I got my first assignment today at work! It was terribly exciting as I realized the arduous task of correcting the English of the department's brochure was bestowed upon me. I learned two things from this experience: One, British English is very different from American English (really England? Do you honestly have to put extra m's and e's in words like programme?). Two, because of the Bangla grammar structure, their English translations are mostly written in the passive voice. The last time I used passive voice was when I was forced to do so in Mr. E's physics class for our lab write-ups. Overall if wasn't too bad as it took me about an hour to rewrite the entire brochure and return it to my supervisor. I don't think I will ever forget what happened next.
He looked at me in shock and then said "You are done already?! You need to take more time. That is too fast and I don't have that many projects for you"
Remember that fish out of water look I mentioned before? Yeah I'm pretty sure that is what I looked like for a solid five minutes before I finally found my voice. I replied "I am here for the rest of the day, is there anything else you want me to do?" To which my supervisor handed me a stack of readings he just had lying around (to be honest I don't event think he knew what he gave me) and told me to talk to people.
Of course you know me, sometimes I am a little too smart for my own good. I was kind of annoyed that they brought me all the way over here to sit around and that emotion mixed with instructions to "talk to people" proved to be lethal. I left my supervisors office, only to traipse into the office of my head boss and tell him that I just wanted to sit and talk. Much good that did me. The expectation of being dismissed or being given any assignment whatsoever was crushed as my head boss was delighted and then spent the next two hours just talking with me. We definitely had good conversations about development and the country's politics.
Bangladesh in many ways is a disheartening story. There are so many people with great talents, especially in the technological field, that they really could do something good. However, corruption taints any future this small country may have at success. Large telecommunication corporations and programming jobs end up going to India or China. It's not that those countries are any less corrupt, but that corruption is not prioritized over the general nation. For example, there is a natural gas company that has a 10 year contract with Bangladesh. Bangladesh is the country that holds these demanded natural products and therefore has the upper hand in such business deals. However, because of bribery during the negotiation phase, Bangladesh only gets 40% of the profit while the company gets 60%. Definitely not a fair trade.
This story is only one of the many that my head boss was sharing with me. There is just so much corruption on so many levels that it is hard to know where to start. It would take a cultural revolution to turn this country around...which happened a number of years ago with the military take over. This was actually okay because the country started functioning a lot better. However, all it took was six months before the army general became obsessed by wealth and power. And well, you know the story from there, back to square one.
He looked at me in shock and then said "You are done already?! You need to take more time. That is too fast and I don't have that many projects for you"
Remember that fish out of water look I mentioned before? Yeah I'm pretty sure that is what I looked like for a solid five minutes before I finally found my voice. I replied "I am here for the rest of the day, is there anything else you want me to do?" To which my supervisor handed me a stack of readings he just had lying around (to be honest I don't event think he knew what he gave me) and told me to talk to people.
Of course you know me, sometimes I am a little too smart for my own good. I was kind of annoyed that they brought me all the way over here to sit around and that emotion mixed with instructions to "talk to people" proved to be lethal. I left my supervisors office, only to traipse into the office of my head boss and tell him that I just wanted to sit and talk. Much good that did me. The expectation of being dismissed or being given any assignment whatsoever was crushed as my head boss was delighted and then spent the next two hours just talking with me. We definitely had good conversations about development and the country's politics.
Bangladesh in many ways is a disheartening story. There are so many people with great talents, especially in the technological field, that they really could do something good. However, corruption taints any future this small country may have at success. Large telecommunication corporations and programming jobs end up going to India or China. It's not that those countries are any less corrupt, but that corruption is not prioritized over the general nation. For example, there is a natural gas company that has a 10 year contract with Bangladesh. Bangladesh is the country that holds these demanded natural products and therefore has the upper hand in such business deals. However, because of bribery during the negotiation phase, Bangladesh only gets 40% of the profit while the company gets 60%. Definitely not a fair trade.
This story is only one of the many that my head boss was sharing with me. There is just so much corruption on so many levels that it is hard to know where to start. It would take a cultural revolution to turn this country around...which happened a number of years ago with the military take over. This was actually okay because the country started functioning a lot better. However, all it took was six months before the army general became obsessed by wealth and power. And well, you know the story from there, back to square one.
I have this urge to just step into the political office, which I actually would probably have a better chance of than winning the presidential election in the US because they have female prime ministers, and fix everything. All it would take is one public example to chance the entire atmosphere (or so Lao tzu says when he tells the story of how the emperor killed one disobedient wife publicly and was never disobeyed again). I'd like to clarify that I don't intend to do any public killings, but I wouldn't put it past myself to publicly fire the CEO of a top corporation to prove a point. But history tells us that dictatorships don't last very long and I'd rather not have to deal with being on the wrong end of some revolution if I can help myself. This doesn't stop me from wanting to change an entire country though. (I think this is the inner CMCer shining through haha) I think I will ponder the question of what power I have as an individual in a foreign country and get back to you on this political restructuring goal :p
Anyways I better get to bed before my grandmas start yelling. There are now six of them in my house, which means I get extra special attention. (aka I haven't made my bed or folded my own clothes in a week, and yet these tasks magically get done). Before you judge, realize that I live in a dorm so 90% of the time I'm capable of doing these things by myself like the grown adult I am. So, I allow myself to indulge every now and then haha.
Missing everyone at home like crazy,
Carolyn
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