India isn't a different country, it's a different World...

House!

Well, the move has been made! We are now living in a nice 3 bedroom house near a lake. It's pretty sweet, pretty sweet indeed. I have an attached bathroom, which is great. In India, the bathrooms are called "wet bathrooms"... the reason for this, is that it's just like a big room! There are no shower doors, just a shower head. You can shave, brush your teeth, go to the bathroom, whatever you fancy - while taking a shower. It's definitely an interestingconcept, I dig it, besides the fact the floor is wet every time you shower. I got a big wiper-blade brush to sweep all the water to the corner where the drain is. Very handy.

Anyway, I woke up today with that feeling - that feeling that something very tiny is crawling on you. Naturally, I slapped the spot I felt it, rolled over, and went back to sleep. Only to realize when I finally arose that there were ants in my room!!! ANTS!!! Haha, it was pretty funny. I spent the next hour or so properly detouring their mission to ruin my life. I also bought some hardcore ant deterrent, which, made a moat of deadly chemical in front of my door. Problem solved, probably?

AWESOME INDIAN SHEETS! (Which I bought at Kannan's shop, of course)

Another thing - when writing late at night by candle light. Make sure to cap the pen. I frankly just blew out the candle and fell asleep instantly. I noticed this morning that there were pen marks all over my awesome Indian sheets! My pillow case got a nice little pool of ink as well. Luckily I have two of them.

Trees!

Even luckier, there are copious amounts of trees in Bangalore. Especially the NIMHANS campus. This beaut' was captured there. Trees like these make me want to live in a tree house, just sayin'... my research at NIMHANS hasn't really gotten wings yet. In fact, I've been so busy running around trying to find a house and registering with the Foreign Registration Office, that I have done absolutely nothing for my project. But that's okay, I planned to take the first month to get acclimated, anyway. I have, however, seemingly met every single department head in NIMHANS! Dr. Pal has been a great advisor so far, and has introduced me to a lot of interesting researchers. The head of the Psychiatry department in fact did some research on Huntington's that revolves around the same goals that my project is taking on. Same concepts, different parts of the brain being looked at. So he got a kick out of that, and said I couldcome see patients with him. I could really spend all of my time at NIMHANS learning and experimenting. But, that's not what I want to do, I want to explore India! So I will have to find that happy balance that I talked about earlier...

DELICIOUS DOSAS!

I have been somewhat living off these bad boys for the last week. They are basically like big pancake/crepes. This is called a paper masala dosa, which means it's paper thin - much more surface area than a regular dosa, which is about half or a third of that but thicker. Masala is a type of spice, and there is a potato (?) smorgasbord inside. Anyway, they are delicious. And you should be jealous that I get to eat them everyday, for about 77cents. ;)

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Bevan and I set out to do some house cleaning today. We (mostly him) mopped the house, I mopped my room and scrubbed my bathroom. It's pretty funny, they let us move in, but they are clearly not done with the house. We have a hole in the kitchen that a potential stove(?) vent will go through. Two doors are just not painted. And there are many, many more switches than things that they turn on or off. For an example, I have 4 plugs, 2 lights, and a ceiling fan in my room. How many switches do I have? 12. Why?! ... But judging by the wiring here, I wouldn't be surprised if I am turning on and off the next door neighbors lights when I furiously flick the mystery switches. And power outages are a big thing here, looking at this wiring box, I am not surprised, not surprised one bit...

Fruit!

Fruits. There are so many fruits here. And they are arranged so colorfully! Coconuts are a big thing as well, you chop it with a machete all rambo-like, and then stick a straw in it! Delicious coconut water... I actually tried something called a "Jack fruit" for the first time today, it's damn good. So, for all you adventurous people out there, go find a Jack fruit!

Mooooooo (cow)

Rule #1: Cows have the right-away.

Rule #2: Cows own this country.

This guy decided that picking out of the garbage for food just wasn't doing the trick. So he meandered up the steps of a sweet shop in hopes of a little snack. Hilarious.

Another thing that I have learned here.

"5 Minutes" = "Whenever I get there", "If you have a jetpack", "no"

It's pretty funny, actually. Patience is definitely one thing I will walk away from India with.

The guy who helped us get our house, Rajesh, has also helped us get other things, like beds and bean bags (our furniture of choice, and an amazing choice, I will add)... but above all that. We've become pretty good friends. We've also been close (literally, 3 people on a motorcycle?!). Bevan, myself, and Rajesh have hung out the last few days, had some whisky, had some laughs. Good guy. He is also planning on coming to the states next year, so if I am around I am looking forward to hosting him if he comes to the WestCoast.

In other news, I bought some spectacles here the other day. Good lookin' glasses, however - I do think they made the power a bit extreme. I can see into peoples souls. Seriously though, I am getting headaches, but that just might be from inhaling the deadly exhaust. Yep, that's probably it.

Tomorrow the plan is to learn how to play cricket, we will see if that manifests! ...