If You Can't Say Anything Nice...

Don't say anything at all.  It was in this spirit that I have been neglecting my blog for my first week back in India.  I'm trying to stay positive here, because I think that it's better to put positive feelings out into the universe... also, people like reading my blog more when it's not filled with whiny garbage.

 

Cows.  

So, since we last met, I have spent a week in India.  I thought this would be sort of an easier transition back into it because we already know where everything is and such. While it is sort of easier, it's also a lot more boring.  I already know where the stores and restaurants are, so I don't get to (or have to, depending on how you look at it) spend hours walking around looking for stuff.  It literally feels like we never left India the first time.  Like those four months between the end of March and the middle of July just never happened.  We are already sick of the food and the hotel, and the beggar children have certainly not forgotten about me.  (Yesterday I had quite the altercation with them... they got my pants all muddy by slapping me with their muddy hands, so I yelled at them, so they left and got reinforcements and proceeded to attack.  My life flashed before my eyes... the only thing that kept me going was one thought: I cannot die at the hands of Indian beggar children, it would be so embarrassing.)

 

Looky what I found.  I haven't been inside... I'm saving it.  

Anyway, things here are progressing slowly but surely.  Last week I went to the new grocery store that has some Western food, and then later I went to the old grocery store that has some Western food.  They are basically same same.  I also went to the Kashmir store with Ben (from the other crew... he just got here but he hates it... much like the rest of us, I guess) and looked at the carpets and scarves.  Oh, I found a second bookstore in town, which isn't quite as good as the Crosswords, but it does have lots of English books, and they might even be slightly cheaper.  What else happened... oh, on Wednesday I worked out in the afternoon instead of the morning.  I guess you could say I'm pretty wild.

 

Some interesting architecture.  I'd never seen columns on an apartment before.

Friday I went to the hospital.  For Ryan, not for myself.  (I know, I probably should have started with this, as it's the most exciting thing that's happened, but I thought I'd stick it here at the end so you'd all have to keep reading.)  Ryan (from the other crew... everyone here right now is from the other crew.  Keep that in mind and I won't keep typing it.) woke up early Friday morning with some sort of upper abdominal pain... he thought it was his gall bladder.... long story short, it wasn't... probably.  I was actually excited at the prospect of seeing an Indian hospital (and worried about my friend, too, I guess), and honestly it wasn't that bad.  Aside from those two nearly dead men they kept wheeling around and the smell of raw meat, it was fairly clean and modern (remember, this is all relative to other places in India).  Ryan's room was really small, and he had to share it with a slew of other people who kept coming in and out, but I got the sense he was getting the VIP treatment on account of the fact that he didn't have to wait for hours in the waiting room.  Instead, we waited for hours in the hospital room.  I was going to take some pictures, but something told me that's probably not cool in hospitals.

Saturday we went to the Inox movie theater and saw Inception (it's fabulous.  Go watch it.  Right now).  The theater was pretty nice (again, it's all relative)... they made me spit my gum out before they let me in.  Yeah, because that's what's ruining their nice things in this country.  Foreigners with gum.  I notice that India hasn't really mastered the concept of being quiet in the movies.  There were at least three people on cell phones at any point during the movie.  Those who weren't on their phones were talking.  Loudly.  And the Indian crowd seemed to find Inception exceedingly funny.  It's not a comedy, but they laughed a lot.  They can find joy in anything, I suppose.  Oh, we went to the Seven Seas Mall on Sunday.  I won't be going back there.  Enough said.

 

Movie theater and McDonald's. So fancy

So, that's about all I have to say about that.  See, not so negative!  Well, kind of negative, but I really am trying to restrain myself.  Oh, Matt has a cold/upper respiratory infection/allergies already.  This happened to him the last time we were in India, and he was sick the entire month until we left.  We don't know what the deal is, but maybe he's allergic to India?  Maybe he needs to be sent home because he's allergic to the country?  Anyway, any suggestions or ideas would be helpful.  I think he'd prefer not to be sick for the 8 to 10 months we'll be here.

In closing, I would like to show some pictures of our hotel room, so that you can all see exactly how we're living.  It looks really messy and cluttered, but that's only because it's so small we don't have anywhere to put anything.  Also we're kind of messy people.  This is a habit you develop when living in hotels... if you haven't tried it, don't judge.

 

Bedroom.

   

Living room.

 

Whole room.

 

Office.

 

Kitchen.

 

Office/kitchen/den combo.

 

Fridge.

 

Bathroom.

 

Shower.  Yes, we have a tub, but no, I won't be using it. Something about soaking in Indian water doesn't appeal to me. 

 

Closet.  Under Matt's hat is the blanket I asked housekeeping to take away because it's too hot. 

  

Our only two drawers.  There is the second blanket I asked them to take away.  Obviously "please take this away" translates to "please stuff this in any random spot you can find".  Also, equally obvious is the fact that Matt doesn't put his things away.  I think maybe he does it in an attempt to get me to clean up after him... we can all see how that failed.