Adjusting,times 3

April 4, 2016

I have been waiting all day for the broker to take me to see places. He is now on his way and it is 3:45. Folks we are on IST: India stretchable time. Life has many adjustments for us. Today I had a corn sandwich. I told you they have created some unique dishes with veggies here. It was delicious! We have been here since Friday and today is Monday. I have not seen any more whites other than one professor at the university and an Italian couple who work at the university. At lunch yesterday five charming young girls came over to our table to chat.

I young man from UMC came along with the broker to serve as a translator. Our friends Manvita and Meghna founded UMC. The broker was on a motorcycle with a driver and Vinay was with me in a auto rickshaw.   I saw three places today. The first had no AC. Not possible for this gringo in this heat. Next place was a townhouse. Since places are not maintained here a new place gets worn down pretty quickly which was the case here. But it had potential. I told the broker we were close but I still wanted to see more. He took me to his office to meet the boss. Anurag spoke excellent English and told me of a house that he thought I would like. He said foreigners had rented it before. So we drove there and were met by the owners. The place was in chaos as they were cleaning, painting and wallpapering. Furniture was piled up in places but the bottom line was it looked better than anything I had seen by far. I told the realtor I wanted Ron to see it. I decided to wait a few days in hopes that it would be more presentable before taking Ron there.

April 6, 2016

We have been trying to contact someone at a high rise we were shown by Meghna’s  husband. Today we went over there and were told to come back later. I am finding it quite difficult to look for places on my own. I don’t know the neighborhoods or the systems here. If neither of these two places work out then I will see about hiring a broker which will cos a month’s rent. At this point it feels like it would be worth it.

Yesterday we met a retired prof from CA. He is teaching for a few semesters at CEPT. He gave us a few tips on grocery stores and coffee shops. NO Starbucks here folks which is amazing given he size of Ahmedabad. Mike is the fourth Caucasian we have seen and met here. So far all the whites we have seen work at CEPT. We are a true minority/rarity. When we walk to dinner each night we pass a small veggie cart and a little three year old boy runs up to us and waves wildly. It is charming. Last night he said ‘bye bye’ as we passed.

We have started wearing our masks. A few people here do wear them and many women on motorcycles wrap their heads in a large scarf covering everything but their eyes. It is downright exotic looking. Riding in auto rickshaws and on motorcycles you are right at the level to be breathing in exhaust.