The monsoon has been knocking the power out more often than not, so technology is basically foiled for a good part of the day, which is fine. I did bring two books to read, along with my Kindle on my iPad, plus working--I have managed to find a way to work from my balcony in the rain, but the wind has become quite heavy making outdoor work unmanageable today, so I am just prepping for tomorrow's departure to Kerala, and all that entails. As I sit here in the quiet, I hear the monkeys screaming in the trees...initially I thought they were children playing, but now I know better. At night, some of the birds make the oddest sounds...I thought it was a car alarm for one night, and then I realized where I was, and what it was, and just laughed. First World programmed....
I had several issues with my Vodafone that I purchased here, and that took nearly 24 hours to hammer out, and was quite frustrating. I am just starting to feel remotely like myself, after the jetlag is finally beginning to abate, and my leg is about 75% healed. It is now just a big reddish purple area like a giant bruise, not swollen, etc., and the sting itself is healing nicely, not too ulcerated, but healing. What a whopper of a sting....I have never experienced anything like it, and hope to never again. I have prepped all my canvases in my downtime during the storms, so I won't have to bother grounding them when I reach the residency, I can just get to work.
I also had an issue with my bank cards when I went to use them here, which was pretty horrifying, especially when you are exhausted, feel like sh*t, and have no cell phone or wifi access...but, after trial and error, found out: A.) American Express is NOT welcome in most stores and hotels, despite their commercials LOL and B.) HFDC, a major British bank, DOES accept them, and like a squirrel finding a precious nut, kept having to return to the one ATM about .5 a mile a way, but there is a young man named Rhual (probably misspelled that) who drives the shuttle, and he was very nice to bring me there several times for nothing. Now, I have to make sure I make one final stop at it before heading to the train station tomorrow, so that I am not short-strapped in Kerala should I not be able to find one there, etc.
With all of the adjustments, I do feel like India is beginning to grow on me, which is why I would never make a trip like this and stay less than two weeks...by the time you get adjusted, it would be time to leave, and with the added trauma of the leg injury, it would have been a complete bust. I do enjoy their cuisine, but yesterday, I was feeling a little under the weather in my stomach, so the smells of curry etc. was overwhelming to me, and I hid in my room for most of the evening, ordering room service, of Continental cuisine: just a plain chicken breast with a slightly spicy mushroom sauce that I promptly threw away as I couldn't even bear the slightest odor of it, and some french fries, with a ginger ale. Fixed me up pretty well, so that this morning, I went to the cafe and had an egg over easy and some buttered toast and a side of fresh papaya, and now I feel pretty good. I still haven't completely recovered all of my vigor...by around 3 pm, I feel extremely tired, but lucky thing it rains so I almost don't feel bad taking a nap. Almost. I still can't unAmericanize myself in that aspect of feeling like a lazy loser if I am not busy at something ALL the time, or mostly, for taking a nap haha. That one is an offense that is hard for me to overcome, but I've been being "kind" to myself because of my leg and my terror of the injury escalating, so I allowed myself this leeway.
I am very much looking forward to the train ride for some reason--it seems like an exciting journey down through the Indian countryside, but I remember it will be mostly at night, so I will have to remember to wake up a little early, so I can really enjoy the landscapes before we reach Kerala. I am still somewhat hazy about what my gameplan is when I reach there, in terms of the landscape, landmarks, etc. for my paintings, but I am sure that Triparna, the head of the residency, will know of some interesting sites for me to paint at. I have high hopes for the beautiful and exotic landscapes and culture, and to paint and interpret that.
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