On the way to Uttara (a neighborhood about 30 minutes north of Gulshan) to meet Charlie's family friend, Megan, for dinner at her apartment our car was accosted by a herd of Bangladeshi school girls. (How's that for an opening sentence?)
We were stuck in traffic (of course, it is never ending in Dhaka) when a group of about 6 young girls (dressed in what looked like school clothes, so we are not talking street children here) caught a glimpse of me through the window. They looked at each other mischievously and bolted towards the car, began banging on the window and yelling "100 taka!" over and over again. To say I was initially taken aback is quite the understatement. Next they started to make the "I'm hungry" gesture (putting your hand to your mouth repeatedly) but at this point they couldn't keep a straight face and burst into laughter. This of course made me collapse into a fit of giggles, which in turn made them laugh even more. A few of them started to kiss my window repeatedly, I put my hand up to make them stop and they would try to kiss wherever my hand was. Another girl, trying to outdo her counterparts started licking the window. I tried to tell her to stop but it continued. The traffic eased and we slowly started moving. They tried to follow us for as long as they could keep up. As we left I realized the window was now filthy with saliva all over it. I still have no clue what that was all about it. After this experience I have to say that my sympathy goes out to Justin Bieber and the Jonas brothers. Glad America doesn't have a monopoly on weird tween and pre-tween girls.
Charlie's family friend Megan has lived in Bangladesh for 5 years off and on (mainly on) and she is a staff and volunteer coordinator for a network of Christian NGOs. She was evidence that with a good community and a grasp of the language a white girl can actually live here by herself for a significant period of time (something I had thought impossible). We were joined by Sarah and Emily, both Americans. Sarah is from Georgia who was doing a 6 month stint with an NGO that promotes multilingual education for those living in areas where Bengali is not the language (various small tribes and villages). Emily had lived in Bangladesh for 2.5 years a few years ago, is staying in Seattle (near Green Lake) and currently in the country to visit, and then to go to India to do a one month internship in Calcutta. She said after she finishes up school she wants to come back to Bangladesh permanently. My response (completely instinctual, and I hope not rude) "seriously!?!"
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