Monsoon has arrived! Cleaning!

The monsoon has arrived! Rain! Clouds! Humane temperatures!!

Everyone has been waiting for this to happen. It was supposed to start a few weeks ago, but mysteriously got "delayed". And this state is sometimes called the "desert state", so it never rains much here. Monsoon has lately been quite small I was told. But, well, at least the everlasting sand will fall down from pestering the sweaty people and supposedly temperatures with it.

This morning I actually used my other bedsheet to cover me to make me WARMER. Imagine that! Of course both of my fans were on (one regular at the ceiling and one at outer wall blowing watercooled air inside), but still.

I'm really expecting to see what the water does to the temperatures. With a little bit of luck I might even stop sweating like a pig everywhere. But, well, as today is Sunday, it was supposed to be a pool day. As it was raining half the day I decided not to go there, wonder if some people did go there in the end. So it has been a bit boring day for me.

That's why I did some cleaning :) As there shouldn't be much sand coming to my room anymore I decided to do what I can to clean this place. So I swiped the floor and tables. There's just one problem: the carpet which is on the floor. It has soaked about 5kg of sand and it's too big to carry and dust. So after consulting my hosts we decided to just roll it and stash it to the corner of my room. As nobody has vacuum cleaners, there's nothing we can do about the carpet. I wonder how long the carpet has been gathering dusts... But now the room is otherwise quite ok.

My room's carpet and the impossible job of cleaning the room.

I also decided to go to a tailor cut my new pants a bit shorter. Obviously it wasn't as easy as it could be. The host mother guided me to a tailor just across the street. So I went there and saw a woman ironin some pants and shirts. His boys spoke a bit English and we agreed that I'd get the cut for 10 rupees. So the woman took my pants, ironed them and handed them back. Great. Uh, what? Obviously she's only professionalized in ironing and can't do anything else. I tried complaining to her but to no use, I paid her 5 rupees and left with my straight pants. Now I asked my host dad about a tailor and he guided me about 1km away to the nearest tailor. Sweet.

Also a bit about yesterday. As it was Saturday, something was bound to happen. Tani is still in Delhi and Pyry was too exhausted after shopping the whole day (he came here with very little stuff), I decided to force my colleagues Amit and Gaurav for beer. Of course they were working as it was Saturday. So around 19 I just went to the office and dragged them with me to the nearby bar.

It turned out that Gaurav is an old player in that game. He started telling stories about a volunteer who was here for 2 years and how they went drinking together very often. And eating meat. It also seems that Amit is a bit more conservative: he's pure veg and not so much into the drinking thing. But well. Had a few beers with them and then they left for their wives. Gaurav gave me a ride to Orca. As I suspected, 'everyone' was again there.

Gaurav and Amit upon leaving the bar. And yes, everyone seems to drive here after who-knows-how-many beers. And officially there's zero-tolerance :)

From Orca we left again for the poolparty. It seems to be a thing for Saturdays. Met a French guy there who introduced me to some locals and got a few free beers for me. Also invited me and my friends next Sunday for the soccer final to one of the locals' place, free everything there. Unfortunately(?) I will be in Mumbai then, but maybe we'll figure something else for some other evening. Seemed like a nice guy. After the poolparty I decided to walk home which took about 50 minutes. And, well, partially also because it was quite hard to get a tuktuk in the middle of the night.

My apartment area's gate guard. (The only gate to the area which is open during the night.) He didn't stress too much about his work :)

Sightings on my way home from the poolparty. This is how the rickshaw drivers seem to spend their nights. It seems the bike is their whole home.

So, it has been an ok weekend again. I think I'm starting to form an opinion of this place now. I both hate and love the place. I hate the ¤#"$hole everyone lives in, but I love how everyone copes with it. This it all perfectly natural for them and everyone is accustomed to this. It's really interesting to observe how people behave and cope with everything here.

So I think I will survive. Thanks for asking :)