My first two impressions of Bangladesh were its driving and it crush of humanity. So many people packed so closely. At least in Dhaka, I'd never experienced such a flux of people. It was overwhelming but exciting. As I grew to know and understand the country, the crush of humanity became the realization of the reality of life for people who work so hard to eek out a living. It occurred to me when people are competing for such a small niche, the ebb and flow of life is so much different than what I am accustomed to. Even those people who earn a good living, Bangladeshi terms, still has to live with the understanding everything can change at a moments time. 
The driving... I considered each ride in the car potentially my last. Seriously. I ended up getting used to it, but the first few days I could not look out the front window. As I grew more accustomed to the way people drove, I realized there was actually a system and it worked. I am not sure how or why, but it worked. Narrowly missing head-on collisions at 100 kph was the norm, but no one seemed to collide. 
My next realization soon came when I visited the first school. I was humbled and impressed. Students were eager to learn and, despite the lack of resources, fancy classrooms and all the things we grow accustomed to in the US, these students were learning a great deal and truly impressive in the their will and understanding of the value of education.
The teachers were also impressive because of their ability to teach so effectively with so little. They nearly volunteered their time considering their pay, but they made difference.
