The Apartment and other Monkey Business

I finally got the key to my apartment!!!

Before anyone asks, no, I haven't moved in yet, but I could if I really feel like it because I have the key! The only reasons I haven't moved in yet is that there is no stove or refrigerator, which wouldn't be the end of the world since I can still eat at the cafeteria, but I don't have any sheets either. I think that this lack could be a bit of a problem. Aside from the moving in technicalities, the big news about my apartment is: it's huge! I was very much surprised at the size of the apartment. I think this calls for a picture tour.

The apartment has several rooms. Two bedrooms. One which I will probably leave mostly empty unless I think of something cool to do with it and another one to actually sleep in.

There's a shower room and a bathroom, which is good since both of these things are pretty high on my list of requirements for places that I inhabit. The toilet will probably take getting used to. I had purposely avoided these types of toilets in the past (I saw a couple in Hyderabad), but it looks like they have finally caught up to me...

Then there is a kitchen, an entry way, a room connecting the kitchen and the entry way, and another multi-purpose room which currently has a desk and some chairs in it.

Finally, the most exciting room is not even really a room at all - I've got a balcony! Score! Not much of a view, but I can hang up clothes and stuff if they need to dry.

So that's it for the news about the apartment. On to the monkey business. I have seen several more monkeys since the first sighting, but I hadn't been near my camera until today. In fact I saw a rather large monkey climbing the tree right outside my office window one day, but I had left my camera in my room. Regardless, today I was going up to my room when I saw a monkey sitting right in the middle of the road. I muttered, "Monkey!" under my breath and rushed to my room to grab my camera. Of course, the key didn't seem to want to unlock the door because I was in a hurry and when I got back the monkey had moved. It didn't take me long, however, to spot him at the other side of the tennis court from where he had been previously sitting under one of the trees. I calmly walked down the stairs and started around the tennis court (I didn't want to bother with any pictures through the fence of the tennis court). Unfortunately, as I came to the end of the tennis court and started around the corner, he spotted me and started climbing up the tree he had been sitting under. Undaunted, I walked over to the bottom of the tree hoping to get a picture of him in the tree. He would have none of it. He very quickly climbed to the top of the tree (it was no short tree) and started jumping between the trees away from me. I calmly followed him on the ground, but after he had crossed all the way to the other side of the grove of trees and started back the other way, I gave up. I could catch glimpses of him from time to time, but I usually just knew where he was because of the branches shaking and the weird noises he would make in his throat (it sounded almost like he was trying to clear it) so I wasn't able to get any pictures. One day I will have proof that there are monkeys here in picture form (unless, of course, I've been imagining them this whole time - if this is the case just smile and nod when I show you a picture of a tree and tell you there's a monkey in it).

Now that the monkey business is concluded, I would like to present some miscellaneous pictures I've taken. The first set is from Deepak's birthday. Deepak is the two-year-old son of one of the employees here at the division office. He had quite a get together planned which involved most (if not all) of the employees from the office. It almost reminded me of a dedication ceremony - only longer.

It all started with some singing.

The birthday boy.


As I said, there was quite a crowd.

Of course, the best part was that afterward we got food.

Ah, almost forgot the proof that I was there. Naphi was messing with my camera.

The other set of pictures which I have taken which need explanation come from the realm of my guest room. For a couple of Sabbaths, the kids from the Tamil church which meets right near my room would entertain themselves while their parents talked after church by breaking into my room. Actually, technically I let them in the first time, but since then they think that they can come and go as they please. I'm fine with it, it's just that one particular time I was *ahem* using the facilities and I have taken to not shutting the door since I'm the only one in the room, but this particular time I was not the only one in the room. Needless to say, I was a bit surprised when I walked out of the bathroom and found a couple of kids standing there. Another peculiar thing is that one of the kids keeps asking me for foreign chocolate, so I have to tell him I don't have any. Anyway, one of the days they asked me what was in my camera bag so I showed them the camera and, of course, they wanted me to take pictures of them. I don't think I'll bother including them here, but you can check them out at my picasa web-album.

Hopefully I'll be able to move into the apartment this week. Unfortunately, when I do I'll have to start cooking for myself so pray for me, just pray...