I Accidentally Go Outside of Gulshan For The First Time

Today we decided to venture out and find a western style supermarket (or as Alizeh more correctly described  them "Bangladeshi Western"). Although Ayub (our cook) goes to the market for us, and cooks us breakfast and dinner we don't have any kind of snack food in the house. We set out towards Gulshan II circle which is about a 5 minute walk from our apartment and has an array of shops, street vendors, and even the Westin. What we didn't realize is that in Gulshan all the shops are closed on Sunday in an effort to reduce traffic. (The weekend here is Friday, Saturday, so Sunday is supposed to be like Monday).

Since all the stores were closed we decided to head to some of the local parks. This turned out to be a huge endeavor as it is nearly 100 degrees out, very humid and the sidewalks are very crowded, and have huge holes in them. We finally got to a park which according to the google map is called "Gulshan Ladies Park" and is basically a sidewalk around what is supposed to be a small lake, but because monsoon season hasn't hit yet is more like a big dirt hole. On either side of the sidewalk is just piles of dirt. Not very scenic. To catch a break from the heat we decided to try and find Cafe Mango which is, at least according to Lonely Planet and Brandt, a nice little cafe with AC and good food. We weren't exactly sure what road it was on, so eventually I asked a rickshaw wallah if he knew. He said yes, so we got on. This turned out to be a huge misunderstanding, and we ended up outside of Gulshan in the neighboring area called Baridhara (which is also a diplomatic enclave, where the US Embassy is located). As luck would have it we ended up passing a large supermarket so ended up stopping there (after a discussion with the rickshaw wallah about the cost, and we ended up paying more than we thought, but this meant like .50cents more). The supermarket had lots of western (mainly Australian) brands, and we were able to stock up on crackers, cereal and other snack type foods.

We took a rickshaw ride back to near the apartment (the wallah didn't know the address, and we couldn't give him good enough directions so we just got dropped off near the Gulshan II Circle). While walking back to the apartment (carrying bags of western food)  I, for the first time since I've been here, gave a kid who was selling stickers, 10tk. I'm not sure what it was about him that made me want to do this, but I did. A few minutes later another kid selling the same stickers came running after us wanting 10tk as well. We refused. He kept following us and saying how hungry he was. Finally, mainly just to get him to stop following us, Charlie gave him 10 and picked out one of the stickers. The kid then changed his mind and suddenly wanted 20tk. Charlie gave him back the stickers, and let him keep the 10tk as not to make a scene.
For me it isn't the money obviously. I had just spent almost 1800tk at the supermarket. I just don't know what the right thing to do is. One hears that so many of these kids, while obviously hungry and very poor, do not get to keep the money and give it to people in charge, (like in Slumdog Millionaire).
My entire life here is one of contrasts. I have probably spent more on going out to eat and clothing in the 4 days I have been here than many people make in half a year (if not an entire year). I spend a few hours out in the city (in the nice part of the city, which still boggles my mind) then come home to my very air conditioned apartment with a full-time cook. This is a new feeling for me. Of course I have been aware of poverty and of the differences between the first and third world, but before now I have never lived it. It is of course eye-opening and makes me grateful for what I do have and the opportunities I have been given. I still don't know how I will come to think about this after spending more time here, and seeing more of the city and meeting more locals. My job will hopefully also give me an insight into much of this as well. Perhaps there is really just no way to come to terms with it in anyway that makes sense. 

Also, Facebook is blocked  because apparently certain users were uploading anti-Islamic and anti-government material. I had tried to access it a few times today and just assumed the site was down for some reason. The idea of the government completely blocking it didn't even occur to me, I didn't even know that happened here. I guess I owe my Dad an apology. Talking to him while I was waiting for my flight at JFK he said something how Facebook should probably work there, and I laughed at him and said "of course it will work, it's not China." Shows what I know.