Back on the Indian sub-continent!

Feb 5th 2010 - I left India. Feb 5th 2012 - I landed in Bangladesh. Two years is a considerable amount of time, some might say. But really it feels like yesterday.

The honking of horns. The dodging of traffic. The being woken up by the call of prayers at a nearby mosque. The countless cups of chai delivered to my desk. The are-you-married-madam-questions. Really - it feels like yesterday.

The trip to Bangladesh is very different from my trip to India two years ago. I was much younger. Much more willing to take risks. Much more scared about life and all it's uncertainties. Can't say I've grown up a ton - still a kid at heart. But things are different, for sure.

For one - I'm not fresh out of grad school at my first real-international-development job. Secondly, I'm not uprooting my whole life to move overseas - a short 2-week stint - while still nerve-racking for the accompanying deliverables - is much more doable.

Anyways - enough of the reflective-mood-type post. Below are some memorable moments during my trip and first 24 hours in Bangladesh:

• Extremely jet-lag after the first leg of flight led to my settling down into a comfy chair and falling into intermittent bouts of deep sleep while on my layover in Dubai. At one point, I dreamt that I missed my flight and had to call my friend D to come get me. Was a weird dream of half being in Mombasa with people we both know, and half being lost in the desert. Woke up just in time to see last group of people boarding. Talk about 'aiy yai yai'.
• Day 1 breakfast conversation at my hotel with server: "good morning madam". [insert small talk with server] [insert..time taken to eat breakfast] [insert time taken to walk back up to room] [insert skype conversation with family] [insert time taken to get ready for first day at work in a new country] [insert phone ringing]. "good morning, madam. I hope I not disturbing you. I vas calling because you are nice person. I am on night duty, madam. I will not be seeing you maybe so I wanted to tell you that you are nice woman] [insert awkward silence]. (thought in Devina's head: 'Is he hitting on me? the ONE man that i chose to make eye-contact with and talk to') [nervous laughter] [continued awkward silence..]. The end.
• The most interesting conversation with ex-military person whose served in the Bangladeshi army in Ethiopia, Uganda and Mozambique. Conversations and chai. Stuff that life is made of. :)
• The realization that I'm not in India: there are no COWS walking on the streets in Dhaka! Man, I miss those four-legged creatures taking up valuable road space.

More later. The adventures continue. Off to my biryani dinner. :)