The adventure of not assuming anything

I used to assume that if I came home from a day at work and wanted to watch a movie in the evening, I could. I thought then when I turned on the water faucet, water would come out, and when I turned on the hot faucet of the shower, hot water would come out. When I went to the bathroom, it would be reasonable clean and dry and toilet paper would be available. There would be soap to wash my hands, and paper towels to dry them with. If I wanted to travel by car, bus, or air, I could at any moment of any day. If I wanted to go to a public meeting, it would be normal and safe for me to attend. I assume that when I bought food from a shop, restaurant, or grocery store, the food would be safe and made with genuine food ingredients.

All these things make like more relaxing, and conducive to getting work done. They also make life very predictable. Sunday morning I woke up in Piergacha, when I was supposed to be in Mymensingh. I was planning on going to Mymensingh on Saturday, but I was discouraged from traveling as the opposition party’s leader, Sheik Hasina, was scheduled to be passing through the area. Where the opposition party is there is usually violence. Sunday morning I traveled to Mymensingh.

On Tuesday, the prime minister came to Mymensingh. I was told to stay away from the event due to the threat of bombs, but after work I went with two of my colleagues to hear Kaleda Zia, the prime minister, speak. (As I am writing this the current blinked off, and I had to retype my blog.) At the event I saw thousands of men and about two women, but there were no bombs. (Women go to work and it’s normal to see women shopping, but I don’t understand why they don’t go to political events.) On our way out, my colleagues bought me some ice cream from a little cart. I never eat this type of ice cream as it isn’t properly refrigerated, but I didn’t want to offend them as they were being nice as they know I love ice cream. I ate it, and felt the repercussions later.
Back at my house I was tired, and wanted to watch a movie to relax. I heard the prime minister’s helicopter fly out of Mymensingh, and not more than five minutes later the power was turned off. (If the prime minister isn’t there, who would need to use power?) I went out to my roof and chatted with my neighbors and napped on a mat as my house was way to hot to sleep in. The power was out for two hours, what can you do in the darkness but try to occupy yourself, stay cool, and not go crazy?

On Thursday, I had plans to go to Dhaka for a meeting that had been scheduled for a month. A hartal was called on Thursday, so I had to leave for Dhaka on Wednesday in order to be there on Thursday. Then the opposition party decided to blockade Dhaka on Wednesday. They put up blocks at all the bus and train stations, and would not allow motor vehicles of any kind to go in or out of Dhaka. Then I heard that this blockade would end at noon on Wednesday, giving me an opportunity to travel to Dhaka on Wednesday afternoon before dark. (The power blinked again, restart the computer, retype for the third time. I’m choosing to laugh and not scream.) I got this information through my colleagues, and I asked them how they knew that the blockade would end. I didn’t want to start the three hour bus trip to Dhaka, get to city limits and then find that I had to turn around and travel back to Mymensingh in the dark. They said that they heard on this information on TV, so who is more reliable than television?

In the end I made it to Dhaka, and safely arrived at my guesthouse. Always I like to shower after riding on a bus through Bangladesh, and I go to my guesthouse and learn that there is no water. Fortunately one of the guesthouse staff has set aside water for my use, and he proudly shows me the bucket full of brown water.
Today I’m in Dhaka, I have a meeting later today, but I don’t have too much to do. My work is waiting for me in Mymensingh, but most of the time I feel like I’m sitting, waiting for the roads to be open so that I can travel to Mymensingh or waiting for the power to come back on so that I can use the computer or have a fan so that I’m not drowning in sweat. The power has been unusually bad recently. Normally it is just off for an hour each evening, but now it is off for an hour or two during the day. It is so hot to work in an office with no air conditioning and no fans.

There are some benefits though. On that hot night when the power was off for two hours, it started raining just as the power came back on. My neighbors and I all stood in the rain and got completely soaked. The wind was blowing, and I actually felt cold. Then when we went inside to shower, the water coming out of the faucet was warm in comparison to the outside rain. That was the first warm shower I’ve had since I was home. Plus with all the “extra” time waiting for the roads to open I can write this ridiculously long blog, so that one day when I’m sitting in my luxurious life in the U.S. I can appreciate it.