Danger! Tuesday!

We visited our new landlord last night to finalize our lease, but it wasn't typed up yet, so we'll go over it tonight. Plus we can't perform the transaction today because it's Tuesday, and it's bad luck to perform transactions on a Tuesday, especially moving house. I knew something was wrong with our election system.

Anyway the apartment needs some extensive cleaning; while we were visiting again last night a cockroach greeted us! We think there is potential there but it's going to take some time. The landlord is expecting us to hire a maid anyway, so he is not having the place cleaned; from what I hear that is somewhat standard procedure. We are reluctant to have a fulltime maid, even the landlord told us she would not only clean the floors but also do our "vessels." We're pretty used to doing the vessels ourselves.

New BEL Road
Originally uploaded by qiubuo.

We hailed an autorickshaw to return home, and our driver had the uncanny ability to dodge potholes while turning back to chat with us. He took fuel conservation to new extremes, turning the engine off to coast down tiny little slopes. He told us that he was from Mysore, and "very poorly educated" but spoke 8 languages. He said that Kannada was very easy - he himself learned it as an infant!

Last night we had pizza for the first time. It was unusually spicy. The guesthouse ordered it from an outfit called US Pizza, which gives you little packets of ketchup along with your meal. The guesthouse staff is trying to experiment with western cuisine, as they are expecting more European and U.S. clients. Gilles shared some of his French cooking secrets with the staff. Well, one cooking secret: butter.