Settling in...

Things are going well so far - we went out for dinner tonight to a lovely Italian restaurant. Quite tasty, and now I'm very full. (So far, none of that dysentery I was hoping for...well, maybe in the villages.) Our power went out for a little whille earlier, and I got a glimpse of what life in Karachi might be like without a/c. The answer is "sucky". So I'm glad that the power came back on.

There are several things that I don't think I'll be taking for granted again. The first is our cable modem at home. Bless the cable modem - it beats the hell out of dial up. I dialed in this morning and got a connection speed of a whopping 4.2 Kbps. For those of you who don't really know what that means, think of the slowest thing you can think of. Then make it a lot slower. That was my connection speed. The second is drivers who view the lines on the road as more than just a suggestion. Because you really have to experience the traffic here to believe it - it's phenomenal. So far, we've shared the road with other cars, those wild, decorated buses, people jaywalking in the middle of very heavy, very fast-moving traffic, bicycles, donkeys, beggars, and a kid with a monkey. Once again, let's all give thanks for our drivers - they rock, and they're not shy with the horn. (In the States, your horn can sometimes be more like an accessory - here, you can't possibly make it from point A to point B without using it multiple time, unless you're going next door.)

Things are fine, though. I'm making friends with a girl in the office - she's a 22-year old Pakistani structural engineer, and she's amazed that I'm here by myself. (Sometimes I am too, but for different reasons.) Her name is Sona, and she's very sweet. She also thought I was her age - HAH! Not that I'm a fossil, but...well, I'm not 22.

That's enough out of me for tonight. Off to do some yoga (when in Rome...), and head to bed.