Legend of the White Rock

Four days after the snowboarding adventure and I'd say I'm back to about 95%. My neck is still a bit stiff, but for the most part I can go about my day and not be distracted by it. This pleases me.

We've been making an effort to soak up as much of the sunshine as possible, especially since this region is known for its clouds and rain. It's still a little cool -- 40s, mostly -- but compared to 30 below it's practically flipflop weather. Yesterday Brij took me down to one of the local scenic spots, White Rock Beach. I had been wanting some ice cream, so we found a shop, grabbed some, and talked to the old guys sitting out in front for a few minutes. Canadians are so fucking nice, eh (5:20).

For which the town and beach are named.

Walking down to the end of the pier.

According to the plaque near the big rock, scientists say it was brought down by a glacier. According to one of the local First Nation (I'm told that's what the people native to the area prefer to be called -- Native Americans, natives, Indians, etc are considered insulting) tribal stories, it was thrown out of the sea by a god who had fallen in love with a human princess; wherever the rock landed, their people would settle. That's how the local First Nation got started, apparently. The rock itself is periodically spraypainted white because early in the 20th century it suffered bouts of graffiti; the plaque states that the last straw was when some hooligans painted it black and put a big white skull and crossbones on it. Personally, I think that's pretty awesome.

White is cool too though, I guess.

Observations on India 2

• Yes, my knee is looking (and feeling) better. Thank you for your concern.
  
  
• You know that saying about “People often mistake kindness for flirtation because it's so rare these days”? There's truth in it. I may need to stop being so nice.

• Prices for goods (and services) easily reach into the multiple 100s in India; you will find yourself tempted to haggle the prices down. Keep in perspective just how much 100 rupees actually amounts to, though: about $1.65. If someone quotes you 600 rupees and your reaction is “My god, that's so expensive!” keep in mind that it's actually only about 10 bucks. If you manage to talk them down 50 rupees congratulations, you've saved almost a whole dollar. Sometimes it's less stressful for you (and better for the local economy) to just accept that the original price is still pretty damn low and cough it up.

• Restaurants advertise when they have ice cubes available, because this is a fairly rare commodity here.

• Restaurants also advertise when they take care to wash their veggies in something better than tap water (I believe most of them specify potassium permanganate.. I'm not a chemist, though, so I may have gotten that wrong) because

• You do not want to consume the water unless it's been boiled first, and for this reason

• “hot water” is the beverage you order here. It's the free, default beverage you get, like you can always get ice water in the States.

• Unless the restaurant you are ordering from has one of the above disclaimers, you probably do not want to order any sort of raw veggie. Sadly, this means salad is very hard to come by, and it's almost impossible to maintain a raw diet (if you're going for that sort of thing).

• Standards of cleanliness, professionalism, and time management are very different in India than they are in the US.

• If you do decide to scrub the walls in your new Indian place of residence, be forewarned that a fair amount of that dirt may be load bearing. Don't be surprised if you get just as much paint off the walls in the process... not that I know from experience or anything.

• Incense is your friend. So is hand sanitizer. This is coming from someone who uses neither at home in the US.