SITE ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

I have discovered something interesting. I am going through a second puberty. That is the only way I can explain what is happening to my body and mind. My face is breaking out constantly, my weight is fluctuating I gained 10 pounds and lost 5. I am really moody, I think boys are yucky and I always smell!!! A second puberty is the only explanation I can come up with....... Oh yeah you want to know about my site....

Yes on Friday we got our site announcements. We went to the stadium where a giant chalk outline of Bangladesh was drawn on the grass. There were flags all over representing our sites. Our names were called and we found our sites. It was really cool because we could see how we were in relation to eachother. Anyway, my city is Moulvibazar, in the Sylhet district. Here is what I know. Sylhet is in the north east corner of Bangladesh and is the wettest part of the country. It gets an average of 5000mm of annual rainfall and across the border in India to the north is the town of Cherrapunja, which is the wettest place on our planet. Yay. Moulvibazar is a larger town and has all that you would need. Internet Cafes, black market liquor stores, western food choices and a large British ex-pat community. Actually, Syhlet is the "London" of Bangladesh, whatever that means... Anyway, my town is located in soft rolling hills surrounded by tea gardens (large tea estates established by the British when they owned this part of the world) and pinnapple groves. The area has jungle reserves and floods less than the rest of the country, it is also the "coolest" part as well. Another interesting thing is that there is a large indegenous population here as well. The tribes are wary of strangers and even Bangladeshies but it will be interesting to interact with them. Also they speak a different dialect in Sylhet so I have to basically learn 2 languages. Yay me.

I will be teaching at an all girls college, which is what I requested and my Bangladeshi counterparts are really excited. No Peace Corps volunteers have been to Moulvibazar since the B-2's (Bangladesh 2nd year) and I am a B-8 (Bangladesh 8th year). I also have 2 other B-8's John (who is quite possibly the funniest human I have ever met) and Leif. I am happy to have 2 guys as site mates as being a girl in this country sucks.

I am happy with my assignment and am looking foreward to it. Being here at training has been hard and living with my current host family has been rough. The day of site announcement when I got home Beetee came to me and sat me down and wept and wept. She told me a story that was so horrible I was shocked. About abuse and the horrors of her life. I am not going to go into detail here because I feel that would be inappropriate but I was very upset. I went to one of my trainers at the office and told him what she told me as it was VERY scary stuff. But once I began to talk about it I realized that it was very convienent and interesting that she would have chosen to throw a ton of bricks on my head the day of my site announcement. An emotional blackmail of sorts as I have never witnessed any abuse in my house. She does not want me to leave and she does not have the skills or experience to deal with her uncomfortable feelings. It just makes me sad. Being with this family is very difficult emotionally for me. But I am healthy. And safe so no one be worried!

Anyway, 2 weeks here then site visit then preparations for Dhaka and leave for site. I am so excited. I want to get started teaching and get into a routine here. Syhlet is one of the most beautiful parts of this country with terraced hills with tea gardens, groves of pinnapples, lush jungle tracks and mist that rolls off the hills. Exciting!

I hope you all are well and happy and enjoying things like hot showers and clean food. I will write again soon!

M