The new normal

It's funny how in only three and a half weeks things that were once crazy, weird and odd, now seem kinda normal.

I snapped a few pics over the last few days of regular things which are now very much my new normal!

1.  Constant sweaty everything. 

2.  The orna (scarf). A modest girls best friend here in the 'desh! It's essential when leaving the house or      in the presence of a man! I usually just wear it the back-to-front scarf way, but the over the head look is good for trying to remain (slightly) anonymous, to keep the rain/ sun off and for covering above mentioned sweaty hair.

3.  Open drains. Yep, all of them are open! No, that's not just stormwater in there! My constant fear when in a rickshaw is that the waller with mis-judge the road edge and I will go in! 

4.  Being treated like a rock star. It's good and bad. It feels ridiculous that because of my skin colour people treat me so differently. But it was also hilarious when the owner of our apartment wanted a photo with us after signing the lease!  

5. House guards. It's now totally normal that my apartment building is guarded by men 24/7. The front gate is locked and I have to bang loudly for the security man to come and let me in. There are also about 5 other guys that hang out down the bottom of the building. I'm still figuring out what they all do. 

 6. Safety standards. I don't want to ever think of this as normal, but after seeing this kind of thing several times a day, these sights are a new kind of 'normal'.
I don't think these guys signed off on a working at heights permits for this one.

7. Shopping. After having just stockpiled an entire new wardrobe, I feel I am now somewhat of an expert in the new normal of Bangladeshi clothes shopping! As previously discussed, there's definitely no k-mart here! Normal shopping now is going to the fabric markets for selecting material, the other fabric market for trying to find material for matching ornas (scarfs) and shalwar (pants), buying decorative bling from the trimmings shop, then taking it all to the tailor for assembling. Here is the lovely Michelina (new friend!) helping me to translate at the tailors!

New life. New normal things.