The everyday stuff

Some people have pointed out that I sometimes forget to talk about the everyday crap. Weather, my transportation habits, accommodations, etc. So here's a quick summary:

My apartment is really nice. I share a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom with one other guy, Josh. Actually, his girlfriend, Ghouda, basically lives with us, but that's fine cuz she's really cool and cooks me an incredible breakfast from time to time. Josh is also out of town a lot so it's nice to have someone to chill, have drink with when I get home from work. My place is on the 7th and top floor of Adarsh Gardens. I have a great view of the city and the mountains in the distance. It's really nice to sit out there and read during the day or just look out at the city at night. My room has 2 closets, a queen size bed and a dresser. The beds here are very different than American mattresses. They are a bit harder, more like a pad than anything else. It doesn't really bother me, though. I've been sleeping great.

I have a maid who cleans my apartment everyday. This guy is incredible! He changes my sheets and towels, sweeps and mops the whole place, takes out the trash, cleans all the dishes, straightens up anything that's around (He puts all of my shoes in the closet and folds all of my clothes and puts them on my bed, kind of like my mom). I started keeping a bottle of water next to my bed, and he's even keeps it full with fresh water everyday. He does all of this on a daily basis! It's great! There's a laundry service that costs very little, but we also have a washer in my apartment so I generally just use that. It's just easier.

The weather is fantastic! Bangalore is on a plateau, so the weather is really quite temperate considering the location. It hasn't really gotten much hotter than about 92 degrees outside during the day and it gets quite cool at night, around 70. We're in the rainy season right now, but that just means that it rains almost every night, which is fine cuz I'm usually either chillin in someone's apartment or out at a bar. The rain also helps it cool down, so that's all good with me.

Another one of the marketing execs moved in a few days ago. Her name is Winnie. She was a marketing major at the Stern School of Management at NYU. Really cool girl! We’ve been hanging out quite a bit eating dinner, going grocery shopping, taking the bus to work, etc. A bunch of the other new guys moved onto the campus into the hotel there because the rainy season can apparently make the commute worse, but I haven’t seen much of a delay.

I take a bus back and forth from the apartment when I'm just going to work in the morning and back in the evening, but I can get a car and driver pretty much whenever I want to. No, I don't have the same driver all the time. I had to run some errands in the city today and my driver was really cool. They are also usually extremely helpful. They'll wait for you outside of wherever you go and will come to assist you with pretty much anything you need. This is nice because Indians will often try to scam me cuz I'm white and they know I have money, so my driver will usually step in and correct the situation. Today I had to find a notary public to notarize an affidavit and this really sketchy guy tried to take me to a back alley where he said the notary was. My driver, who was a big Indian dude, came with me to make sure everything was kosher. He threatened to beat this dude if anything happened, but luckily everything was cool and there was actually a notary in this alley. Very weird! Also, the local government can be very corrupt, so I often have to bribe people to get what I need. For example, the notary tried to make me pay 400 Rs. (about $9) for his signature and stuff. I bartered him down to 30 Rs. with the help of my handy chauffeur. These are just the little things you have to get used to.

I saved the best for last: One of the coolest things around are the monkeys that chill around my apartment. There are three of them that are always hanging out in this tree outside my building. Just think about having monkeys around all the time! It’s awesome! Just as long as they don’t bite me. I’ve been trying to think of good names for them. Bruss thinks I should go Jane Goodall on them and observe their behaviors till I can give them appropriate names, so we’ll see what happens. I’ll keep you posted.

That’s about it for now. Keep the questions coming if you have any, it’s nice that people are somewhat interested. Damn, I can’t wait to get a digital camera because it’s really going to make this much more interesting.

-Nate