Wednesday, December 26, 2007
bloggiting
wherein i vomit a spate of blog updates.
we fired the maid. she simply did not show up on saturday, and didn't bother to call us until 4 hours after she was supposed to be here. par for the course for india, but for me it was the final straw. it seemed clear to me that not only had she never really done this sort of work before, but she clearly did not like it even a little bit. i interviewed a cook this morning. she'll come 3 days a week, can read english/recipes, and comes highly recommended by another american. it's the best we can hope for.
christmas was good. we had plans to meet up with some american friends at a coffeeshop for brunch. half their menu is breakfast egg dishes. as is typical here, they had no eggs. never have, probably never will. no apologies, no explanations, just no eggs.
brunch was moved to our friends' apartment. eggs, brie, wine, nuts, peanut butter. it was amazing. we then headed out, looking for nativity scenes to photograph. there are tons around, and they're a big deal here. we didn't actually find many, but did make some new friends. a fisherman invited us to his seafront bungalow and then proceeded to feed us and get us drunk. he has an upper balcony with a great view of the seaface. we could see about a mile of fishermen slums, boats, and pigs, rooting around in the colossal heaps of trash that clutter the rocky 'beach.' yummy. we stayed for sunset and then had dinner at the thai place. it was the most unchristmas christmas i've ever had.
i've been reading a lot. just finished 'a mighty heart' and 'the glass castle...' didn't realize i liked nonfiction so much. i could use some recommendations. read any good nonfiction lately?
tomorrow we're off to pune. m has work there. i'm gonna FINALLY get outa the city and go along to assist him.
we fired the maid. she simply did not show up on saturday, and didn't bother to call us until 4 hours after she was supposed to be here. par for the course for india, but for me it was the final straw. it seemed clear to me that not only had she never really done this sort of work before, but she clearly did not like it even a little bit. i interviewed a cook this morning. she'll come 3 days a week, can read english/recipes, and comes highly recommended by another american. it's the best we can hope for.
christmas was good. we had plans to meet up with some american friends at a coffeeshop for brunch. half their menu is breakfast egg dishes. as is typical here, they had no eggs. never have, probably never will. no apologies, no explanations, just no eggs.
brunch was moved to our friends' apartment. eggs, brie, wine, nuts, peanut butter. it was amazing. we then headed out, looking for nativity scenes to photograph. there are tons around, and they're a big deal here. we didn't actually find many, but did make some new friends. a fisherman invited us to his seafront bungalow and then proceeded to feed us and get us drunk. he has an upper balcony with a great view of the seaface. we could see about a mile of fishermen slums, boats, and pigs, rooting around in the colossal heaps of trash that clutter the rocky 'beach.' yummy. we stayed for sunset and then had dinner at the thai place. it was the most unchristmas christmas i've ever had.
i've been reading a lot. just finished 'a mighty heart' and 'the glass castle...' didn't realize i liked nonfiction so much. i could use some recommendations. read any good nonfiction lately?
tomorrow we're off to pune. m has work there. i'm gonna FINALLY get outa the city and go along to assist him.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
another plus for india
i just inhaled the most delicious and spicy pile of pad kee mao noodles. i called the restaurant, it was delivered within 20 minutes, it was absolutely divine, and it was 110 rupees. there are about 40 rupees in one US dollar. you do the math...
Monday, December 17, 2007
put the wheel away
yeesh. i've been holed up in the apartment, working like a little rat on this market summary thing. i finally finished it like 20 minutes ago and am celebrating with the last kingfisher in the fridge. time to buy more beer. and by that i mean, time to call down the street and have the man deliver more beer. ahhh. this is definitely on the plus side of the balance sheet of india.
you know, if i don't get this job it'll be simply for the fact that the other contenders were --- censored --- who have shit-tons of experience in this exact job and probably already work for the company.
i have the apartment to myself this week ... well, myself plus the maid. m's away on biz.
we got a dryer! jennifer'd never seen one before, she's a little afraid of it. she asked if it folds clothes, too. i'm sooo excited to not have to wear scratchy/smells-like-india-but-they're-actually-clean underwear. absolutely beautiful. i might just spend the whole week sitting and watching it spin.
a friend has been apartment-hunting. her landlord gave her 3 weeks notice that her rent was about to be DOUBLED. doubled. her broker showed her an apartment located inside a temple yesterday. worshipers enter in door #1, tenant uses door #2, next to door #1. no biggie. ug. this is all so very india. when we were looking, our broker showed us a brothel. a full-on, operating brothel. it was so disgusting. we also saw a slum apartment. basically the owner had put tile on the floor, added an actual roof, sheetrocked the walls, added plumbing and voila! apartment! one that shares walls with the cardboard and plywood dwellings next to it. and he wanted like $1500 for it! people will do anything to make money here.
hhaha. here's a typical indianization of the english language. i just found this. tell me what's wrong with 'fitness tuesdays.' by the way, this gym is disgustingly dirty and if you visit it, they make you take your shoes off. ew.
shocker alert! i have food poisoning! again! i'm just like 'eff it,' this time. i'm eating and drinking like normal. and making sure to always be in the vicinity of a clean, western toilet in the immediate future.
i have to admit, i'm super stoked to be in a country that seems to have no clue that christmas is coming. there are NO decorations or songs or whatever, everywhere i go. well, nowhere besides other expat's houses. nothing against christmas, believe me. people definitely celebrate it here, religiously or secularly, they're just not in your face about it. it's soo refreshing. ... haha. i can't believe i just used that word to describe something here.
alright. i'll leave you now. time to move on to the vodka and mango juice.
grrrrr. what i wouldn't give for a heaping platter of cheddary, jalapeno nachos right now! seriously!
you know, if i don't get this job it'll be simply for the fact that the other contenders were --- censored --- who have shit-tons of experience in this exact job and probably already work for the company.
i have the apartment to myself this week ... well, myself plus the maid. m's away on biz.
we got a dryer! jennifer'd never seen one before, she's a little afraid of it. she asked if it folds clothes, too. i'm sooo excited to not have to wear scratchy/smells-like-india-but-they're-actually-clean underwear. absolutely beautiful. i might just spend the whole week sitting and watching it spin.
a friend has been apartment-hunting. her landlord gave her 3 weeks notice that her rent was about to be DOUBLED. doubled. her broker showed her an apartment located inside a temple yesterday. worshipers enter in door #1, tenant uses door #2, next to door #1. no biggie. ug. this is all so very india. when we were looking, our broker showed us a brothel. a full-on, operating brothel. it was so disgusting. we also saw a slum apartment. basically the owner had put tile on the floor, added an actual roof, sheetrocked the walls, added plumbing and voila! apartment! one that shares walls with the cardboard and plywood dwellings next to it. and he wanted like $1500 for it! people will do anything to make money here.
hhaha. here's a typical indianization of the english language. i just found this. tell me what's wrong with 'fitness tuesdays.' by the way, this gym is disgustingly dirty and if you visit it, they make you take your shoes off. ew.
shocker alert! i have food poisoning! again! i'm just like 'eff it,' this time. i'm eating and drinking like normal. and making sure to always be in the vicinity of a clean, western toilet in the immediate future.
i have to admit, i'm super stoked to be in a country that seems to have no clue that christmas is coming. there are NO decorations or songs or whatever, everywhere i go. well, nowhere besides other expat's houses. nothing against christmas, believe me. people definitely celebrate it here, religiously or secularly, they're just not in your face about it. it's soo refreshing. ... haha. i can't believe i just used that word to describe something here.
alright. i'll leave you now. time to move on to the vodka and mango juice.
grrrrr. what i wouldn't give for a heaping platter of cheddary, jalapeno nachos right now! seriously!
Monday, December 10, 2007
goa by the gora
the interviewer finally got back to me. he gave me an assignment; i have to write a market summary paper for him. i haven't written something like this in a long time! ... not since biz school at psu about 87 centuries ago. but it's fine cuz it means that i'm still in the running.
i wish i could take a sample of the air outside (and now inside) the apartment and transmit it via this blog, so that you could smell what i smell each day. right now, your nostrils would be treated to a throat-tingling, eye-scratching, cough-inducing, thick, cloudy smog, thanks to the burning trash next door. if it's not sold, it's burned... and it's nasty.
i wish i could take a sample of the air outside (and now inside) the apartment and transmit it via this blog, so that you could smell what i smell each day. right now, your nostrils would be treated to a throat-tingling, eye-scratching, cough-inducing, thick, cloudy smog, thanks to the burning trash next door. if it's not sold, it's burned... and it's nasty.
can you hear me now?
this silly blog isn't working properly! i updated yesterday and it didn't show up until a good 24+ hours later. grrrrrrrrr.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
jennifer vs lizard
we have hired domestic help. her name's jennifer. (yes, she's indian.) she speaks english, works 6 days a week, cleans and cooks 3 meals each day, does laundry and the household shopping, and asks to be paid monthly about as much as we would pay someone at home to do the same work for like an hour.
there's a tiny gecko in the apartment. jennifer discovered it the other day when she was cleaning the window grates. she screeched and darted around the apartment in a frenzied flight of panic. according to her, if you make the lizard angry, it'll bite and you'll die from the venom. ... our first indian urban legend!
i have a cold. it sucks the big balls.
we went to a photo opening the other night. it was downtown in a big, airy loft space. there were lots of photographers and canon people and models there. the work itself was pretty disappointing, but m was finally amongst his own. it was a good thing.
to get to the opening, we hired an a.c. car for the evening. at any time between 1am and 7am, the drive from here to downtown is a breezy 15 minutes. at ALL other hours of the day and night, it takes a minimum of an hour and a half. the traffic is insufferable, stop/go and stifling hot. about 1/3 of the way there, the friggin a.c. in the a.c. car stopped working. every time we turned it on, the car stalled, and the clutch was completely shot. we were with amazing imam, who has no shame whatsoever and absolutely refuses to be uncomfortable unnecessarily. he hopped out of the car, opened the passenger car of the car next to us (empty but for the driver), and convinced him to take us downtown! we rode the rest of the way in icy cold, euphoric bliss.
there's a tiny gecko in the apartment. jennifer discovered it the other day when she was cleaning the window grates. she screeched and darted around the apartment in a frenzied flight of panic. according to her, if you make the lizard angry, it'll bite and you'll die from the venom. ... our first indian urban legend!
i have a cold. it sucks the big balls.
we went to a photo opening the other night. it was downtown in a big, airy loft space. there were lots of photographers and canon people and models there. the work itself was pretty disappointing, but m was finally amongst his own. it was a good thing.
to get to the opening, we hired an a.c. car for the evening. at any time between 1am and 7am, the drive from here to downtown is a breezy 15 minutes. at ALL other hours of the day and night, it takes a minimum of an hour and a half. the traffic is insufferable, stop/go and stifling hot. about 1/3 of the way there, the friggin a.c. in the a.c. car stopped working. every time we turned it on, the car stalled, and the clutch was completely shot. we were with amazing imam, who has no shame whatsoever and absolutely refuses to be uncomfortable unnecessarily. he hopped out of the car, opened the passenger car of the car next to us (empty but for the driver), and convinced him to take us downtown! we rode the rest of the way in icy cold, euphoric bliss.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
india
when people ask me what india is like, i have no succinct answer. my answer is never anything short of a 10 (or 50) minute monologue that usually ends with me standing alone, holding my drink and talking to the open air. if someone were to ask me now, i would tell this story...
we've been looking for a maid+cook that will work 5-6 days a week, clean and cook 3 meals each day, and speak/understand at least a lick of english. this is not impossible to find, and they usually cost about the equivalent of 100 us dollars a month. i've been asking all the expat people i know, we've asked our indian friends, we've asked the apartment security man, and today our estate agent iqbal brought over a woman for us to interview. she said she'd be happy to work 6-7 days a week from 9-7, she would do laundry, clean the place (including the toilets, which apparently not all maids will do), cook southern india and continental cuisine, and everything else we want. she then added that she had worked in the states for 3 years. we were so excited!! we were like, 'where in the usa did you work? which city? which state?" her answer... "france!"
we're still looking for good household help. know anyone?
we've been looking for a maid+cook that will work 5-6 days a week, clean and cook 3 meals each day, and speak/understand at least a lick of english. this is not impossible to find, and they usually cost about the equivalent of 100 us dollars a month. i've been asking all the expat people i know, we've asked our indian friends, we've asked the apartment security man, and today our estate agent iqbal brought over a woman for us to interview. she said she'd be happy to work 6-7 days a week from 9-7, she would do laundry, clean the place (including the toilets, which apparently not all maids will do), cook southern india and continental cuisine, and everything else we want. she then added that she had worked in the states for 3 years. we were so excited!! we were like, 'where in the usa did you work? which city? which state?" her answer... "france!"
we're still looking for good household help. know anyone?
Sunday, December 2, 2007
send hot weather couture stat
things are getting better, slowly. we're moved in. (didn't take long when all we had to move fit in one vehicle and was packed neatly into 11 HEAVY cases.) i've bought cleaning supplies, kitchen crap, roach and mosquito killer. i've even found someone who wants to start running with me, although i just realized that i didn't take her number. i'll have to rely on waiting for her to call me, and since we're in india, it probably won't happen. the place to go running is called 'jogger's park.' it's basically a fenced-in track, open for a few hours each morning and evening. do you think i'm doing my lungs more harm or good, exercising outdoors in this toxic, polluted city?
the pigeons love our building, with a special affinity for our apartment. the windows are huge and there are no screens, which everyone seems to think are a ludicrous invention. the birds like to nest in the tiny awning space right above the windows. it's fucking freaky. they'll just swoop right in if no one's home and the windows are open. the first time we looked at the place, there were pigeon droppings throughout. they also like to sit on the air conditioning unit, outside our bedroom. sometimes we turn it on and it clunks as if a pigeon has just been savagely brutalized by the blades.
m's been gone all weekend, in delhi on assignment. i'm going a little stir-crazy. think the clothing shops are open yet? it's a totally legitimate question, at 130 in the afternoon on a sunday ... it would be best if i waited until 4 or so.
the pigeons love our building, with a special affinity for our apartment. the windows are huge and there are no screens, which everyone seems to think are a ludicrous invention. the birds like to nest in the tiny awning space right above the windows. it's fucking freaky. they'll just swoop right in if no one's home and the windows are open. the first time we looked at the place, there were pigeon droppings throughout. they also like to sit on the air conditioning unit, outside our bedroom. sometimes we turn it on and it clunks as if a pigeon has just been savagely brutalized by the blades.
m's been gone all weekend, in delhi on assignment. i'm going a little stir-crazy. think the clothing shops are open yet? it's a totally legitimate question, at 130 in the afternoon on a sunday ... it would be best if i waited until 4 or so.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
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