Thunderstorms and Marital Status
April 23, 2007

For the past few nights it has been very hot and humid during the day with major thunderstorms at night. Last night the winds were blowing so hard the branches of the coconut trees were pounding on my windows and rain was coming down so thick I could have swam through the air. Lightning lit the sky like fireworks. (Some of the electrical storms here are pretty spectacular!)

This morning when I went to my Bangla class my teacher said that she was happy that it rained last night because it cooled down the air. I remarked that it was quite a storm and she laughed saying that was just a bit of rain, not really a storm. If she doesn't call that a storm, I am a bit anxious about what is in store for me when monsoon season starts in June!

On a separate note, my research assistant left me to take a permanent position. Consequently, I have started to review resumes again. I have noticed some very interesting differences between American and Bangladeshi resumes. First, while American resumes are usually one page long, Bangladeshi resumes are never less than five pages. Second, everybody puts their marital status and their religion on the first page of their resume! (I told one candidate that it was illegal to even ask a candidate that in the US and she looked at me funny and told me that everyone here puts it on their resumes.) Finally, they list where they went to high school and junior high - even if they have Masters degrees.