A Whole New World (John Kunemund)

I’ve just settled into my room at the TARC facilities in Dhaka. I have been in Bangladesh for about ten hours, and I have already been completely blown away by this beautiful, exotic, and interesting country. While being absolutely alien to what I have known for the past nineteen years of my life, a part of me feels a bit at peace here (well, except when I’m clutching onto my seat while driving through Dhaka’s infamous traffic).

After arriving at the airport, I loaded my belongings into a van and experienced first-hand the often terrifying traffic that this city is famous for. I had heard rumors of the crazy driving rules, or more like the lack of rules, but I don’t think it hits quite home until you’re sandwiched between two overload buses about one inch away from your window, and about to be cut off by two (much smaller) tut-tuts. With no general markers to indicate lanes, a system of cutting off and passing for no reason that seemed to be revered, and a “honk once, honk often” motto, this type of driving is a far cry from what I am used to. Even though I obviously wasn’t too comfortable with this type of driving, I must admit, though, that I did appreciate the opportunity it gave me to learn about the people who live here before I had even met any.

Any reservations I felt initially about coming to Bangladesh during the van ride soon faded, however, when I was able to look out of the window and see the beautiful, lush landscape, which came somewhat unexpectedly. The only pictures I had seen before of Bangladesh came from Google images, which showed a much harsher and dirty reflection of the country. As I was pleasantly surprised to discover, it turns out that this couldn’t be further from the truth. The juxtaposition of the marshes, grasslands, hills, and ponds near the airport with the modest, extremely colorful buildings of the city (some bordering on the absolutely strange, including a hot pink and neon green office building) could not be any more breathtaking.

After the tour had ended, I was relieved to have finally found myself at BRAC’s headquarters. Not just because the frightening van ride had ended and I somehow managed to still be in one piece, but also because it represented the end of my journey from Florida to Bangladesh that had me traveling 8,000 miles over a total of 36 hours. Everything suddenly became real, and the butterflies in my stomach finally took their rest. Once inside the building, we were quickly shuffled up to the nineteenth floor conference room, where I witnessed, quite possibly, the most spectacular view of the city. I was drawn to the window like a moth to a flame, not wanting to look away until I was forcibly called to begin our first meeting. Glancing over Dhaka, the city I would be spending the next two months of my life in, I became both completely overwhelmed and incredibly satisfied. With prayer calls from the stunning mosque just to the left of the building echoing off the walls, hordes of people bustling on the street, men riding precariously on the top of rusty buses, and overcrowded boats carrying men and women across a pond to a slum the size of my neighborhood (that somehow still manages to be home for over 30,000 people), I knew I was in a whole new world.

What this new world will have in store for me, however, I’m not exactly sure yet. And I’m okay with that. I see these next two months as a chance to experience something completely different from anything I have done before, and I can not wait to see what new and exciting adventures will be awaiting me just around the corner.

-John