Wow...sheep learn faster than me...

Every day a very nice young man from the office (wow, just saying it that way makes me sound so very old...) comes around and asks us what we would all like for lunch, and our tradition is to get samosas, which are quite tasty. But yesterday, I was thinking that more fried stuff for lunch wasn't what I had in mind, so I asked if they could get me some mixed veggies and naan (bread), assuming that if they came from the samosa guy, they would also be fine and all that, since the samosas had never given any of us any problems.

I may have been overly generous in that assumption.

I don't know if this counts as what my parents would refer to as "Karachi crud", a notorious and nonspecific digestive illness that struck every expat at one time or another when we lived here, but I'm working from home today in order to not have to try to look like I'm not feeling like crap - since that feels like too much work. I'm also drinking lots of water - hydration is key, you know.

Lois leaves today for her home leave - meaning she'll be back on July 25th, after I leave. Which is too bad, I have come to really like Lois, and I think she's extremely cool for taking jobs like the one she has (she's also been a principal at international schools in Bolivia and Spain) and just deciding that she's going to do this stuff by herself. So my playmate is leaving, which makes me sad - but apparently the American Consulate Club has dart nights on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Maybe I'll see if they'll let me in with just my passport and I can befriend some Marines or construction guys, since they're likely to be the only people here at this time of year. (And Darren - any jokes you might come up with regarding that last sentence, I've already thought of. I'm just sayin'.)

I heard from Judy today, and apparently she spoke with our COO about my..."popularity". He told her that if I felt unsafe, they'd pull me out, but that it was my decision and that if I was comfortable staying here, they'd let me stay. I think I've sufficiently put the kibosh on the unnecessary friendliness, so things should be fine - plus, our project manager returns from vacation on Monday. Even though he'll be based in Hyderabad, it will be good to have him here, I don't think I have much more to be worried about.

Back to work for me - I'm creating data entry spreadsheets to use with our completed surveys...whenever they get completed. (In some ways, it feels like everything is a work in progress here.)