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!