My Hood

When I picked my area to live in, I really did not know much about the location. Shoreditch was suggested by a friend of a friend as a cool, edgy place to live. It has tons of pubs and clubs, and contained Brick Lane, which is a street with tons of hip stores and cafes.

What I have come to learn is that I live in Bangladeshi London or "Banglatown". I thought I lived in a big El Salvadorian community in Washington, DC....but here I live in a community of over 150,000 Bangladeshi people.

Since I am not very good on my knowledge about world history, I have been doing some reading. Bangladesh went through a series of political upheavals, starting with the end of British India in 1947, a spell as East Pakistan and a battle against West Pakistan for independence in 1971. Many Bangladeshi men emigrated to London in search of employment during the 1950's and 1960's. And British immigration laws changed in the 1970's to encourge Bangladeshi people to immigrate to the UK because of the need for workers.

There are stores everywhere in my neighborhood owned by Bangladeshi people and the writing on the signs (which I can't read) are absolutely beautiful. I love the script.

Probably one of the biggest shocks is seeing women in full burkas. Almost all Bangladeshi people are Sunni Muslims. While I have seen women in burkas on tv, I have rarely had the experience of walking down the street with women in burkas. The other day, I was walking to the grocery store and was following 3 girls, one in a full burka, the next in a black full-length robe and a head scarf, and the third girl had jeans, a t-shirt, and a head scarf. It was interesting to see the varying degrees of dress for the girls.

Just another interesting thing to add to my adventures in London.

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On a side note, Keena, Grigo, and Rica are here for a 10-day visit starting tomorrow. I am super excited. We are traveling around the country for a few days so I will be offline. I will be back in touch with loads of pictures!