Sorry for my negligence. I've already been here a week and I know the masses have been clammoring to know exactly what has been going on. To be honest I've had time to write but I wanted to provide a proper update with pictures, stories, allegories and possibly even myths. All of that has been pretty tough to get together - mostly because I don't have a camera of my own and am extremely timid when it comes to asking for anything from anyone. I finally got up the courage yesterday to ask for a camera and as it turned out, it was pouring outside, making it impossible to go outside or see anything. I was left to take a very dark picture of the front room of the office and of my desk - both of which can be incredibly misleading not seeing the entire picture. It's like seeing Dennis Rodman getting married in a wedding dress but then never knowing that he was a Hall of Fame NBA rebounder. I don't know if it changes anything, but it's good information to have. Anyways, here are those pictures. Take them with a grain of salt. I'll have more later.
I can't emphasize enough how beautiful this place is. If you closed your eyes and imagined a mountainous paradise you would open your eyes here and find that God has shown you things you couldn't even imagine. Everything here is literally situated on the side of the hill, beautiful stone roads winds up and down and around. The town itself is so high in the air (around 7500 ft) that you're literally walking through clouds most of the day. You can walk into your front yard and see some of the highest peaks of the Himalayas. It's just unreal. There is something every single day that literally just makes you stop what you're doing, if only to afford a couple extra seconds to look.
On top of that there is a flurry of wildlife that you literally need to contend with everyday. There are several species of monkeys that are quite active in distrupting your day. I had to scare off a couple the other day that were going through my garbage. There are wild dogs everywhere. Some of them follow you and protect you from monkeys actually. There are rumors of leopards - which would be incredible to actually see. Then of course a myriad of insects and other things that are creepy, disgusting, and much bigger than you'd expect. I've already seen some big spiders, but I'm told I have cockroaches, rats, and scorpions waiting for me.
Work itself hasn't really started. We're still in orientation mode, getting lectures everyday about various things work and culture related. Work really starts this Friday as I'll be going on two projects trips - visiting the sites and meeting the people I'll be working for the rest of the semester. I'll be spending two weeks in Orissa and then another week in Tamil Nadu. After we get back, the real office work will begin. I'm sure the traveling around India on trains and planes, in jungles and metropolitan areas for three weeks should be a worthy start and adventure to start things off.
Alright...that's it for now. More later - sooner hopefully.
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