Myles Away From Home

Hey Folks! It's been a while since I've written a post, but then it's been a while since I've been anywhere other than Ontario! My last trip was slightly more exotic, but this one will also be interesting. I'm off to Anchorage, Alaska on Monday afternoon, where I will stay for 2.5 weeks. This is supposedly the best time of year to go to Alaska, and I hope to make the best of it! I will have two weekends, and two extra days at the end to see a bit of Alaska...as long as I haven't got work to do on the weekends!

Today is my last day in Dhaka! I will be at the airport in less than 12 hours, and then back in Ottawa about 27 hours later. I am looking forward to being home – and I am quite happy the snow is all gone! Not so happy about the Sens losing in 4 straight, but what can you do. I think we all expected that. It has been exceedingly hot here lately, even the locals are saying there is a heat wave...highs of 35-40C. It will be good not to need perpetual air conditioning. Now to tell you what I have been doing for the last few busy days…

Happy New Year (Shubha Nababarsha)! Today (April 14) is Bengali New Year (Poila Boishakh), and it marks the start of the year 1415 in Bengali culture. The festivities take place throughout the country, and also in parts of India. Two of my coworkers took me out to see some of the festivities that take place. Picture Canada Day in Ottawa, but with soooo many more people.

You may or may not have seen news headlines lately, pertaining to riots and protests in Bangladesh, and in Dhaka specifically. There have been a few disturbances lately, although I’m not sure how often such things occur. And I have only found out about them through the media, both national and international.

Today I had a tour of the city of Dhaka. It was arranged and given by members of the project team, which was very generous of them! We started at the hotel at 9am, where a driver and two others (Touhed and Nipa) picked me up. First stop was the parliament buildings (Sangshad Bhaban), which were built in the early 1940’s and designed by an American architect. Very interesting design, as you will see by the photos! There are also residences for parliamentary staff nearby. We also went to a memorial for one of Bangladesh’s Prime Ministers.

I arrived in Dhaka on Monday, about 4 hours later than anticipated due to snow in London. I didn’t know it snowed in London in April very often! But apparently it can happen. And when it does, it seems to mess up Heathrow’s flight schedules, but then what doesn’t!?

I am counting down to my departure for Bangladesh. I leave Saturday afternoon from Ottawa, and later that night from Toronto. It's going to be a long journey - 20 hours on 2 flights with a stopover at Heathrow (please cross your fingers that the luggage system will be working!). I will arrive in Dhaka at 6am on Monday morning, Dhaka Time. Dhaka is about 11 hours ahead of us, so I am on two overnight flights to get there, in the space of one day. It's kind of crazy. To get back, I will travel for 20 hours, but get back to Ottawa 12 hours or so later.

Time sure flies these days! I can't believe I've already been back for almost 3 months. It's good to be back, although I could use a little less snow. It's been great catching up with friends, and getting back into the swing of things here. I was sick with mono for a while there - and I thought I would be healthy now that I am back in Canada! As a result I was in a bit of hibernation mode, but now I am feeling back to normal, and getting ready for the enxt adventure!

I've been home for a month already, maybe more, I haven't actually counted. I arrived home into the whirlwind that is Christmas. Dave picked me up in Montreal, where we ended up staying for the night due to delays and my lost baggage. Saturday morning we drove to Ottawa, where I started unpacking (and didn't really finish until at least a week later!), had dinner with my parents and had some friends over. Sunday we drove to Belleville for the annual pre-Christmas fondue, which was as great as ever.

As of today, Wednesday December 19th, I have one more full day in Bolivia. I fly out on Friday morning, bright and early and am not yet sure how I am going to fit all my stuff in my suitcases. I am sitting here at work, having pretty much finished everything I need to get done, writing my final blog post of this year-long journey which brought me to Bolivia. I really can't believe a year has gone by so quickly.

It seems like just last week I was arriving in Bolivia teary-eyed from leaving Dave behind in Ottawa, not able to communicate well in Spanish and generally scared to death of the adventure I was about to embark upon. A year later, I am again teary-eyed, to leave Bolivia after having had an incredible year here.