LP 63: Dito Lang (Only Here)

Noong bata pa ako, lagi kong pinapangarap makulong sa loob ng SM at manirahan sa loob ng isang gabi na libre lahat ang pagkain at pwedeng gamitin ang mga paninda sa loob. Katulad ba ng mga nasa pelikula na yun mga bida kapag nakulong sa loob ng malls ay ginagamit ang mga paninda doon para sa kaligtasan nila. Hindi ko lubos akalain na mangyayari sa akin ang makulong sa loob ng grocery, at dito lang yan sa Dhaka nangyari.

When i was a kid, i always dream of getting stuck inside SM mall, and stay there for a night where I can eat the foods for free and use the merchandise also. Just like in the movies where the characters can use all the things inside the mall for their survival.I never expected that it will happened to me. I got stocked inside a grocery store and it happened only here in that Dhaka.


Kuha ito noong nakaraang Setyembre 2008 sa loob ng grocery.Pangalawang araw palang ito ng ramadan. Sa panahon ng ramadan, ang oras ng opisina ay mula alas nuwebe ng umaga hanggang 430pm lamang upang may oras pa ang mga empleyado na makauwi at makarating sa kanilang tirahan para sa kanilang "iftar" o "breaking of the fast".

This picture was taken last September 2008 inside a grocery store. It was just the second day of the Ramadan. During Ramadan, the office hours are shortened ffrom 9am til 430pm to give time for the employees to go home in time for their iftar or the breaking of the fast.


Kaya naisipan kong mamili sa grocery. Ang hindi ko alam, sa oras pala ng iftar na kadalasan ay 30 minutos, ang lahat ng tindahan ay nagsasara pansamantala upang magkapag-iftar din ang mga trabahador at empleyado. Kaya hayan, naiwan ako sa loob ng grocery. Ako lang ang nag-iisang kustomer sa loob at ng mapansin ako ng mga empleyadong nakaupo sa sahig at kumakain ng kanilang "iftar meal", ako ay kanilang inanyayahang saluhan sila.

So I decided to buy some groceries. I didn't know, that during the iftar break which is usually 30 minutes long, all the stores and shops closes to give the employees time to have their iftar. So, i was left alone inside the grocery. When the employees who are already seated on the floor and started eating saw me standing alone in the aisle, they invited me to join them.


At dito lang sa dhaka ako nakikain sa mga estranghero, sa loob ng grocery, ng pagkain nakahanda sa dyaryo at kumain ng nakakamay.

It is Only here in Dhaka where I accepted an invitation from total strangers to join them in eating, stock inside a grocery store, with the food that was served in a newspaper and eat by hands.


What an experience!

Narito ang mga ibang kalahok

Mission Accomplished

Finally, after one year and 6 months, I was able to visit our Sylhet showroom. This is the only showroom that I haven’t visited yet since I started working here. FYI, our company has 14 showrooms aside from the dealers and franchise-dealers showroom plus one in Kolkata, and all this, I have to re-do their planogram and VM them and have regular visits in order to maintain the set-ups.

We started early from Dhaka, around 6am. During this time, you will see a different Dhaka. Roads are free of jam; except for the main road entering and exiting Dhaka which is 24/7 always jam.On this part you’ll see the busy wholesale markets for flowers, fruits, veggies, fishes, meats & live animals full with people specifically men in their longgis, buying crates by crates and bundles by bundles of fresh produce.

One thing that you will notice here in Bangladesh, they have lots of rotunda. And in this rotundas stood monuments both historical and sculptural, others had fountains and gardens on it.

It was a long drive and luckily the roads are all good. It’s like going home to Ilocos because you see miles and miles of rice paddies and other crops. It’s a respite from the busy and congested Dhaka. When we are near Sylhet already, we notice that the cows are free to roam on the roads since the farmlands are just beside the highway. So we say “rickshaws are the king of the road in Dhaka, while cows are the king of the road in sylhet”.

After one rest stop, a brunch break, we reached our showroom around 12nn. We started working right away knowing that we only have limited time to fix the showroom because our CEO doesn’t allow me to stay out of Dhaka for the night. It is always a round trip for me whenever I have to visit our outside Dhaka showroom.
We didn’t have much time to roam around sylhet because the showroom is two floors and we have to finish fixing the accents & decors before 7pm, we just went to Shah Jalal Shrine after lunch (which was at 3pm) as a special request of my girls. I have to cover myself also so that I can enter the compound.

Around 8pm, we started our journey back to Dhaka and we arrived Dhaka at 130am.

Random Thoughts III

I can’t still think of a better title for my entries since they are still at random despite of the promise to blog accordingly, as per subject. Anyway, for the first thought:

Today, Bangladesh time is adjusted one hour ahead, better known as Daylight Saving Time. That means I’m just one hour behind Philippine time. Last night, at around 11pm, I adjusted my watch to 12MN of 20th. This morning I woke up around 7am (new time) and went out to my balcony, it’s a little cloudy today so the sun isn’t visible, and since I’m living at a street parallel to Road 11 banani area, vehicles and people are scarce in this s took some pictures then went back to sleep as I haven’t got enough sleep since the Sylhet trip last Wednesday.

Around 845am, I woke up again to check if my boua(maid) is here already but then maybe, she forgot that today there is new timing so it would still be 745am from the old timing. So, I cooked breakfast since I always get hungry as soon as I open my eyes from sleep. Around 930am, my boua arrived and I told her in my poor banglish (bangle-english) “you are late, its nohtun time”. She said sorry and given the fact that this is actually the first day of DST so earlier this month about her coming in so late. The agreement before is that she have to be here by 830am but then since May, she is coming in late that I got fed up. So one Saturday, I confiscated the apartment key from my boua, called my staff on the phone and told my staff to tell my boua that she needs to be here exactly 830am or early otherwise she won’t be able to enter my apartment once I leave for office which is usually 845 to 9am, then I have to deduct it from her salary which is so expensive. She only does my laundry and cleaning the apartment since I cook my own food. Guess, that tactic was effective because since then, boua is coming on time. My staff told me from that start that the bouas are really like this so sometimes you have to be strict with them otherwise they tend to take advantage of your kindness.

*****
Mixed mangoes of lengra & himshagor, airing them to ripe.

Its mango season again. And just like last year, H's mom bought a crate with at least 500 pieces of mangoes. Like in the Philippines, Bangladesh has different species of mangoes and they are harvested after another. The first mango the comes in the market are himshagor, then lengra and amrapoli, followed by fozli which is usually the biggest and then comes the chosha which is usually towards the end of the season already. This mangoes are all tasty and sweet! There are also other varieties coming in the market. Fozli mango

I saw one on the way to sylhet a very very huge one that looks like a pomelo instead of a mango. I really love mango season I just hope I have Philippine fish/shrimp paste with me all the time to compliment the mangoes.

*****
Yesterday, H's mom was craving for hilsa fish again. So off we went to the mini-supermarket to buy fish, while I went to the cosmetic section to buy some nail polish since auntie want to use light colored ones as opposed to her brown shade nail polish. H bought two big big hilsa fish, from the tip of my hand up to my elbow, much to auntie's delight. I find the hilsa fish looking similar to milkfish (Philippine's National Fish). Auntie was ecstatic to have the hilsa fish and cleaned it herself. And, I just discovered that H loves the hilsa fish eggs, the only fish eggs that he eats. I remember my father telling me once that his late grandmother loves to eat the fish eggs. As for me, I find the fish eggs too bitter for my liking. They fried some pieces of hilsa fish for dinner and i find it tasty.

Random Thoughts II

I renew my blog when I came here in Dhaka with the hope that I can chronicle my so called Dhaka life. And, a way to ease the boredom that I will face during weekends since this is a place where there is no really life for someone like me not unless you are a member of the international clubs and other clubs. I intend to blog about Dhaka life thru my eyes complete with pictures. I was excited at first, taking pictures of almost everything, the beggars, the dilapidated buses, construction sites with women laborers, mobile tea stalls, lovers at the park, and a lot of other things. I have them all, save in the hard drive but then I didn’t really get the chance to particularly blog about them. I don’t have much time to blog because I never thought that I will find a surrogate family here. So, there goes my weekends and holidays.

I also never thought that there will be a follower for this blog aside from my friends, so I really didn’t blog religiously on my Dhaka life. But today, when I was tinkering with my blog profile, I noticed that I have one follower. So, out of curiosity, I checked who it was. I haven’t met him or exchanged any correspondence with him yet, but base from his previous blog, he was someone who decided to move here in Dhaka. And like what I did before coming here, I researched about this country and tried looking for related blogs but I was not that successful as him. I was able to find only one site, while he was able to find a dozen sites. And thru his blog, I was able to check different blogs of other expats, though most of them are students, NGO’s and from the US.

He has one post wondering how the people like us spend our days here. Do we watch TV coz he never read any post related to this thing. For me, I seldom watch TV nowadays, because I enjoy browsing the net than watching TV. I don’t have enough choices also and until now, I never get the right timing for the shows that I want to see. Most of the channels here are Bangla channels so I only watch AXN, HBO, Discovery, Travel & Living, Z Channel, MNET Movies, National Geographic, and Animal Planet.

About food, I’m not really into spicy food so I never did any explorations in the food culture of Bangladesh. I’m only fond of their sweets less the aftertaste that I dislike but up to now I still don’t know what is it, so I can’t really tell my staff which sweets that I don’t prefer. But there are some food that I love, like Biryani, doi fuchka and the Chicken kurma. Talking about food, I remember I have few shots of Bangladeshi food and street foods. Guess I have to blog about them one time big time.

Creative Swap 5th Round (My 2nd)

I'm not yet done with my Creative Swap project, I'm still thinking of making one pair of earring for my partner but I'm running out of time again. Searching for the earring materials are not that tough afterall. It was available here, and I think it is cheaper than in Divisoria or Quaipo. The Gausia market is really a haven for all this sewing and craft stuff, different beads in all shapes and colors, laces in plain and intricate ones, all sorts of fabrics. I think, you name it and they got it all for you. You just have to know how to haggle, but since I'm a foreigner, they will jack up their prices as soon as you ask the price, so everytime I go there, I bring with me my staff. I just wish I can take a picture of this place but I'm not so sure how safe it is to bring out my camera :-)

Meanwhile, I'm already finished with this shirt. Its simple but I hope my swap partner will appreciate it somehow :-) It's my first time to try this "block printing". I bought the blocks and fabric paint in Gausia Market also. There are lots of block designs, big and small in size, simple patterns, basic and intricate ones. There are also tribal designs but since I'm just a beginner, my staff told me that it wil be hard for me to use the tribal design. So, I decided to get the basic blocks firts. The block price starts from 10taka (smallest) to 200taka for the big ones.


I need to send the package by this week already. Inshallah!

Random Thoughts

I noticed that I don’t blog as much as I want to. Mostly are for my “Litratong Pinoy” entry and if not for that, I guess I won’t be able to update this blog.

What is the reason for the blog lag? It’s not that I don’t have anything to talk about but I just can’t write my thoughts into words, or rather, I can’t organize my thoughts into blog entries. I have lots of thoughts for possible entries but I just can’t simply put them all together nicely to have a smooth flow.

There’s this thoughts about living alone in a foreign country that is so way different from the food, culture, language, religion, almost everything, there’s nothing I can really relate with. Talk about the day-to-day happenings, my observations of the street life or just the highlights of living alone.
The things I do to keep me sane and to keep me from getting bored, like my hobbies, which I don’t regularly do now for the lack of time for myself. I intend to blog also my cooking expeditions, more likely an experiments and my willing guinea pigs. Share my professional life, its ups and downs, the bloopers, stupidities and absurdities.


I also want to write about the junks that I collect like my scrap materials, small toys, novelty items, and other stuff. And also the shopping experience at Bonggo Bazar where you can find overruns/rejected batch of almost all branded clothes like Zara, H&M, Esprit and among others that are not popular in the Philippines. Inshallah (hopefully / In God’s will) I will be able to blog about these things.

LP 61: Pangarap Ko

Pangarap ko ( i hope, i dream, i want)? Ang dami kong pangarap sa buhay, para sa sarili ko, sa pamilya ko, at sa mundo. Kaso hindi lahat ng pinapangarap ko eh natutupad gaya ng pagliliwaliw sa ibang bansa (naks!), at hindi rin lahat ay may kuha akong larawan gaya na lamang ng pinapangarap kong honeymoon destination. Ang mahal ano? Di bale, libre naman ang mangarap eh.

Sa kabilang banda, ito ang aking lahok:
ito ang simbahan ng Caleruega sa Nasugbu, Batangas. Kuha ito noong Hulyo 25, 2007. Pangarap kong ikasal dito, ang ganda kasi ng simbahan, tamang-tama sa maliit at intimate na kasalan. Maganda rin ang kapaligiran, ok sa pictorial. Kaso, ang mahal ng fee, nun 2007 nasa 15000 na siya. Dati-rati, talagang ipinagpipilitan ko na dito lang ako ikakasal o di bale na lang, kaya dapat pag-ipunan. Ewan ko ba, sa Pilipinas lang ata negosyo ang kasal :-)Pero ngayon, kahit saang simbahan na ako ikasal, basta lang ikasal ako sa H ko.


Ito pa ang isa kong pangarap. Mahilig ako sa photography, mapa-ako ang kumukuha ng larawan o ako ang kinukuhanan, basta picture taking, mahilig ako. Kaya naman pangarap ko simula nun bata ako na maging isang magaling na photographer at magkaroon ng "photographer's camera". Yan ang tawag ko sa manual SLR na ngayon ay DSLR na, basta yun kamera na may iba't ibang lens na inaadjust-adjust pa bago mo i-click. Kaso, hanggang ngayon, pangarap pa rin siya. Kuntento na ako sa ngayon sa aking "point & shoot camera" kasi hindi hassle bitbitin. Ito pala ang gamit nun professional photographer nun minsang may photoshoot kami ng aming mga produkto.

Ating alamin ang mga pangarap ng ibang ka-LP!

Magandang araw ng huwebes!

LP 60: Misyon

Nahirapan akong mag-isip kung ano ang aking ilalahok para sa temang "Misyon". Ang hirap atang makuha sa isang larawan lamang ang "misyon" na dapat gampanan at mapagtagumpayan. Buti na lang, naalala ko na may ginawa akong munting misyon para sa aking future MIL.


Kuha ito noong nakaraang Marso. May munting salo-salo sa embahada para sa "Linggo ng Pagkabuhay" kaya naatasan si future MIL na gumawa ng programa at mga palaro. Isa sa palaro ang maala-pin the tail of the donkey, ang kaibahan lang ay ang premyo ay wala lang sa buntot kundi sa mga iba't ibang parte ng donkey.


Iginuhit ko ang donkey sa isang manila paper at natapos ko naman na halos eksatong-eksato sa larawan. Kung bakit nasa sahig ako imbes na nasa mesa ay dahil mas kumportable akong gumuhit sa sahig kung malalakihang drawing :-)

Mission accomplished.

Silipin natin ang iba pang misyon sa buhay