This Place is Beautiful

The new teachers took a boat trip out of Dhaka. The boat ride was about 2 hours each way, and most if not all of the water we were on will be gone in a few months. If we wanted to take a boat trip, we'd have to drive about an hour farther than we did today just to reach water. We saw billboards poking out, waiting for the water to recede to resume advertising. This tree is probably not even close to submerged during other parts of the year:

You see these boats go by every once in a while that are so full of sand that they look like they should be sinking.

They are digging up sand and sending it to Dhaka to reclaim land for the river, i.e. to make more room for those 15 million people who somehow manage to squeeze into the city.

The boat trip was a welcome change from the city, especially since it's so hot and humid these days. It was breezy and Bangladesh is beautiful.



We also stopped in the village of the boat's captain and walked around. I talked to some people in Bangla, although I don't really know enough yet to go beyond simple questions. I asked kids how old they were, and where in the village they lived. Some of the kids are very fashion-forward; this kid (in the blue pants) has already heralded the beginning of the pants-above-belly-button movement.

Hollywood, I hope you're ready.

The kids wanted to show us how they catch something (I think snakes?) in the water. No catches today, but I got a good action shot!

The kids also love getting their picture taken and looking at themselves on the digital camera screen.


There's lot to talk about, boat trip and otherwise, but in the mean time, I had to put up some of these pictures. Also, by popular request, some of the pictures on this blog will actually include me. Here I am, in Bangladesh!