New friends... of various species.

First things first. Intelligence sources (aka a friend from CC) have just informed me that the Killers are coming out with a new album on October 3rd called "Sam's Town." Considering that the Killers aren't exactly hot over here, I'm going to have to find a dramatic and desperate way to obtain the album the milisecond it's released. If anyone finds a way, you will be handsomely rewarded.. you know, my everlasting gratitude, my firstborn, whatever you want.

Ok, now that I've got that out of the way. Speaking of American pop culture, I just had an odd experience (odd day, really). Yesterday the ACM people organized a meet-and-greet for us with a group of Japanese students who are also here. They're studying English (huh??) and IT in Pune for a month, and they just have one week left. Either way, I spent a good amount of time yesterday talking with several Japanese boys who thought I was the most hilarious thing in the world. They taught me how to say "excellent" in Japanese (I've now promptly forgotten), and professed their love for Tom Cruise and Britney Spears. We all enjoyed eggless pound cake :( and tea that was an blend of Japanese and Indian styles. You'd think it'd be tasty, but nooooo. Let's just say it was an experience.

But anyway, the two groups met up again this morning to enjoy India's national pasttime, aka cricket. Nevermind that not a single person in either of our groups had ever played before. We're American and Japanese students, darn it, and we're going to play cricket! We don't need silly things like experience or knowledge!

And play cricket we did. Long story short, picture a group of students who stand out in a crowd around here (and not just for our quick wit and easy smiles, believe me). Then, put them in varying degrees of athletic clothes (which included spike heels and lots of hair gel, for some). Add several bats, wickets, and cricket accessories. Put them on a field in the middle of a college in the middle of a city in the middle of India, and you've got one hell of a spectator sport. What started out as a friendly, awkward game of cricket turned into the main attraction of the day. The students who stopped by to watch were overwhelmingly male and apparently single, which was made painfully obvious by their incredibly enthusiastic cheering whenever one of the girls went up to bat.

We started cheering our fellow Americans on, forgetting for a moment that the silly quasi-Marathi phrases that we throw around could actually be understood by those around us. When we're in private (either American or Indian friends) company, we like to throw around Marathish phrases. Actually, in my case, it's more like Sparatish, since I cannot seem to distinguish between my stored-up Spanish and the newly invading Marathi. I'll end up saying something like "Que zale here?", which borrows one word from three different languages. Basically, I end up sounding like an idiot. In a group of fellow idiots... oops, I mean foreigners... it's fine. But here, in the middle of a cricket pitch, surrounded by several dozen Marathi-speaking college students, my "KOOP CHAN (very good) HIT, ALYSON!" was... interesting. So much for looking intelligent, eh?

So, after the cricket game, Gemma and I were rather hungry. Being good American college students, we used our sixth sense to find a Pizza Hut. Let me take a minute to say that I find it highly appropriate that I would visit the first Pizza Hut in my life while in India. So, we enjoyed our pizza, garlic bread, and brownie sundae to the dulcet tones of the Backstreet Boys and of course, "Summer of '69."

And now, here I sit in my Internet cafe throne. I'm planning on taking a nap soon, since my sleep was disturbed last night in several interesting ways. Was that a good segue or what?

Last night, in true Sarah Lee form, I read a short novel cover to cover, staying up until around midnight (gasp!) to finish. I tossed my book onto the floor and said goodnight to my five arachnid roommates. Yes, they're still alive... we have a non-violence arrangment, provided that they stay in one corner and eat lots of mosquitos. I turned off the light, and a few cute little mini-cockroaches skuttled under my bed. "Cockroach go," I muttered tiredly. I fell asleep pretty quickly, since the streets were finally quiet. Sometimes random people make random noises late at night (you don't want to know), but it's normally pretty quiet. However, I noticed that a new neighbor has taken up residence recently. A big, old, awkward, fluffy cat with an incessant meow lives in a tree very close to my window. Don't get me wrong; I like most cats just fine. We normally have an arrangment where I leave them alone and they rub up against my leg for the three seconds that it takes them to realize that I'm a full-blooded dog person. And then they leave with a distince expression of disdain. But I'm cool with that.

But this cat likes me a bit too much. I wouldn't mind, except that its meow sounds remotely like an insane woman screaming. Don't ask me how or why. All that I know is that I wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, ready to run outside and save whatever woman is being abducted before I realize... that darn cat.

So, this is less of an entry and more of a series of snapshots. But snapshots, as my camera proves, is what is going to make up the best parts of this trip. More to come soon, of both varieties.

Love,
Sarah!