Dhaka life

I wrote this text some days ago. Now I‘m already in Rangpur.

But I thought you might be interested to read it.

So now I try to give you some impressions of my Dhaka visit.. Now its almost three weeks that I came here. 

Dhaka is a crazy city. There are around 18 Mio. people. That's crazy.

I never have the possibility to be alone... Just at home sometimes in my room when there is nobody. 

Many people here in BD are very open minded. They always want to get in contact with me. That was nice at the beginning, but it sometimes starts to annoy me. Sometimes I'm looking for some quiet moments to have something like privacy.

Till now it's like an relaxing journey to Dhaka, We have some bangla lessons and we are learning but it's still kind of holidays.

Everyday I'm driving by Riksha. It cost for 30 minutes around 60 cents, thats 60 Taka. To be honest its very cheap.

At the first days I had a crazy feeling having someone in front of me that has to use his muscles to transport me, but when you think that he earns money with this, you feel better fast.

The rikshapullers are often a topic that we discuss when we are talking in our group.

I think you also have a crazy feeling imagining this situation. They are getting around 500 Euro per month under hard working conditions, but when they work in the field on the countryside they maybe get just 150 Euro per month... mostly even less....

In Dhaka, the center of everything in Bangladesh, there are also very rich people driving cars like in Big cities in Germany where the people have a lot of money. The rich area is called Gulshan, the embassies are also set there. There are houses called clubs, these clubs are open everyday, they belong to certain countries. There is a german club where you can buy german food and drink beer. There is also a pool. It's for the foreign people working in the embassies or the international NGOs to have a place where they can feel like home. 

All the places have prices like in Germany. 

Sometimes we have a strange feeling. When we drive to the german club, we pay 2 Euro per person for transport to and back from the club. Inside we pay much more for for german food and drinks... Sometimes this city steels me so much energy and in these situations you want to be sure that the dishes are clean, that the people speak english or even german and that no-one wants money from you if you talk with him/her and he/she shows you the way. A typical situation. These places for foreigner give me and our group the possibiltity to relax but also a topic to discuss.

I found some nice friends here. I can always meet with them if I want... They always stay at the same place. I really like them. 

Sometimes I have the feeling that some people like me more than I like them. I don't say so because I'm so overselfconfident, thats just because they are soo curious and extremely interested in foreigners. This country hasn't really been discovered by tourist. This country is influenced by other countries, especially the west because of the germain industry (Clothes)..but it's also in its origine in some parts.

The lifestyle is somehow different to Germany. There are soo many people working under extreme bad working condition (seen from my western education), but it is kind of normal to see this... Don't missunderstand me. It's not that I feel better here. No... I was taught about Bangladesh before and about all these things. It's just my impression after a while. Live is very different here. There are people living in the craziest houses, palaces and in front of this house there is a rikshapuller waiting for customers to bring someone to another place for 50 cent.

It's very hard to see this injustice, but if you always think about it, you will never enjoy this country with its wonderful people.... the people want to help you as much as possible...they ask you for your number after talking for 30 seconds.(Sometimes)...

If someone of you ever come here, don't give your number too fast and don't forget to save the name and remember the situation, otherwise its like I have the situation now... I get calls from numbers I don't know, people that I don't really remember and than they ask me to meet with them again.  Its not that I'm selfish that I forget about them.. Its more that I don't want to be unfriendly and refuse them to give my number....

But these are just a few strange situations. I like my friends here a lot, we always share everything....and they are still not bored by me.

I have a group of friends here that like to make beatbox and rap. Thats very uncommon here. There isn't a big Hip Hop community here, but they often meet together and make hiphopevents... But never forget that you shouldn't come in time because you will feel bored for the first hour because almost no one is there. It‘s not just a prejudice that Bengalis come late. It‘s often true.

There is a lot of trash in Dhaka.... Once I complained about ukraine's forest that there is sooooo much trash.... Sorry I haven't been right... You can never say that you really faced visible pollution until you have been here. Of course there is even more pollution in Germany because of the cars but it's not soo visible.

It makes me feel crazy sometimes and it kills my nose when it smells sooo bad... When I see dogs eating this shit then it's even worse. Sometimes I also see goats walking on this trash searching for something to eat. 

I think some of my photos are telling more than I can explain writing here. I uploaded them all in Facebook. If you have no access to facebook contact me.

About now and the upcoming days:

It's hartal... That means shut down.... The corrupt political parties often make these hartels if they think they have a reason to be unhappy. These days always cost the country many millions because the people cannot work. That‘s really soo bad if this happens a lot. 

These hartals are very annoying and dangerous. We cannot really go out and can't leave our area because it could be dangerous. Some people had a fight in our area. The consequences of Hartal are: less or no cars, less or no busses, no office, no school, no university, no shopping mall, no industry.... and no money for the workers class.

The half of my group is sick now.... So it's not big a problem that they are sick now, they can't go out anyway. 

I hope not to become sick too... I think than I would feel homesick. 

In some minutes I feel homesick....Not that strong but a bit. I wouldn't complain about my own room and some fresh milk with cornflakes and some dark german bread with very nice and strong cheese... a Döner kebab in the evening with some beers and later going to a club.... Maybe its even cold and I have to wear a winterjacket, but I don't sweat like I always do here. 

But as I wrote. That feeling is not that strong.... In Dhaka there is almost everywhere 3G internet on my phone. Thats very connecting to Europe but also a bit too much. I use facebook too much.... It's not always extremely interesting in our flat.

About our flat: Its a 4 rooms flat, one big living and dining room, 3 bedrooms... kitchen and bathrooms are also existing.

We always get food from the service man. It was kind of weird at the beginning but I started to be extremely happy about it. We never have these typical kinds of discussions with our group like: who will clean? Who will cook? Who will clean the bathrooms?.... It seems very lazy from me now.... But I'm happy to keep the current relation to the other group members. We have just very few problems.... I will be responsible for all my stuff for around 11 months... so there is no need to think that I will become lazy. I just appreciate my current situation.

Misti, bengalische Süßigkeiten

The bengali food tastes nice... It's often with fish and with meat often with "Dal" and always rice. This food is exciting for some time but then you sometimes feel the need for some fresh things like vegetables or fruits. The problem: they often have formalin inside to keep them fresh for a long time. You shouldn‘t eat formalin.

So our nutrition is not very well balanced. To keep my weight and not to become fat I often eat just 2 times a days. In the evening we always eat before 8, normal bengalies eat at 10 /11 o' clock.

I found my new hobby in taking photographies as everyone can see on Facebook. Also some friends from here they have the same hobby... So we take photographies together. My group is quite happy that they have a photographer. I‘m often taking photos of them but also the environment, the people and everthing. I'm quite happy with my won photos (a HUGE thank to my mom for the new lens). But I still have no zoom lens. I need it actually.

I'm going to Rangpur at the first of october. there will be a huge muslim festival at this time. 

Thanks for reading: Schösch (bangla word for finish)