Let's try this again...

I typed an entry earlier today, and it got lost somehow. And I was far too tired to try to re-create it, so I figured I'd just worry about it later. It is now later, so here we go.

I had my first day in the office today, which was interesting. Again, everyone is very nice, but I can definitely feel that I'm something of an oddity (no comments from the peanut gallery, kids). I'm getting accustomed to being stared at - just have to think of it as relatively impersonal and ignore it. Again - everyone is really nice to me, I had a meeting today that stretched out for four hours - although only one hour of it was actually spent talking directly to the gentleman with whom we were meeting. He was constantly on his cell phone, his land line, checking out a fax, buzzing his secretary, etc. So really, we could have accomplished what little we accomplished in an hour. And he keeps referring to me as "Dr. Judy's apprentice", so I'm sure I'll get all kinds of respect when she's gone. Yay!!

I'm working on adjusting to jetlag - tonight should be easier. I woke up at 2 am this morning and tried to go back to sleep. I say "tried" because I was "completely unsuccessful". Finally gave up around 6 am and decided to make the best of it. By about 1 pm I was dragging. Unfortunately, despite efforts to wrap things up, the meeting went until 3. So, a quick nap, and I've made it through dinner and even have some energy to post.

Unfortunately, I'm kind of here at the wrong time for a social life of any sort - all the expats are leaving town for the next month or so. Kind of wishing I'd brought that knitting after all. So...I guess I'll have a lot of thinking time over the next nine weeks. And time to watch CNN and BBC world news - I'll be nauseatingly well informed upon my return. Plus the working out thing - I'm going to see what I can do about using the facilities at the American school.

The food here is wonderful - as some of you may know, I quite like Indian food, and there are a lot of similarities. In fact, so far I haven't noticed any major differences to speak of. But it's only been a day and a half. In any case, that is a definite plus.

Fun little fact - they mark potholes in the road (when they take note of them at all) with little concrete pillars about 12 inches high. So, in order to spare you the possibility of messing up your alignment, they kindly call your attention to it and give you the option of destroying your entire engine block, instead. Quite sensible, really! Traffic is very interesting here, and I'm SOOO glad that we have a very good and very nice driver.

The heat doesn't actually bother me, despite being totally covered. I'm not sure, but I think it might actually help. I really want to go shopping for some local clothes, as I'm sick of sticking out so much. Everyone should really have the experience of being in the minority at least once in their life - it's very humbling!

That's about it for now - hope everyone is well!