Scorpion King [Tuesday, 8 June 2010]

Woke up in the middle of the night with a cramp in my foot, absolutely convinced that I had been bit by a scorpion in the middle of the night and the cramp was the first indication that I was dying. After jumping around the room, trying to shake the pain away, and then staring at my foot for possible swelling in the bathroom, I just decided to go back to bed. If I was already in the process of dying, I may as well just go to sleep. My thought process at 3am is stellar.

After my miraculous recovery, I slept until about 7:45am and then woke up to find that it was an extremely pleasant day outside. I don't know what's going on, but it was a cool 75 degrees today. I made some coffee and walked out onto the kitchen balcony (did I mention that every room has a balcony?) Rather than making the screeching noise the door typically makes, it glided open—most likely due to the reduced temperature. The scene from my balcony is very Slumdog Millionaire. There is an apartment going up across the way and all the workers are living in this half-built community center next to it. Each morning they get up and wash outside, throw brackish water over the balcony, scream a lot (i always think someone is in trouble), and go about their day. This morning they caught me on the balcony and I received my typical "what's this white woman doing in India?" stares.

Suresh arrived at 9am to gather us for work. I told him that we missed him yesterday and he started laughing. Amusing Suresh is the highlight of my mornings! I spent the majority of the drive laughing as Dave and I were making up stories about him buying a traditional men's kurta and wearing it around has house in DC. I had his mental image of him inviting guests into his home and asking them to remove their shoes and just couldn't stop laughing. Suresh continued to listen to his Bollywood music and drive like a maniac, but I'm pretty sure he was amused by us.

I have spent my day sending planners, making plans for the week, proofing, and even doing a little design work. Little did I know, 75% of the time the India designers are unable to open DeltaGraph files created on the US end. I practically yelled at everyone for not really telling us this was a huge problem. Due to this fact, I spent a good portion of my day yesterday and today helpig to create graphs or open DG files on my mac. I also spent the vast majority of my day attempting to bring these insanely quiet designers out of their shells. My goal in life is to make Shweta laugh nonstop. And I'm pretty certain Anita thought I was insane when I went in for a high five. I'm shocking people with my crazy American ways, left and right!

Forcing Shweta to pose for a picture with me

After work, once again Nidhi swooped in to save me from any chance of boredom. Unfortunately Vikram was feeling ill, so tonight Nidhi, alone, took Dave and I to "Cottage." I didn't really know what this meant, except that I would get to shop, but man was I in for a treat! This place is amazing. I walked in and just started throwing items in a basket. At one point, I picked up a basket of trinkets and asked if I culd take it. The man was like "Oh, you would like the basket?" and I had to explain "No, I want everything that's in the basket!" I'm fairly certain that the people at this store loved me. I was shopping with abandon and still only managed to hit $200. I had four bags of gifts when I was done—Dave and Nidhi were laughing hysterically at me as I skipped out of the store.

After dinner, we went over to Howzatt for some drinks. This place claims it's the first ever Indian brewery. I don't know whether that's true or not, but their "googly" beer (a light weizen) and ambiance was fantastic! After drinks, we headed across the way to Terroir, which was quite fancy and beautiful. I have never eaten at so many fine dining restaurants in my life. It seems that India has only roadside stands/shops, fast food, and fine dining. These places would be the equivalent of like Applebees in America, but here it is essentially a 5-star restaurant.

I had the most delicious grilled salmon at Terroir tonight. I was so excited to eat, I almost forgot to take a picture. But then, I wouldn't be a silly tourist if I didn't constantly take pictures of things people think are completely ordinary, now would I?

 Even when I think the next day couldn't be as amusing and fun as the last, something happens that has me laughing until tears are rolling down my cheeks. I just can't get enough of this place and it's only been six full days!