I'M HERE!

I got through security pretty quickly and enjoyed a pint of Canadian with a salad, waiting for my plane to board.  Of course, boarding didn’t happen… we were informed that the flight was delayed, and then when it did finally arrive from Washington there were maintenance issues etc… when we did finally get on and get in the air, the captain said that had we been on the ground another 1.5 minutes we would have been cancelled! Got to Washington way late, and of course missed my flight. By this time I had befriended a great couple named Eleanor and Jamie, who are moving to Australia for three years while Eleanor does her Law degree in Melbourne! We also ended up befriending a nice older Sri Lankan man whom Jamie affectionately referred to as Uncle Sam (USA joke intended), and a guy named Tahir from Montreal (now in Ottawa) who was going to visit family in Pakistan.  We were all supposed to catch Qatar flight 52 on the 12^th, and thankfully were all able to get on the same flight the next day. We were all at the same hotel in Washington, and all of us except for Uncle Sam went out to do a bit of sightseeing in DC before catching our night flight on the 13^th.  We took a bus into town from the airport (to which we shuttled from the hotel), which unfortunately took almost an hour so we didn’t have as much time as we were hoping.  We walked around and saw the outside of the Smithsonian museums on our way to the Washington memorial.  We were looking for the Lincoln thinger but ended up at an identical-looking one for Jefferson instead… but it looks the same in my pictures!  After a certain amount of trouble at the airport, we all got through with boarding passes and I enjoyed a stuffed broccoli and spinach pizza-type thing and a Ben and Jerry’s before boarding.  Of course none of us were sitting together, but I was able to find Eleanor and Jamie once we’d gone through security in Doha which in itself was an epic adventure! They hadn’t been confirmed from Doha to Melbourne, but as far as I know they did get on the flight.  We paid  to get access to this fancy lounge in the Doha airport, where I took a much needed shower after the 12 hour flight.  I also wandered into duty-free and found a "learn to speak Bengali" DVD which ended up being a waste of money since they speak Bangla here. Oops!

My arrival in Dhaka was chaotic, to say the least.  It's one thing to talk about population density and completely another to experience it.  I was to meet up with a contact named Sana, but I couldn't find her and, idiot, didn't write down her phone number from Facebook! As awful as this sounds, to me most of the people here look the same and I was very overwhelmed.  So of course I couldn't access it to call her and figure out where she was, and I was uncertain what to do as my flight was over 2 hours late. I met a great Muslim man from Jordan travelling to Dhaka for a conference on the afterlife on my flight from Doha, and I have made plans to meet up with him again in the next weeks before he returns to Doha on his way home.  Anyways, this man (whose name is on a piece of paper in my piles somewhere) knew I was worried about not being able to find Sana, so the people meeting him arranged my travel to the hotel.  Thankfully I didn't need to take advantage of their hospitality because another intern was arriving around the same time, and the hotel at which I am staying was there with a car to pick her up so I just drove with them.  About the same time I started digging frantically through my bags for my converters to plug in my computer and call her, I got a call from the front desk that she was on the line.  Although I could tell she was (quite reasonably having waited 4 hours at the airport) frustrated, I know she was glad I was safe.  I plan to take her out for lunch or dinner as soon as possible to make up for it!

My hotel room is relatively small, but comfortable. I have a door that locks and a bed to sleep in, so I'm happy! I also have a bathroom with a shower nozzle in the wall, so  the floor in the bathroom is always wet but the hotel provides bathroom sandals, which I try not to take too far from the doorway. I also have a small fridge and plan to wander down into the Bazaar tonight in search of milk and water to store in it.  I had some trouble with the room service guy communication-wise and ended up paying him 16 USD for two bottles of water... which should have been about 2 USD in total... another oops! The other interns with whom I started training today thought that was pretty hilarious, and I don't think I will live it down until they leave =P

Twelve of us started today, most for six weeks and a few for four, three or two weeks.  It did make me feel quite good because most of the information we were given about the basic structure of the Bank and the Grameen Family of organizations I already knew. The Bank hosts about 11,000 interns in a year, and right now (including us) there are about 80-85 interns at different stages in the program. We arrived by rickshaw (I was too scared to pull out my camera, but I will overcome that and get you some footage of the wild ride!) at 8:40, prepared for a 9 am start... and discovered that the work day is 10-6! At this point it was Tatiana and I, the intern I had come with from the airport. We waited until about 9:40 and were pointed up to the eighth floor, and in the course of the next hour the other ten interns arrived.  Tomorrow we don't start until 10:30 or 11! It seems silly to not take advantage of the full days, but it has quickly become clear that they are going to facilitate whatever efforts we make.  It is up to me to do however much work I will, and beyond the day and 5-7 day village trips it is up to me to say which other Grameen organizations I would like to visit.  Right away I can say that I will be pushing to visit the Grameen Danone factory to learn all I can about Shokti Doi, the yogurt they have developed for the poor children of Bangladesh.  Grameen Danone is also the first social business, so I am very interested to meet with the office and factory to learn more about their operations as such.  I will also try to visit one of the places that produces Grameen Check, the line of textiles exported by Grameen Knitwear.  Grameen Kalyan, or Grameen Health, is also an area of interest for me, as is Grameen Shikkha (Education).  Grameen Shakti (Energy) is really involved in sustainable energy production for the poor, so I will also look at that. I was originally interested in the application of microcredit to refugees, but I think I will wait to see what develops over the next few weeks before I finalize looking at the role of citizenship in access to credit.

I know everyone who knows of my picky eating habits wants to know if I'm starving yet- surprisingly, no! I forced myself to eat what was offered on the airplanes, and it was all spicier than I am used to but I managed.  I didn't do much other than sleep the first day at the hotel, so I had a few of the snacks I brought for a midnight dinner.  I'm told breakfast is the same every morning, and I will have to get back to you on what it is called! They have toast and eggs (which I can't eat) as well as a delicious Naan-type thing and a potato-based dish. I will probably end up getting some cereal, although I did bring Carnation instant breakfasts to last me an eternity so maybe not.  We have been told of three lunch options, there is the Western Grill, which has Bangla versions of burgers and chicken etc and is where we ate today.  Next door is a place called Treat, and other than that we have been told to stick to the hotel for lunch. 

Most of our day today was basics about the Bank, and much of it was repeated by different people and the videos we watched after lunch.  Tomorrow I believe the only things we will do are some discussions and more details about the Grameen loan and savings products.  It doesn't appear that there is all that much work for us to do, it is mostly a learning opportunity.  So, learn I will =)

I'm going to do a separate post with pictures as this one is getting quite long.  And then I'm going to join the interns for dinner, and head pretty quickly to bed!