Happy anniversary!

Exactly yesterday 1 year ago I landed in Dhaka in Bangladesh knowing that this will be my home for at least next six months. I was prepared to stay up to one year though. I mean, I didn't want to stay for less than a year, cos the year for me was symbolising the full circle.. Just to give you an example: if a trainee comes to Estonia for 6 months starting from September, s/he would leave in March, miss all the beauty of Estonian summer and have always impression that Estonia is a really freezing, dark country with no smiling people. A person coming for 6 months starting from May would definitely argue that Estonia is the most pleasant, beautiful and warm country with too bright nights and full of lots of joy. So I didn't want to get into such kind of misperceptions about Bangladesh myself.

Today I'm not overwhelmingly excited about my work as I was in the beginning, but I'm not extremely frustrated about the challenges of everyday life as I was some months ago. I feel comfortable more or less anywhere I go, but I have realised that everything is not always as it seems. I do notice the negative sides of the environment and society here, but I do discover myself finding so many things I really like and enjoy. And some things I accept as they are, cos this is the way how things are handled here.

Today i'm here with some work permit and visa challenges (which hopefully get solved within couple of days), with a contract up to August 2007, in the middle of my MBA studies and with a plan to relate myself with this country for the rest of my life. Mmm... I'd say quite a development has happened. I believe the future is bright.

Glimpse on Bangladesh

Rangamati_Budda_tempel3
Originally uploaded by kkadak.

Bangladesh is beautiful and contradictory. Mostly flat land and rice fields surrounded by palm trees and thousands of lakes here and there changes into high mountains (Hilltracts Rangamati, Bandarbans) in the eastern part of the country. One can find beautiful green teagardens from the north east (Sylhet, Srimongol) and quiet seabeach with romantic islands (Cox's Bazar) from south east. There is dzungle (mangrove forest Sundarbans) in the south west and countless amount of rivers all over the country. There are ancient Hindu temples next to Mosques, in addition lots of Buddist architecture in the Hills. There are Muslims, Hindus, Christians and Buddists living here peacefully. I like that so many differences exists friendly next to each other. Which is another contradiction itself considering the general political situation of the country... By the way, I have put quite some pictures on the web - click here - or any of the pictures on the blog and you'll find others easily.

Things can be different

kolimine_Bangla_moodi
Originally uploaded by kkadak.

This is definitely one thing that is different in Bangladesh - moving from one apartment to another is done manually. Meaning that huge amount of stuff is loaded to a two-wheel-"vehicle", which is pulled by the person. And this is not the only thing carried that way. The same method is used when distributing products, carrying raw materials for building houses, deliverying furniture from the shop to the client etc. Sometimes you can see one guy pulling the "vehicle" and one or two others sitting on it, so that when the puller gets tired, another person can take over. The rate for such a service is negotiable as everything else in Bangladesh. Couple of kilometres long distance together with loading and unloading last time for us cost 250 Taka (50 EEK). If a local negotiates then it's obviously cheaper.

Trainees

Kristel_feb06 002
Originally uploaded by kkadak.

Other trainees is definitely one of the best part of a traineeship. The truth is, it is so much easier to make friends among other foreigners than locals. And trainees having similar problems, similar joys and similar daily schedules do stick together. We go out for sightseeing, do shopping on the markets (includes huge loads of haggling which is much more fun, when there are more of us), gossip about our romantic relationships, complain about local behaviours we don't understand, have dinner in nice restaurant or cup of coffee and icecream in a cafe, party, often even live together. We build strong connections and friendships. The sad part is that few of us stay for longer (for example from that picture, only me, Nina and Fridde are still in Bangladesh) and those who do have to go through so many farewells and wave goodbye to so many friends. But even if the contacts later by e-mail are not really frequent, I'm sure, whenever the life for some reason brings us together again, we do remember each other and still feel connected.