not much

very little has happened in the past week. one thing we did NOT do was move into an apartment. !!! we signed the lease. the landlady signed the lease. we transferred the money. we have a confirmation that the money is transferring. but until it shows up in her account, she won't let us move in. we've offered her pretty much everything we can as collateral, and she's still unwilling to give us keys. an international money wire transfer can take up to TWO WEEKS! this hotel-living is getting old and expensive. we're both going a little nuts. i learned a hindi word that describes her perfectly. chuttia. if you're unfamiliar with hindi, use your imagination. it has something to do with seeing-you-next-tuesday.

erg.

so when i interviewed for the job last week, the boss said that the position he'd like to hire me for wasn't exactly created yet, but that he would work on making room in his staffing budget to fit me in. he wrote me today to say that he made space ... and is now interviewing a couple other people as well. double erg!!! i soooo have my sights on this job. it would really beef up the ol' resume. i should know for sure in a couple weeks. sigh. maybe i'll still get it...

on thanksgiving afternoon, i ran into a woman from mississippi who is an absolute doll. she took one look at me and instantly gave me her phone number ... said that there is no reason for me not to have close girlfriends here and that i needed to call her asap. she told me about these weekly coffee meetings of ex-pat women and indian women married to ex-pats (think well-heeled women with expensive hairdos and clothes, nice cars and perfect nails, they all have drivers and huge, amazing apartments). she picked me up this morning and personally introduced me to everyone there. they meet every week and they're not all the type i would normally seek out as friends, but they all moved here from other countries ... and they've all been through what i'm going through now, and just as importantly ... they all have husbands who are working here and just one of them might be my link to a job! i've found a buncha volunteer opportunities ... orphanages, the american school, dharavi ... so even if i'm not able to make money here, i should be able to do something with my time.

after the coffee meeting, a very sweet texan woman took me around and showed me where she gets her hair done (and where i might actually be able to buy aveda shampoo!!!), showed me where she buys her meats and poultry, and then insisted on buying me lunch and (more) coffee. totally made my day.

and now the really bad news. i have been a bad camera-owner and my lens is now jammed. when i get a new one, i'll resume posting pics. until then, your very active imagination will just have to do.