Update from Amy Dong - July 6, 2003
Hi Everyone!
Just a little update from Bangladesh! Things are
pretty good here. I have been at my site for a month
now and let me tell you, it's tough. I live with a
Bangladeshi host family who are really sweet, kind and
helpful--I couldn't have asked for a nice family. My
house is also nice, but has the usual giant
cockroaches, crickets, baby frogs, crickets, bugs,
mosquitos (I never thought I'd miss screens on windows
so much! What a LUXURY!!) Oh, and did I mention the
RAT that lives in our house? It's nasty, but
surprisingly I did not FREAK out when I saw it run in
our kitchen (twice). The first time I just turned to
my sister, keep in mind, this is AFTER the giant,
flying cockroach came at us, i said, "Bristy, did you
see that? (very calmly). She said, "yes, but i see
that everyday, so i am not scared. so that is how it
is here--these things are normal and the Bangladeshi
just live WITH them. So I just take precautions in
that when I leave my room, I shut my door--even to go
to the bathroom. it's just not safe! but that is life
here in Bangladesh. Oh and I found out that all the
garbage from our house gets dumped in a pond behind
our house. I haven't seen it yet, but I am scared too!
No wonder Bangladesh if full of cockroaches and
rats--there is trash everyone. But I am lucky b/c my
town doesn't seem too dirty. Other sites are
awful--for instance, one volunteers site floods and
human waste floats in the street. it's so disgusting.
so i am lucky. but i think i am slowly adapting b/c i
can now kill giant cockroaches and bugs and not be
freaked out for longer than 10 minutes. It's just
gross.
It's a tough country to live in. The heat, constant,
monsoon rains, bugs, etc. But the people are so kind
and nice and I am having a unreal experience and i
don't know who i will be when i return, but i don't
think i can be the same person. in my 5 months here i
have seen so many things! it's crazy. life in america
is just so easy and comfortable compared to here.
i've begun teaching english at a high school. it's
terrible! it's a constant struggle day to day and i
was not prepared for this. there are 50-60 students
crammed in a decrepit, old building with with
basically two planks of wood making a bench desk where
they have to cram in to and they barely have enough
room to wrote. the room had a ceiling fan (when the
electricty is working) and old, falling apart
blackboard and a little table and chair for me. let me
tell you--it's tough. the bangladeshi english
curriculum is awful and there are so many mistakes.
cheating is common and in some ways "acceptable." half
the students don't have the textbook and 3/4 of them
don't understand english despite having english class
for 7-9 years! my headmaster said that 9/63 students
in my class 9 passed the last exam. it's a joke. the
bangladesh school system is terrible. it's frustrating
for me b/c i set high expectations for myself. so i
must admit there are days when i want to give up, when
i want to cry and just come home! but each day i tell
myself to keep going, that it's going to get better,
and that i can't save all the students. i do my best.
i can't be worse than a Bengali teacher. they usually
teach the whole class in Bengali! i try to make all
the students participate and speak english and THINK!!
bangladeshi students are taught to MEMORIZE essays and
spit them back. they are not encouraged to think
creatively or on their own. so, right now teaching is
tough, but it's only been afew weeks and i am hoping
it gets better.
i don't know how i am suriving, but i am. but to be
brutally honest, there are good day and bad days. some
days i want to give up and come home. i don't think
there is one volunteer who can say they don't feel the
same way. the important thing is to take one day at a
time. it's hard to write everything i see and feel
here in bangladesh. it's a place that is SO different
than america, that you'd have to come here to see it!
all are invited!
but i can tell you one thing--i had it easy in the
states. the little things like clean water, hot
showers, toilet paper, screens on the window,
electricity all the time, a washing machine!!! so many
things i took for granted are to me now--so amazing!
there are days when i still can't believe i am doing
this.
well, hope everyone is well and enjoying the summer in
the states! i am in the middle of monsoon season and
it's not fun. my shoes and clothes have molded--yes,
actual green, fuzzy mold-- and everything smells like
a old, wet towel, even my bed and it even feels wet.
my skin feels damp all the time, it's gross. it takes
3 days for my HANDWASHED clothes to dry. the streets
are muddy and you can't walk outside without getting
mud all over you.
okay, i am alive and well--it's important to focus on
the good things. i have had diarrhea for 3-4 days and
I am waiting it out in Dhaka until it's safe to get on
that scary bus that would probably be CONDEMNED in the
states to go back to my site. It sucks to be sick, but
it's all part of the experience....
Amy
