210 calories & the Nordic Club

is what each ZonePerfect bar has. And they have made up a substantial proportion of my calories this week, so I shouldn't have been surprised to learn yesterday that I'd lost those six pounds. I love Indian food and I'm not a picky eater but I just can't stomach the food in the canteen much any longer. Think bland, lukewarm, boiled vegetables and rice and dhal that might or might not have had flies landing on it during the day.

So you can imagine how sinfully delicious the bacon cheeseburger that I had today at the Nordic Club was. I bought some tomato soup from Agora supermarket and will probably be going out regularly to eat at the Chinese restaurant down the street. And there's always Pizza Hut, KFC, and imitation burgers and everything else which is not bad. This just calls for some creativity! And luckily, things here are cheap so I'll be able to afford eating out many times a week.

But honestly, for the issue of food alone I will have to find a way to join the American Club. The expat scene here is pretty major. There are about eight clubs, including American, Australian, Nordic, British, Canadian (although they should just join the American Club ;) ), Japanese, and a couple of others. All the clubs have beautiful, beautiful facilities--the Nordic Club I went to today is wood-paneled everything, turquoise pool and lounge chairs, tennis courts, gym, a great restaurant. It was a little spot of luxury in dusty and dirty Dhaka, a welcome respite that reminded me of home. The expat clubs all throw their own parties and barbeques and other events, creating a lively social calendar for all the international volunteers, aid workers, diplomats, and what-have-yous. Members of the clubs know each other and can enter any other club they want.

The American Club is really exclusive, though--you have to be "sponsored" (as in they vouch for your character...or something) by someone affiliated with the American diplomatic party or other official government work. For all the other clubs, you just have to show a passport. I'm sure someone from HSPH who's working on a Bangladesh project will know someone who will sponsor me, but damn...you'd think the people who created this system graduated from Harvard.