Week 2...

So as you can see from all the pictures, this has been an eventful week! We (myself and 3 other volunteers) have moved to a new guesthouse. There were several problems at the old one (namely, bedbugs and no water or showers) so we are now happily living in a cozy place right up the street (with NO bugs and plenty of water!) It seemed like a much, much shorter week than the previous one- I guess getting used to things here has made the time speed up a bit. We've successfully managed to take the bus to work on our own this week without getting lost, so that's an accomplishment. (Also, no one has died in the crazy traffic or crossing the street- another small miracle!) We had the priviledge of being invited to a traditional Bengali luncheon on Tuesday provided by the socialite women of Bengal who are creating a cookbook to sell with some traditional Indian spices. The food was very good- and I now know that I really like Aloo Daum (which is a potato dish) and that is helpful when you are at a restaurant and nothing looks familiar. I also discovered egg rolls-Indian style- that this guy makes at a little stand just up the street from where we work. They are amazing!! It's like a thick tortilla that they fry on their pan, and then when the one side is done, they flip it over and scramble 2 eggs on the other side. So the eggs wind up cooked to the bread, and then they stuff it with various vegetables, or chicken, or mutton, or pretty much whatever you want. (And of course they all have onions... and masala!!) They are spicy but wonderful, and only cost Rs20- or possibly less depending on where you get them (which is about.... 50 cents US!!)
We also got to work on a mass project with the girls at the center- there are pictures of us putting tags on all the blue cell phone bags. It was a pretty cool project, and I hope it enlightens the people receiving the bags.
Last night Danielle and I decided to go out to dinner because it was Friday. So we get to the restaurant (very posh for India) and there is this white guy waiting. (You notice foreigners so easily here- the other morning at breakfast I was actually suprised that I could understand the conversation I was overhearing from the next table- I'm already used to tuning out because I can't understand what anyone's saying). So we asked for a non smoking table for 2, and we were seated at the table directly next to the door. Which is why we overheard the guy asking the waiter why we got seated before him. And then his friend came back from the toilet, and the waiter told him that he couldn't give them a table for two in that section because it was the "family section," and if two men wanted a table they had to sit by the bar. (Which is ridiculous- apparently brothers can't go out to dinner alone here, but anyway.) So since we had just sat down and were also rather suprised at this new Indian rule, Danielle and I asked if they wanted to get a table for 4, so we did. Which is how we wound up having a lovely dinner with Chris and Sam. They are from the UK and were headed home today. So we got to hear all about their 3 weeks of travelling in India and all the adventures they'd had- they gave us some advice about hotels and places to stay away from. It is great to be able to meet travellers from all over the world, and it so easy to talk to them because you're all in India (and what more do you need in common than that!) They were very grateful to us for rescuing them, and we all had an enjoyable evening.
The rest of the weekend looks pretty uneventful... I would like to go to church tomorrow and I have some more errands to run before we start work again on Monday. I need to get a Bengali dictionary so I can try to teach some of our girls a little more English- but first I have to know what I'm trying to teach them! It's nice to have the weekends off- gives me a chance to rest (the only drawback to our new housing situation is that the laundryman knocks on our door before 7 am every morning.) -and catch all of you up on what's going on here in India!!!