MONDAY: Another Dinner Invitation

At work Andy and I got introduced the projects a bit more - it's all very exciting and there seems like there's loads to do fairly quickly. At the moment we've both got a lot of reading to do to get ourselves up to speed with where the business is up to and the community projects. Lots of research has been done in Bangladesh for both things, which we very quickly need to digest.

Anyway, it has got us very excited about the forthcoming few months.

In the afternoon Nicola went back to the flat to sort out the internet. Unfortunately there was a power cut whilst they were trying to connect (a frequent occurance, as we are now learning), so the process seemed to take ages. Andy stayed at the office to finish off his briefing.

In the evening we were invited to Ken and Nipun's house for dinner, which was lovely and our first opportunity to spend time with some Christadelphians in Dhaka. Nipun cooked us some wonderful Bangladeshi food, despite suffering a bit with her pregnancy.

The only problem we encountered was getting a CNG (motorised rickshaw) from Mohammadpur to their house, which took us almost an hour to find as it was rushhour and then the journey itself took a long time in the busy polluted traffic. Thankfully Ken was there to help us along.

So, all in all a lovely evening but with so much information to process we were glad of our bed.

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SUNDAY: New Job

After our first night in our new flat we set off for the office at 7.30pm (the working week here is Sun - Thurs). The office is in Mirpur 10, which is about a 30 min journey in Bangladeshi traffic.

The office is just off the main road, opposite the Dhaka sports stadium (where they recently beat New Zealand at cricket, if anyone's a cricket fan). It's been converted from an old flat.

When we arrived we were introduced to the team, which currently number about 12, excluding us. We then had a short thought, reading and prayer, which they do every Sunday. 2 teachers from the school in Duaripara also joined us (Duaripara is the slum just outside Dhaka, where Oasis has one of its community projects to include a school). We were also joined by a colleague, who is based in Nilphamari in the North of the country, about 5 hours from Dhaka. Oasis has a factory, flat and bamboo plantation there.

The team are really friendly and made us feel so welcome.

We were allocated desks, both in the same room but not directly next to each other. The Oasis Transformation Team (that's the business) are in one room and the Oasis Community Projects team are in another room. Nicola is spending half the week with each team, so will be hotdesking.

In the OTL room there is 7 people, then there are another couple of lads working the workshop at the back of the office and Dave (the boss) in another office. The OCP team consists of Nicola and 2 others - all ex pats.

The OTL team employs mostly locals, which makes for a really vibrant working environment and is particularly useful for our Bangla learning.

We had a bit of an introductory session with Sandie, Jo and Dave, which was really useful.

In the afternoon we came back early from the office to meet a man who was fitting internet in our flat and we also got some passport photos for our sim cards, which a local colleague is very kindly sorting out for us.

In the evening we went to Dave's house for some dinner and entertainment from their 2 children - most amusing! We then stayed in their lovely flat and Dave took us to the office the following morning.

All in all great first day - can't wait to get stuck in.

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Saturday: New Flat

On Saturday we spent the morning with Dave and his 2 kids (aged 6 and 3), which was great fun, especially for Andy, who was privileged enough to play on his son's train set and meet all the Thomas the Tank Engine characters.

After that we had a trip to the Bagha Club (the English ex pat club) for a swim and a bite to eat and did a bit of food shopping for the flat. After that we moved into our new flat in Mohammadpur, which is about 25 mins from Sandie's flat in Banani.

We met our housekeeper at the flat, who had got it beautfully clean ready for us to move in and also got a bit of water ready for us.

It was all a bit scary moving to a new area having just got our bearings in Banani. The area is a lot more Bangladeshi - there are less Westerners / ex pats around and the Muslims in Mohammadpur are more conservative. So, we should get a trully enriched experience living in Mohammadpur.

Jo (another member of the team) lives round the corner, so she took us on a walk round the local area so we could get our bearings. We discovered a sort of wholefoods store and found our local supermarket (Family World).

Our flat is on the top floor (5th), which is great for the views and it means that no one is looking directly into our windows. However, it does also mean that it is even hotter up there than normal. On the plus side we are reliably informed that we will get considerably less mosquitoes because they tend not to fly that high (I'm sincerely hoping the same applies to cockroaches!)

The only downside to a top floor flat is when the lift breaks down and you have to carry 2 32kg cases all the way upstairs in the Bangladeshi heat. Luckily a very friendly guard was happy to help us.

There is a park outside the flat where the local kids play football and cricket, which is pretty cool and a small store on the corner (by store I really mean a small shack type thing, which is teaming with emergency goods - bread, crisps etc). There is also a large mosque not far away, so you can very vividly hear the call to prayer. Although we have discovered that whereever you are, you're not far from a Call to Prayer.

In our flat you walk in the door (having taken your shoes off, as is the Bangladeshi way) and you walk immediately into the dining room. Opposite there is the small kitchen and Bangladeshi cloackroom next to that. To the left is our bedroom with small balcony and ensuite. to the right there is a spare room that will become our study and then in the right hand corner is the lounge, also with a small balcony.

We haven't got much furniture at the moment - only a bed, sofa set made out of cane (to include coffee table), ironing board, fridge and water purifer but we will get more in the next few days.

Most Bangladeshi flats only have cold water, so if you want hot water you have to buy a heater. At the moment we've resisted but I'm not sure how long we'll be able to do that. We're also testing the fans out to see whether we can get away without AC but again, we might treat ourselves to an AC unit.

The flat is small and basic but when we've got a few homely touches in it will definately start to feel like home.

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