Some Random Oddities from Half Way Around the World

I have a lot to write about from my 3 days in Chittagong, but I am just so tired I feel I can't do it justice right now. I walked to and from work today because I really felt like I needed the exercise, and for some reason it didn't seem as hot as normal (meaning maybe it was 95 degrees instead of 105). This totally wore me out. I think it is about 1.5 miles each way, which isn't terrible, but in the heat and in my scarf and long pants, and having to dodge rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, crazy drivers, and put up with men staring at me and making comments I don't understand, it is a very exhausting experience on multiple levels. (You may be wondering why I worked on a Friday, extra points if you remember that the weekend here is Fri->Sat, but as the Solidarity Center's main point is to work with factory workers, and they only have Friday off, the Solidarity Center is open Mon-->Fri instead.)  Because I am so exhausted I think I will just share some of my more interesting observations from a very weird country.

• If you are flying domestically then security screening is basically nonexistent. You go through a perfunctory metal detector, and the bags all go through screening machine but I really doubt the screeners were paying attention at all. The tickets dont' have your name on it, and at no point do they check for any form of ID. I think that America goes way overboard on the security front, but this is like the opposite extreme.
• People sit on the top of moving trains. Actually they don't just sit. Children play, and run around on top of MOVING trains. I saw this on my ride home from the airport yesterday and asked my coworker Anindita (who is Bangladeshi) about it, kind of in shock, and she, completely nonplussed, was like "oh yes, people love to ride on the top of trains."
• Buses often do not stop at bus stops. Instead each bus has a driver and a helper. The helper's job is to help people jump on and off as the bus is moving. And yes, there are tons of bus accidents. The buses here drive very fast, and from what I have read a very high percentage of the drivers are unlicensed. Nearly every day I read about how a bus has run over someone and how angry people then try to chase down the bus destroy it, and kill the driver.
• Nobody wears seatbelts. The cars all have them, but nobody wears them!
• My landlord has now made my apartment his second home. He feels comfortable coming in without knocking and telling my cook to make him coffee. One time he even brought an egg over to tell Ayub to fry it for him. He'll come in, sit down, take his sandals off  talk to us about whatever is on his mind at that particular time.
• Almost every single Bangladeshi is either rooting for Argentina or Brazil in the World Cup, to the point where many of the rickshaws are displaying one of the two flags, and below every Bangladeshi flag is also one of these two (made by local tailors, and feature the name of the country in English and Bangla). There are no historical ties between Bangladesh and these countries or anything like, that it is simply that both those teams were really good in the 1980s when world football first started being aired here.
• Cows and goats graze along the freeways, and pedestrians and beggars also wander in and out of the the never ending traffic.
• The power goes out here at least 5 times a day for extended periods of time. Luckily our apartment complex has a very good generator, which kicks on automatically. This is going to worsen this summer as there hasn't been as much rain as expected, and most of the power will be used to keep the water filtration plants running. 
• Many older men who work as guards will salute any white person. This became very apparent to me at the hotel I stayed at in Chittagong, where I would walk in accompanied by a few Bangladeshis and the guard would make a point of only saluting me. The guard at our apartment also salutes me every morning as I leave. Obviously this is pretty uncomfortable. (Edited To Add: I found out that this isn't a salute, but a kind of greeting that just looks like a salute. BUT they still only did it to me.)

That is it for now. I will write more tomorrow. We also finally got our car situation settled, so that will start tomorrow and hopefully I will get to see more of the city beyond Dhaka. Hoping to see Old Dhaka tomorrow. (I still can't believe Gulshan is the expat area, I honestly have no idea what is in store for me.)