Facebook Still Down, but Cafe Mango = Success

As my title suggests, Facebook is still blocked and it has caused quite the stir, students protesting its temporary shut down, others protesting the blasphemous images that were displayed by some users. From what I have gathered Bangladeshis really like to protest. I have learned all of this only from my daily reading of The Daily Star, a popular English language newspaper, as none of this stuff is going on in Gulshan (so far). One common theme of protests is that someone gets run over by a bus (this seems to happen everyday) and people get mad and then block the roads, and maybe burn buses. I don't mean to sound cavalier about this, as the stories are totally heartbreaking, but it is just an odd thing to read about in the newspaper everyday. The traffic situation in Dhaka (and the rest of the country) is just horrendous, and seems to be completely without rules. Crossing some of these streets (like Gulshan Avenue, the main street that runs through the entirety of Gulshan) is completely an adrenaline rush. Most of the side streets (like the one I live on) are all pretty calm though, with just the occasional car and rickshaw, and always plenty of men standing around talking.

Today I had a good talk with my cook Ayub, and learned more about his life. The language is definitely a barrier so I am not entirely sure if I understood everything but from what I gathered he spent years in Kuwait and only recently returned to Bangladesh because either his wife wanted to return here, or she didn't want to go to Kuwait, I wasn't exactly sure. It is very common for Bangladeshis to go to Arab countries to work and send back money. He has a 9 year old daughter who is in school. It takes him anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours to get to our apartment from his house. He leaves at 6AM and sometimes doesn't get back until 8pm. I tried to tell him that he could leave earlier or later and get here when he needed to, but he didn't understand me. I hope when I start working (tomorrow) I get off early and he can cook us dinner earlier, and not have to leave here so late. He is a really nice man, an amazing cook and an incredibly hard worker. I feel so spoiled at how well I am eating. He also is very, very good about hygiene. He boils all the water that he uses to clean the kitchen and the dishes, and he constantly washes his hands. I haven't been the slightest bit sick since I've been here (which is rare), and I think that he has had a lot to do with that.We have already decided to bump up his salary a bit and give him a very good tip and reference when we leave.

I also had a long conversation with our landlord Mr. Dhar. Language was definitely a barrier here as well, but overall I think we were able to communicate very well. When he learned that I was 26 and unmarried he was a little surprised, telling me that pretty much every Bangladeshi woman was married by that age (and usually much younger) but he definitely understood that people get married later in America and wasn't judgmental at all. He also said how much he likes Americans and Europeans but he doesn't like people from the Middle East because he thinks they are very rude. He loves Obama and thought Bush was a little crazy in the head.
It is times like this that I am so glad I spent a year teaching English. When talking to people who are nearly beginner or maybe advanced beginner English speakers, I often find myself slipping back into teacher mode and remind myself to use small, basic words; no slang; and lots of hand gestures. This definitely helps a lot and is usually appreciated by the person I am talking to.

Around noon we decided to try and find Cafe Mango again. Having passed it on the rickshaw yesterday (when we were taken on a detour to neighboring Baridhara) we had a good idea of where it was and were actually able to find it with no problem. Monsoon season has started, so it had rained a lot this morning but had stopped by the time we left. This is good and bad; good because it cools things down a bit, bad because it makes it even more humid and makes the streets and sidewalks even dirtier with mud and standing water.

Cafe Mango is on the far northern end of Gulshan set back from the road, in the same building as a hookah bar. It is in the upstairs of what used to be a large house. The decor is fairly minimal, but a few comfortable tables and couches. Importantly they make a point of filtering all their water, and cleaning all the fruit very thoroughly. Consequently it is one of the only places here that I can have smoothies and iced coffee. The menu was pretty diverse with no real apparent culinary theme but an array of sandwiches and random Asian dishes from all over the continent. I had a very spicy chicken with cashew nuts (which actually turned out to be sesame nuts) and fried rice. It was good and I will definitely go back. The atmosphere is so nice, I can easily see myself bringing a book and passing a quiet afternoon there.

By the time we left the sun had come out, and the temperature had risen to probably around 100 degrees (with something like 80% humidity or higher). I have to wear long sleeves, pants, and a scarf around my neck (but not covering my head) so the heat is even more intense. We took a rickshaw down to the Gulshan II circle. Our rickshaw wallah took backroads avoiding nearly all the traffic, and got us there very quickly. While on the rickshaw I got some great pictures, so hopefully I will be able to post them at some point. Gulshan II was completely congested with cars and people at this point. We decided to go to the Westin to try and find a good map of Gulshan (both the maps in Lonely Planet and Brandt leave a lot to be desired as most don't list the road numbers, which basically defeats the purpose of having a map). The Westin was pretty fancy, basically like a luxury hotel like you would find any where in the world, which even after being here for only a few days gave me a bit of a culture shock. They did have a store where they sold maps, but of course it was closed. We then tried to find another book store listed in the Lonely Planet guidebook that was supposed to be down the block, but that seemed to have dissapeared, if it was ever there to begin with. (This further confirms my belief that the Lonely Planet Guidebook is absolutely worthless, I agree with the Amazon.com poster who describes it as "quite possibly the worst one Lonely Planet has ever produced".)
After walking around the Gulshan Market (which is basically and endless amount of street vendors selling everything from fruit to mobile phones) it got too hot, and we returned to the nice air-conditioned apartment.

 On the apartment-front we get about 100 television channels. Most are in Bangla or Hindi but there is a very odd array of 10 English language channels that weirdly enough includes both Disney and Hallmark which are  just the absolute worst. I would honestly rather spend the afternoon dodging traffic in 100 degree heat than watch 5 minutes of Jonas! or whatever that stupid show with the Jonas Brothers is called. The "acting" is so bad it is almost physically painful to watch

As I mentioned earlier, I start work tomorrow. I'm very excited and not sure what to expect. It has been nice having free time to get to explore the city, but I'll be very glad to start having some structure and to hopefully start to feel like I have an actual reason for being here.