expatriates in peril

So it seems like a plague of physical disaster is spreading throughout the expat community. My back is getting worse, rather than better, and Regina (whose back had not hurt initially after the accident on Sunday) is now experiencing back pain as well. Several people have a variety of stomach ailments that are typical to India (although no one has cholera, much to my chagrin), one person has tonsillitis, and one person went to Malaysia on holiday last week, got a foot massage, and has severe swelling across the bridge of one of her feet as a result. Now is apparently not a good time to be an expat, and I hope that the plague passes before I develop any respiratory issues. Although if that does happen, I know that I can just go swallow a live fish, and so I'm not dreading it like I was before.

I switched apartments tonight, which didn't help my back; I had intended to come home early today, but I had a growing list of things that had to get done immediately, and so I still didn't get home until six-thirty. Once I got here, I had to pack up everything so that it could get hauled upstairs to my new apartment. In some ways it's nicer than the previous one--the bathroom is definitely nicer, and there are more drawers and shelves. However, the bed is smaller, and the pipes make a strange shrieking noise occasionally, so it's kind of a toss-up as to which room was preferable. I'll give it a few days before passing judgment, since the fact that I had to pack up all my stuff made me ill-disposed to liking the new place. I'll also take pictures once I'm actually unpacked, since right now things are just deposited wherever they happened to end up.

If I continue to write, all I will do is whine about my back, or the amount of work that I have, or the fact that I spent all afternoon drooling at my desk over the thought of Jack-in-the-Box's Bacon-Bacon Cheeseburger after having a 'lunch' of a half-cup of spicy potatoes followed by a snack of microwave popcorn. I will be in a much better mood after I've had some sleep. And please, do not take the crankiness of this post to indicate that I am not enjoying India--India is fantastic, and I wouldn't trade this experience for the world. Unless the world was made of bacon, in which case I might have to reconsider that statement.