First Days in BangBang

Well, we made it!  I met up with Katia in the Dubai airport and we arrived safe and sound at the Dhaka airport, where we had to endure a couple of excruciating hours in line at immigration but we made it through.  I was a little worried that my bags had been riding the baggage carousel for hours while I was in line and I hoped that they hadn't been nicked.  But it all worked out.

Then when we got out to the arrivals area, nobody was there to pick us up! And the phone number we had for CRP wasn't the correct one.  So after wandering around and asking people for help we were set up with a reliable cab driver who took us to CRP.  The ride in was crazy - the drivers here are RIDICULOUS.  Driving on one side of the street is optional (it seems) and there are so many cars, buses, trucks, rickshaws and pedestrians all vying for space.

We arrived at CRP where everyone is really lovely and helpful.  We met Valerie Taylor, who is a British physiotherapist who founded CRP.  She is such a interesting and welcoming person.  We also met Mizan who helped us to settle in.  It's amazing here how a good proportion of the staff here have some kind of disability.  So many staff members are on crutches or wheelchairs, and they manage very well.

After a delicious dinner of rice and curried vegetables, Katia and I unpacked and then lay down to have a nap - that turned into a long long sleep (12 hours).  I woke up at 5:30am when all of the mosques started their calls to worship.  It's a truly beautiful way to wake up.  I plan on recording some of the calls on my digital recorder.

This morning I had a very cold shower and we went to the administration building to check out the internet situation.  It actually works very well and I'll be able to communicate well with people back home.  Skype even seems to work alright!

Then we went on a tour of CRP with Mizan - what an amazing place! We saw the hospital, the PT, OT & SLT (speech and language THERAPY) departments, halfway houses for reintegration of patients into their old lives, special needs school, rehab professionals institute, vocational training (where the patients learn a new trade like tailoring, electronics, etc...) and much much more.

Today will be another day of settling in. We'll have lunch with our fellow guesthousers (there are people here from the US, Holland, England, Australia, Germany and probably more) at 1 pm, then we might go out to see if we can have some more clothes made.

Everybody here is so interested to learn where we're from and find out what we're doing.  I think I'm going to have a fabulous time here!