The past four days have melded together.  I was at the office the first two days and a project workshop for the second two days, with various evening activities. Monday a friend of a friend who works here took me to a handicraft shop and the we went out to dinner.  Tuesday evening a friend of a friend's father, a Rotarian, took me to his Rotary Club meeting.  It was quite an experience.  In addition to the speaker, who gave a lesson about the prophet Mohammed's origins as an orphan and the need to remember the poor (and how this relates to Rotary's core beliefs), I was given 10 minutes to tell about my club and my job.  What followed were back-to-back questions about herbal supplements, research on food safety, what is a healthy diet, my thoughts on GMOs, and how to make healthy food cheaper for the poor.  A picture from the evening:

My last evening in Dhaka, I went out again with the girl from Monday, first to a shop and then to The American Club for dinner.  The Club is one of many clubs in the city where expats of various nationalities go to get away from the city.  While it wasn't as posh as I was imagining, there were aspects that are a little slice of USA - the pepper flakes, parmesan cheese, ranch dressing were common American brands.  A bar, tennis courts, pool, yoga classes etc are also available on the grounds.  We even ran into my expat colleagues having dinner that evening.  Tomorrow early I depart for Delhi.  It's been a good introduction to Bangladesh, but it's time to move part 2 of this trip.