Many of you who wish to follow my journey to Bangladesh may be surprised to find out that thus far, I have only traveled five hours north of Richmond, VA! As it turns out, the Bangladeshi government didn't share my enthusiasm for entering their country! Nor, it seems, for many others waiting for work Visas. So I'm waiting patiently (some days not so patiently) for them to come around and let me begin the process of entry: a 20+ hour plane ride, language learning, cultural adaptation, a memory upgrade (well, we can always dream)! Anyway, once the word comes down that the Visa has been approved, then it's only a matter of a week or so to get it stamped in my Passport, and off I'll go....!
In the meantime, MCC (Mennonite Central Committee - www.mcc.org) is providing housing, food and work while I wait. Currently, I'm working on two computer projects, one for MCC's IT Department and one for Ten Thousand Villages' (www.tenthousandvillages.com) IT Department. And I do some odd jobs (more precise would be to say "occasional jobs", I guess) for the Asia department as well as some airport runs! And I'm getting my feet wet with Bengali (Bangla), taking two lessons a week from a Bengali Doctor that lives in the area. So, all in all, I'm keeping pretty busy!
Here's a clip from the basement (aka - computer graveyard) of Ten Thousand Villages corporate office:
