It's now day three. Today we spent at the Foreigner's Regional Registrar's Office (mouthful). It took four hours! I guess that makes you appreciate the United States and technology. Everything was done by hand. We had to fill out the same application three times and it was very long and annoying. It seems like everybody knows English but it's more like Hinglish. The signs here are funny in English. Like all the trashcans say "use me." I saw a sign today that said "Smile more b'cuz smiling improves your face value." I thought that was funny. We are doing a lot better now. Everyday gets easier and better. This afternoon we are going to look at apartments with the realtor. We will be living in the apartment after we get back from Mussoorie. We leave for Mussoorie on Saturday morning, it's a nine hour drive but in an air conditioned bus, so it's not that bad. I'm excited to go to Mussoorie because it is in the mountains and it will be a lot cooler there. It rained a bit today and it cooled things off a lot. It reminded Andrew and I of when we spray down the flameworking courtyard at the Craft Center to cool it off. It works really well. Andrew said today that he wants a Bacon Guacamole Burger from Carl's Junior really bad. We have seen McDonalds but not a Carl's Junior, but the menu is different. We plan to start taking more pictures, but I can't upload them until I can get my computer hooked up (in Mussoorie). Until then posts will be pictureless. But I'll take a picture of the hostel we're in so you can see it in about a week. We don't have a phone yet, we're still deciding on how to get one. It costs about 2300 RS for a phone for six months. That's about $57 US. We'll figure it out soon. We have made a friend here, and I really appreciate it. We were walking down the street and a man got us to go into a travel agency. To make him happy we went in. Then we were angry at the man behind the desk and his cousin, and got into a little arguement about being rude and not wanting to sit down. Then we sat, and talked to the man, got some free maps, then left. He turned out to be nice. Then the cousin saw us leaving and he called us over. He said that he did not mean to be rude but he is sick of Americans not trusting him. We said we had to be on the defense too. He agreed. Then he offered to buy us a cup of Chai. So we had tea with him and talked for about 2 hours. He told us to come back the next day. So yesterday we went back. He told stories of his home (he is from Kashmir and had to leave 4 years ago because of the fighting with Pakistan), we told him about America. He is very well travelled, all over Europe. His name is Niez. I have the feeling his family has a lot of money. He asked us if we would like to come over for dinner at his house. So we did. His house was very nice. He lives with his cousin and his servant. His servant was really funny. I felt like we were having a conversation but he didn't speak English. They have a cat named Suzie. I would gesture to the cat and he would say something and I would say something it was like a conversation but I was speaking English and him Kashmiri. I liked them a lot. He told us to come back any time we want. He is the first person I have met in Delhi that did not try to sell my anything. He said because of his religion he belive sthat there is more in life than just making money, and that the karma from making a friend also has a lot of worth. I don't trust him completely yet, but he has only been nice so far, so there is no reason to distrust him. He might go visit him again tomorrow. I can't think of much else. We have been doing really well. We are well rested and fed. Andrew says he doesn't want to use the computer until we can just use our own laptops and we don't have to pay--maybe after that he will start updating himself. But he is doing well. His stomach was upset last night but he took some pepto bismal and he is eating again today (and dreaming of a Bacon Guac). There have been no more incidents with men, now Andrew and I walk side by side all the time (even in big groups). Well that's all for now folks!
We woke up at 6 am to catch the 7 am taxi (170Rs each). They obviously weren't kidding about the taxi being booked. Even at such an early time the taxi stand was packed with people yelling for a taxi to Pelling, most looked really frustrated and we were glad that we had our tickets the day before. The taxi was packed full, at one point we had 18 people crammed in there (two were kids). The kid sitting on his mom's lap next to me would fall asleep and collapse onto my lap. Although it was kind of cute, it became annoying towards the end of the 5 hour jeep ride. Finally I put my small backpack on my lap and leaned forward to try to sleep. Andrew and I both joke that after the 36 hour train ride to Silliguri and all of these share jeeps, the plane ride home will be a snap. We got to Pelling at 12:30 pm and checked into the Hotel Garuda (300 Rs a night for their best room). It was clean but the toilet had to be jiggled in order to work. We ate lunch at the café in the hot...
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