First two months of hell is over!

Okay, so the transition to Bangalore wasn't all that easy. The first two months were hell and sure there were good times but who says that moving to an "emerging market" is ever easy! My team mate just came back from a 4 week business trip to PDX. After seeing the "lifestyle" there she highly commends me for my acceptance and patience of the life and culture here in Bangalore. Its funny to hear her say that she is homesick for Portland....I am too! After all I did exchange my life in Portland for a life that is the complete opposite of what I have always known. But now that I have moved into my own apartment, furnished it, found tofu, garlic powder, diet coke at a market just two minutes away, enjoying my 5 minute commute to work; I feel like I am now finally starting to feel and flow with the rhythm of life here. That is a beautiful feeling. But I do miss my everything & everyone I left behind in Portland and SoCal. I try not to think about it too much...and that helps.

Soooo....I live in a very nice neighborhood in Bangalore. I consider it to be the NW 23rd of Bangalore...I think all the yuppies live here. On my street there is a really good market, fruit stands, chinese restaurants, juice stands, etc. I have everything there. Then just 10 minutes away, there is a street called CMH Rd. where there are more restaurants, music stores, international markets, clothing stores, coffee shops (the favorite coffee shop here is Coffee Day - there is no Star Bucks here), etc. Its like NW 23rd & NW 21st....minus the infrastructure though. Well actually the infrastructure in this part of the locality is fairly good compared to other parts. But I LOVE it here! Its a central location and very close to the major points of the city. I also don't drive. I take the public transporation, either an auto rickshaw (a three wheeled auto) or city taxi. You can find autorickshaws everywhere...each morning I just walk out onto my street and a 50 feet away there is always one waiting. I take that to work...and 5 minutes later I am there. It is very convenient. Its nice not having to drive.

My apartment is a modest 1 bedroom apartment on the first floor of an independent house. My rent is around $155/month and it was unfurnished. What that means...there is no fridge, stove, washing machine, etc. I had to get all those things myself. The stove is gas powered. I had to purchase a gas cylinder that hooks up to the stove and I have to get it refilled every month. It was pretty fun furnishing my own place.....I've never had my own washing machine before and now I do. I got some really cute furniture here for very good prices. I will take some pictures of my place and post some up soon. I also went to a club two weeks ago and had a blast! I will write more about that later.