Setting up house

I could write a book about the journey from Atlanta to Hyderabad.  I could write about how many times my passport was checked, how many times I went through security, how I spilled orange juice all over everything no more than 20 minutes into the longest flight, how awesome the views were.. I could write a book.

But nobody wants to read about that.  My sister sent an email asking about my apartment, so I’ll start there – you have to appeal to the masses, right?

The stats on the apt: I share a three bedroom, three bathroom apartment with three other fellows.  My single bedroom came with a spare bed – come visit! – which we’ve converted into a couch for the living room. The rooms are spacious – my bedroom is larger than the living room in my Decatur apartment.  There is a sizable living area, a small kitchen, and four small balconies (with a great view of the lake).  The floors are made of marble and tile.

Sounds pretty great, huh?  It has its hitches, of course.  

My toilet didn’t flush.  (Prior to this morning, I had to fill up a bucket and pour water down it in order to make it “flush.”) The beds are not quite beds, but actually are raised pieces of wood with a flimsy, futon-esque “mattress”. There is no A/C, but our ceiling fans are amazingly awesome.  Our 2-eyed stovetop is currently at another fellows’ apartment. (They are bringing it to us on Thursday.)  We have to rent a fridge and have it delivered.  (This will be done tonight.)  When I first discovered that there was no fridge or stovetop, I was slightly (ok, majorly) depressed.   

The neighborhood: The apartment is a part of a larger complex with “guards” that doze off from time to time and a couple of guard dogs that are cute and seem unlikely to be attacking anything.  There are renovations of epic proportions going on in the apartment next to ours, which means construction debris and noise clog our doorway and ears.

The area where we live is largely residential.  Outside of a couple of shop-stalls and a tiny temple, there are only some tin shanties on our road proper.  On the next road, there is the amusement park, Snow World, where artificial snow falls on the hour and people can throw snowballs at one another, according to Lonely Planet.  Next to Snow World is the local dump, which from time to time gives off malodorous aromas.  Across the highway is the lake with a statue of Buddha perched in the center of it.  Lovely parks and amusements surround the lake.

Adventures in setting up house in India:

• We traveled to two “Big Bazaars” and a couple of malls in three days until we finally found an internet router, only to find out that this may not work in our apartment.  (I currently post from the IDEX office.) On the way, one roommate was gently hit by an autorickshaw.  We were all hit by the frustration of being sent to the wrong, same places over and over.
• Does anyone know where to get keys copied in Lower Tank Bund?  No?  No Home Depot around the corner, huh?
• We sat in a teensy, busy mobile phone shop for close to an hour waiting for Yasmin’s SIM card to be cut for her i-Phone.  Yes, they cut it to fit.  And yes, after visiting another shop, it did work. 
•  Did you know that you need a copy of your passport, proof of residence, and a passport photo of yourself in order to get internet installed, get a mobile phone, and do just about anything else in India?  I know, now.

Listen, all we really want is the internet.  Life is just easier with the inter-webs, y'all.  Google maps would be uber-helpful at this moment.

Ok, ok, maybe we also want a fridge and a stove.  Is this too much to ask?  Maybe so!