My team and I arrived here at our local area where we will cover elections in the next 4 weeks. It is to be my place for the duration of time I will stay in this country. When we got to the hotel, I was so frustrated and angry with the standard of the hotel (compared with the 5 star we left behind in Dhaka) that I started to scream and shout at the people here. The standard of hotel was not the same as it was in the capital city and the irony is this is the best hotel in this area so there is no possibility to look for a better one- a better one. It takes four hours to drive back to the capital so there was no need to imagine going back to Dhaka. Then I tried to use the best of the circumstance that I found myself. I made a friend of one of the hotel receptionist who is constantly eager to improve his English by speaking with me in his heavy ascent. He organized as I instructed, to remove ALL the window blinds and replaced them or had them washed. The floor of the bathroom was scrubbed to a specific detail and the entire place was transformed within one day including moving furniture. Now my team members are jealous and wondered how I could have that done so quickly and so effortless. So, theoretically, I am settled.

Usually, each of my days is full Everyday we go out to meet politicians and speak with elections officials.. The town is not really bigger than Ikenne so driving around will even be easier for a blind driver to get through in minutes. The general impression we keep getting from everyone we have spoken to is that the election has been adequately prepared for and everyone is expecting the day to be excessively successful. No one seems to think there might be any problem and no one is praying for it nor prepared for it. The meetings are pretty exhausting because it is the same impressions we get and the same information even if we spoke to three different political parties... everyone thinks all is paradise here.

Yesterday, we met with the superintendent of police- the highest ranking officers in this district... very pleasant human being and very friendly. he spoke friendly and at the end of the meeting he told us that of course the police know where we live because their intelligent officers have been protecting us ever since we arrived in the district by following us everywhere. However, if we plan on travelling far, we should let them know so that they can provide uniform wearing police security for us. (First time in my life since I had SSS following me and keeping on my tracks without my knowledge- even with my knowledge)

 Remarkable experience

We finished with the police superintendent early and returned to the hotel. I had decided the team would take the rest of the morning off as holidays so we simply returned to the hotel to rest. I got to my room and went to use the tastefully cleaned bathroom and I tried to wash my hands. Then I noticed that my sponge was wet... hmn... there was something strange as I knew, few hours earlier when I took my shower, I did not bathe with sponge; I merely took a shower. Then I inspected the sponge properly praying that things were not what I was thinking. I lifted the sponge up and examined it. I found that it had some filths and dirt on it. I simultaneously reached out for my mobile phone and ordered our interpreter to come down pronto. He arrived and I invited my friendly receptionist into the toilet. I spoke very slowly but with pain and hardship,

 "Could you please help me find out if that sponge had been used for some cleanings around here?" I said to the interpreter and tried to avoid being specific of the cleaning for fear that I might be right in what I was thinking.

 The interpreter explained and the receptionist called one of his cleaners who then started to explain what he did with the sponge. I followed his hands and read the meanings in his gesticulations. Low and behold, he had scrubbed the toilet seat and everywhere with the "new cleaning material" that he thought the hotel just purchased. He had washed my shit with my bathing sponge.

 “Oh my god…” I exclaimed and went off to sleep not wanting to know much further.

 Of course, your guess is as good as mine. I order everything inside the bathroom including toothbrush and soap OUT and thrown away. Till date, yours sincerely has not yet asked any of them how long they had been scrubbing my toilet seat with that sponge. I am afraid of what I would learn. So I left it at the level of my own imagination, after all, what you don’t know; they say; doesn’t hurt you.

Tomorrow I will update you about my eating habits, about the obnoxious way EVERYONE here spits all around and that there is no place I could put my feet without steeping on some "kelebe". My story in Bangladesh continues to be fascinating.

Aside, I am fine and still very much alive

 Yours truly,

.........................................................

*** What matters in life should be more  than winning the race for ourselves alone; what matters should be helping others also, to win; even if doing such means slowing down and changing our course.

**The only way to have a friend is to be one." Ralph Waldo Emerson

** Kindness is a hard thing to give away. It keeps coming back to the giver. 

Robot  # 1 | 04.12.2008 23:23

My team and I arrived here at our local area where we will cover elections in the next 4 weeks. It is to be my place for the duration of time I will stay in this country. When we got to the hotel, I was so frustrated and angry with the standard of the hotel (compared with the 5 star we left behind in Dhaka) that I started to scream and shout at the people here. The standard of hotel was not the same as it was in the capital city and the irony is this is the best hotel in this area so there is no possibility to look for a better one- a better one. It takes four hours to drive back to the capital so there was no need to imagine going back to Dhaka. Then I tried to use the best of the circumstance that I found myself. I made a friend of one of the hotel receptionist who is constantly eager to improve his English by speaking with me in his heavy ascent. He organized as I instructed, to remove ALL the window blinds and replaced them or had them washed. The floor of the bathroom was scrub...Read the full article.