And so, after 16 actually quite quick months, I came to my last week in the wilds of Northern Bangladesh. I went back to work earlier than I strictly wanted to (Saturday) as I had wanted to watch the deciding Wales-Ireland match live. Despite the obvious attraction of this televisual feast I decided against it as a) I thought I had loads to finish and needed the extra day just in case, and b) I really wasn't sure of finding a TV to watch it on anyway! When I asked a few of the boys in Dhaka about it later they all seemed to say that they hadn't seen it live but as a rerun the next day, so no loss there.

Aside from finishing off the various documents I'd promised, especially the new finance manual, I also attended a ceremony to launch a scholarship fund. It's being set up to sponsor promising kids through school for 5 years using 450 euros that has been donated by my predecessor Arnaud after a collection at his wedding last year. Despite the fact that I'd had nothing to do with the thing, neither financially or professionally, I was the guest of honour and received some nice flowers just before watching another agonising near military display of children marching and moving to the command of a whistle. The highlight (and I assure you that there was one) was when Dalim, a young lad from the village who I've tutored a bit for his university entrance exams, read out in front of everyone a very nice letter of farewell for me. There were some unusual uses of English of course, and my favourite was when he said (as it was written on the letter) that the money would be used to buy the pupils some exercise boobs. Now, in a society where the sexes are so divided I can only applaud any initiative that facilitates a young man's appreciation of the female form. Good on them I say - if only Bangladesh had more progressive thinkers like these chaps.

When I wasn't typing away furiously on my laptop (between power cuts) or packing I was making a video of my little life up there, filming the campus, my office etc. as well as my last thoughts. The film is really for my family who tried to visit my placement at Christmas but were scuppered by fog at the airport. As a result, here are some of the things that came to me during that last week and that I tried to get on film:

After the ceremony I had a last dinner with Habib at his house and his Mum pulled out all the stops. We had a good chat and ate far too much good food. If only all Bangladeshis could cook like her! Habib feels that he has changed a lot since I've been there and is now working on developing a more open and friendly attitude towards his staff. While he certainly has improved I also hope he doesn't rest on his laurels as he could certainly improve quite a lot more to the benefit of all concerned.

There was one interesting theme throughout the various farewell ceremonies and goodbye chats that I'd like to highlight (and you know how I like a good theme each week). At almost all of the ceremonies or final meetings I had there was an appeal from people to forget the difficult times and only remember the good ones. Sometimes people were almost apologetic about how my life must have been at BRIF! My friend and colleague Anal said to me that he, a Bangladeshi born and bred, often found it hard living at BRIF so wondered how on earth it must be for me! There seemed to be this realisation in the minds of several people as my last day approached that life wasn't all beer and skittles for a foreigner like me. I found this quite touching, and even when I look back now on things that happened there I feel indulgent towards them. Sure there were occasions when I looked around me and thought "what the fuck are you doing here?!" but I came through it all and am a better and stronger person for it. I think I'd have settled for that at the outset.