Home Sweet Home

Ahhh. After a lengthy search for housing, we've finally settled in the place we will call home for the next four months. We found that furnished apartments would be much too expensive, and leave plenty of room to be ripped off by housing agents, so we decided to look for "paying guest" accommodations. We seem to have found the perfect place. We're in a three-story house, in the only room on the top floor, we have a large balcony, we're close to the kitchen, the neighborhood is nice (there is a place for yoga classes, aerobics, markets, fruit vendors, and the occasional cow), we get breakfast and dinner included with the rent (we just had our first dinner and it was fabulous--the best food we've had so far), and the servants clean our room and change our sheets. Needless to say, things work differently here. When we first came to ask about renting a room, there were no questions about drinking or smoking habits, but whether or not we are vegetarians; the family who owns the house is Hindu and there is no meat allowed. From differences in the flow of traffic to relationships at the office, I already have a multitude of amusing stories to tell.

Oliver and I arrived in Delhi on August 15, and stayed there for a week before moving to Gurgaon, which is about 15 miles away. My dear friend, Sinclair (Sarah), came just a few days after us to help me take care of Oliver. Research wise, I am working with IRRAD (please see link below) until mid-December. I started going to the office to begin my work there on Monday the 23rd, but much of this first week was consumed by the search for housing, with which their staff very generously helped us. I am a bit intimidated, though grateful for the opportunity to work with them. They are allowing me to lead my own project versus helping with something they are already working on; I will have field workers at my disposal for carrying out my surveys, etc, and translating results. There are so many very intelligent people there to guide and challenge me. My project continues to evolve by the hour it seems; one minute I feel completely sure of my objectives and the next I am questioning everything and completely floundering.

Oliver is doing fabulously well. It has taken him awhile to adjust to the time difference (for the first couple days he was falling asleep "for the night" at 2pm), and he flirts with everyone. All the staff at our hotel knew him by name and greeted him at every chance. In general, I've found that people love babies. Complete strangers in shops or waiters at restaurants will come and insist on holding him and carrying him around for awhile, and I generally let them. It is very sweet to see him smile at everyone and see everyone smile back. During the first two days we were here, there was a Fulbright orientation, and he was so well-behaved and quiet and seemingly attentive to the speakers that all the other Fulbrighters and program administrators fell in love with him. He rolled over for the first time on August 17th, and he's now eating rice cereal in addition to his milk. Soon he'll have his first taste of a veggie puree, and I'll be sure to post a video!