i think i will be happy now

i arrived in sunny kerala yesterday on a 2 hour jet airway flight. i am delighted how easy it is to fly domestically here after having so many hell journeys on busses and trains. and they have about 10 different airlines to choose from, so that makes it easy.
after setting up in my "luxury" pad, i strolled the beach trying to find friends. it was kind of like a ghost town. i guess the tsunami has kept people away. i ran into an old pal-shibu-who is working at a new restaurant. workers move around quite a bit here, but they are still here somewhere. anyhow, i asked what he suggested, and he said prawns with coconut rice. ok. even though i vowed to stay vegetarian on this trip, i figured what the hey? i received 4 pieces with the rice-quite fresh and lovely-almost like lobster. when i got the bill, it was rps500! whoa! that's really expensive (US$10). when i checked the menu, it said rps100 ($2). when i asked him why i was charged 5 times the price, he said, "sorry, lisa. they are jumbo prawns."
now in india, you MUST ALWAYS as the price first, even if you see it printed on the menu. and of course, it always sucks to be ripped off by who you think are your friends. his loss. won't be back there. i'll stick to my lonely planet veg restaurant.

i went to find lino at class, because he lets people practice on moon day and just supervises. there he was. about 20 knuckleheads practicing on moon day. i can start tomorrow-friday. each friday are lead primary class at 7am just like they do it in mysore. cool! i'm ready! and i get to start in the first or second group-630-645. the earlier the better, for me.

i went back to my room last night and discovered how ghetto my rps750 room is. they stuck me in a room without windows, privacy, electrical outlets, a/c (they promised i would have this), no tv (also a promise),no way to clean my clothes, stinking of moth balls, and a fan that was unable to be adjusted-was permanently on high and almost falling out of the ceiling! it was so loud with the workers congregating outside at the desk and the phone ringing off the hook.

so i got up at 7 and after seeing lino, went and priced a few places by the beach. i found a place twice the size as the other with a balcony, adjustable fan, outlets wedged right between my high speed internet pad and lonely planet (where i eat almost all my meals) for rps250!! how happy am i? that's US$5 per day, rather than US$15! and with the flying i did, i can not really afford such a place.
lucky for me i am reading "shantaram" a fabulous novel that is 1000 pgs long and very detailed about bombay, my favorite city. the book was given to me last year by judy and daniel neiman and i have finally got the chance to chew into it. i think i will be happy.