And then God created high speed internet, but he forgot about Bangladesh. I am in Dhaka using the internet (dial up), it feels like high speed internet compared to what I am used to. I don’t even have to bring a book to use this internet, now all I need is a good magazine. I hope everyone had a nice white Christmas, we had a some snow on the ground. No wait that was the ashes from the burning trash. it was cold last night so a bunch of people gathered up trash and burned it, it almost smelled like chestnuts roasting over an open fire. I am sorry if I am freaking people out about the situation here, I am just calling it like I see it. I will try and steer clear of the morbid blogs from now on. I will try to focus on the happy things that are going on. For instance, my host family said that i get to participate in the sacrifice of animals on Korbani Eid (January 13th or 14^th), this is exciting. I think they are going to get me my own goat to sacrifice, I plan on getting some good video footage of this event. I have never sacrificed an goat before, I have witnessed it though, it is a pretty wild experience. I don’t know many people that have done that back home, so this should be one for the books.

The girl that lives next door keeps bringing me food, it is starting to make me a little nervous. I just cant say no, the food is soooooo good. She brings me fresh bread like foods in the morning and rice pudding in the evening, this is about two or three times a week. So sat down with her, her family and my family and explained that my mother has already arranged my marriage back home, and that the dowry has already been paid so there is nothing that I can do. they completely understood, so now they all want to buy clothes for my wife to be. I told them to hold off on buying the clothes, I told them to wait until it was time for me to leave. I cant even imagine trying to explain that to an American family, they would think I was a wacko. I still get the food, but it is not under the pretense that I will marry her, now it is because I am a son in the family.

Besides goat sacrifices and arranged marriages things are going alright for me, in a few days I am going to meet the president. I am not sure what that will amount to but it should interesting. it will probably consist of him being in awe of how tall I am and then him asking me if I am married, which will prompt me to give him the previously stated answer.

I am going to start something called the question of the month, this will be the weirdest question that I have received over the past month. Although i have been asked this question before, it is definitely the best for this month.

My host mother asked me this: “Who is your mothers favorite Professional wrestler in the WWF?”

My answer of course was “Rick Flair,” and for your information my host mothers is “The Rock”

(this was while we were watching wrestling as a family, I didn’t have the heart to tell her that it wasn’t real and that my mother doesn’t watch wrestling.)

I thought that I would post this information that I found on the state departments website. It looks as though the US is starting to take an interest in the situation at hand, this along with a couple of articles that have been in the papers recently lead me to believe that these guys (JMB) are starting to make some international noise. I am in Dhaka for the next week so I will be able to catch up on emails and post some good blogs that I have not been able to post in Kurigram.

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman

This information is current as of today, Sat Dec 24 2005 12:52:54 GMT+0600 (Central Asia Standard Time).
Bangladesh
December 21, 2005
This Public Announcement is being issued to alert U.S. citizens to recent events related to the security situation in Bangladesh. Those residing in or traveling to Bangladesh are urged to use extra care and precaution while in the country. This Public Announcement expires on March 21, 2006.
An outlawed Islamist terrorist organization, Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), has taken responsibility for a series of bombings and suicide attacks in Bangladesh since August against a variety of targets. The half-dozen attacks have focused on the judicial system and local government institutions, killed approximately 30 Bangladeshis, and wounded nearly 200. JMB leaflets found at attack sites and sent to local media call for the implementation of strict Islamic law in Bangladesh, justify the use of indiscriminate suicide attacks, and condemn Western social and political concepts as un-Islamic. They also identify the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom as enemies of Islam. Newspapers and Bangladeshi non-governmental organizations, including several which receive funding from the United States Government, have received threats purportedly from JMB.
JMB's introduction of suicide bombers to Bangladesh in November represented a significant escalation in its campaign of violence. JMB has also demonstrated an ability to adapt its methods and targets to defeat police counter-measures. It is unclear how the arrest of several senior JMB figures in December, and the recovery of several large arms caches, will affect JMB’s ability to mount future attacks. Thus far, no American citizens have been killed or wounded in these attacks.
JMB threats receive wide coverage in the local media. On December 10, several newspapers reported that the JMB had threatened to attack women, Muslim and non-Muslim, who failed to adopt Islamic dress.
The Embassy advises all Americans in or traveling to Bangladesh to take extra care and precaution while going out in public and to be cognizant of the current situation. American citizens in Bangladesh should remain vigilant, especially if visiting courts or municipal government offices.

Merry freaking Christmas

Well I have something fairly interesting for this posting. Yesterday I received an invitation from the president of Bangladesh to attend the national youth day celebration in Dhaka. This should be a rather interesting experience. There are only two of us going, the other person has to speak, thank god it is not me. But I have a sick feeling that they are going to ask me to speak. They always want the foreigners to speak if we are there. I hope they dont ask me to sing a song, that will be really embarrassing. Another thing that kind of worries me is the proximity to a high level figurehead in the government. The country is way too unstable for me to be hanging out with a guy that has a death warrant. Oh well we will see what happens.
I am selecting students for my class right now. I have four guys applying that are from Madrassas, which are the fundamentalist Islamic schools. They all have long beards and look like Ossama Bin Laden. They have really good grades and speak a little English. I think I am going to except them based solely on their fundamentalist religious views. It is going to be really touchy ground but I think I want to work with these youth. They are the ones that need this more than the poorest of the poor. They are extremely misguided by the imams that are preaching this jihad stuff. They really need some outside perspective; I think that I am the person to give it to them. They are the same age as us, 22-25, it is so sad how badly they are brainwashed. I hope it doesn’t backfire on me; it very well could in these trying days of this country. I am not sure how am going to go about it but I will just start by teaching them a little English. Maybe teach them some geography, show them that there is much more to this world than just the villages of rural Bangladesh.
I will try to post again after my meeting with the president to let everyone knopw how it went.
shada shoitan signing off.

I am not sure when this will be posted, but I figured I would start it now. Things here are starting to get a little out of control. The political situation here is deteriorating really fast; it is disintegrating right in front of my eyes. This is all leading up to the elections that are still eleven months away. The Mujahadeen here have stepped up their campaign for Islamic rule. Since my last posting they have created a lot of problems. Over the past week and a half there have been five or six suicide bombing throughout the country. Two of them were in the city of Gazipur where I just spent the last three months living. One of them was about twelve hours after I walked by the very spot it happened. I was visiting my old family in Gazipur for a day and left that night, the next morning is when it took place. Three days ago the girl that lives in my city Kelly was down in the market where we shop. She said that people started panicking and running in all directions, they had found a time bomb planted on the side of the road. It turns out that a small child had been toying with it when someone noticed that it was ticking. The “authorities” said that it would have caused a lot of damage and loss of life if it had gone off, for Kelly that was a little close for comfort. People are finding these bombs planted all over the country, under busses (in my bus station in Dhaka), in government buildings and schools. Schools!! These guys have no mercy. They plant them in schools because they are not teaching strictly from the Koran. They are threatening to kill teachers that do not comply with their conditions. Yesterday twin suicide bombers detonated outside a cultural academy. These guys are nuts, this the first time that they are actually resorting to suicide tactics. It is really scaring the general population bad. All the Bengalis are very nervous right now, which in turn makes me a little nervous. There have been no direct threats to Americans as of yet, but these guys are getting pretty bold. The more press coverage they get the more threats they issue. The U.S. doesn’t seem to be too concerned with the situation, especially seeing how Bangladesh doesn’t have any resources to offer (they don’t even have naturally occurring rock). So much for the war on terror, more like the War for Natural Resources (and terrorist if you have them). I think the U.S. will just pawn this problem off on India and let them deal with it.
Anyways aside from the bleak outlook on the situation I am trying to enjoy myself as much as possible. I have been trying to play soccer and cricket almost everyday, we play a game of cricket to warm up and then we play a game of soccer. I forgot how much I love soccer, it is now becoming one of my favorite games to play and watch. It was really hard to get games together back home, but here everyone just congregates at the same time after prayer and we play. It is really funny to listen to them argue, and believe me it is to no end when it comes to gatherings of Bangladeshi men. It is a great release for the stressful days, with all this crazy stuff going I have to have somewhere to vent. Sports is a great middle ground for people who are really different, all the cultural differences go to the side. Cricket is the best it is like batting practice. They just pitch me the ball to no end, they love it when I bat. I can just try and hit the ball as hard as I can, it feels really good, and you know people pay for this stuff in America (batting cages).
I have also been looking for a house, I have found one I like so no starts the haggling process. He wants 38 dollars a month for rent without utilities (10 dollars). I have since convinced him to include the utilities, which would bring my total rent to $38. It is on the edge of town surrounded by rice patties. It is a two-bedroom one-bath apartment on the second floor. It is decent inside, all concrete, eastern toilet and a roof with a nice view. Most of all it is about the privacy, something that is really hard to come by in this country. That is something that I really took for granted back home. This country has so many people that they are always in your face, and I mean IN my face. These people have no concept of personal space it is all point blank. Anyways, living in a house alone will hopefully provide that privacy. I have been living with a Bangladeshi family for over four months now; it is starting to take its toll. It would be hard for me to live at home for four months in the states, let alone with a family I barely know. Although I will miss the three hot meals a day, there is no shortage of food living with these families.
It is really nice weather here right now, it is seventy and sunny every single day. The monsoon season ended and now it is shit (winter), it feels really nice. It hasn’t rained for at least one month solid. Everyone here is bundled up in their winter jackets freezing and I am wearing a thin long sleeve shirt riding my bike. They think that I am crazy; they remind everyday that I am going to freeze if I don’t wear a jacket.
My class starts really soon, I am in the interview process right now. I have about one hundred applicants that I have to whittle down to thirty. Even though I wrote on my advertisement that I would not take any bribes, still everyday they try. Corruption was a huge problem at my institution before I came, but now they have a new deputy director that is trying to clean up their image. The students are in disbelief when I won’t accept their bribes. This one of those issues that I will not budge on, no matter how much they push. This is one of the ways they keep the poor people down; the poorer population cannot afford the bribes. So the people with the money get into all the classes. I tell the applying students that it does not matter how much money you have or who your father is, your ability to speak English is what is going to get you into this class.

Anyways, hope all is well back home. until next time. bombs away

shada shoitan