4 weeks in

And 1/3 through the summer already! It does go by fast.
So Tuesday, Fabian and I took a roundtrip flight from Delhi to Bhopal (about 1h20 each way), leaving at 5:40 am and returning at 11:15 pm. The lovely thing about Bhopal is that they have already been hit by the monsoon so it was much cooler than Delhi, if not a little muggy. We met Caitlin and had a hearty breakfast of "poha" (flattened, seasoned rice, a dish of Madhya Pradesh) and omelets at her B&B. We went to our stakeholder meeting later that morning, where we met with state government representatives and people from UNICEF to go over our proposed study in the western part of the state. It will be the first of many meetings as some higher-ups need to sign off and give feedback.
After the meeting, we dropped by the State AIDS Control Society to say hello to the staff there, then went into Old Bhopal for an Afghani lunch. Despite all the flies around (good thing we got the VIP ceiling fan area), the food was delicious!
We made our way over to a coffee shop at a hotel for the afternoon to continue to go over work stuff. They just happened to have my favorite British dessert - banoffee pie!
Before getting on our flight back to Delhi, Fabian and I had dinner at the house of the state commissioner of education, an old friend of Fabian's. My first home-cooked Indian meal! Ever since I was a little kid and the Indian neighbors wouldn't invite me over for their dinner parties, I've wanted homemade Indian food - especially homemade rotis. Mission accomplished!
This weekend, it was finally time to explore Delhi a little more. Friday night, my roommate John had some Kashmiri friends over, who were good fun, and we went out to a bar (with a rooftop terrace that is NOT fun in hot Delhi). I've realized lychee wine is both delicious and dangerous! On Saturday, on what seemed like the hottest day ever, I went to watch a bit of John's cricket game - so now I have seen a live cricket game! I stayed to watch (and sweat incessantly) for an hour, then went off to a crafts bazaar called Dilli Haat. You pay 20 rupees (less than 50 cents) to enter the bazaar and get to enjoy a clean space with much less of the market hassle. I will have to return again before I leave but try not to buy everything - all the lovely scarves and hand-painted/carved crafts and pottery. They also happen to have a great food court with different foods from around India! I had some awesome, real Butter Chicken! (gotta say, better than Curry Point) The market is open-air though, so I guzzled tons of water and was so happy to take a cold shower when I got home and relax on the couch.
Today, John and I went to the police station to try to get the police to put something in writing to show that I live here in the apartment. So, it seems I have to register at the Foreign Registry Office here in Delhi, according to what the NY embassy stamped in my visa (despite the regulation that you do not have to register with a visa of 180 days or less). Any expat I have talked to says that the FRO is an absolute nightmare of contradictory, maddening bureaucracy. You will be there for hours, waiting outside in the heat or inside with no AC, possibly be sent home empty-handed and instructed to gather more arbitrary paperwork. I've been instructed by other expats to try to arrive around 6:30 am, even though the office doesn't open until 9:30, and if I'm lucky I'll be out by 1. Also, apparently they make girls cry. I guess every expat has to have their war story.
The police were not very helpful and didn't give me anything to work with, so I'll try to go tomorrow with whatever I can put together for proof of residence, plus all this other random paperwork that I had to get from CHAI.
Later this afternoon, it was slightly cooler due to the rain last night, so I went to take a nice stroll through Lodi Gardens - a well-groomed park in the city that houses the remains of 15th-century tombs, mosques, and shrines.

I'll come back with the FRO experience...
:)