Whistle While You Don't Work

Sometimes I wonder what the heck people do around here for fun. I’ve already talked about how there is an abundance of free time around here, and it’s starting to get harder and harder to fill it. It’s Monday, and normally I go into school, but today is still technically a holiday (Happy Holi!), so I can’t do that. There’s a small fair-type-thing going on in town, and I’ll probably check that out later, but it’s raining again. Hard. It’s actually really cool to watch the sky right now. The mountains and valleys, in combination with the thin air and strange temperature variations, cause some pretty freaky cloud formations that I’ve never seen before. The sky looks like a black-and-white Salvador Dali painting, without the melted clocks.

Speaking of clocks, my watch broke last week. The digital screen froze and won’t change, and the buttons don’t do anything. There’s still an analog face, so it still tells time, but I can’t use any of the digital functions, but the alarm is still working. It goes off at 8 every day, and since I am unable to change it, it will still go off at 21:30 every day when I return to the states.

And the wireless receiver on my computer stopped working. I have to use an Ethernet cable when I go to KLB.

And my Zune mp3 player broke. India is killing my electronics.

Several times since I arrived, I’ve asked many people what they like to do in their free time. They always say, “Nothing,” and I protest and say that there must be something they do for fun. Now, I’m starting to see that there’s not a whole lot to do. So when the girls tell me that after class they just go home and do nothing, I now believe them.

I’m typing this at home, and the power just went out again. India and electricity just don’t get along very well.

I guess today I’ll make some pancakes, read a bit more (I’m running out of reading material), exercise, maybe make some more food, and go to town if the weather clears up a bit. The house is clean and the laundry is already done, which is sad, because I’m considering doing monotonous chores to keep myself occupied. Please let me clarify by saying that I am rarely bored here, and I usually have something to do all the time. Today is an exception. This just is ample warning for anybody planning to travel to rural India in the future. Make sure that you can keep yourself entertained. You’ll need it.