Amazing Day, by Bev

My first day teaching at the College was amazing.  The workshop was great, we were teaching teachers who teach nursing.  It was similar to teaching students back home, and we were delighted to get such positive feedback from the participants.             Bev

                                                   


Getting organized to teach in the classroom

Using a glo-germ box to check their handwashing

Introductions

University visit

Hello again,

We had a good day yesterday, we had our supplies moved from our hotel rooms to the College and they've given us an office to help us organize during our stay.  We opened up some of the hockey bags to take out the things we need to use in today's workshops.  Today, Bev and Debbi are doing much of the teaching with Ralph, Danielle and Kim as back up and prop people, it takes a team!  Tomorrow Kim and Danielle will be on deck, and the rest of us will help them when needed.

We visited the University of Business Agricuture and Technology yesterday, as they have a Nursing Degree program and it's run by a Canadian team from BC.  It's such a small world, we met a volunteer from Burlington Vermont, who speaks fluent French, a bit of Bangla and he was such a positive fellow.  We also heard from a neat guy who graduated from their nursing program, overcoming the obstacles of being a man in a "womens" profession, and he is now teaching and recruiting for the University.  He was really proud of his University and he has some great ideas.  I think he and Sarah (a volunteer teacher from the UK at the University) hope to come to our workshops today.

Better run, breakfast at our hotel, then off to the College for our first day of teaching....

Debbi

Our day, by Danielle

After a good long sleep we were ready to hit the road!
Our walk from our hotel to the Grameen Caledonian College of Nursing was quite a sight (filled with smells too)

The streets are jam packed with buses, rickshaws, people, all are trying to move forward.

                                              the fish vendor and..

the vegetable vendor.

                                                      

the school buses

and finally,  arriving at the College

tomorrow real teaching!

Kim has made it here!

We have finally arrived! I have many pictures to share although not sure how to load them? I think I'm still in culture shock, things are so different from home. The smell has hit me the most, the smell is like being thrown a pack of rotten sardines in your face every two minutes. The poverty is also a little overwhelming, poor kids following us, falling asleep on the dirty floors, blind men asking for money. The rooms at the hotel are nice, we actually have a toilet that flushes, and the bed is hard like a rock, maybe that is why I'm up at 3 a.m ha, ha. Well can' t wait until tomorrow, we are going to visit the nursing school. I will talk back soon
Kim

Landed in Bangladesh just fine

We have arrived at our hotel, our flights went well, our brief layover in the Istanbul airport gave us a chance to stretch our legs and get ourselves used to step 1 of the time change.  We then connected to Dhaka, waited for our bags, and made it through customs no problem.  We didn't have a ride waiting for us, so after a few calls and a bit of a wait, the hotel sent along a minibus.  We are all freshening up and will head out for a walk.  The drive here was interesting with chaotic traffic, lots of beeping horns and loads of people!  It's wonderful to be here.

It is natural that it would be a real "culture shock" because everywhere you look there are people, sidewalks are really uneven, trash is pretty visible and the smells remind you that you are in a developing country.  There are beggars on the narrow sidewalks, crowds of curious people and so much that challenges the eyes to understand and comprehend. We know that life is so different for the people in Bangladesh.

Deb & Ralph

 

We met this lovely woman and her baby, she was       delighted to show us her baby, the mark on his head is a         mark put on babies to keep away the evil spirits.




The road just outside our hotel busy with traffic as you can tell.      

 

A group of women, we shared the Izzy dolls

Our first meal, rice and a chow mein dish

Bev, Bashar (driver) & Ralph     Bangladesh has an ebola prevention program, with a few questions by the customs officer, 4 health care teachers ready to go!

At the airport and waiting to board.
So excited.

1 more dodo!

Hello to you all!

Soon we will be off on a journey that takes us to the other side of the globe, to a world that is so different from ours here in Canada.
After months of preparation we will finally be living this experience.
It seems just a few days ago when Debbi said " How about Bangladesh?"
.
We are so fortunate to have the amazing support of our families as well as the New Frontiers school board who believe that these unique experiences are life changing not only for us as teachers but  also for our students when we bring all this back to our classrooms and center.
Without your support we would be unable to do this.

So a huge thank you!!!


Say 'yes' as often as you can; 'no' doesn't move you."—Michael J. Fox.
 
Danielle