No Destination

At the moment, it is 9:18am on Saturday and I'm sitting at the desk in my room. I have already drank a cup of tea and am now relaxing until the day begins! I plan to go shopping with my friend, Nofi, at some point to get more salwar kameez. I am currently rotating between 3 different outfits and  have been here for about a week now; it is time for some more traditional clothing!

Yesterday (Friday) started out quite slow. Since the weekends here are marked Friday-Saturday, I had a free day ahead of me. I mistakenly forgot to turn off the 6:30am alarm on my phone and was awoken abruptly. Though I couldn't manage to fall back asleep, I was able to catch up with Stu on Skype before he ended his day on the other side of the world in Michigan. I am still so intrigued by the large time change from the US to Bangladesh-- I awake a day ahead as you all fall asleep a day behind.

I spent most of the afternoon reading, journaling, and relaxing outside on my balcony. I sat and listened to exotic birds chirping in the treetops across the street, cars honking, rickshaw bells dinging, people walking by below speaking in Bangla, tennis balls being hit back and forth across the street at the American Club, and odd music being played somewhere off in the distance. The weather was overcast, obstructing the sun from bringing the temperature too high. The humidity had dropped quite a bit and the breeze outside was more than enjoyable. Jakir had left early in the morning to travel north to visit family and Nick was in his room hard at work.

Around 2-3pm, Nick and I finally made our way out the door. We had hoped to travel to a local bazaar or mosque, but unfortunately found many popular sights in Dhaka to be farther than we thought. Lack of time in the day and knowledge of how to get as far as we needed, we decided to save those trips for another day.

In days prior, Nick spoke of a local café/coffee shop in the district next to ours that a friend had told him about.  With no plans, we headed in that direction. We walked passed many food stands, makeshift hair barbers, and various huts that came right up to the edge of the sidewalk that were made out of a plethora of materials. We made our way to the main circle in downtown Gulshan 2 and continued on across the bridge over Gulshan Lake into Baridhara.

Trash built up in the lake

 Nice view over Lake Gulshan

You will see in this picture that two boys are holding hands. This is very common, even amongst older men. Though we view this as a sign of homosexuality in the US, it is a sign of friendship here in Bangladesh.





Once we crossed the bridge, there was an open field filled with many random goats as well as boys playing a game of cricket.

 Making our way along the street, we found the North End Café and decided to bop on in. We walked up a flight of stairs off the dirty, busy street and into a western-looking coffee shop. Nick described it, "like Starbucks but with good coffee". In reference to his joke, this specific café roasts their own coffee beans! The aroma filling the place was amazing.

After a few minutes of walking down the street to continue our adventure that had no destination, the clouds opened up and almost immediately flooded the roads. Some people found shelter underneath the overhangs of buildings and small shacks on the side of the road while others continued on as if the rain were not there at all. After walking through the rain for a few minutes, Nick and I stood under an overhang with locals hoping for the rain to cease. It never did.

Peering aimlessly down at my soaked feet, I caught a glimpse of my gratitude tattoo. I was instantly reminded to be grateful for where I was; The rain, the people, the personal struggle of my flip flops slipping off with each step I took in the flooded streets.. I found myself being so full of happiness that I couldn't help but laugh at the sky as it opened upon me. It is constant, simple moments like this that I realize how sweet life truly is.

With a clear view that the rain wasn't going to quit, we started back into the rain to get back to our flat. About halfway, we decided to ride a rickshaw the rest of the way.

A map of our journey! The red "A" is where our flat is located. The red line marks where we walked, the blue marks our rickshaw ride back home.

I arrived at our flat soaking wet with all of my clothes sticking to me. I hopped in a nice warm shower and put some comfortable clothes on. Nick and I spend the next few hours watching Frost/Nixon and eating take-out Thai food. He left around 9:30pm to meet with a friend of a friend in the area while I hung back and wrote in my journal a bit more.

My mind was running rampant last night, so I took advantage of the thoughts flowing through me and attempted to put far-off thoughts into tangible words. One thing that ran through my mind was, how incredible would it be if we could be every place we wished at once? Hypothetically, I would have gone home for the night to be with my parents to talk with them and let them know how much they mean to me. I'd wake up in Bangladesh and explore for a few hours before spending the evening with Stu in Michigan. The following day I would wake up in California to see my brother, Charlie...

Our minds are beautifully made, filling us with ideas of infinite measure.

I hope each of you are having beautiful summer days full of new experiences with the people you love! I challenge you to find good in even the most mundane activities of your life-- let go of frustration and search for gratitude in all that you do. I promise you wont be disappointed.

Always in love,

-C.

Touch and Go

Another day, another 24 hours filled with shocking, new, baffling, and indiscernible experiences.

Today I was back at icddr,b and spent my time sporadically in the Nutrition Rehabilitation Unit (NRU), Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and individually with my supervisor, Dr. Sayeeda Huq.

When I first arrived, I went directly to the NRU and spent time with the physicians, mothers and children. A few of the mothers were playing with their children on the floor with cloth balls and wooden blocks, so I decided to join in. I took my shoes off and sat cross-legged next to the mothers and children and played catch with a young boy -about six years old- and his little sister -about 2 years old. The young boy quickly became interested in me (probably because I'm drastically different than him!) and was playing with my glasses, my hair and kept running around and jumping into my lap. All of the mothers in the NRU were laughing and trying to keep him calm, but he is quite the trouble maker! He is absolutely adorable! All of the children in Bangladesh have these stunning, beautiful, dark, smoky eyes and bright happy smiles. I am absolutely positive I will have a spot in my heart for these beautiful people for the rest of my days.

Around 10am, Sayeeda came to get me from the NRU to walk me down the hall to the ICU to observe morning rounds. As we make our way around the room from patient to patient, junior doctors present to senior physician Dr. Chisty while nurses, respiratory therapists and I observe. The first patient is less than 6 months old and is suffering from dermatosis of kwashiorkor (skin lesions due to protein-energy malnutrition- in lamest terms, it is darkly pigmented patches of skin that occasionally peel and appear similar to that of sun-blistered skin) as well as septic shock, severe acute malnutrition, dehydration, and no respiratory response. To stabilize the child, she is hooked up to a manual respiratory machine by tubes that run down her nostrils and to her lungs, as well as a saline IV and other various medicines. The dermatosis has affected many areas on the child's body, most dominantly on her forehead. I asked Dr. Chisty what the success rates of the compilation of these problems are, and he said very low. Specifically, this patient has a 50/50 chance of survival though the doctors are doing everything they can to stabilize her. I was baffled by how tightly this baby was gripping onto life and was reminded at how quickly it can be taken away from us; we are just skin thin.

As we continue around the room to hear about the rest of the patients (about 10 beds total) we are interrupted by the ICU door opening and a patient being wheeled in from the emergency ward on a metal hospital bed. The patient is a young boy, probably around 9 years old, who is convulsing and foaming at the mouth. Dr. Chisty cut off mid-sentence to flood the scene with the other physicians and nurses to stabilize the new patient. The physicians work like artists to transform something broken into something full of life and vibrant again. The child had passed a watery yellow-green stool that had an absolutely horrid smell to it. Shortly after, one of the physicians began gagging and ran out of the room to vomit...

 After a few moments, Dr. Chisty returns to tell me that this patient is suffering from severe dehydration and hypoglycemia (very low blood glucose) and is being treated by an IV of glucose. He went on to explain that this type of occurance is very common and that the boy would make a drastic turn around within the next 20-30 minutes. Like clockwork, the child had stopped convulsing and was stabilized by the time we finished rounds on the last two patients.

After rounds, Dr. Chisty approached me individually to ask if I had any questions on the things that he went over during the hour and a half of rounds. I immediately made a point to tell him that I had no medical background whatsoever and was only a global health major and nutrition minor in my undergrad. He reassuringly told me, "You do not need to have a medical background to ask questions in this environment. We are here to help educate you and teach you as much as we can. So, what questions do you have?"

WOW, right?!

I highly doubt there is anywhere else in this world where one could go to even slightly obtain the information available at icddr,b. The amount of research and knowledge on global life-saving solutions the icddr,b releases to the world is truly incredible. The spectrum of knowledge within the walls of this hospital and research centre has left me absolutely speechless. Icddr,b is such a unique place and I cannot tell you how grateful I am to have the opportunity to see and do the things I am experiencing here.

I named this post "Touch and go". Many of you may be wondering, "why"? Let me first explain the context behind this title...

I began thinking to myself today as I was in the ICU, how am I possibly dealing with all of this right now?? I was so calm, collected and in tune to everything happening- and I was subconsciously in awe of how level-headed I was as the events were unfolding in front of me. I wasn't anxious, uncomfortable or nauseated at all. Why? How was I internalizing these things I was seeing? I was watching children cheat death by the second, and yet I seemed to void all sense of complete paranoia and fear of the situation at hand.

On my flight from Dulles to Doha, I began reading a book called The Places That Scare You by Pema Chodron, an American Buddhist nun. The entire time I have been in Bangladesh, I have found myself resorting back to this excerpt: "The Instruction is to 'touch and go'. We touch thoughts by acknowledging them as thinking and then we let them go. It's a way of relaxing our struggle, like touching a bubble with a feather" (Chodron, 571). For some reason, This has stuck in my mind and has carried me through my experience here so far. I am constantly asked by my parents when we Skype, "How are you internalizing these things? How are you feeling about the experiences you're having? Is it hard to take it all in?" 

To answer those questions... I consistently practice "touch and go". I have managed to look at a situation, recognize it for what it is, accept it, and carry on. Life moves so quickly and we cannot get wrapped up in our own minds or we will simply become prisoners to our own fear and lies we falsely allow ourselves to believe.

I encourage all of you reading this to take advantage of the life you have in front of you. All those things you want to do, GO DO THEM!! It is not hard to act on the feelings and passions you have, you simply have a decision to make. Will you do the things you've always wanted to do, or will you read my blog to live vicariously through my experiences because you are falsely believing the lies you tell yourself about your ability to do the equivalent?

Life is shorter than you think and the world is smaller than you lead yourself to believe. Do what you've always dreamed and don't ever look back.

-C.

Hartal Day

Today there was a daylong nationwide hartal (the 6th time this month!), so I did not go into the icddr,b. This nationwide halt to daily life is due to political and governmental backlash from the public. Typically, shops and stores close down for the day, traffic slows, and groups periodically flood the streets to picket and occasionally blow up cars and busses as well as set off handmade bombs. I know some of you reading this are fearful for my safety; I couldn't be any safer where I am. The neighborhood I reside in is filled with police and has never had violence issues.

Yasmin and Sumitra came today around 9am and proceeded to clean our flat. They did not cook any food today as we already have a decent amount of left overs. We have a lot of main dishes, such as dal, vegetable, and eggs, but we ran out of chapattis. They started making some and I decided to join in! Chapattis is made from flour, water and salt. After mixed together well, you separate them into little balls and roll them out with flour and then fry them in a frying pan.



Sumitra frying them

 Jasmine rolling out the chapattis

 



Yours truly



Since our neighborhood, Gulshan 2, is not directly affected by the hartal, my roommates and I decided to take a walk to town to buy a few things. Though the shops are supposedly closed on hartal days, most of them remain open in the areas that are not affected. Lucky for us, the shops were all open!

Nicholas, Jak and I made the 10 minute walk down the street past food vendors and houses to downtown Gulshan. Our first stop was at one of the local markets, Lavendar.

 Inside the market



We have recently made a deal with Sumitra and Yasmin, our housekeepers, that if we each pay them 500 taka a week, they will do the grocery shopping as well as cooking for our us. Because of this, we will not have to shop at the markets so much, only food for breakfast and snacks.

After we stopped by the market we found a place to buy simcards and cellphones. Nicholas hadn't bought a phone yet and I needed a local simcard-- my international one does not work well for local calls. We walked off the street and up a flight of stairs into an outdoor-mall type area that was filled with small stores that sold cell phones and simcards. We got a pretty good deal on prices and managed to buy everything at one store.

On a side note, today was the first day that I had to walk through the traffic downtown! I was scared to take the first step off the sidewalk and into the road behind Jak, but I trust him and it had to be done or we wouldn't have gotten very far. Nicholas and I were joking about how lost we are going to be when Jak leaves because we both don't speak the language and are both still adjusting to everything. We will be fine, though. Not to worry!

 Downtown Gulshan 2



After buying phones and simcards, we made the walk back home. As you can probably tell from my recent posts, I have been anxious to try the mango and lychee fruit that I keep seeing at the local stands on the sides of the road! Lucky for me, they are everywhere! We made a pit stop on the way back to our flat so that I could finally buy my fruit :) at this specific vendor, they would only sell the lychee by bunch and not individually. Since I didn't want 10 of them in a bunch, they let me try one for free. Everyone is very willing to let you try things here, which is a change from home. And not only with the food, but at the hospital as well (my last post I talked about how the head doctor at icddr,b gave me free range of their research and hospital). It is wonderful that everyone is so open to sharing their culture and life with others and are proud of the things they have done and the roots they come from. Anyhow, The lychee fruit has a red colored outer shell and the inside is a cloudy white with a brown oval pit in the center. It tasted amazing! like nothing I've ever had before. I wish I would have taken a picture but I forgot to... don't worry, I will be buying more! I also bought two mangoes which I am planning on eating tonight :)

A few more pictures from today...

our street

Jakir (L) and Nicholas (R) walking up to our flat.

Taka! from 5 taka to 500 taka. Figured Id give you all and idea of what the currency looks like.

 

Well its only 5pm here and I have already settled in for the day. I took a shower and have comfortable clothes on from home and have been enjoying taking the time to write this post to you all. I plan on relaxing the rest of the night, eating some mango and hopefully Skyping my parents and Stu, as per usual :) Hope you all have a wonderful day!

 

Much love,

-C.

 

First day at ICDDR,B

Good morning and goodnight! I have just recently woken up and you are all most likely getting ready for bed. How crazy is that? I sleep through your days and you sleep through mine. The 10 hour time difference is quite a wild thing! Lucky for me, I managed to stay awake until 10pm my first two nights here so I have not had many problems with jet lag. I managed to sleep into 7:45am this morning! Pretty similar to that of my sleep schedule at home. Right now it is 9:35am on the 29th of May.

Yesterday was my first full day at ICDDR,B and boy was it filled with some of the most unbelievable and shocking things I have ever seen in my life!

I woke up around 5:45am and couldn't fall back asleep and decided that it wasn't too early. I made some toast with peanut butter for breakfast and had a few glasses of water before I threw on red and white salwar kameez (traditional clothing). After getting ready, I walked down the block with Jak and Nicholas to catch our van to the centre at 8am.

Traffic on the way to ICDDR,B was insane as usual, filled with honking cars, yelling people, bikes and rickshaws. The street vendors had just started cooking for the day and the fruits and vegetable stands alongside the roads were totally set up, ready for the morning rush. Right now, the lychee and mango fruit are in season and almost everywhere you go you can find street vendors selling them. I don't think I trust the street food, but the fruit may be a different story. I have heard many great things about the mango and lychee here! They both have skin on the outside and should be okay to eat once the skin is peeled.

Upon arriving at the centre, I went to the office of Student Field Experience and Student Affairs where I met with one of the assistants, named Delruba. She gave me some papers to sign and allowed me to ask any questions I had. The student services coordinators are extremely encouraging and helpful! I feel very safe and comfortable about my entire situation here in Dhaka because of their hard work and hospitality.

My supervisor, Dr. Sayeeda Huq, works for the Center of Nutrition and Food Security (CNFS). She was going to be late, so I spent some time in the library on the fourth floor browsing the internet and reading some books. As lunchtime rolled around, Delruba came up to get me and we walked to a building across the street where I bought ticket vouchers in order to buy lunch at the canteen (mostly traditional food, cheaper) and café (some western food, more expensive). Proceeding, I walked back to the main building and hopped in line at the canteen by myself to get some lunch! The lunchroom is absolutely insane! A bit unorganized, sort of like everything here in Dhaka, but functional nonetheless. I waited in line until I got to the window where I was served a heaping plate of white rice. Other traditional dishes such as daal, lauer khosha bhaji, and vegetable salads were available to add as well. Most people ate with their hands (right hand, left hand is considered unclean) but silverware was available as well.

After lunch, I walked to Dr. Sayeeda's office in the main building and had a long conversation with her about the nutritional intervention programs and research at the centre before we made our way to a few areas in the hospital. We stopped to meet the man who is in charge of the entire centre and I was blown away at how personable and informal our meeting was. He told me that just because I was currently looking at nutritional research and interventions did not mean that I wasn't able to look at other areas of study that the hospital is doing. He gave me free range of the hospital and research fields and said, "The main reason for you being here is to learn as much as you possibly can, so take advantage of all that is around you". I was shocked! This hospital is NOTHING like any hospital I have ever been to or heard about. All of the patients who come in are given treatment, medicine, a place to stay, food, etc. FOR FREE. (icddrb is fully funded by donations and foundations).

Sayeeda then walked me to the Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre (NRC), where I will be spending most of my time. Nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to see in that room.

The door opened and my eyes were drawn to the young mothers and malnourished children that sat along the 10 beds that lined the walls of the room. The pictures I had seen in my global health textbooks at George Mason suddenly came to life and were right in front of me. Babies with large beautiful eyes, small limbs and swollen bellies filled the room and my heart sank. I was definitely taken back by the sight but immediately remembered why I was there; I couldn't wait to learn more and understand how I could help.

This room is specific for children who have severe malnutrition but have already gone through the Nutrition ward and are considered stable and have avoided acute malnutrition, thanks to ORS (oral rehydration solution). In this room, the children are given a certain diet (either Milk suji, Khichuri, or Halwa) and are not released until they reach a certain length and weight on their individual growth charts. The mothers are educated on what to feed their families and why, how to stimulate the senses of their children depending upon their age, and how to properly care for their children. Yesterday I was able to sit in an educational circle in while one of the icddrb workers taught the mothers how to make toys for their children out of cloth and string. One of the mothers kept smiling at me and then asked me if I wanted to hold her child. Her child was a boy, about 5 months old. I have never held such a small human being in my entire life. His hands were smaller than my fingers and his skin appeared to be as thin as tissue paper.

The stories about arranged marriages of girls as young as 13 or 14 are absolutely true. I met a young mother yesterday who is about 13 years old and had two children with her. This thought still baffles me.. no wonder there are so many issues with childhood malnutrition and diseases-- children are having children! These mothers don't know any better, they are just children themselves.

Since I will be here for over a month, Sayeeda suggested I follow the interventions and progression of one child through the program at icddr,b. I have yet to narrow down my age range and disease yet, but I look forward to the relationships I will build with the patients here. Yesterday was solely filled with observations, so I still feel a bit distant from the whole situation I am in as of yet. I know the longer I am here the more connected I will become to the patients and the culture of Bangladesh and my heart yearns for those days.

After seeing the children at the NRC, I was shown around the rest of the hospital: short-term stay, long-term stay, ICU, emergency care. The humid and peculiar smell amongst the different hospital wards will definitely stick in my mind for years to come as well as many other things.

As my day work day ended, I headed back to my apartment in an icddr,b van around 4pm with Nofi, an international health worker for BRAC bank. When I got back, Sumitra and Yasmin were finishing up cleaning our flat and had made a wonderful dinner of mixed vegetables, dal with egg, and chapattis for Nicholas, Jak and I.

I ended my day with a nice shower and separate Skype conversations with Stu and my parents.

 

Some pictures to share:

 

My official badge! Very exciting :)

 

My plate :) The spices and flavor are amazing. I wish I could share with you all!

 

All the food Sumitra made that we came home to after work



Honestly, I could not be more thankful for being here. I cannot believe the things I have seen and done in just a matter of days. I am beyond excited for the next few weeks to unravel and I cant wait to see what Bangladesh has in store for me. I am loving every aspect of the culture! Thank you for all of your continued support and prayers, They mean more than you will ever know.

-C.

Pictures!

Here are some pictures from my first day in Dhaka! Hopefully this will give a better visual of all the things I spoke if in my past blog post. I look forward to sharing more pictures as my time here continues.

 

How wild is this?! This was the flight map about 20 minutes before we landed on Doha, Qatar.

 

 

An ocean of clouds, 35,000 feet above

 

The only picture I have of downtown so far. This was on my way from the airport to Lavender.

 

My small balcony! I love it.  I've been spending a lot of time out here journaling, skyping, reading, etc. The birds outside are amazing, exotic, and beautiful! They are always chirping.

 

Looking out the other side of my balcony down the left side of the street.

 

 

A bad quality picture, but I had to share it because Sumitra and Yasmin are in it. I will get better pictures of them to post later, but I figured I'd share what I had.

 

This is the view from the door of our small kitchen! the water filter system is located just under the cabinet there, with the blue and brown bottles. Lucky for us! The water comes out warm though, so we fill up water bottles and keep them stored in the fridge so that we can drink them cold.

 

Look how swollen my ankles and feet are!!! This is what happens when you travel for 2 days straight.. your feet swell up like crazy! Hopefully I don't end up with pitting edema...

 

 

This is my nice bedroom! The far door across the room is the door to my lovely little balcony

 

My bed! The bed net is on top; to use it you just pull down the sides and tuck it into and underneath the sides of the mattress.

 

A close-up of our water filtration unit.

 

 

I hope to get better pictures and a wider array of things as soon as I can!

 

I hope everyone at home is doing well!! Please know that I love and miss you all! Feel free to comment on any/all of my blog posts, I would love to hear from you!!  You can also email me at ceberly@masonlive.gmu.edu. 

 

All the best,

Caitlin

 

Hurry up and Wait

After I watched the sun set in Washington, DC, flew into the sun rise on my way to Doha, Qatar then watched it set as I landed (in Doha), and then finally watched it rise again on my flight to Dhaka, Bangladesh.... I can say that I am FINALLY here!

I left my house around 6:30pm to drive to Dulles International the evening of Saturday the 25th. My parents came with me as I checked by bags in and walked to the gate that separated ticketed passengers from non-travelers. Saying goodbye was certainly hard, but my parents and I both shared a common understanding that we were both ready for my adventure to begin! On a side note--- Am I blessed to have the parents I have, or what?! Everyone who is reading this post and knows my parents understands me fully when I say I am an extremely lucky girl to have been raised by such wonderful people!! Cheers to them for all that they have done and continue to do!

After saying goodbye, I went to my gate and sat with the other passengers waiting to board the plane. Sitting there alone for the first time was definitely nerve wracking! I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. I immediately took a moment to pray and ask for a calm mind, heart and digestive system (ha!). Needless to say, I remained calm for the remainder of my trip. God is surely good!

My first flight was from Dulles to Doha, Qatar and lasted roughly 12 hours. The plane was HUGE and so comfortable! Each seat had its own touch-screen monitor with movies, music, maps, etc. on it. I had a window seat and sat next to a father and daughter who live in the US but are from Pakistan. They were on their way to Malaysia to a family wedding! very cool. I was awake the first 2-3 hours of the flight and got to see one of the most beautiful sun-rises I've ever seen. For those of you who know me well know that I am a sucker for a beautiful sun rise or sunset! Flying 35,000 feet in the air, I was able to see the first burst of light give way to a new day. The sky was filled with every possible shade and hue of blue imaginable with subtle greens and yellows closest to the horizon. What a treat! For the romantics out there, this is the moment I decided to read my first of 7 letters from my beyond amazing boyfriend, Stu. Before I left school, Stu gave me 7 letters that he had  hand-written (1 for each Saturday that I would be gone) filled with words--according to him-- not just what I want to hear, but hopefully the words that I will need to hear in the moments I am reading them. To say I am grateful for him is an understatement. I managed to sleep from that moment up until the last 4 hours.. which seemed to drag on monotonously!

The airport set up in Qatar was VERY different from any other airport I have been to. A mobile set of stairs rolled up to our plane once we landed, along with multiple busses. The busses transported us from the plane to different buildings labeled "Arrivals" "Transport and Connections" and so on. I walked off the bus and into the "Transport and Connection" building and was overwhelmed! It looked like a mall! there was a huge open area filled with make-up, perfume, Armani Exchange, Sunglasses, food, drinks.. really anything you could imagine. I walked around a little but spent most of my time sitting down at my gate. Once I sat down at my gate was when I began thinking to myself "well, no turning back now." I had lost all concept of time and was officially out of the country!

After a 5 hour lay over, my flight to Dhaka finally boarded. The second plane was smaller than the first yet just as nice.

Landing in Dhaka was shocking! I landed at about 9am local time and proceeded down to the immigration line where I met one of the icddr,b workers. I don't recall his name, but he was a wonderful man and was very helpful. After immigration, I exchanged some cash for local currency, taka, and then proceeded to get my luggage. Now, I stuck out pretty well in Qatar, but Dhaka is a whole new story. There are few white people, and getting stared at is a typical occurrence! I am sure I will continue to get used to the blank stares.

I proceeded to follow the icddr,b worker through the heat and humidity to a small garage outside of the airport where a van and driver were waiting for us. The roads are absolutely INSANE here! Words couldn't possibly describe how truly crazy it is. There are no road rules and everyone is fighting for a place to drive. Drivers are on the right side of the car and typically drive on the left side of the road. With that said, people drive literally ALL over the road! And not just drive; children and people are running across the roads! There are people riding bikes, riding rickshaws (bikes with booths on the back that are similar to the ones in New York)... pure insanity!

We drove directly from the airport to a store/market called Lavender. It is filled with food, gifts, things of that sort. Since I am living in an apartment, I needed food. I didn't know what to buy and the man I was with told me just to get something quick that I could eat for lunch. being a typical American, I grabbed some peanut butter and jelly :) I managed to get a few laughs from locals at this moment, but hey! When you gotta eat in a foreign country, you grab what you know best. PB & J it was.

Before checking out at Lavender, the man I was with ran into a woman he knew. Her name was Sarah and she has a daughter that just graduated from George Mason University last year! How wild is that?! I swear the world is smaller than we lead ourselves to believe.

Upon leaving Lavender, I was taken to my apartment. The bottom level is a garage with a gate that is operated by a guard. My flat is located on the third floor and I have two roommates; Jakir and Nicholas. Jakir (we call him Jak) is doing his clinical here at icddrb and has been here for a few weeks. His parents are Bangleshi, so he writes and speaks Bangla, but he was raised in London. Yes, he has a very cool accent! Nicholas is from Finland and works in pediatrics. He is currently doing research here in Bangladesh through a 2-year program at Johns Hopkins. He also has a very cool accent!

My flat is pretty spacious, though very hot. We each have air conditioners in each of our bedrooms which are very helpful, but the flat itself remains pretty hot and humid. Jak, Nicholas and I all have our own separate rooms and bathrooms. We share a large seating area for dining, a small kitchen, as well as a small living room area. My room has a small balcony which is absolutely wonderful! I love spending time outside and I think I would go somewhat crazy if i had to stay inside all the time.

Our housekeepers, Sumitra and Yasmin, clean our flat every day from around 9am-3pm. Sumitra is an older woman; Yasmin probably in her mid-twenties. If we have the ingredients for her to cook, Sumitra will make us ideally anything we wish. Also, they do our laundry for us and iron our clothes for 300 taka a week (roughly $3.85).

For dinner the first night, we ended up getting delivery pizza from Pizza Hut! Globalization at its finest. I only had one piece as my stomach was a little jumbled from traveling and I didnt want to push it. The day began winding down and I ended up skyping with my parents as well as Stu (such a treat!) before taking a hot shower and writing in my journal.

I took down by bed net (used to ward away insects) and began tucking it in around the edges of my mattress before crawling into my bed for the night.

One day down, a month and a half to go!

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone"

Today marks exactly 6 days before I leave for my trip to Dhaka, and I can officially say I have been continually growing more and more enthusiastic as my departure date approaches! Although fear and anxiety of traveling alone to a country on the other side of the world has begun to sink in over the past few months, my excitement and passion for Bangladesh certainly exceeds any doubts I seem to conjure up in my mind. The once abstract idea of going to another country has rapidly transformed into one that I am avid and certain about. I have been incredibly blessed in countless ways throughout the foundation of this field experience, and am left feeling more than prepared in all ways currently possibly due to those blessings.

I will be shadowing doctors and researchers at the International Center for Diarrheal Disease, Bangladesh (icddr,b) concerning Vitamin A and Zinc deficiency. For more information on these topics and how they are important to global health (as well as information on icddr,b in general) I would encourage you to check out their website at icddrb.org

So, some of you may be wondering, "Why does Caitlin want to go to Bangladesh???"

My motivation in going to Dhaka resides mostly in the deep feelings of compassion I have for those suffering from diseases and acute illness that restrict them from a healthy life. I have an overwhelming love for empowering others to accomplish the dreams and passions they wish to pursue in their own lives, by their own standards. I strongly believe that health is a human right and is necessary for prosperity in all areas of the world. What does a peroson have if they do not have health? Health is life.

I also find it crucial for us, as individuals, to omit comfort and familiarity in order to fully allow ourselves to grow. If we are not challenged and met with people and circumstances that contrast our own beliefs, customs, culture and experiences-- how will we ever learn and grow? Think back to a time in your life when you were faced with an uncomfortable, new situation. I can almost guarantee that experience has taught you a lesson that cannot be described to you by any teacher, parent, mentor, or book.

Life has incredible things to offer if we are willing to step outside of our comfort zone and take them. 

I am hopeful that in keeping up with this blog I will be able to provide an array of information, experiences, emotions and personal struggles throughout my six weeks in the beautiful country of Bangladesh. I look forward to sharing my passion of Global Health with each of you and hope that you become encouraged to follow your own passions as well.

Always with love,

-Caitlin