Train Accident in Dhaka

Colleagues were watching this video on YouTube after the weekly team meeting today and I had to share. (YouTube is blocked at my hotel but not at Grameen Communications--- not sure why. MP3s and movies-even Googling them- are blocked at my hotel as well). Yesterday afternoon a train collided with a bus and 2-3 cars  after the bus and a car went beyond the barrier and got stuck in traffic. Apparently one woman was killed.



The comments on the video show a mix of compassion, despair, responsibility, mean-spiritedness and stupid racism. One must take YouTube comments with a grain of salt or not read them at all, as they quickly become flamewars and I personally find the hateful comments vexing. However, I do have to agree with those that wonder how the camera managed to be set up just so to capture the accident... and what could be done to help people become more responsible drivers.

One hears of the many accidents in Bangladesh and other than the many re-patched dents on nearly every bus, this video represents the first accident or accident aftermath I've seen. In Qatar it seemed one saw an accident or a wrecked car every other day. Thank goodness Qatar doesn't have any railways (as far as I can recall)- or we'd probably have similar accidents with people trying to beat the train or inch a few meters forward.

Driving or participating in traffic in Qatar and Bangladesh (and India and Egypt and Morocco ...) gives me new appreciation for American respect of driving laws. We'll describe someone as a reckless driver or Wisconsin folk will talk about those crazy Illinois drivers...we don't know squat about reckless. I recall seeing SUVs late at night in Qatar take entire roundabouts on their two right wheels... Others' reckless driving habits will rub off or force you to become a defensive and aggressive driver- anticipating that at any moment someone will do something stupid. Others who have returned to the States have warned me that I'll need to watch my driving when I get back, as I'll be in the habit of driving faster and being more 'creative' in my driving. I think I'll combat that by a lack of vehicle. :)

Commuting to Work

Work is located in the Grameen Bank Main Office- Mirpur 2 (or 'dui' ২ দুই) on the same street as my hotel. Grameen is the tallest building around and here from my hotel you can see a view of it in the distance.

My first day I was picked up from the hotel in a van for the 5 minute ride to Grameen Bank's Main Office. Kabir, my main contact/coordinator/person? walked me home that evening, citing that in the future I could rickshaw the ride from Grameen Bank to the Grand Prince Hotel (8-10 taka or 12-14 cents). With less trepidation the next morning I struck out on my own, laptop in one hand and work purse on my shoulder. The 12-15 minute walk goes past street vendors, polluted side ditches, schools, piles of trash, bricks, beggars, two-patches of English speaking boys, broken sidewalk and a petrol station. While a rickshaw would be quicker (and less sweaty), I would loose out on exercise and have to deal with small change. So I mostly walk.

On my way home once I saw the most brilliant patch of sunset sky- it looked like a mother of pearl stuck in the clouds. Another time on the way to work, I fell in step behind this man carrying carefully folded and balanced papers on his head. Funny- the street wasn't that empty when I walked- perhaps people disappeared when I took the picture or incidentally were in the right spot to *not* be in the picture. People do stare and I expected that. But I basically pass through unbothered.

After being in Qatar and other parts of the Middle East/Africa- I discovered that my American Mid-West tendency to make eye contact, be smiley and extra friendly can get me in 'trouble'. Namely, I was seen as a huge flirt. 'She catches me eye and smiles- oh, she likes me.' So.... I've gotten a lot better at not making eye contact while still looking around. I'm still polite and smiley to those I encounter or engage in communication, but I've toned it down a bit.

My second work day I went shopping with a Mukta, a coworker, for shalwar kameez. We traveled via rickshaw away from work and my hotel, towards the shops across from the cricket stadium. We had bad luck- either the outfits weren't in my size, were the wrong color, wrong sleeve length, of poor quality, or had a stain on them. She sent me on my way back to the hotel via rickshaw (the video was too dark to get a good view). Both rickshaw rides I felt that I would slip out, and braced myself the whole way, as the rickshaw bumped over speedhumps, road debris and nearly bumped into other vehicles. Great as rickshaws are for the average person in Dhaka and great that they give jobs to thousands of people, they also make the traffic situation so much worse in Dhaka. Rickshaws go against traffic, swerve, stop, and respond slower. I generally feel better in an CNG or taxi- but only *slightly* more so.

(Note: Speaking of commuting- I drafted this post after work but waiting to conference call with Ashir, Project Director in Japan at 6:30pm. We wrapped up at 8pm- already quite dark- and the PD insisted my colleague in Dhaka (Kabir) take a taxi or CNG with me to my hotel before backtracking towards his place. He said it wasn't a good idea for a single person, especially female, to take even a vehicle alone at night.)

My Brother's Visit to Qatar- the abridged version

Feb. 29- Lunch with Dan Boyarski at the City Center Mall. My brother Henry arrives that evening in Doha. We unsuccessfully try to find a BBQ at Qatar Foundation Housing and then pass out.

Mar. 1- Bill Brown Memorial Ride early AM. I bike 46 km in total from Doha Golf Club to Simaisma Bridge. My brother- on the small loaner bike, rides 26 km to Lusail. See some pics from the event. Henry passes out and then goes to see 'Vantage Point' at the City Center Mall. I help LiveGreen (CMU-Q's student environmental group) prepare for the next day. I stay up too late preparing for my own speech.

Mar. 2- I give a ~20 minute presentation ('The Opportunities of Sustainability") 2 times at Qatar University's " Go Green. Change Our Future" كن صديقاً للبيئة. غير مستقبلنا Conference (Women only). I'm in at least 2 English papers and apparently some Arabic papers the next day (See The Gulf Times & The Peninsula). My brother heads back to City Center Mall with a student of mine, only to accidentally have my car keys in his pocket. We sort it out, do some food shopping, cook a veggie dinner and call it another early night.

Mar. 3- I give my presentation twice again (Males Only), teach my communication design class, teach my first section of 'Examining Sustainability in the Gulf', add another section of it, discover CMU-Q accidentally sent my textbooks back and we've now ordered them to arrive with the Pittsburgh students this Saturday. Henry and I play volleyball with the students, faculty, & staff. We then head to the souqs, Henry purchases souvenirs, and we have Iraqi food.

Mar. 4- I go to Arabic class, do some work at school, & swap my sedan with Darbi/Greg's SUV so my brother and I can go find the 'Singing Dunes'. I tell Henry I'm on my way home (we communicated via email, 2 American cell phones, 1 Qatari cell phone with mixed results). I leave Education City and pull into traffic too soon, getting slammed in the back, smashing up a little blue car driven by two Egyptians that don't speak English. We wait ~3 hours for the police to come to file a report. One tank of gas, one traffic department, 2 reports, 12 riyals, and 1.5 hours later and I'm finally back home to my stranded (and ill-informed) brother. In the fading light we attempt to find the Singing Dunes but no luck. Henry and I go with Greg and his visiting girlfriend Sophie to pick up Turkey Central. We eat at Greg's and then they watch movies at Greg's place. I work.

Mar. 5- We plan to get my brother to the Qatar National Museum for the morning and have him join me in the afternoon (after my classes). We have conflicting reports of whether the museum is open, closed, partially-open and can't confirm any details. We find the place deserted and later learn it won't be open to the public until November. After some phone calls- we learn the Weapons Museum is now open to the public and will be open until noon. We call, confirm, and then unsuccessfully try to find the place. Back at campus, we're given exact directions of how to get there- we head back out again and Henry books a cab for the ride back. We arrive- it looks nice- clean- legit. I bid Henry farewell and then he runs back, saying it's closed. I throw my hands up. At this point Henry begins to truly realize what it means to live in Doha and that while a decent place to live, Doha is not primed for tourists yet. I teach 3 classes (my sustainability course now has 20 students in two sections)- Henry relaxes. I secure a GPS from Justin & Marjorie and in the fading light Henry and I set out for the Singing Dunes again. 45 km from the city, we find the dunes and by flashlight we hike towards them on foot (as I have my sedan again and it would have not been happy on the rocks). It was eerie to make the dunes hum and vibrate at our footsteps and even eerier that we only had a flash-light at this point. We did see some fantastic stars.

Mar. 6- I skip out on Arabic class and Henry and I do tourist shopping. We purchase a photo book for Grammy and Henry picks up some foodstuffs at the Carrefour (as well as some helpful new sandals). We head back to City Center and pick up some carmel and stuffed dates at Bateel. We find time running short and Henry cheerfully suggests trying the 'McArabian' chicken pita-sandwich at McDonald's. I agreed because yes- technically it's a cultural experience. Like many McDonald's products- while initially tasty, the meal leaves us feeling disgusting. I'm done with McDonald's in Qatar. We're signed up with 5 others for an 8-hour desert cruise with QIA. Two others not from CMU-Q would also join us. We set up the night before for them to pick the CMU-Q folks up a little later due to other's time conflicts. The driver calls us up 45 minutes early demanding to know where we were. After some semi-heated phone calls and calls to the company, we clear it up and the 2 other tourists don't appear mad at us. We drive off, ride camels (20QAR each), bash dunes, feel like we're about to tip the car (it was our driver's first time- greeeeeeeeeaaat), collect sea shells, attempt to sand board (sounds like a better idea than it actually is) , hear a helicopter air-lifting someone who flipped their quad-bike on the dunes, have a BBQ on the beach, and then drive back in the dark.

Mar. 7- We got Henry to the airport (almost the wrong airport- Qatar is building a new airport and they already have signs up for it. Thanks Qatar.) by 6:30 am. I see him checked in, bid him farewell, drive home, and sleep for another couple hours. I think I plan to use this weekend to recover from his vacation.

Lessons learned:
-Very few of the students have environmental exposure.
-Give your expat host more than a week to plan.
-The tourist experience here leaves something to be desired.
-GPS in the desert is good.
-Wear sunscreen.
-Avoid McDonald's (my stomach still isn't very happy).
-Call. Confirm. But don't be surprised if things change.
-Always check your pockets.
-If you have to teach a difficult/boring/unpopular subject, offer it as a 4th quarter mini course so that students who fail other courses, drop those classes and then desperately need units pack your course.

Scanning the Radio

One of the most interesting things about travel or being in a foreign place is the medley of different but familiar items encountered in one's everyday life. I'm fascinated by foreign shopping, toilets, street signs, food, etc. I go to famous places and take pictures facing away from the famous sites- it's more human and real to see the street vendor, tourists or sex shop (that was in Barcelona, not here) across the street rather than another stinking photo of a famous site. I can buy those in the tourist shop.

The same goes for the radio-it offers a glimpse into the local listening preferences and audio availability. Despite the prevalence of English in Education City and in Doha in general, you don't find much English on the radio. Go ahead and have a listen to a clip of my car radio scanning completely through all available radio stations in Doha.

When I'm feeling cultured, I leave the radio on Arabic music or talk. However, I find myself often doing the expat-thing and leaving it on Qatar Radio, 97.5, which broadcasts in English most of the day (minus a few hours of French).

A Sporting Weekend-Part 1

In case you didn't know- Doha hosted the 2006 Asian Games back in December 2006. It was a big to-do here and prompted a large amount of new construction and general enthusiasm for sports. It was also the city's test to show had the potential to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. (Much like Chicago's hosting of the 2006 Gay Games to prove its worthiness as a 2016 applicant city. ....pause... Ok, may be a little different...) So you see brand new stadiums, the large 'Aspire Tower' which was the centerpiece of the Asian Games, banners showcasing the 'sportiness' of the city and so on.

However, if you want to see real Qatari sporting enthusiasm- head to the camel, I mean, Land Cruiser, I mean, camel race track. About 45 km outside the city are the oval race tracks and the facilities that house the camels, their handlers and trainers. The camels use to be raced by exploited and often orphaned child jockeys (sometimes as young as age four) but the law changed only a few years ago outlawing the use of child jockeys. Today they use remote controlled robots with robotic whips on top of the camels. The owners then drive alongside the 5, 8, or 10 km long track in their SUVs (mainly Land Cruisers), pressing the remote to whip and urge their camel along.

Friday I joined up with a group of Carnegie Mellon faculty and staff to go on a guided trip to the camel races (100 QR, ~$27.5US), where our bus would have permission to drive along side the race track. We arrive at the course and we're told our bus could not enter, because the Prince (well, one of them) was going to arrive and perhaps after he arrived we could enter. We milled about for a while- annoyed that we had paid for what we could have done for free. Thankfully we had some Arabic speakers in the group and they convinced the officials to let us in. We drove in and piled out amongst the Land Cruisers and camel owners and found ourselves a few meters away from the Prince himself!

We crowded along the track, snapping pictures, and watching the handler's struggle to push the camels into place. Then we were told we better move as 1) the camels could bolt over the fence and 2) we were about to be run over by frantic Land Cruisers. No horn, no siren-- the large gate went up- the camels bolted, the handlers all scrabbled out of the way and the SUVs screeched after them. We didn't see much except for the start and anti-climatic endings of 2 races but then another official said our bus had permission to follow behind the SUVs along the track (I think the Prince had left). Next race began and we sped off after the vehicles. A well-trained camel runs at about 35 km/h and many of them eventually slowed to be more evenly spread out along the track. The SUVS were another story- they were the real pack and proved more entertaining than the camels with colorful robotic whipping humps. We drove right with them, jostling and honking and bumping along the road next to the course, dust flying in through our open windows. The races were all 8 km female camel races that took about ~7 minutes for the fastest camel. We drove around the track 2 times and watched another race from the ground before we headed back to town.

The environmental standards in me say I shouldn't have liked camel racing- it manages to combine tedious animal racing with emissions spewing vehicle racing. And yes, I'll admit I'm not crazy about the need to drive cars/vans around the track. But- it was thrilling- and yes, it is certainly a bit of culture you won't find in the States. It also proved to be valuable bonding time with fellow-CMU-Q employees. And for that, I enjoyed it.
مع السلام

Car Stories- Part 1

My rental car arrived my second night here- a little white 07 or 08 Chevy Optra (apparently it's equivalent in Mexico was the Chevy Cavalier). 8,700 km on it- I'm suppose to turn it in for a check-up at 10,000 km. (I could have sprung for the SUV for an extra $500 US a month but my principles and pocket-book didn't like that). It was windy and cold the night they delivered it to my apartment steps (an hour late) and we were recovering from a cold dust-storm. Think windy (but not hurricane windy) and foggy- but that fog coats your car in dust and seeps into your apartment (because windows aren't water-tight; there is no need for them to be). A layer of dust is on most everything- everywhere. And this isn't sand-dust like in Saudi Arabia- this is more brown-soil style dust. I joked with the rental delivery guy that I should have requested a gray or tan car, because this one will be that the next day. (It's a good idea to keep a dust brush in your car to brush off the dust before driving. I'll get into car washing in a shopping post).

Back to driving- admittedly, I was worried that they trusted me to drive so soon. I had heard about the atrocious driving habits of Doha drivers and lots of talk of what to do when (not if, when) I had an accident. Being driven to my apartment and experiencing the roundabouts for the first time wasn't as scary as I feared; but then again, I wasn't driving. Being driven to campus the next day in the dust storm- things began to look alike and I mistakenly fixated on every-round about, trying to remember if I went straight ahead or turned. In reality, I should just count and remember the turns- not the straight-throughs. Having never experienced British or European roudabouts- I am no expert on how these compare- but I will say folks will not hesitate to cut you off. Driving for these first few times, I become a little nervous each time I approached a round-about (similar to when I was learning to drive and dreaded left turns- because they forced you to merge into the next lane). It's gotten better and I've only been honked at twice- but I still need to be careful and respect the dangers of the road (recent Peninsula article on the road situation in Doha).

They recently changed road laws here (as in Nov or so) and installed numerous cameras to catch speeding and red-light running. You probably won't be pulled over- rather the camera will catch your vehicle, record the license plate # and charge you. You can view your violations and pay online. Oh- and guess what? Supposedly you can't leave the country if you have any violations- so add that to a list of travel to-dos. I don't really speed much in America and tend to be one of the slower drivers here. However- I think the cameras and fines (I've heard in the thousands of riyals) have scared some other drivers into being law-abiding.

It's late again- I'll continue with my car adventures in another post.
مَعَ الّسَلامَ
-Rosemary