exhausted fumes and cow poo

21 June - 10am

Sorry it's taken so long for me to post. I've received a few emails/IMs/facebook notes that I need to update (you love me, you really love me). Truth is, ever since we've gotten to Bangalore, we haven't had too many free moments and when we do, I'm usually exhausted. And I'll try to take some more pics - with me in them - soon. Don't really have any yet.

Our flat is rather nice and very cute. Sonnett and I each have our own rooms and bathrooms. Showers can be a bit fun 'cause you have to turn on a very small water heater ~10 min. before you actually want to shower...and the hot water runs out after about 10 min. And if you know me, you know that that's really not enough time. But we also have a cute balcony that overlooks the Toshiba building's parking lot and some palm trees (where monkeys like to hang out! No really, they warned us not to leave our balcony door open 'cause monkeys might come into the apartment....Sonnett and I want to catch one....okay, not really....but you know what I mean: MONKEYS!). There is a washer, the dryer IS the balcony, microwave, gas stove, tv, and - most importantly - wireless. For any sort of random things we need, we just ask the maintenance guy, who is very nice. Oh, and did I mention that there is a cleaning woman? Yeah - she does the dishes, sweeps, dusts, makes our beds....it's not too bad really. =)

Odd things about the apartment that you wouldn't expect: all of the electrical outlets have to be turned on. Next to all of the faceplates, there is a little switch. If you don't turn on that switch, nothing runs through the outlet. Took me a bit of time to get use to this. The outlet holes don't actually fit the metal prongs on....well...anything. They are too big for our adapters, too big for normal plugs..they are just too big. So, it can be kinda frustrating because you aren't always guaranteed a solid connection - things kind of jostle around. Having too many appliances on at one time will blow a fuse. Ask my roommate - she's done it twice already. In our apartment, you can't have the water heater and the air conditioner on at the same time. If she tried to blow dry her hair, I have to turn off the tv or all of the lights. It's kinda funny.

We are all set up at the Indian Institute for Astrophysics (IIA) now. Russell and I share an office and Sonnett and Nick share another. We have all met with our mentors and have decided on projects. I'm going to be modeling pulsar profiles (which look at the flux - or how much radiation is coming out of the pulsar - versus the longitude with respect to our line of sight, or in other words, how the pulsar is doing its thing per period) to see how they changes based on what frequency they were observed in. My adviser wants me to use the geometry of the pulsar to do a theoretical model that will eventually be tested on actual data. Should be cool. I'm just working on some of the background reading and going over some of his papers now, but since we only have 6 weeks left, been going through that as quickly as time allows. But he seems like a very nice guy - easy to talk to and doesn't mind me asking questions (which is a lovely change) - so I'm pretty happy with the work. One other nice thing - they have a canteen here where we can eat lunch: 5 Rps per meal = $.12 US. Very awesome.

Now, I said "as quickly as time allows", that's 'cause we've been doing so much administration stuff that we really haven't had time to do much work. Also why I haven't been posting much - been so frustrated that I was afraid of just sitting here and bitching. We have literally spent the first half of everyday meeting people, filling out forms, walking around, etc.. For example, today, we have to go and register with the local police....why? When we are only going to be here for another six weeks - well, our visa is for 180 days and in small print it says "Registration required within 14 days of arrival in India for visas valid for more than 180 days" - which the coordinators took to mean we need to register. So, we have to go fill out forms, stand in line, photocopy the hell out of our passports....this is on top of never really knowing what we are doing and having our plans change continually. We have also heard the same conversations about a million times - it's just getting to be frustrating when all we want to do is work. Also, it seems as if we are going to have very little of our own time to explore the city because we have 6 weekends left and they are planning 4 field trips to local observatories - which will take at least half the weekend, maybe the whole thing. Add to this a trip to go and see the wondiferous Tilvi in Goa - who has so graciously invited all four of us to his youngest sister's wedding in July - and we have no extra time. I think this is just going to be a lot.

As far as my view of Bangalore goes - it's not at all a city as we would think of a city in the states. Not at all. I mean, it's a city in that the roads are paved, there are lots of people and lots of traffic, and the buildings are taller....but there is still garbage everywhere. Walking on the sidewalk is like hiking through a forest - have to keep your eyes down to step over things because it's never smooth. Traffic is insane. Worst I've ever seen. And there aren't any emission standards here so walking next to the street is disgusting. There is this thick cloud of fumes coming from all of the cars and it just hangs around the street. I will take pictures so you can see. Many people carry handkerchiefs with them and it's not surprising. Also, there are still dogs and cows walking around the street, just like it was in the rural areas. It's so prevalent, in fact, that Sonnett actually stepped into a nice fat cow patty the other day when we were walking home from work. Probably one of the funniest things that's happened here. "Sonnett Stepped in Cow Poo; A Metaphor". The three of us laughed for such a long time.

Another thing is that the city as a whole is not as westernized as everyone had us believe. We get stared at all the time - from entire bus loads of people. Granted, there are more women walking around wearing non-traditional clothes, but they do not dominate the population. Last night we went to the Forum, which is a four-story mall and movie theater complex. That was definitely the most western place we've been - very upper-caste people wearing American-esque clothes. A Tommy Hilfiger store, Wranglers, Levi, etc. But the truth was, I still only saw 3 other white people there. And we were still getting looked at a lot. I think Sonnett and I will go back there sometime soon to do some shopping. She and I are also going to pre-order the Harry Potter book...so we can get it when it's released =)

Other than that - been trying to cook for ourselves. Kiran came over the other night and showed me how to make some traditional Indian food. I, for my credit, burnt the hell out of the rice (maid must have looooved me). I've also been making some more "home" food like grilled cheese and pasta. Sonnett lives on oatmeal (gross) and semi-instant Indian dishes. Russell can no longer eat Indian food because his stomach is shot to hell - so peanut-butter-and-jelly for him and pizza (like Domino's and Pizza Hut, which is not bad).

We have to go hang out at the police station now. God knows how long that will be. I will try to get pictures up as soon as I can. All my love. =)