Six months down, 18 to go

I don't count time this way but it's a fact that we have lived in Bangladesh half a year and will leave in the summer of 2017.

I prefer a list of what Bangladesh has done and not done to me so far.

And how little I have managed to do for Bangladesh.

Most important are all the new people. We knew absolutely no-one here but have now been blessed with the warmth of many kind, interesting and wise people.

Nowadays I pay little attention to honking, shouting, prayer calls, construction noices. All these sounds have become a kind of loud bangla muzak, you cannot escape it but it doesn't really bother any more.

I think that my hearing in general has impaired slightly.

My eyes are used to rikshaws, burkhas, ancient working methods, crowds, snots, rubbish. 

I don't have the urge to take another 5000 pictures of battered buses or day laborers in dangerous situations.

But my heart still aches when I see blind and limbless beggars, child poverty and hard working people's everyday struggle.

I try not to see people urinating and spitting in the overcrowded streets. This is not possible since then I should walk eyes closed all the time.

I used to do workout in one of the most exlusive gyms in New York City. In addition to first class exercise they offered unending amenities from sauna to complimentary towels, lotions, shampoos whatever.

Now I am happy to exercise at an international club with the most elementary equipment and one single shower with ailing water pressure. I share the dressing room with three million mosquitoes.

But the water is warm.

Wonderful, since we only have ice cold water at home. Washing hair with icy water is totally possible but very uncomfortable. And literally: freezing. 

One gets used to many new things.

The most amazing thing I have learnt in Bangladesh is patience. 

I used to be a everything-must-be-ready-yesterday -person. This kind of attitude is not possible if you are jammed in the Dhaka traffic or trying to get a functioning internet connection at home. Things happen when they do, just not exactly now. 

My contribution to the local society?

People like to stare at my fair complexion wrinkles and thin hair, maybe it's entertaining.

My inabilities at the tennis court have offered a good laughter to many.