So, if you follow me on facebook you know by now that my card started to accrue some fraud charges just as I was leaving the states... which means having to cancel my card leaving me no access to my personal or research money. NOT very convenient when I am trying to get a research project going and settle into a new place with a whole new dress code. Thanks to my wonderful, amazing, and incredible father and western union, he was able to wire me money multiple times to keep my research on schedule (I can transfer money online, just not get it myself). Because of the world's best dad we were able to make our first trip to Rangpur, the area where my fieldwork will be conducted. We have villages in 7 of the 8 upazilas (kind of like counties?) within Rangpur District and are living in the 8th, Rangpur Sadar (red star). It is more of a city and we excluded urban villages from our study.
It is usually about an 8 hour bus ride, but thanks to a religious holiday there was zero traffic leaving Dhaka (black star) and we made it in SIX! The only way to really explain this bus ride is to compare it to the Knight Bus in Harry Potter. Goes way too fast and swerves through traffic, speed bumps, pot holes and then when the honking doesn't work to move the obstacle the brakes get slammed.... but there is A/C so I can't really complain. Since we got there earlier than expected we went to check into our hotel then left to house hunt. This is not like your ordinary house hunt where maybe you jump on google or craigslist for listings... you just straight up drive around town and pull over when you see a "to-let" sign. We did this for a solid five or six hours, with a lot of my job being "stay here, or else they will try and charge us more". I keep saying that we need a code word for 'hide the white girl' because they often make me stay put or go around the corner when negotiating price for either rickshaw, taxi, or rent! Because I am white and clearly a foreigner, they will automatically try and charge more - they are no dummies. We also ran into a problem with the landlords because it will be me, and my 6 field crew members who are all guys, living in the apartment. A lot of the families were not okay with this setup because they did not understand how that would work since I am not married to any of them. We found a few promising apartments and it is funny how everyone around gets involved... they all have something to say. Which brings me back to the staring... I keep saying I am going to feel so neglected when I move back to the states because I get so much dang attention in Bangladesh. Myself and Hannah, a visiting postdoc from Hopkins (only here for a week, also white female), were sitting in the "taxi" (basically a longer golf cart) waiting for the guys to negotiate something when a band of local Bangladeshi guys come up and start talking to us. They kept saying "you strong" and "you wrestle" while making the arm wrestling gesture... they were very impressed with my guns (even though I was wearing a quite loose salwar kameez). Then they look at Hannah and say "not so strong", which is hilarious because she is a normal, small built girl. They then asked me my weight and when I told them they discussed it for about two minutes and wanted to take my picture but I could not slouch haha. What an ordeal... they were very pleased with my athletic prowess lol!! The next day our plan was to meet with the district commissioner, leader of the entire district, and the police superintendent. This is a formality you must do when working in these places, and letters go along with this. First was the district commissioner where Al-Amin, one of the entomologists on my team, did all of the talking and the commissioner never really acknowledged my presence... very formal. Then we went to the superintendent of police... not so formal. He was very excited to have us and spoke with us, in English a lot of the time, and offered us coffee (hard to come by here), fresh mangos (mango season just started!) and guava. After about an hour of chatting in his office he invited us to his residence... and we were taken there by police escorts! He was very pleased to show us his collection of over 500 pigeons that is made up of over 50 different species that he imports from all over the world.. pricey!! If you know me at all you know I am not fond of pigeons... so I was obviously more pumped about his goats, sheep and cows! He then invited us into his home for some coca-cola, tea cookies, mangos, lychee, and oranges all from his land... Grandma, he is giving you a run for your money! So after a total of about 3 hours, we finally got police escorted home and regrouped to find a place for our goats. We needed to find temporary housing for them as we prepare to set them up in the villages. Luckily by word of mouth we found a small cow farm tucked back about 2 blocks from our apartment. Of course as we show up Al-Amin travels to talk to the man of the house and we are left to be gawked at. This time is was mainly all the women of the household (they all live together in neighboring houses) with their husbands and children. One of the women really clicked with me, though her english was not great nor my bengali good at all. She took my hand and showed me around to all of the houses, offered me tea (had to say no, unclean water), had me sit in their house, showed me my "sisters" i.e. all of her nieces, and let me see the cows. This wonderful family will be watching our baby goats for us as we take them out 2 by 2 to their villages. All that was left was to finalize the apartment by putting down the first month's advance... $123 for a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom 2nd floor apartment. No... there is no A/C. It is empty and so we need to purchase all of the furniture, fans, kitchenware, etc. Also, it is very common here that we will hire staff to cook, clean, and do laundry - less than $30 a month. I will have my own bedroom and bathroom, and balcony (woo hoo) - while the other two rooms and third makeshift room via curtain in the doorway will be split between the other 6 field members. The main dining area will be used for our mosquito identification table with microscopes and equipment storage. Overall it was an incredibly productive trip and it was really good to see how things run and the issues that might arise throughout the field season. It took about 7 1/2 hours to bus home today and tomorrow will be a nice and relaxing weekend day.
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Well folks, I have finally arrived! What a journey... and I thought my trip to Africa years ago was long. At least I had stops and left the airport (which I will do on my way home from Bangladesh).
Sunday started off wonderfully with a few short errands and two hours of sand volleyball... heaven! Then my friend Punam dropped me off at the GNV airport to pick up my rental car to drive myself to Jacksonville where my flights all began. I got there an hour and 45 minutes before my flight and let's just say... that was cutting it close. It took almost an hour for the gal at the desk to figure out my bag situation... had to check 3 and 2 were overweight (due to fifteen 12V batteries, microscope, and other field equipment). It was not her fault though and after the whole thing went down she gave me a "fast pass" for the preferred security line so that was AWESOME... took me 2 mins to get through security. That began my 24 hour trip with 19 hours of flying. When I finally got to the last leg of my flight (istanbul --> dhaka) I was maybe 1 of three white people in the whole place (other two mere men) and everyone told me I would be stared at but my goodness was that 100% the truth haha. I was talking to a gal who grew up in Bangladesh and lives in the states now and she said that their culture believes you are more beautiful the lighter your skin tone is... wish that were true in the US so I wouldn't have to fake tan lotion my pasty legs lol. My icddr,b handler was at the airport with my name on a sign... have always wanted to have that happen... and he told me exactly what to do and say to customs and the VISA security. So glad he was there because not a lot of Bangladeshis speak english and that could have gotten hard. All three of my checked bags made it - I was in shock! So about an hour after my flight landed we were out of there and past the gates were so many people (even that early, about 6am) bargaining for their rickshaw, taxi, baby taxi, etc. We had a VIP exit (yes, that's what it's called) where a hired driver from icddr,b was waiting at the car. I swore our car was going to hit these children that run so close to the cars and people that are just everywhere around the airport. The near crashes didn't stop there... merging into the roads to leave there are no lanes like in the US and everyone just kind of goes and uses their horns to warn that they are about to pass or to "move the hell over" so I can pass. It was so bizarre though, I felt pretty safe oddly enough. About a 10-15 minute drive (streets are pretty empty compared to afternoons) and we arrive at my hotel... I am very impressed - $50/night goes far in Bangladesh. Running water, stand up dial shower, flushing toilet, an A/C box, wifi and cable with epic indian music channels. However, I got there before management and no one spoke english, so I had to wait for another hour and a half to officially check-in and get the wifi password and all that, though I capitalized on that time and napped. Free breakfast comes every morning and I had delicious authentic bangladeshi paratha (SO GOOD), scrambled eggs, and tea. I sat in the breakfast room at a table that looks outside so I could watch the busy streets and everything that goes with them... however, it seemed I was the one being watched. Even those in rickshaws zooming by seemed to notice the white girl sitting in the window haha... I don't know if I will ever get used to the staring. After a delicious meal I headed back to my room, showered, and hit the bed hard. I slept all day (Florida's night) and now I am struggling to sleep during their night (which is necessary if I want to adjust to the time!). Tomorrow I am getting picked up and get to start working at icddr,b and meet those who I have been skyping with the past few months! Cannot wait... and yes monsoons hit here with ferocity but are not all day (at least right now). Oh man... I cannot tell you enough how ecstatic I am to finally be leaving for this trip! I have been talking about it for months and explaining to people for months and now it is finally happening. I must say I have gotten annoyed with all of the "but what about this?... how are you going to deal with this?...etc." type questions because I cannot worry about the things I do not control. And my god... I definitely CANNOT control monsoon season in Bangladesh and the subsequent number of times I get diarrhea from the terrible water haha, all a part of the journey.
I will be in Dhaka for about 7 days before we kickoff our fieldwork (fingers crossed). I say that because we still have yet to get IACUC and IRB approval through UF (the animal and people overseeing boards for research). How am I not having a constant panic attack you ask... refer back to the last paragraph. All will happen when it happens... all I can do is bug the sh*t out of the offices to push them through. In 24 hours (rough... I know) I will arrive in the heart of Bangladesh... after being routed through Jacksonville, JFK, and Istanbul first of course. If you didn't already see in my facebook post you can contact me using email ([email protected]) or skype (stephcink). I will have internet access for most of my trip so I won't be disconnected completely (sadly). Look for the actual exciting posts soon... I cannot wait to experience ALL Bangladesh has to offer. It will be a trip of a lifetime but also the first field season for my dissertation research. I still can't believe I have already finished a year of my PhD... bizarre. Thanks for all of the happy thoughts and good lucks... I will take whatever I can get. My first blog ever... for someone who doesn't like sharing, this is huge. Welcome!
Many of you have had to listen to me gripe about how much work this Japanese encephalitis (JEV) project has been in terms of writing the whole proposal, getting all of the approvals from every regulatory board known to mankind, working with collaborators that are 10-12 hours ahead, getting shot up with a bunch of vaccines and the tiny details that are so important to international travel and fieldwork. That being said... I AM SO LUCKY FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY. Words cannot explain how ecstatic I am to finally be doing international fieldwork, which has been my goal from day 1 of my science career. My semester of Ebola research, fieldwork preparation and tough classes with cumulative finals (eek!) wraps up in two weeks! First year of my PhD down... kind of surreal and FLEW by. The day after my last final I get to fly and see: my grandparents in Seattle for 2 days, parents in Pullman for a week and a half, and my sister & bro-in-law in Phoenix for a long weekend. It will be so nice to see my family before my big adventure of a summer. I know my family has been asking for a little blurb about what I will be studying so here it is! Yes, that is cheating posting a link to my research summary... sorry. I leave around May 25/26 for Bangladesh and won't return until Aug 16/17. Most of my time will be spent in Rangpur Division (divisions are kind of like counties) though I will travel to Dhaka regularly as this is where the lab we are collaborating with is (see map below). I will be traveling to various villages and interacting with local people a lot (including entering their homes and likely eating supper so I hear) in order to collect the data necessary for my study. A lot of my friends' first question has been "but what about CrossFit?". Valid concern... I will take some cues from the incredible Lisa & Mike Ray from their travels and also plan to make my own "resource-poor guide to CrossFit". Have no fear, I will be SO GOOD at body weight movements when I get back and hope to get some goat squats in too. That is all... hope the first one wasn't too boring and there will be some exciting moments coming up! |
Steph CinkThis is my way to share both my personal and research experiences with my family, friends and those that are interested.
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