Settling in

I'm settling into a routine now, although it's kind of a lonely one.

I was instructed to set up a time to take tea and breakfast in the morning, which means I am forced to be out of bed and reasonably clothed by 7:30. This wouldn't be so bad, except I'm still jetlagging, so I become wide awake just when I need to go to bed.

Bouncing back from my initial disappointment, I've settled on something even better. There's a really nice yoga studio within walking distance of my house, so starting on Monday I'll be taking two weeks of intensive, 90 minute classes, starting at 6:30 (groan). They tell us not to shower afterward because it messes with your chi or something. Again, the not showering thing...

When I say "I settled" on it, it's not really the whole truth. I am getting pampered to the point that it's kind of embarrassing. I've seen a single other white person since I've been here, so maybe that's part of it, but everyone treats me as though I'm about to die from heat stroke or keel over from culture shock. They offered to walk me to the metro and are constantly asking me if the food is too spicy. I try to tell people that I love Indian food, but to no avail. Anyway the point of this is that, despite the fact that they spoke English and it's 100 meters away, Colonel Nayar got his guard to walk me around and do errands with me. It's ok, because he's hilarious, but still.... I don't think I've been taken care of like this since I was a child.

This weekend I'm going to start exploring the city. There are other interns at work who are about my age (including a 1L from GWU), so I've been hanging out with them at the office, but people live all over the place / with their parents, so no post-work options so far. Also, most of them are only here for a couple more weeks, which is lame. One of my supervisors is trying to help me find a bar to watch the Champions League final, and I'm going to (maybe) start playing basketball with guys from work in the mornings before work, so hopefully I'll have a real friend soon. (one exception: my friend Flo, who was July's roommate in Prague, is living here and I'm going to see her this weekend! but... she too is leaving me in a couple weeks. Lame.). In the meantime, there's always the Nayars. We talk about cricket, traveling in Europe, and how crazy Pakistan is (that's a real favorite). Pretty awesome stuff.

Time to go to work. I'm doing work that is *exactly* the same as some of the research I did for my senior thesis, which is pretty awesome.