Lawrence, a town lost by the economic realities

We spent the last weekend to Mr. Mahmud's house in Andover, a city about 20 miles north of Boston. To attend a inviting party in another city, we're crossing a small town named Lawrence. There we saw many large factory & even residential buildings deserted. I was heard that long ago it was a very thriving industrial belt with many textile industries. Workers' houses were made nearby. With the rise in wages & other costs, America lost its competitive advantages in textile production and consequently factories shifted to China, India & even Bangladesh. As a consequence, Lawrence lost its economic activities & now looks like a crime-prone ghost city. Mostly, the next generation of the Afro-American workers live nearby now. It's a living example of how economic dynamism shifts across the nations in this globalized world.

Lost into DC museums

After long 8 months my wife joined me as she arrived USA on 7 March. That was the concluding day of our workshop at WB-IMF. As she's on her flight by Emirates (Dhaka-Dubai-JFK-DCA or Reagan airport ) I was checking her flight status online in order to be at the airport just in time. Everything was fine for her journey to the US.

On 8 March morning we went to explore the DC meseums & other attractions. At first we went the Capitol Hill, then into the Orchid garden museum. It was awesome! The garden area was covered with artificial transparent roofs (to protect plants from cold, snow). Orchids in dry lands, deserts, rainforests and in other natural environments were looking so gorgeous!

Then we visited the art gallery museums, my wife was fascinated by the arts, specially of artist Pablo Picasso. Our next museum was Natural History Museum. It was so huge & superb! Of particular interest to me were the Egyptian mummies (still unpacked) and earthquake zone line illumination(Ctg & Sylhet area directly on that line!).

Our last visit for the day was Air & Space Museum. There visitors can see the first mission to the moon (Apollo 11, 1969), views to the earth from sattelites, first plane by Wright Brothers & many other attractive things including plane dummies.

In addition to the above, there're many other museums in Washington DC. But due to time constraints we couldn't got there. Also the good thing about DC meseums is that they've all free entrance. We feel previledged to have the opportunity of visiting some great museums of the world!

World Bank- IMF Workshop in Washington DC

I attended a 5 day long (3-7 March'08) workshop on Finance and Development organized jointly by the World Bank & IMF for the Humphrey Fellows in their head offices in DC. In total 43 fellows from different campuses attended. On the opening day of 3 March, it was just reception cum dinner hosted by the WB head office. Then the next 2 days were scheduled for IMF & the last days were for WB activities. The IMF sessions covered overview, world economic & financial market developments, IMF program design & conditionality, IMF survellience for the member countries, poverty reduction & debt relief, growth & poverty reduction in the sub-saharan African countries ; and IMF reform efforts. One unique arrangement was made of a speech by someone while fellows took their luncheon. In all of the sessions speakers tried to highlight different aspects of the IMF in the context of growing criticism of the organization by the world community. One speaker mentioned of a joke that if a country's economic conditions improve after the IMF program adoption, all credits go the respective country's own policies whereas if it detriorates, all blames lie on the failures of IMF. I personally enjoyed IMF sessions (and also the good food served!)
WB sessions were held on the top floor of their main building on 18th street. It covered WB organogram, functioning mechanism of IDA, governance, evaluation mechanisms of WB initiated projects, global evironment issues and so on. Most of the sessions were very interactive & fellows found ample scopes to make questions or comments.
Joining to the WB-IMF workshop was indeed a previledge. We came to know many aspects of those 2 world class institutions. Also many items (T-shirts, souvenir bags, electronic diary etc.) were gifted to the participants.
Out of 43 fellows, 11 were from Boston University. Also BU fellows (in picture) were more active in the workshop sessions. I personally stayed active in all of the sessions I could attend. Attending in such a workshop is definitely in line with the prestige & honor associated with being a Humphrey Fellow.

NY Trip Final day

For the 3rd & final day of NY trip, morning was free from the group activity. So I went to the Penn Station again. There the underground Amtrak train station cum shopping mall is huge. From the information booth I collected many info brochures, maps (so that it helps when next time I visit NY alone). From there I walked to the 42nd street (5-6 blocks from Penn Station) where all the bus cos ply from to different destinations.
After the check-out from the hotel at 11.45, we (the BU Humphrey Group) were taken to the Tavern Green Restaurant inside the Central Park of Manhattan. We're fascinated by the fabulous and artistic glass decorated designs of the whole restaruarnt and also the exclusive dining area. Also the food was awesome. Only problem it was so expensive (you need about 100 box to satisfy the tummy). Another thing to notice, most of the restaruarnt people ( those who're serving, taking order, etc.) are the immigrant Bangladeshis.
After a very satisfying lunch we wandered in the park area. All high rise buildings of NY's posh area surrounded the park. In the park, lots of fun all around. We saw some groups (mature people of different races) are dancing with skating. One white guy (around 50 years old) dancing with skatebaords attached with legs and 3 water bottles on his head (one atop of other)- still balancing himself.
At 3.45 we started back our journey and reached Boston by 8 pm. As a whole it was a memorable journey for us. Thanks to Hunphrey Program.

NY Trip Second Day

In terms of weather, it's better than the previous day, but still patchy. We started the day with a visit to the Metropolitan Meseum of Art. In consideration of museum area it's perhaps the biggest meseum in the world. Our guide tour lady was an accomplished professional. She took us a specific gallery and focused on explaining the things. She made us visit the Greek, Roman, African and Asian artefacts, paintings and statues. We learnt many things about those ancient civilizations. Our next item on that day was visit to Statue of Liberty. Our bus took us to the Battery Park, the south-end of Manhattan financial district where from ferries ply to New Jersy & different islands. After security check-ups, the passengers boarded on the ferry(like a steamer) & it started journey through the scenic Hudson river & in about 20 minutes we reached the liberty island where the famous iconic symbol of America's pride standing atall. We walked the circled pathway of the statue, took photograps of the surrounding views and approached for climbing base. After a tight security checks of all your belongings, we visited the meseum type area where all necassry info of the statue of liberty posted. Then climbed atop by escalator to a room upto where you're allowed to go(about 7-8 floor high). From that level you can view spectacular sites of NY city, New Jersy area, Ellis island and ports nearby. At around 5 pm. we came back following the same way we went there.
n the evening there was no group activity. So after a little rest at the hotel room, I walked along the 8th Avenue, withdrew money from the Bank of America ATM, bought painkiller medicine Tynelol PM from CVS Pharmacy, bought my dinner & next day morning breakfast items from 'Subway', a food chain in USA, went the Pensylvania Station on the Manhattan area & went back to room.

New York Trip

A 3 day (22-24 Feb'08) visit to New York was organized for the BU Humphrey Fellows. Our reserved bus started from 14 Buswell St for NY at 6.00 pm(extreme chilly early morning & weather forecast for the day was horrific - snow, blizzard, icy rain in NY). When we arrived the UN building at around 11, you see white snows all around. However, we walked along those & reached the security check points of the UN. After security checking we entered the main UN bldng & a professional guide tour took us to different meeting rooms, explained things of so manysculpture, painting, photographs hanged on the walls of corridor and in rooms. And of course the history of UN & its different divisions along with their core activities were explained by the guide. We're fascinated by the gorgeous paintings of the security council room, unique architectural design of the Trustee Hall room & huge spaces of the General Aseembly meeting room (to accomodate all the nations, you indeed need a big room) .
At around 2 pm we're taken to NY Stock Exchange. After too much security checks we're taken to the 7th floor where an expert explained the unique auctioning of NYSE (with specialists to provide constant market liquidity). Thereafter, we're taken to the corridor where from you see all the screens, computer terminals for the specialist, broker agents & different TV channels offices to brodcast live the stock trading.
Then we checked in to the New Yorker hotel in Manhattan area's prime location and at night some of us went to the famous Carnegie Hall to enjoy a classic symphony.We enjoyed the show where so many young artists took part. At night we went to nearby Russian resaturant where with fun, talking, eating, drinking & dancing (by some) time passed quickly and after 1.30 pm we came back to our hotel.

Missing the family - but technology helps

I've been to the USA for about 7 months. This is my longest stay in a foreign soil without accompanying the near and dear ones. Mine has a very small immediate family - wife & only child son. Naturally I miss them everyday. Without their sacrifice it won't be possible for me to come & stay here as a Humphrey Fellow. So very special thanks to them for their sacrifices. However, thanks to techonolgy also - as it compensates to some extent of everyday missing the nearest ones. Internet technology allows us to talk almost everyday mostly at free. As an example, today I chatted and talked by using the audio clips. My son, from the other end, sent some recent pics of them (one as above, he with his mum).

My wife is expected to join me by the first week of March'08. But my son isn't coming as he's busy with his own study. I'm glad that inshallah he's doing excellent in his study at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) of Dhaka University.