I was overwhelmed by the vivacity of the city. People are very curious and I like it because it means they are not hostile towards me or not with any bad intentions. And it is a part of the vivacity.

I had been told that Dhaka was very crowded and polluted. Whenever I visit any place I intend roaming on my own but in Dhaka it's not so easy. If you are in Bangkok you can roam on your own even if you are a tourist. In Dhaka it takes a few weeks before you even know the routes.

One day we went to Old Dhaka. People were asking us constantly Hi. How are you? What's your name? Where are you from? The questions were so frequent that we planned to put a sign board around our neck with the answers Hi. This is Julia. I am fine thank you. I am from Canada. Now you can ask other questions. It was really sweet. I find it good natured.

I love human interaction, and talk to people -- be it a salesman or an office staff member. I try to understand their wits and jokes and one reason why I learn Bangla.

My Bangla teacher gave me a nickname 'Brishti', meaning rain. I like being called 'Brishti'. Though I am not fluent I can carry on small conversations like 'apni kemon achen?' (How are you?) or 'ami bhalo achi' (I am fine) and 'apnar meye khub bhalo kaj kore' (your daughter is doing a good job). It helps communicate with people and they are very happy when I speak their language.

In Dhaka people are rather impatient and cars honk frequently. Everyone wants to go first. I prefer rickshaws because they do not honk. When I went home once after a few months in Dhaka, I was stuck at a busy intersection where everything was unusually quiet. I found it quite odd. I was wondering why no one was honking! They should honk!

I love walking but in Dhaka it is dangerous and unpleasant because of the garbage, lack of sidewalks and errant rickshaws and CNGs.

It is hard to work in Dhaka because everything is politicised. People do not trust each other. If you try to do something good they think you have an ulterior motive behind it.

I bought lots of sarees from New Market, Chadni Chawk and Mirpur Benarosh Polli. I decorate my home with them.

My expatriate friends and I had a saree-lungi party in my apartment during the Bangla New Year. All the girls wore sarees and all the men wore lungis. We copied the year from newspaper and painted 'Shubho Noboborsho' in Bangla. We performed Bangla folk dances.

In my own words Dhaka is a big, crowded, polluted, vibrant, noisy and never-boring city. It is colourful both literally and metaphorically, literally because people wear very colourful dresses and metaphorically because it is a place of constant activity. People have a good social life here. There are many things to do -- like shopping, partying and eating out. It is very hard to get bored in Dhaka.

As told to Durdana Ghias