little things that matter

'tis the season

It’s the wedding season, that is. I’ve been to two weddings already…only cuz I want to dress up…heehee. A couple of more occasions coming up this week, and a friend’s wedding in January that will be more than just showing my face. Actually, this week I’m going to a couple of things uninvited…I know the groom (actually, I knew him years ago…haven’t been in touch with him for over 4 yrs), but I wasn’t invited…I’m just going cuz I want to dress up. And I also want to see who he’s getting married to cuz apparently I know the bride’s side too. Should be interesting…at least the saree-wearing bit will be wonderful as usual. There’s no more space in my bottom to get bigger. But it’s still expanding at an alarming rate. I don’t exactly have J-Lo proportions either…so I don’t particularly think that this butt-expanding syndrome suits me so well. It’s easy to hide, probably looks nice to have a bigger bum when you wear a saree, but not so much when I go back to wearing jeans etc. Even in kameezes it looks a bit weird. Or I’m just too conscious about it maybe. Don’t even want to talk about the tummy. Oh well. I’m counting on slimming down once I’m back at uni. A beel is basically a body of water – something like a lake, I guess. A haor is a collection of beels, but in the dry season only the bigger beels are permanent and don’t dry up completely in the winter. My research is being done on wetlands in Bangladesh, and Hakaluki Haor just happens to be my research site. I don’t know who asked what a beel is as it was an anonymous comment, but I hope that answers the question. Went to offices today...good progress for me...heehee.

posted by pebblesia @ 7:17 PM 1 comments

Sylhet trip

So I came back from my field trip to the Moulvibazaar district in the north-east of the country. There would be a six-page entry if I had to write about everything, so I won’t. The trip was successful in the sense that I understood a lot of things by going there which I wouldn’t have from just reading, but in terms of the number of surveys I got done, it wasn’t very good. That’s because another guy went with us who was going to evaluate the project – and his work was more important, so we ended up going to the places he wanted to go to. Next time I go, I must go solely for the purpose of my thesis…the only problem is that the trip isn’t arranged by me but by IUCN. Anyway, the area we went to (generally the Sylhet region) is super conservative. I have been to the field before on several pretexts, but this time it was for my own work so I had to do a lot of talking and observing. I haven’t been to a place before that was a mixed community – both Hindu and Muslim families living in the area – but so conservative about their own religion and cultures. Especially the Muslim families – their women didn’t do any work outside the home, even related to fishing and farming. Fisher folk in general were looked down upon by both the Hindu and Muslim communities we visited – they were understood to be the lower caste. In one village that we visited, we didn’t even see any of village women! What was strange, however, was that the men gladly talked to us with no hesitation…I guess to them we were city folks which meant we were of a different breed altogether. And these are the conservative, bearded, elderly Muslim men I’m talking about. Not all of Bangladesh is this conservative anymore…somehow I had to end up in an area as such to do my research. If I were able to do something more comparative, my research might have been a little richer. All in all it was an eye-opening experience. The hour and half that we spent on the boat ride was fun, too, but that’s where we spent a lot of unnecessary time. It was important for me to actually go on the boat ride because I needed to understand how the beels were, but I really didn’t need to stay there for so long. But the other guy did, so we had to. People I went with and met there were nice, but the evaluator guy was strange. Wannabe intellectual, is what we labelled him. Food wasn’t so good…Sylheti cooking isn’t the greatest apparently, so says my mummy dearest. Can you tell food’s the most important thing in my life right now? :D Can you also tell that I’m fat? Lol. The bird pic I took is apparently called a kite in English…it’s a cheel in Bangla.

posted by pebblesia @ 1:54 PM 1 comments

master plan

I actually did work yesterday! Well, I’ve been doing bits of work here and there. So far, in a month and a half, I have accomplished the following: 1. Established my contacts who are supposed to help with my data collection. 2. Translated my survey into Bangla (which took forever, even though it shouldn’t have!). 3. Planned my first field trip finally. 4. Written outlines for 2 thesis chapters. 5. Arranged my Canadian visa. So what if the last one isn’t a direct work thingie? It’s still something that’ll enable me to go back to my institution!! And I needed a 5th item. Filled out the application for the American visa which I want to get before I leave. There might not be enough time, though, but I’m going to give it a shot anyway. Trying to make a plan with my friend K (whose engagement I went to in NYC earlier this year). Malaysia’s become a super popular tourist destination and it’s apparently relatively cheap to go and stay there for a few days. I’ve never been to Malaysia, and its tourism industry’s been advertising intensively. I guess the advertising’s working…lots of people have been visiting and Malaysia’s gorgeous…white sand beaches, crystal blue waters, rainforests, the works. It would be totally awesome if we can make it! More visa stuff needed, though.

posted by pebblesia @ 2:50 PM 0 comments

hmmm

this is what happens when too much time has gone by in between blogs, and too many things have happened. you have nothing to write about! if i was dedicated to the blog and wrote about every interesting thing that's happened between the time i got the visa and now, i probably would have added a dozen entries by now. sadly, the only significant thing i can remember is the terrible driving on the road trips we went on after eid!!! well, eid itself was a lot of fun. not only is all the food exciting after a month of fasting, the whole dressing up and money and meeting family etc is good to look forward to. have to say that i wasn't disappointed with the first dhaka eid experience in five years. i'd post photos, but they're basically of different family members so not going to. instead, i'm posting a photo of one of the longest and magnificent bridges in bangladesh over the jamuna river. we went on a nice day trip to an area close to the bridge (again, crazy bus drivers everywhere...i got a headache from just watching them), and this picture's taken on that trip (cropped the ppl out...hehe). we didn't cross the bridge, but it was a really nice place. trip would have been better had i not gotten the headache! u can actually see a couple of the crazy bus drivers on the bridge if you look closely...hehe. i've started on a bit of work, but not nearly substantial enough. my field trip is finally scheduled. looking forward to the trip, but again worried about the driving. lazy few days as it's a long weekend. at least the whole family's been home for the most part.

posted by pebblesia @ 1:39 AM 0 comments