Late Morning Walk

Today turned out to be a beautiful clear and balmy day - it's been raining for the last couple of days in Dhaka and I was getting tired of the gray skies. It's considered Spring here in Bangladesh. February 13 was the first day of two months of spring and many of the women wore yellow in honor of the new season.

Since it was a weekend and traffic is usually light on Fridays, I decided to take a walk to the American Club for breakfast. It was my first time walking in Dhaka!! I don't usually walk around town because of the traffic and pollution, and the hassle. (Even when I'm in the car, people tend to stare at the foreigners driving around.) Walking was nice - I enjoyed stretching out my legs, even if I had to deal with the stares. I wore my dark sunglasses and pretended to be rock star. I guess all those years of practice at the dance clubs at home with my "force field" came in handy. I didn't get bothered too much while I was walking, except by the occasional rickshaw drivers hoping to pick up a fare. People did make their stares obvious though - some of them turning about in their cars or rickshaws to stare at the foreign woman walking down the street. Only poor Bangladeshis walk on the streets, the wealthier Bangladeshis all have drivers to take them around town.

It was a short walk - only about 15-20 minutes each way, but it was an nice way to enjoy the sun. Unless there is a nice long rain, the pollution tends to keep the skies a little hazy and it's rare to have a clear blue sky.

At the American Club - I enjoyed a "Gilbert's Breakfast Sandwich" - bacon, fried egg and American cheese on a freshly baked English muffin; along with a side of home fried potatoes and lemonade. =) It was already 11am in the morning, so coffee would have been overkill at that point.

The most interesting thing about breakfast was listening to the girls basketball team at the table nearby. Most of the children of ex-pats living in Dhaka go to various private schools catering to the international community. Listening to the girls talk was educational for me.

These girls were more worldly, many of them having grown up in various cities around the world. They talked about their parents moving to their next station in Iraq because of the hazard pay compensation (which would double an already generous salary) - so that they could afford college. Some of them mentioned friends that they had known in previous school years who were now located in other parts of the world. The internet, email and online chat tools have made it easy for them to all continue to keep in touch regardless of locale. Can you imagine growing up in different parts of the world - changing schools and friends every few years?

So - even though these girls were living in Dhaka and had grown up with and around all sorts of different cultures and nationalities, these girls were still ultimately teenagers. It was just interesting to eavesdrop on their conversation as they chatted about their basketball team, overseas friends and school rivalries. Overall - although they were loud, they weren't overly obnoxious or too snotty. I was pretty impressed given that many of these girls have probably grown up with live-in servants, diplomatic passports and fairly privileged lives. They weren't too catty and seemed easy in their praise of other teams and students at school. (But still LOUD teenagers!!) =)

Friends who have sat with me through graduation ceremonies and the like know that I have a tendency to make up stories about the people I see around me. So - it was a nice way to pass some time this morning imagining stories about these girls' lives having grown up all around the world.