It's (and I'm) Offical!

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I am now an officially registered "Foreign Resident" of India! Today was a testament to bureaucracy at it's finest - there were so many forms and photocopies and photographs and logbooks, but at the end of the day, I got a number handwritten on my employment visa so I am now allowed to remain in the country until next July with no questions asked (as long as I remain employed and don't get arrested or do about 50 other things, some of which just might be fun) .

I may or may not be moving to my apartment tomorrow. I keep hearing yes, but Ashish is apparently unaware that I learned the days of the week in Hindi over the weekend and I clearly heard "Wednesday" and "Thursday" in his conversations at the furniture store so we shall see what happens. The apartment is being whitewashed tomorrow which is the last thing that needs to happen before I can get in. I'm keeping my fingers crossed since Wednesday is Independence Day and it would be a perfect day to unpack and get settled in my new digs.

I was able to get to the furniture store today make some changes to my order. Everything was dark wood/faux wood finish and I was able to change most of it to light wood/faux wood finish. My place will pretty much look look like a cheesy 1970s house straight out of the Sears catalog with the exception of... my futon! We went to the mall and I got it and I'm very happy about it too! It's being ordered since I wanted the light wood with a blue cushion so it will take about two weeks, but it's worth the wait. I'm already thinking of how many cool pillows I need for it. The two chairs ordered are the ugliest things I have even seen - they are allegedly tan velour, but I'm not convinced they weren't left out in a rain storm until they turned hopelessly "Delhi gray"- but there were no options so I'll have to find some colorful throws or scarves to cover them with.

Bad news of the day: I wore my favorite lght blue Polo shirt today and discovered that both buttons had been broken in the laundry. They still work, but you have to beware of the sharp edges.

Good news of the day: I saw a camel walking down the street! That was pretty exciting and a good pick-me-up. Now, if only there were some bandars (monkeys)...

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