No chances this time, I’m typing this in Word first.
The past week has been a rather eventful one. Every MCC staff person in the country went to a training seminar this past weekend. There were about 80 of us total. To get there I had to ride a bus. That was an experience worthy of its own blog post. But it won’t get it. Basically we got on what was a pretty nice bus. Then it started driving. Then it started honking as it weaved through thick Dhaka traffic. Then it continued honking. Then it honked some more. Did I mention it honked? I guess what I’m trying to do is let you know how much this guy did it. We would be flying along as fast as possible out in the middle of the countryside and this guy would just lay on the horn regardless of whether he really needed to do so. But that wasn’t the most unnerving part, just the most annoying. The unnerving part was how he woven in and out of traffic in the countryside just like he would in Dhaka. Only at this time it was at a considerably faster rate of speed. I kid you not, he would get past someone, accelerate as fast as possible, honk, try to go around someone when you could see we weren’t going to have enough time before the oncoming traffic got to us, brake hard, get behind the person he was trying to pass, honk as the other side passed, gun it again while honking and trying to pass again, if he got his nose past the front of the person he was trying to pass they were the one who had to brake for the next oncoming vehicle. Let’s just say I now understand why most buses around here are dented up badly.
The training went well and it seems like it was a good first step towards many changes that need to occur in MCC Bangladesh as an organization. We danced, I did something totally ridiculous, everyone loved it, basically nothing new or out of the ordinary there other than the part where everyone loved it. Maybe a video clip will pop up somewhere for your enjoyment.
We also had Thanksgiving as Ex-pats. It was delicious but I messed it up by eating a huge lunch which meant I wasn’t prepared for Thanksgiving supper.
Then there was the trip back. So we decided to catch the train back to Dhaka. As we were approaching the front gate to the train station I wasn’t surprised at all to have someone trying to get money from me. It is a pretty typical part of life here. He had a stack of paper something in his hand and I assumed they were train tickets and told him that I didn’t need one. Luckily for me I had my handy dandy Austin Miller there to actually know what he was saying and tell him that I wasn’t interested. The next thing I know this guy is going to the guard (who is holding a rifle) nearby and insisting something. Luckily the guard pays him very little heed and we move on. Then Austin explained to me what happened. Apparently the guy was collecting money for the local Mosque and the paper was the receipt. The guy had picked me out of our group because I was the one who was obviously a Muslim. This is because of my beard. When Austin told him no, he went to the guard insisting that he should be allowed to talk to me because he was pretty sure I didn’t understand what he wanted to tell me. Needless to say I have now learned how get myself out of such situations. From now on, I will just say, “please forgive me.” Hopefully that solves the problem.
We got back and have done more Bangla learning this week. I thought I was poor this week and it turned out I’m actually rich. (I was looking at my American finances.) I get to go to the dentist tomorrow. That’s all I have for you. Maybe I’ll have something more interesting to say this weekend.
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