To further West (Texas)

Having spent some good days with Pabitra, we headed for Amarillo, Texas - again by Greyhound bus. It's about 30 hour bus journey. Starting was good, we're crossing so many cities (Knoxville, Nashville, Memphis in Tennesse state, Little Rock in Arkansas state, Russelville, many others and Oklohama city in OKlohama state). Landscapes were being changed gradually as we proceeded further towards west. In Arkansas we saw a lot of farmland, and farmers using private planes in spraying their crops in the fields.

Upto Okohama city the journey was good. Then problem started. As the scheduled bus' airconditioning was not working, the driver didn't reload. All passenegers were stuck up for long 9 hours. But surprisingly, all passengers kept very calm & quiet. If that incident happened in our country, passengers might be very agitated towards the bus people.

By 11.30 pm, an aletrnate bus came from Dallas & our journey restarted towards Los Angels. But by then we're very exhausted. When we reached Amarillo at 5 am in the next morning, we're on buses for 2 nights & 2 days altogether.

Despite long distances and all hassles on the way, the bus journey provided us a good opportunity to see various mid-American cities and states (also observe peoples' behaviours and culture to some extent). In Oklohama city the normal day wind was so strong that I feared to be blown away while walking a small distance from the bus station.

I'll never forget those experiences.

Kinsport/Gatlinburg so cool places!

We stayed about 5 days to my school friend Pabitra's (a cardiologist) house at Kingsport. His house so big! Also the neghbourhood and city very green, because Kingsport is just on the valley of great American Appalachian. So weather very mild and moderate. On sunday, 1 June Pabitra took us to Gatlinburg, about 100 miles from Kingsport. Gatlinburg, situated on a very high altitude of the Appalachian is a good tourist spot in Tennessee. There we noticed a lot of fun and enjoyement facilities (specially for kids). You have to buy tickets for entry- expensive though. We just rode on a skyway travel. Very scenic indeed!

We're taken to a new house Pabitra going to buy. It's like a palace, 4 storied building including basement, so many rooms, beatiful backyard and very rural setting. Mostly medical doctors live in that neighbourhood. Medical profession in USA is so rewarding!

One good thing we could achieve at Kingsport was that my wife was able to have biopsy test done. In Boston, doctors found calcification in her left breast and suspected malignancy (breast cancer). To be sure, they suggested to do her biopsy asap. We couldn't do it from Boston due to time constraint. But we're lucky that Pabitra did help to get an appointment even on a very short notice. Hospital was awesome, and fortunately report was good- no malignancy. We're relieved at last.

On the wheels

Once we left Boston on 19 May, we're on travel. Our first stoppage was in Buffalo where we stayed at Ripon's house. Ripon is my friend K A Sattar's youngest brother-in-law. He took us to the Niagra falls. There we enjoyed Maid in the Mist (having the light spray of falling water, hearing the rumble of water and huge forces therein). My wife was so excited, her dream to see Niagra became realized.
Staying just two days in Bufffalo we came to DC and I started the rest of my professional affiliation with the World Bank. First two nights we spent at L'enfant Plaza Hotel by utilizing the free gift voucher which the hotel authorities gave to all fellows during the global leadership forum last year. The rest of the period we spent in Alexandria. The nearest metro was Van Dorn station, one before the last towards Springfield Franconia (blue line).
Our next destination was to go Kingsport, Tennesse. We started by greyhound at 2.30 am. After about 12 hours bus journey, we had to change bus at Richmond Virginia. Then by another bus reached Kingsport in east Tennessee at around 2.15 pm. On the way we saw many small towns in 3 states (Virginia, North Carolina & Tennessee).

Time to leave Boston

In early May I left my house at Magazine street & was staying at Monzur's house at Lynn. Mr. Monzur family did cooperate with us to visit different places like the Nahant Beach, house of Lipu in Gardner city and houses of Munir's house in Andover city. Before leaving Boston we spent 2 nights (16-18 May) to Enayetullah uncle's at Sharon.

On 18 May we joined a seminar on investment potentialities in BD at Marriot Hotel near Lexington, which was organized by the expatriate Bangladeshis mostly living in USA. They presented a very positive image of BD with all possibilities to be the Asian Tiger in some future days. The seminar was so inspiring and encouraging!

On 19 May morning we went to the radiology center (for repeat Mamography scanning of my wife) and then came back at Lynn. At around 11.30 am Mr. Monzur took us to the Greyhound bus station in Boston. We headed for Buffalo(Niagra Falls) by bus, with all memories of Boston in the heart.

Retreat at Rocky Gap Lodge

Our Humphrey year-end retreat was held during 11-14 May at famous Rocky Gap Resort in Cumberland,Maryland - about 2.5 hours bus journey from Washington DC. The resort was so exclusive & beautiful, surrounded by scenic apalachian valleys, lakes along with all modern amenities therein. Unlike the leadership forum during Oct-Nov last year where most of the lecturers were from outside experts, the retreat events were mostly concentrated on activities by the fellows themselves. Of course IIE people organized and guided the events. In total 15 fellows were selected to present their humphrey year experience. I was fortunate to be one of them. I focused on the level of American diversity as well as the serious personal health problems I faced. My presentation succeeded in touching all who listened.

In the retreat days Ashutosh from Nepal was my roomate. We both went to the pool together, took photgraphs and enjoyed each other's company.

In the retreat, dancing, singing and some other activities were organized, in addition to the usual alumni related events which was the importance of being in touch with each other in future.

As a whole the retreat was touching, but very succesful. Through this, all 173 fellows of 87 countries and from 15 different campuses in USA said goodbye to the program & committed to make a change in their own countries.

I will never forget the great event of such a retreat.

My son back to Bangladesh

After a very hectic schedule of 15 days, my son Mohibul Islam went back to Bangladesh on May 3 last. He came to USA on 15 April'08, attended a 3 day long student conference to MIT on golbal poverty alleviation, travelled to NY city, Amarillio, Texas (to his maternal aunt's and cousins house), participated some dinner parties I hosted, joined one of our weekly Humphrey seminars and also my graduation ceremony on 2 May. He went to some ethnic relationship parties (to Andover, Lynn), also bought so many electronic gadgets (Xbox & others) for him as well as for his friends. To his own words, joining in MIT conference was simply "Life Changing"
His return to BD via London, Bahrain, Doha was most thrilling & also frustrating. Because his BA flight from London was so delayed that he couldn't catch the next connecting Gulf flight from Bahrain. So by alternate flights of Qatar Airways, he flew to Doha & then from Doha to Dhaka. But his luggages were not reached Dhaka till today. He also missed his flights on his travel from Amarillo to Houston on 28 April & came back to Boston by having alternate and costly alternative flights (Amarillo - Cleveland- Manchester). So he is full of experiences in airflights both in USA and also in international routes. In futute these experiences should help him in mitigating risks (to some extent, by a proper risk management plan) in flying.

Humphrey Graduation

Finally my graduation day from BU arrived & also passed by on May 2. It was a very touching & emotional day for all fellows and people associated with the BU Humphrey session 2007-08. BU President Prof. Brown conducted the graduation ceremony, held at BU Castle at 225, Bay Street. The keynote speaker was Prof. Hakkani, H.E. The Ambassador of Pakistan to USA. He highlighted the importance of taking actions from individual, cultural and local perspectives. His speech was so inspiring & enjoyable!

Amy Nemith spoke on behalf of IIE, Dr. Khinchuk spoke as the program coordinator of BU & Julio Canelo as the spokesman for the fellows.

All speakers emphasized on acting responsibly as the global citizens and making individual contributions for bringing positive changes in their own fields of works. We felt to maintain the spirit of friendship created by participation in the prestigeous Humphrey Program. Refreshment followed the ceremony.

I'm glad that my wife & son was present in the ceremony. It was indeed one of the colorful & memorable days in our lives.