I swear, experience abroad has taught me nothing if not that it is a perfect setup for crazy mood swings. Yesterday was my low point so far, leaving me feeling physically and emotionally exhausted and more than a little depressed. So clearly, today had to be the opposite.
Today started off on a good note and just went up from there. I took Shradha up on her offer of staying with her last night, and it was definitely a smart decision. Her bed is king sized, so sleeping with a new person was not an issue at all. We could have stuck a third person between us and we still wouldn't have come close to touching anyone. Also, her room is air-conditioned. OH MAN is it easier to sleep when you're not lying in a pool of sweat.
So I started my day feeling more refreshed than I have in quite a while, possibly since I got here. Then I showered and got dressed, and then the tailor came to measure my windows and door to make curtains! Hopefully I'll get those either tonight or tomorrow. He also took my pretty fancy Indian dress to alter a little (now that I've already worn it to a wedding).
I got to talk to Jeff in a not-emo mood, and then I chatted with my parents. I had eggs for breakfast (Shradha had sent someone to get them for me on Wednesday when I came back to all my spoiled food) and then headed to work. I didn't have a lot to do at work, so I spent some time cleaning up my computer. I uninstalled some things that I'm pretty positive are useless and that were slowing down the computer.
Score so far: Good night's sleep, curtains, talking to loved ones, good breakfast, faster computer*.
Then I chatted with Vinay ji and I told him that Alok had said he would put credit on my cell phone, but it sill wasn't there. I gave him money and he said he'd take care of it.
I told Rahul that I needed to buy food, and he said he'd help me with that this evening.
I had told Anand that I was not sleeping well with the horribly uncomfortable mattress in my room, and he said he'd ask for two more (one for me, one for Helen).
When Rahul and I were out getting groceries (which sounds misleading in my head. "Getting groceries" sounds like "grocery shopping," which implies the presence of a grocery store. There is most definitely nothing that anyone from the U.S. would recognize as a grocery store here. But going food shopping is somewhat similar to going to a very dirty farmers market.), Rahul pointed and said, "Look! There's your elephant!" I had told him early on that I had never seen an elephant in real life, as far as I could remember. So there it was, this elephant on the side of the road, or as much "on the side" as an elephant can get. It was an elephant! They're big!
He assured me that there aren't usually elephants in Hazaribag, so this one was clearly there just for me to cross one more thing off my India to-do list.
Okay, so the score for today so far is: Good night's sleep, curtains, talking to loved ones, good breakfast, faster computer, credit for cell phone, groceries (for a grand total of $5 I got four kinds of cookies [don't make fun of me!], 1 kg of mangoes, a dozen bananas, 1 kg onions, 1 kg potatoes, 1 kg tomatoes, 1 head of cauliflower, 1 eggplant, 100 grams each ginger and garlic, and a dozen eggs. SCORE.), additional mattresses**, and an ELEPHANT! And there are still quite a few hours left in the day.
*my computer is still sinfully slow, but it's semi-functional now.
**when I tested my cot with two mattresses, my first thought was, "Well, it's still hard as a rock, but at least now it's more like pumice rather than granite!"
Today started off on a good note and just went up from there. I took Shradha up on her offer of staying with her last night, and it was definitely a smart decision. Her bed is king sized, so sleeping with a new person was not an issue at all. We could have stuck a third person between us and we still wouldn't have come close to touching anyone. Also, her room is air-conditioned. OH MAN is it easier to sleep when you're not lying in a pool of sweat.
So I started my day feeling more refreshed than I have in quite a while, possibly since I got here. Then I showered and got dressed, and then the tailor came to measure my windows and door to make curtains! Hopefully I'll get those either tonight or tomorrow. He also took my pretty fancy Indian dress to alter a little (now that I've already worn it to a wedding).
I got to talk to Jeff in a not-emo mood, and then I chatted with my parents. I had eggs for breakfast (Shradha had sent someone to get them for me on Wednesday when I came back to all my spoiled food) and then headed to work. I didn't have a lot to do at work, so I spent some time cleaning up my computer. I uninstalled some things that I'm pretty positive are useless and that were slowing down the computer.
Score so far: Good night's sleep, curtains, talking to loved ones, good breakfast, faster computer*.
Then I chatted with Vinay ji and I told him that Alok had said he would put credit on my cell phone, but it sill wasn't there. I gave him money and he said he'd take care of it.
I told Rahul that I needed to buy food, and he said he'd help me with that this evening.
I had told Anand that I was not sleeping well with the horribly uncomfortable mattress in my room, and he said he'd ask for two more (one for me, one for Helen).
When Rahul and I were out getting groceries (which sounds misleading in my head. "Getting groceries" sounds like "grocery shopping," which implies the presence of a grocery store. There is most definitely nothing that anyone from the U.S. would recognize as a grocery store here. But going food shopping is somewhat similar to going to a very dirty farmers market.), Rahul pointed and said, "Look! There's your elephant!" I had told him early on that I had never seen an elephant in real life, as far as I could remember. So there it was, this elephant on the side of the road, or as much "on the side" as an elephant can get. It was an elephant! They're big!
He assured me that there aren't usually elephants in Hazaribag, so this one was clearly there just for me to cross one more thing off my India to-do list.
Okay, so the score for today so far is: Good night's sleep, curtains, talking to loved ones, good breakfast, faster computer, credit for cell phone, groceries (for a grand total of $5 I got four kinds of cookies [don't make fun of me!], 1 kg of mangoes, a dozen bananas, 1 kg onions, 1 kg potatoes, 1 kg tomatoes, 1 head of cauliflower, 1 eggplant, 100 grams each ginger and garlic, and a dozen eggs. SCORE.), additional mattresses**, and an ELEPHANT! And there are still quite a few hours left in the day.
*my computer is still sinfully slow, but it's semi-functional now.
**when I tested my cot with two mattresses, my first thought was, "Well, it's still hard as a rock, but at least now it's more like pumice rather than granite!"
Glad you found your happy again :)
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