We're not in the south anymore Toto!

April 10 2016

Today we viewed four apartments and none were as nice as the house we saw on Friday. They ranged in price from 45,000-55,000 rupees per month (that's $680 to $830USD). The house is 60,000 per month (about $900USD). All properties are about the same distance from CEPT University. I told Ron I strongly preferred the house even if we have to bear the added expense.  The house is 10,000 more rupees than budgeted for our housing. Monday we will notify the university and ask them to handle the negotiations and details of obtaining a lease. The house is ready to move into…we think. Only furniture is provided. I will need to shop for sheets, towels, dishes, cutlery, waste baskets, etc. I am hopeful we can move in soon but have no idea how long this will take.

This morning I suggested we go to a restaurant we had visited early in our time here. They serve a western breakfast of eggs and toast and coffee I had written down the address printed on their menu and we asked a clerk in the hotel to tell the auto rickshaw driver the address. It turned out the restaurant had moved but had not updated their menus. After asking a series of people for directions we gave up and came back to the hotel to eat.

 It was unfortunate because the driver was frustrated but he spoke no English and he was illiterate. This was another learning for us. We have discovered this is true for many drivers, so handing them the address on a piece of paper will not work. They will only be useful to us when we can speak enough of the local language to give directions which means it will be awhile before we learn any Gujarati and know where the various streets are. Now we are thinking about hiring a car/driver but don’t know how that will go. When you are in a developing country with lots of NGOs usually this wouldn’t be a problem. But we are in Ahmedabad and I don’t think that will be the case here. I also think it will be a problem that there are almost no tourists or expats here. There will be fewer places to buy the kinds of goods we are used to or food items we may want. I have yet to see any good coffee on the grocery shelves. Almost all is instant.

Ron had a late afternoon meeting with Manvita and afterwards I went downstairs to say hello. The three of us visited for awhile then Manvita invited me to go shopping with her. It was helpful to go to another grocery store to see what was available. Manvita pointed out a display of organic items: rice, lentils and beans. I was glad to see some items available.

I got back around 8:30 and we decided to try a sandwich shop we had not seen before. It was a self serve place. As we approached the counter to look at the menu, the owner said 'do you like mayo?' I thought that was odd but I ordered a sandwich described a veg salad with mayo. My grilled sandwich arrived with a tablespoon of mayo on top each quarter of the sandwich, just plopped on top. Ick. Using my napkin, I scrapped off the mayo. I bit into the sandwich and discovered a mayo sandwich with a few tiny microscopic veggies mixed in. I almost puked.   Needless to say I didn't finish it. It was a first and last visit to this shop. I can't fault the owner as she did ask but holy crap Batman....I did have friends growing up who ate mayo sandwiches. It made me sick to think about back then so nothing has changed for me in regards to mayo sandwiches. I wrote my dear childhood friend in Atlanta to tell him this story and he wrote back ‘I’d be all over place. I don’t think you are really Southern’!