So, I know that the last entry ended with me going off on the the Indian government, and really, I'd like to say that it ended there - but it didn't. On Friday, we got to go back to the police station and pick up some certificates. Now, the hugely ironic part was that Sonnet and Nick got their papers in the first 10 minutes of us being there. And for some unknown and god-forsaken reason, my paperwork was not filed with theirs and we ended up sitting there for another HOUR before I finally got what I needed. I was so annoyed at that point that I actually yelled and jumped up and down once we were outside of the office.
This whole mess 'o fun was added to by a meeting earlier in the day to decide which field trips we were going on to "local" observatories, what was expected of us for the program, and when we had to give a couple of presentations. It was rather tedious to talk about everything, especially since it came down to us only having 5 weeks to complete any work and then give a 30-min. presentation on it. More like a work in progress than anything else. But we were all hoping to get something done while being here - and with five weeks, it doesn't really look possible. Also, I don't understand why that stuff wasn't decided before we arrived.
To make it up to ourselves, we went to an expat get together (expatriate - person originating from another country) at a rather nice bar in a rather nice hotel (drinks were ~$10 a pop). But there was a 2-for-1 special, which we liberally abused. And felt much better for it.
The weekend was one to finally relax. I didn't even leave the apartment on Saturday - which was fine by me. Part of it was that the power went out until 3pm and hence, the hot water heater could not heat water. But, also, I just wanted to sort of putz around and read, watch tv, and talk online. Which I did in excess and felt much better. I made pasta for Russell and myself last night, we also ordered pizza (Domino's - tastes like home).
Today, Sonnett and I decided to walk to a local and highly westernized mall called The Forum. Part of the trip was also to find her an ATM that would actually give her money - she's been having problems. But then continued on further to see how far the walk was...~35 minutes, so not bad. The mall offers such stores as Levi, Wranglers, Tommy Hilfiger, McDonalds, etc.. Looks just like a stereotypical American mall. We bought some things that we needed: pants, watch - I needed a tea cup for work (and it was less than $1, so I figured why not?). We also pre-ordered the new Harry Potter book. While it was nice to get out and do some shopping, the mall was painfully crowded since it was a weekend and we both became quickly claustrophobic. It was also a bit frustrating at times because of the way things are set up. If you want to buy something expensive, the assistant has to walk you over to the "Checkout Point" and you then jostle your way to the counter - like you would in a bar - to pay. Then you have to go to another part of the counter to pick up what you just bought 'cause DIFFERENT people bagged your stuff. Like I've said before, they really make a lot of jobs here since there are so many people. But even buying cookies was frustrating because you have to go to multiple places in the little store to finally pay and get what you purchased.
There was a grocery store across the street from The Forum, which we stopped at for a few things. I was sort of poking around in the back when I noticed a rather nice alcohol section. But as I made way towards it, a horrible and pungent smell - that was a mixture of sewage and bad fish - became stronger and all encompassing. I tried to tough it out, even put my shirt over my nose, but to no avail. I realized when I felt my lunch coming back up - not exaggerating - that I should get out of the store. Do other people really not notice this? Are their olfactory nerves dead?
During the walk home, Sonnett and I were constantly stared at - you know, two white women in the middle of India - and even yelled at. I yelled back a few times. But we decided to take a more residential route home, which was much more pleasant and relaxing.
For those of you asking, here are more pictures - including more of me - illustrating some of the above entry:
http://asu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021262&l=f0d60&id=4301793
Also, some pseudo-official pictures from the program:
http://eo.nso.edu/ires/India
Then we also have a page containing my project title and recent photo of me (if you click my name) as well as the announcement for the short talks that we will be giving on Tuesday (which are supposed to be about current research - which I can't really present on - so I'm just talking about a topic I know some about from a project I did during fall semester):
http://www.iiap.res.in/ires.html
http://www.iiap.res.in/iressem.html
There - I hope you are totally me-in-India saturated. I better practice my talk now. 'Night.
