Day 10

August 7th 2009
10th Day in Dhaka

Things have been busy at school this week; we finished up the new staff orientation and on Wednesday, all the veteran teachers came back. I felt like I had just wrapped my head around the school and the new staff members and then there were all these new faces and people to meet. Some of the teachers have been in Dhaka going on five years and said that at the beginning, they never would have though they would stay here that long but since then it has become home. I met the teacher that I am assigned to, Rachel Cook, and she is awesome-just very nice and very open to different ideas concerning teaching so that made me feel really positive about the upcoming year. I have my own big desk and it felt nice to kind of have a home for the first time for all my belongings. I won't be in her class for every block and we're still configuring my schedule but her classroom will kind of be my home base.
I wasn't too sure about middle school when I was first assigned to it-I like working with older kids. However, I think these kids will be pretty advanced and hardworking and know that I'm used to the idea of working with 7th and 8th graders I'm excited about it. The middle school is so small and compact that it makes for a good working environment. There are only about 16 or 17 teachers in the middle school and a lot of them double dip- like Rachel teaches Language Arts and Social Studies or another teacher will do Humanities and Language Arts. I'm sure there will be problems that arise between teachers butting heads and stuff but for the most part people seem to get along. This school is amazing because they have bearers that work on every hall and they will move furniture for you and put up your bulletin boards for you. They work really hard and are super sweet. This week we also made several trips to the school supply store to get things for the classroom. Again, this school is amazing in the fact that the school supply store is like a wonderland for teachers. It's this huge room with shelves practically up to the ceiling with every color sharpie, marker, pencil, every color and size of paper imaginable, poster board, every art product like glitter and glue and pipe cleaners and just everything a teacher could possibly need from grade Pre-K to 12th. It's unbelievable and everything is for free, you just sign it out under your name in this big binder.
Friday was the first day that we had off since we got here. I was soo looking forward to having a day off and being able to sleep in. On Thursday we went to the Australian club, which is where a lot a people go Thursday nights for drinks. There are only so many places that people go in Dhaka so you are always seeing people that you work with at these places. You also see students and students' parents and stuff at these places. It's nice because the ex-pat/diplomat community is close-knit and you generally develop good relationships but at the same time it's harder to escape if you feel you just need to get away from it all and unwind. It was nice Thursday night to have drinks though and relax. I'm still adjusting to working Sunday through Thursday and having my weekend be Friday and Saturday.
Saturday I slept in until 11. Donna's friend from home, Kelly, and her husband, Justin, picked us up and we went to some local stores. You really have to know where your going because shops and restaurants are so tucked away and aren't obvious like in the States. The first store we went to looked like a house and had a guard that opened a gate to let you in. They had the comfiest rugs I've ever felt and you could special order them and get an exact size and pattern. We went to a couple other stores with saris and local clothing and then we went to Jatra. This is my favorite store in Dhaka so far. So many bright, vibrant colors. They have these huge pillows that you throw on the floor and are so comfy. Everything is super cheap there too just like everywhere else in Dhaka. We went to the American club for lunch, and again, saw tons of people we knew or recognized.
Donna and I went out to dinner at Bukara on Friday night, the Indian restaurant that the school had taken us to once in the highest building in Dhaka. We were both feeling a little low and decided we needed to get out of the house. They had kept us so busy since we'd gotten there that I hadn't really had that much time to think about what the hell I was doing there. I had so looked forward to my day off but once it was there, I kind of felt like, ok what do I do now?? I'm still new to the city and I feel a little trapped and confined to school and my apartment. I miss just being able to jump in my car and go somewhere or get on the metro and meet up with friends and family. I had so much time to think on Saturday that I really started psyching myself out, like what am I doing in this strange, noisy, dirty city for an entire year? I started really missing my family and friends back home because this would have been a day where I would have been cooking and having a big dinner with my family or meeting up with friends. Donna was feeling the same way as well, which made me feel better that I wasn't alone in feeling that way. I was so happy to have a day off and now I just wanted the week to start so that I can throw myself into school and not think about how I'm like a million miles away from everything that is familiar. I tried to focus on the positives of the situation to remedy my sadness like how I have such loving people back home who are backing and supporting me in my adventure and how fortunate I am to have this opportunity and how much I am going to learn and experience. I also had to keep reminding myself that this feeling will hopefully subside in time once I become more familiar with the city and don't feel so confined to the same spaces.
Today Kelly took Donna and I to the American Commissary, where we got some familiar American things like peanut butter, oatmeal, cereal, tampons, shampoo, tuna fish, etc. You can get some of these things at the local stores but they can be sketchy and you don't always know how they were made, what's in them, etc. Now at least we can have some peanut butter sandwiches for lunch.
Tonight I think I'm going to attempt the Hash (Hash Hound Harriers) which is like a running club for expats/diplomats/teachers, etc. The original one was started by Brits in India and now diplomatic communities all over the world do it. The lead runners run all over dropping little bits of paper behind them for the other runners and then there are like fake trails sometimes. It sounds strange but basically the faster runners end up running longer and the slower runners run less and at the end everyone stands in a circle and drinks beer and the leaders call out funny things that happened along the way, like if you got stuck in a mud puddle or chased by a dog. You can also walk it. I'm very apprehensive for some reason because I've been bad about running lately and I'm trying to get back in shape but running here is hard because the air quality is poor and smoggy, making it hard to breathe and it's just so damn hot and muggy. So I might walk this week and next week attempt to run. Apparently I'm signed up to coach track in the spring, which I didn't know about until Thursday, so I got to get back in good running shape if I'm going to coach other runners!