I went to immigration this week to extend my visa. The initial tourist visa is for 90 days, and can be extend twice for a total of 150 days. On the internet, the price of an extension is listed at Rs. 3500 (I think), $50 USD, but I ended up paying Rs. 5500. The actual cost of the extension was Rs. 4500, although it wasn’t listed anywhere, and I had to pay Rs. 1000 in juice to ‘make things go smoothly’. Per instruction, I crumpled up two Rs. 500 notes and quickly handed them off to an immigration officer as if I were making a drug transaction. My extension was than quickly given to me without hassle. Hooray for bribery and corruption!
I am reluctantly attending a ceremony for one of my students this weekend, a Newari ritual/celebration where we celebrate her symbolic marriage to a fruit. I say ‘reluctantly’ because I cannot envision another scenario where I would feel more out of place. The only other people attending that I know are my other second graders, so I plan on brushing up on my 7-8 year old pop culture in order to have things to talk about. They like Justin Beiber, Hannah Montana and Pokemon, which I thought I still knew lots about from secretly being obsessed with through 8th grade until a student made fun of me for not knowing what or who a ‘Kirem’ was. It’s hard to believe that Pokemon is still relevant in today’s world. I still remember finding it hysterical when a Christian organization called for the banning of pokemon products because the pokemon evolve, heaven forbid.
The weather has gotten hotter, which turns my classroom into a makeshift sauna. I consume around 3 liters of water on an average workday to stay hydrated. The kids still run around and play during recess, and come back from playing drenched in sweat and thoroughly exhausted. I get most of the heavy teaching/working done before lunch, as afterwards the kids have no focus. I conduct lots of word games and math bingo in the afternoon to trick them into learning and maintain their interest. Things have been going well; one of my students recently was accepted to British school, which apparently is rather prestigious. His mother told me that the exam consisted of all the things I had been teaching, and it was reassuring to hear that I'm not leading today's youth off of a metaphorical cliff.
I’ve decided that Indian sweets, or ‘sweetmeats’, are one of the best things to eat in the world. Two of my students have recently given me boxes of them to celebrate the birth of a new sibling and I think ‘ladoos’ are my favorite. I would describe them as bright orange balls that crumble into little pellets upon being eaten, and they have a subtle, sugary sweetness that gives them addictive qualities similar to crack and Jersey Shore. Once I devoured my supply I quickly hit up Anmol Sweets and discovered ‘jalebi’ and ‘gulab jamum’. Both are much sweeter and less addictive, as eating too many would result in awful indigestion. I hope that my newfound adoration of sweets doesn’t stifle my weight loss, but I have to walk 10-15 minutes both ways to get them, so I should be okay.
I was left without any mindless entertainment at nighttime after Dexter ran its course. I gave its replacement, Castle, a shot before quickly realizing that it may be the most insufferable cop show ever made. To fill the void, I ended up reading a historical fiction trilogy about Alexander the Great, which was nice, but no substitute for mindless entertainment. Shehrish was than given Mad Men by a friend, and I finally have a new, good show to waste my time on (sorry, Dexter). It’s set in New York circa 1960, and is all about the advertising world and how office life ran back then. It’s gratuitously misogynistic but wildly entertaining. I find it amazing that anything got done in that time period given the amount of alcohol that the protagonists consume throughout an average workday. If you need a new show, check out Mad Men; you won’t be disappointed.
The UEFA final was a couple of Saturdays ago, and was aired live at 12:30 am, technically on Sunday I guess. Being much later than most people stay out, everyone was rowdy and fairly inebriated, which made for a fun match. I was the sole supporter of Barca and it was great being the sole ManU antagonist. A couple of United supporters made ill advised even money wagers with me, so the night was both exciting and profitable. As expected, Barca carved them up and Messi further cemented his legacy as one of the greatest ever. I hope that soccer catches on in the US, it's a great product and I think the moments of excitement are unparalleled. But alas, it probably wont, as football is too huge and Americans love scoring.
The Mavericks have shocked me and are leading the NBA Finals 3 games to 2. I thought that Miami would win in 5 or 6 after Lebron dismantled the Bulls while making Derrick Rose look average, but apparently not. I am in the minority of people who don’t hate Lebron James, even though I hated The Decision, wanting him to make it work in Cleveland or becoming a superpower in New York, LAC or even Chicago (although in hindsight I'm glad he didn't come to Chicago, as Rose wouldn't have emerged). I don’t like LB J as a person either, but as a basketball fan it’s sad to watch such an amazing talent playing second fiddle to Dwyane Wade, who himself is incredible but not as talented as Lebron. A player as gifted as James choking in the clutch and falling short is just weird to see. I hope Dallas wins as I like Dirk and I hate Miami, but part of me wants to see Lebron explode for a 45-12 in the next two games and realize his potential. I woke up at 6 to see game 5 on Friday morning, and plan on doing it for the rest of the series. Go Dallas.
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