caving in

Alright, after many requests from dear friends and family, I am going to try to make a post every now and then...although I'm afraid that I've never been much of a blogger. I much prefer to actually correspond with people, but I will try this.

Anyway, things are going alright here in India. It's very hot, as you might imagine, and my apartment (like most apartments) has no AC...at the moment. I am looking into renting a unit for the summer, but I need my landlord's permission, and I would also probably have to get an electrician in here to add a new switch to the circuit breaker. Seems like a big deal, but in India's service economy it wouldn't cost much and would probably be worth it. We'll see if that pans out. Other than the AC issue, the apartment is great. A friend of mine from a previous study abroad program in India has been living here teaching English for the past year, so she has already done all the legwork of finding the place and getting it outfitted with the basic necessities. She unfortunately leaves the country in early June, but I'm going to stay on in the apartment thereafter. This has made for a very easy transition; I tried looking for a place of my own, but I had no luck.

The first few days here were really, really hard. I had made very few contacts, my roommate was traveling, and I had nothing much to do yet. I also got a bit sick from a bad lassi at a very reputable restaurant. However, things have been looking up. Every day I have at least one meeting with a doctor or a researcher who's doing something related to diabetes, and I've started taking detailed field notes in the mornings like a good anthropologist. Today I'll start translating my questionnaires into Hindi with a friend of my roommate who's going to work for me on a paid basis. I have gotten at least four diabetologists in Delhi to agree to participate in my research at this point. I will call them all to follow up today, and hopefully I will soon be able to start interviewing patients. Before this happens, however, I need to find a research assistant. This has proven to be the biggest obstacle to my research so far. I have literally more than 10 people in Delhi helping me look for someone, but nothing has worked out as of yet.

So that's the play-by-play on the research end. In other news, I have several friends who will be traveling through Delhi over the course of the summer, so I'll get to see people here and there. My roommate and I are planning a short trip up to the mountains just before she leaves the country. The other night, we went out to Subway (yes, there is Subway here, and it's right around the corner from my house, no less!), and tonight we're going to her friend's wedding reception.

...and I'm monopolizing her computer, so I should go. How was that for a first blog post?