverty here as well. The number on poor and disfigured baggars we have met as been eye opening. I find it very sad to think about how these people must have a "caregivers" who drops them off there in the mornings and picks them up at night and hope that they get atleast some of the money they recieve.  
      As expected, I have struggled a little with the food. ironically, the worst part has been the omletes at breakfast, which are completely edible, but due to the fact that I don't ever do eggs lol they were my biggest fear. Thankfully Dylan and Lauren have stepped up and eaten them for me. Other than that I have been trying alot of new and interesting foods. My mom will think it's funny to know that one of my staples is a cucumber and tomato salad, which I eat at every meal, so yes, just like Japan I may come back eating tomatos :S
     When talking to people who had been here before, I was warned that we would be starred at, but I don't think any kind of warning could have prepared me for just how much starring we would get!! People follow us around just gazing at us. Some ask where we are from or say hello, but many just sit and watch us. My favorite are the little children who run behind us saying "HELLOW, How ar youuuu?" with giant smiles on their faces. We answer," Good, how are you?" Which they answer "Good!", but then repeat "HELLOW, How ar youuu?" again and again and again. The whole while with giant smiles on their faces. It is very cute.
      Lastly, if you are a nervous driver or passanger, do NOT ride with a Bangladeshi driver!! Being in the front seat while our driver was driving on the highway was the most intense ride of my life. A number of times there were four vehicles crossing on a two lane road. Crazy buses, so full with people that many of them had 15-30 people on the roof (old and young), holding on to luggage racks to stop themselves from falling to their deaths, would weave in and out of traffic. The highway was shared by all types of vehichles on the road, cars, buses, transport trucks piled high, tuck tucks, rickshaws, cars and our passanger van. Once or twice I had no idea where we were going to go to avoid vehicles approaching us to pass another vehicles, but our driver always found a curb to keep us safe!! Our driver is basically the superman/hudinni of drivers!! (I took a video of one of these intense moments, but I will have to share it when I get home) 

      This afternoon we will be headed to Thakurgaon (2 hour drive) for 6 days (I have already nose gamed my way out of the front seat), of which I won't be able to blog until we return to Rangpur. So the next blog will also likely be huge :S Until then I hope everyone at home is doing well!!

       Since we won't have internet access on Sunday, Happy Mother's day to Debby Lee and Grandma Robertson!! Hope you both have wonderfully spoiled days :)