Mouldy monsoon

It's been raining here for four days straight. And not just the Tassie drizzle type rain, but real monsoony the-heavens-have-opened-and-I-look-like-I've-taken-a-fully-clothed-shower type of rain.

But apart from getting a bit wet and striding through rushing torrents of water when crossing the street, I have actually welcomed the monsoon season. Cooler temperatures! Less sweat! Well that was, until I discovered the mould. That's right Internet, only two weeks into the monsoon season, where is rains a whole lot of the time and the humidity in Chittagong is 95%, I am finding damp, furry, gross mould growing on clothes in my wardrobe and on my leather belt and wooden jewellery! Yuck! This time last year I remember reading my friend Naomi's blog, who is also living in Asia, she went to put on a pair of leather shoes, only to find they were covered in growing mould! This didn't seem possible. Until now.

It took all my power not to gag while taking these pictures of the mould.

I've got the ceiling fan on all day, leaving the wardrobe doors open for circulation, and have put chalk and some absorbency balls I found at the market all through my shelves and hanging section to try and absorb the moisture. I'm planning on getting a white vinegar spray happening too! Thanks to my lovely Facebook friends who have given me this advice! Now pleeeeeeeeease stay away dampness and mould!
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Oh, and while we're on the topic of monsoons, I'll leave you with some pictures that will brighten your day. The seasonal fashion trend among the working class of Bangladesh - the ever practical and super trendy plastic bag rain hat! Ingenious way of keeping your head dry! You're welcome.

Rockstars

Sat down at an empty cha shop. Attracted a bit of attention. Felt pretty popular. 

Working it out

It's not all trips to Dhaka to eat bacon burgers and lounging in my huge apartment for me here in Chittagong. A girls gotta work!

Although two months into work here and I still feel extremely new and muddling my way trying to figuring out the best way to complete my assignment objectives and produce something useful. Much of the time I'm sitting at my desk in an office, and I sometimes feel like i could be in an office anywhere....well, apart from the power going out 5 times a day and the being personally delivered cha and sweets to my desk by our office cha waller bit!

But then there are days when I am out in the field visiting project sites, and I feel totally humbled and like this is the coolest job ever. I get to see the on the ground results of where international World Vision sponsorship dollars are going. Meeting community members who are gushing with pride at their new tube well, or sanitary latrine! It's beyond humbling. 

Last week I was out in an urban fringe community in Chittagong, and met with a community WASH committee, established by World Vision to be the community drivers for teaching good sanitation and hygiene practices in their community. 

When I arrived with the local WV staff, the women in the WASH committee were all sitting on mats under a tree in the common area of their community waiting for us. A little different to my work site visits in Australia!

During the meeting the women proudly showed me a map (hard to see in the picture below) they had drawn of their community, which included all 538 family houses and each latrine. They then had a colour coded system and key, which marked the latrines that were hygienic, non-hygienic and open pits. It was very detailed! They are planning on using the map as a start for their hygiene education and for planning upgrades to the sanitation facilities in the community. Very inspiring to see them taking the initiative for their own community!

We then took a walk through the community and I was shown the tube wells that were installed three years ago by WV. There is always a big line up for the tube wells, as after lots of education, the community are aware that the wells are the only safe source of drinking water available.

As I arrived there was a gathering of women waiting for water, and as soon as I pulled my camera out the guy in the picture jumped in front to demonstrate the working well. But the lady pictured totally busted him! She came up  to me and the other WV staff after and showed us her blisters that she gets from pumping the well every day - and accused the man of never doing any real work and just pretending to be helpful for the camera! Ouch.

And of course, as everywhere in Bangladesh, there were plenty of kids eager to check out the bideshi! This particular gorgeous girl following me throughout the community for the two hours I was there! 

So even though I'm still working it all out, I'm pretty thankful that the sitting at the desk bit is only part of the job!

Bacon Update!

Faithful readers, I have some news. I ATE BACON!!!

When I left Tassie back in April, I thought I had said goodbye to bacon for the year. But no! At only 7 weeks in, I managed to taste the salty bacon goodness in my burger-with-the-lot at the Australian club in Dhaka! (it's a gated, member only club attached to the Australian High Commission - closely resembles an Aussie caravan park)

So it turns out that there is a German butcher in Dhaka, and he does some underground dealings within the expat community supplying bacon upon request! Amazing news! Dhaka has now become even more attractive!

How Bazar

Last week I had about reached the time in my Bangladeshi experience where the incessant horn blowing and never ending stares and interest wherever I go, was starting to wear a little thin. It was time to get out of the city!

So a weekend to Cox's Bazar was the perfect refresher! 

Some of the other Aussie volunteers from Dhaka had also planned to be in Cox's for the same weekend, so it was relaxing, and social! Perfect! We stayed at 'Mermaids Eco Resort'. The website was fancy and it was really pricy (for Bangladeshi standards!), so I was hopeful, but, after almost two months in Bangladesh, I have learnt that keeping expectations low in this country is a necessity!

So Glenna and I were jumping for joy when we arrived, and the reality really did match the website!

And we could laze around at the restaurant area without our ornas on! Scandalous!

Cox's Bazar is world famous in Bangladesh, as being THE tourist go-to spot. "Oh, very beautiful! Longest sea-beach in the world!" said everybody in my office! (Just don't tell Brazil, apparently they've had the ruler out and kind of contest the Bengladeshi's claims!)

The beach is long enough for there to be only a handful of fishermen and their families on our part of the beach! We still had to swim with our clothes on (bikinis are still too risk-ay around these parts!) but I SWAM IN THE BAY OF BENGAL! It was pretty rad!

A whole weekend hanging out with 10 other bideshi's in a decidedly non-Bangladeshi resort. How Bazar. But totally what I needed! Thank you Cox's Bazar!

Chicken-Fish

So I thought that I should stop by and let you know that no, I'm not dead, I've just had a horrendously horrid week of sickness. And to be honest, I did feel pretty close to death most of the week! 

I was in Dhaka last Sunday and somehow contracted a horrible fever/ headache/ dizziness/ sore muscle combo. After day 3, I had blood tests to check it wasn't malaria or typhoid (it wasn't), even though it felt worse! Then on the weekend when the fever was slowly disappearing my body breaks out in the itchiest rash thing - I was defeated!

So in the midst of all that, I took no photographs, and  had nothing nice to say about this country that made me so sick, so the poor blog was neglected!

So the pic below is to make up for it. This is what I received when I ordered a 'Chicken a-la-kiev' from my hotel in Dhaka. I now right?!? An actual chicken kiev, and a mashed potato fish! It was so jaw droppingly magical that I asked the chef to come out to congratulate him!!