Football Frenzy

So Bangladeshi people are really into the World Cup. In the evening when games are on, every little TV, in every shop will be tuned in. At the hospital I am at now they have lounge type areas (a couple plastic chairs on the landing of the stairs) with TVs and in the evening people crowd around them. The favourite team by far is Argentina, followed by Brazil. Flags for these 2 countries are everywhere and you can see tailors making them in the street. It is enough to make me watch the games, even if I don't care too much for the sport.

People in Bangladesh are often very vocal, strong, persistant people. In the hospital, the doctors are often yelling at people - obviously I have no idea what they're saying, but emotions run strong, be they good or bad. People in the street will yell at me, "Hello, how are you?" and if I don't answer, will keep yelling "Hey sister" at me. You may think it is rude not to answer, but it is pretty much a constant barrage as I am alone and I have my limits. The staring is also much worse now that I am by myself. I even have some people who will point, whisper, and laugh, and then stick their camera in my face to take a picture. I know I am new and exciting to them, but this gets almost exhausting after a point and I feel bad when I feel myself getting frustrated and bitter about it. When I was here with a group, there were other people to divert some of the attention to. However, not all people are like this, and there are many people who are helpful - I was directed around to several cell phone shops yesterday and managed to finally find a charging cord for my Ipod, something I had forgotten at home.

Surprisingly, in such a poor country, there are not many beggars on the street. Perhaps this is because everyone is poor, and so few tourists, etc. go through to help condition people. However, yesterday at the supermarket I had a little girl come to me holding out her hand asking for money. For various reasons that I have heard from various sources and people, giving money out, especially to children does very little and may cause more harm than good. So I said no and kept walking. She chased me and grabbed hold of my leg and wrapped herself around me. I had to pull her off me and she kept chasing me and doing the same thing until I managed to lose her. If you have never traveled anywhere like this, I may seem calloused, but if I gave in to this one child, no doubt I would have another 10 at my feet and as kind of a person I like to think I am, this was not something I was giving in to. It was a disturbing and troubling experience for a number of reasons and is definitely the first and only time I have encountered this in Bangladesh.