Hi all,

Time for a more mundane post about my daily life here in Dhaka. :) Each day is an adventure!

The sun rises here around 5:30 am and sets around 6:30 pm, shifting the day's activities a bit earlier than in the states (at least, in my experience here). I wake up at 6 or 6:30, depending on whether I'm running that day. If it's a running day (finally got up the courage to go outside when my roommate-of-three-weeks Ruth wanted to go, too!), I'm out the door by 6:05 to get some SWEATY miles in on a little crowded path by the 'lake' nearby (quotations because the body of water is nearly stagnant). Seriously, I've never sweat so much, and those lucky ones of you have seen how I sweat...

Anyway. Some puttering around, breakfast, and salwar kameez-donning, and I'm out the door with my roommates to catch our ride to ICDDR,B by 7:50. For my first three weeks here, I lived with 2 girls, and we rode a student transport van with other students to the center every day. Now, I live with a new girl (with 2 more soon to move in), and we ride a staff bus that conveniently picks up at the end of the street.

Now to back-track a little, let's talk about the salwar kameez. The salwar kameez (sometimes spelled shalwar kameez) is a type of traditional dress worn in central Asia and south Asia, primarily in Pakistan and Bangladesh. For women, it's a three-piece outfit consisting of baggy pants (salwar), tunic split open along the side seams below the waist (kameez), and scarf worn over the chest (orna). What I've learned from women here is that covering the legs and chest is vital (so if you don't have salwar kameez, at the very least you should wear baggy clothes and an orna). Salwar come in a variety of pant styles, some very loose and down to the ankle, and some more modern styles that are very long and tight on the calf and ankle! Not knowing any better, I bought two sets with the long, skinny kind of pant, and then felt like a big American when I tried to put them on... They are TIGHT, and I really cursed the muscle in my calves! [Sidenote: How to get the most stares in Bangladesh? Be a woman, and go for a run in running capris and semi-loose dri-fit shirt! Oh dear...]

Before I came here, I learned that I'd need to buy new clothes to wear here, so I brought very few. As things have turned out, I brought just enough clothes to wear around the apartment, and wear salwar kameez that I bought in my first few days at all other times! In my Picasa album, you can see one of my kameez and orna sets minus the salwar... because when out on weekends, I tend to just wear the top and scarf with my own pants. Again, because of the whole skinny pant/calf issue. :)

Back to my day... I then spend the whole day working on setting up the study. During my first three weeks, I finished another round of background research and wrote the study protocol. Last week, we got approval from ICDDR,B's Research Review Committee, and now are going full speed towards Ethical Review Committee approval. This week, I'm working on materials for that committee's review, and writing questionnaires/data collection instruments. Yesterday, my supervisor and I visited the hearing center where the study hearing tests will be performed. It's rather conveniently located right next door to ICDDR,B. :) And, in context, it's quite a nice center with several soundproof hearing exam rooms and hearing test charts identical to those used in the U.S. and elsewhere. The fact that the charts used are identical means that we can make stronger comparisons between study results because they use the same measurements.

At 5 pm (or 3 pm now that it's Ramadan), all the staff bolt to center transport home. The center is located on a main artery through the city, so if you miss the bus... it's not impossible, but not easy to get your own way home. This post is getting long, so... in the evening hours, I might head to the market, go for a run if I haven't already, cook dinner, hang out with my roommates, go out to dinner or do some errands with friends, read, etc... Sounds pretty standard for home, but every one of those things is (besides reading!) is starkly different here, and usually an experience in itself. I'll put up another post soon with some highlights of non-work excitement, but in the meantime, this post is getting long! :)

Bye for now!