love is not a victory march

Okay, I've been rather lax with the blogging, which is unforgivable since I had today off. Sadly, I do not have tomorrow off, and that means that I really want to go to bed. Highlights of the last two days:

1) Seeing a cultural program for Gandhi's birthday (the holiday which resulted in the vacation that I had today). Maya's choir sang a few of Gandhi's favorite hymns, other people read verses from the 'Bhagavadgita' or sang Hindi songs, and the governor of Andhra Pradesh showed up to give a speech. The best part, though, was that during the first half hour of the show, there were still guys on stage rearranging the decorations. It was completely unnecessary and thoroughly distracting, but they insisted on redecorating as the program was going on. Awesome!

2) Lunch at Fusion 9. I'm really going to miss that place; Matt and I went there for lunch today, and while it's not the best food in the world, it's a fun place to go.

3) Shopping at Shilparamam and Charminar. Shilparamam is a bazaar set up near my apartment, and I'm sad that I haven't been there before; they have really cool handicrafts, and while I avoided buying another bedspread, I did pick up three cushion covers. Charminar has an insane bazaar; they sell every type of bangle that you could possibly want, but I was sad to realize today that I already have more than I know what to do with, and so I walked away emptyhanded. Matt bought a turban, hoewver, and Jessie bought some bangles, so it was almost worth it.

4) The perfume seller. A friend of Maya's (whom we call the vampire because we had previously only seen him at night) took us to buy perfume from a street-stall someplace. The perfumes, in varieties such as sandalwood or rose, were extremely strong, and smelled like they were actually essential oils. A tiny bottle was 100 rupees, and will probably last me my entire life. After putting just a drop on my wrists, the scent stayed with me all night (despite vigorous full-arm scrubbing upon my homecoming). Jessie and I shared a car home, and we both ended up with major headaches. Still, trying fragrances and having them filled into smaller bottles at a street shop was v. fun.

5) Dinner at a new restaurant. After the cultural show yesterday, John, Holly, Jessie, Matt and I tried a new Chinese restaurant. We were going to try a new restaurant on the fifth floor of the same building, but the elevator was broken and we couldn't find the stairs. Sadly, there were people trapped in the elevator; it was nice for us because there was glass on the outside of the elevator and so we could see them, but they looked pretty miserable. The restaurant we did try, however, was really good, and may actually make it into heavy rotation at some point in the near future.

6) Lost. Best show ever!!! John and Holly brought the DVDs of the first season back from the States; I watched the first two episodes last night, then watched three and four with them tonight. Jessie got hooked as well, and Matt is already hooked from watching them on TV here (they just started playing the first season in India, although we're on the second season in the States), so I bet that my last two weeks will contain more than a little bit of TV watching.

I have so much to do at work that it's not even funny, so it's time to bid you all adieu!