i wish her safe from harm

Tonight was unexpected--rather than working until midnight, like I had expected to, I went to Mebaz with Matt to hang out while he tried on his suits, and then we went to dinner at Fusion 9. Now it's twenty 'til one, and I have to be at work in eight hours. Sadness!

I had a fun experience at Mebaz--I saw this material that I might like to turn into a skirt at some point, and so I wanted to buy a couple of meters of it, but the material had already been cut and so only came in two fragments instead of a full length of fabric. I told them that I would just take the 2.5 meter section, but they got confused and then told me that they needed to know what I wanted to use it for. Their suggestions were 'tablecloth' or 'nightie', both of which were incorrect, and so I told them that I just liked the fabric. Matt speculated later that they hypnotized me, because I had been adamant about taking only 2.5 meters instead of the three that I had initially requested, but after watching the designer fold and refold the fabric, I suddenly decided to take all of the available fabric. He was almost hypnotized into ordering more shirts, and they did successfully hypnotize him into getting another suit. The people at Mebaz are super dangerous if you are at all enamored with fabric. Also, it was almost like Christmas in there--they had the air conditioner pumped up so that it felt like winter, and they were playing a Christmas soundtrack. I'm not making this up--it was clearly Christmas music, replete with instrumental versions of 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,' 'Do You Hear What I Hear' (which of course reminds me of the wonderful Christmas program that Michael and I put on in Ukraine), and other Christmas songs. Between the frigidity of the air, the festivity of the music, and the fun of choosing new clothes and fabrics, it really did feel like Christmas!

Now, after two cosmopolitans and half a bottle of wine, it's probably time to retire for the evening. I can't believe that it's almost the weekend--I have less than six weeks left in Hyderabad! To my friends out there, it turns out that the nickname 'Hellabad' was perhaps premature--there are things about living in India that completely suck (the traffic, the pollution, the complete lack of privacy), but all in all it's been a very positive experience. And on that uncharacteristically positive note, it's time to say goodnight!