Waking up early can pay off

In my last post I made mention that I have been in India for about a month. Earlier today it occurred to me that it's also been a year since I quit working at Hanger – the end of August is an important time! It seems fitting, then, that I am looking at a 6-day vacation celebration. And then we go back to class for one day, and then it's the weekend so we have 2 more off. Hooray!

Don't get me wrong, my students are fantastic. I'm having a blast teaching here at TC, but come on, who doesn't appreciate a bunch of days off all in a row?

My classes begin at 11am now, so I've got a little time in the mornings to myself. Yesterday I purchased a couple of pairs of pants from one of the roadside vendors only to find that one of them was way too big for me. This morning I decided to run up to McLeod Ganj to exchange them. On the way I scouted out some turquoise earrings; I only brought 2 pairs of earrings to India with me, and turquoise is abundant in these parts, so I figured I'd get some. I stopped at a stall run by a Tibetan man who had a 7 month old baby with him (I asked, I don't have some magical ability to tell an infant's age) and he gave me the prices on his wares. After checking my wallet I realized I had only brought about 200 rupees with me; he was asking 350 for the ones I liked. He asked how much I'd give him for them (that's how it usually goes here) and I said I could only give him 150, because that's all I had. I wanted to stop for tea on the way back and that's usually about 30-40 rupees. He told me that he'd give me a “first customer of the day discount,” and if I gave him the 150 then I could bring him the other 100 later. Seriously, he suggested it. So not only was I getting a 100 rupee discount (almost 25%), but he was letting me walk off owing almost half of it. How could I turn that down?

So I agreed, paid him the 150 rupees, and set off to do the rest of my business. On the way back down I had a cup of masala tea and a chat with a dear friend, and then I went to teach class.

After class was over I made my first solo venture to Lower Dharamsala where I picked up my custom made salwar kameez, some spices and fruit, and a few odds and ends I'd decided I could use. General merchandise tends to be cheaper down there than it is in McLeod. On the trek back up it started raining. Of course. I didn't accept any rides from taxis – or the one guy on a motorcycle who offered – mainly because I was timing how long it took me to make the trip on foot, and also because it wasn't cold even though I got soaked by the time I made it to my place. I don't mind walking in the rain now and then.

Thirty minutes to get there, and about 35 to get back, for anyone who's interested. I was a little surprised; I felt like it took forever to make my way up all those steps.

One hot shower and a tiny bit of video gaming later, I headed back into McLeod Ganj to pay off my balance on the earrings and find some dinner. I wound up at The Clay Oven, which thankfully seems to make better sweet & sour veg than the last place I ordered it. They've also got pretty good internet, such that I was able to have a couple of Skype conversations and, as you can see, post this blog. This makes me happy. The food is pretty good, the atmosphere is nice, the internet is solid, but the thing that decided for me that I'll be back is the music: since I got here I have heard Sweet Home Alabama, Wonderwall, Imagine, Ironic, Pretty Woman, and How's It Going to Be (omg omg omg) as well as a handful of other songs that fall into that "I really dig this old song but I have no idea what it is or who sings it" category. Well played, Clay Oven. You had me at Third Eye Blind.

I may finally be getting this Skype thing figured out as far as which places in town have good enough internet to support it, so those of you who haven't connected with me there yet (Lindsey, Casey, I'm looking at you!) should hit me up. Also! Who wants to learn Esperanto with me? I will give you Skyping priority if you do! (Read this to find out why I'm taking this detour on my way to learning Hindi. Check out the rest of his page too, this dude is pretty cool.)