don't try to fight the feeling 'cause the thought alone is killing me right now

I'm sorry that I didn't write last night; I went out for dinner with Lauren, Josh, Heather, Salim, and the newly-arrived Nick (v. impressive that he got off the plane after spending two days travelling and rallied in time for dinner 45 minutes later), and I came back exhausted. I didn't sleep much on Thursday night, had lots to do on Friday at work, and went almost immediately to dinner after leaving work. We went to Touch, the most amusing restaurant in Hyderabad--it's the restaurant that is home to red lighting and floor-to-ceiling white curtains billowing throughout the rooms. Dinner was great fun, and yet I was more tired after that dinner than I was after the dinner on Thursday, even though I drank less than half as much alcohol as I did at Fusion 9 and got home an hour and a half earlier. Perhaps my stamina was drained by my rather annoying phone call with Wells Fargo; the amount that I can withdraw using an ATM machine hasn't changed since I opened the account in college six years ago, despite the fact that my income stream has changed significantly. This isn't a problem in the States, where I rarely use cash anyway. But, it is a huge problem here, where even major purchases must often be done in cash (such as airline tickets, or the major tshirt order that I am supposed to pick up today). I think that they really don't want to change it because they get a $5 fee every time I use a non-Wells Fargo ATM, and so they're encouraging me to withdraw relatively small amounts every day for a week if I want to buy anything big. Anyway, I called and expected this to be relatively easy to resolve, but they told me that I can't raise the limit without going to a branch. They very kindly offered to raise my point-of-purchase limit (useless, since I don't buy things with my card here), or to raise my withdrawal limit for sixty minutes (useless since it was after midnight, and stupid because it proved that the limit *can* be raised remotely). I was really angry, but I was also slightly intoxicated, and I didn't want to turn belligerent, so I hung up on them instead. After that, I was too tired to blog, and almost fell asleep with my contacts in--but I managed to rescue my eyes from my own aggression before going to bed.

So, that was Friday. I may not be able to write tonight either, because we're celebrating my birthday tonight instead of waiting until tomorrow. The scavenger hunt is materializing with rather forboding success--we're leaving the apartments at the auspicious time of 4:03pm, and we'll have three and a half hours to find as many things on the list as we possibly can before meeting for dinner at Ohri's at 7:30. There, we will project the pictures from each team's exploits and generally have a raucous good time before ending up back here. We were supposed to have two teams: the Banjara Hillbillies vs. Banjara Hills 90210. As I've perhaps mentioned before, there is a stark and vicious divide between the preppies and the hicks in the group; you can guess which side I fall under. Very sadly, two of my favorite hillbillies (John and Holly) had to go back to the States last night because Holly's grandmother passed away; it's a shame that they won't be here, since they were extremely excited about kissing water buffalo and cramming ten people into an autorickshaw. Because of this loss, we may have to redivide the teams, since we're down to approximately three hillbillies (me, Josh, and Heather, who doesn't want to come because she gets carsick) vs. eight city kids (Lauren, Salim, Regina, Rohit, Nick, Saamra, Jessie, and Brian). That's not to say that me and Josh couldn't singlehandedly take all of those weak, ineffectual suburbanites, but it would be more fun with evenly-split teams.

So, we'll see how it goes--we'll be lucky if we get out of this without contracting a water-borne disease or suffereing serious injuries. I'll post the scavenger hunt list at the end of this entry so that you can imagine the types of obstacles we will face.

All in all, I'm having a great time in Hellabad (or, as one travel agent called it, 'Hyperdad'--it's hard to have faith in a travel agent when they don't know what city you're located in). Maybe my positive feelings are directly related to summer-camp syndrome; the end of the experience is in sight, and suddenly there's this rush to do everything that you promised yourself you would do all summer no longer have enough time to do. But, I can discuss summer-camp syndrome (and the related 'summer friends' issue) at another time; now I'm going with Lauren to run errands and pick up my tshirt order. If I don't post tonight, please forgive me, and I'll write tomorrow!

<-------The List (devised by Josh)------->

Swampfest 2005

The Hunt for Truth

Start Location: Jayabheri Gamma 402

End Location: Ohri’s Chinese restaurant

Time: the auspicious hours between 4:03-7:32

Rules: Each team must photograph or video as many items on the list as possible in the time allowed. Anyone savvy in Hindi may not use any language other than English UNLESS 11 marshmallows are housed in her or his mouth while speaking. No photo may feature the driver as the “action figure”.

Scoring: 1 point for every item photographed unless indicated. You may get as many optional items or as few as you like in any order you like.

Judging: If a point of contention occurs, Princess Swampler will have the final say- like it or not.

Penalties: 1 point deduction for every 5 minutes (or part of) late to Ohri’s, unless you get the tattoo or something pierced.

Teams will be assigned at 4:00 along with drivers. Hillbillies v. 90210…

The list:

MANDATORY:

1. Purchase some form of fireworks
2. VIDEO break-dance move in Hyderabad Central (extra point for “the worm” aka “the centipede”- extra point for each expat)
3. Picture in front of the Charminar (hint: it’s near the fireworks).

OPTIONAL:

1. Get a room at the Passion Men’s Hostel
2. Man peeing on the side of the road
3. Goats eating a paper product (“recycling”)
4. Cows eating garbage
5. Max people in a rickshaw (one point for every person, one photo)
6. Water buffalo sleeping in the road
7. Veg dog (extra point for an expat petting the dog)
8. non-veg dog (3 points for an expat petting the dog)
9. Cat
10. Sunbathing by Lake Oracle
11. Covered Manhole
12. Uncovered Manhole
13. Safe-looking electrical box
14. Man wearing a woman’s work helmet and carrying something
15. Hole in the ground toilet
16. Man squatting...see #2
17. Lady in burqa on motorcycle
18. Largest size family on scooter (one point for every person, one photo)
19. Man on scooter carrying a large appliance
20. Purchasing roadside corn on the cob
21. Eating corn on the cob
22. Vomiting corn on the cob
23. Buying bangles
24. Someone in a boat on a lake or other body of water (3 extra
points if in Oracle Lake)
25. Man getting henna (3 extra points if gets henna tips)
26. Men holding hands
27. Man and woman holding hands (max 1 expat)
28. Getting bindi from the priest
29. The second-biggest ganesh (as determined by Princess Swampler or some form of literature)in Hyderabad
30. Riding a bus
31. Drink a king coconut
32. Expat wearing sari
33. Man shaved on side of road (extra point if expat is shaved)
34. 1 man and 1 woman (both expats) doing pan
35. Smoking hookah
36. Expat driving car (video)
37. Expat driving rickshaw (video)
38. Expat on back of random scooter
39. Putting glass on a pizza hut pizza
40. Drinking water from a finger bowl
41. Drinking from a water truck
42. Eating random seafood
43. Live fish
44. Dead fish (extra point for appetizing)
45. Movie being filmed (not at Jayabheri – extra points for being an extra, or if star of film signs any part of body)
46. Trying on biggest chunk of jewelry in jewelry store
47. Expat drinking tap water
48. 1000 rupee note
49. Giving a stuffed animal to a street kid
50. Giving bananas to a street kid
51. Expats having a shot at a bar (point for every different shot)
52. A point for every beer empty.
53. Riding a camel (extra point if done with #52)
54. Expat being eaten by a tiger
55. Monkey
56. Kissing a water buffalo
57. Living pigs
58. Expat holding a live chicken
59. Expat holding a dead chicken
60. Fender bender
61. Pose with a statue in the city
62. Pose on Buddha island
63. Get a tattoo
64. Nose piercing
65. ANY other new piercing
66. Taking Ayurvedic medicine
67. If someone has a nickname, take a picture of them with something that
exemplifies their nickname (i.e. subz)
68. Get your astrological chart
69. Someone playing cricket