Ducking your head in the rain.

First off, if I don't post a "blog" then don't be concerned about me. I am a busy man with lots of action going on, all of the time.

Second off, I have a really sweet sunburn line on my right arm.

When it rains here, all of the power goes out pretty much immediately, and from what I have been told, it stays off anywhere from 1 second to 1 day. The power went out yesterday afternoon at 6:15pm right as the thunderstorm started and it didn't go back on until 2am. I know this because I woke up when the fan in my room went on! As a side note, I was in an open field playing in my tri-weekly international soccer game when lighting and thunder struck simultaneously. It was a rush. I then seekdid shelter. This is why I did not post yesterday, not because I was injured in a moped accident or died from some disease or got lost in the jungle or whatever people think might have happened. Don't worry people.

Now I introduce my first image......it is of a man who I saw on the side of the road. The image quality on this computer doesn't seem to be so good. Sorry.

Yesterday I took my moped into Pondicherry to look for a translator at the "French Institute", which was reccomended to me by someone I met here. After being unsuccessful there, I decided to ride by bike around the city a little bit. It is a typical Indian city with the exception that it has a French accent, as it was colonized by the French and not the British. There are vegetable and fish markets on the side streets, main shopping stores (electronics, clothing, tourist, silk, sari, etc.) on the main roads, and the smell of feces or something that resembles it every 10th block. The road that I had to ride into Pondicherry was a two lane highway with tons of motorbikes, cows, ox-drawn wagons, and people. There were no traffic lights. It was fun and also energizing. Luckily and skillfully, I made it to and from Pondicherry in one piece.

My next photograph was taken when I stopped on the side of the road on the way home from Pondicherry.......


After returning from Pondicherry, I attended the meeting that I had schduled the previous day. It actually turned out to be great! I was introduced to some "Social Service Workers" who were about to start some research about sanitation and the toilet-use practices in some local villages. When I told them my interests, they thought it would be a great idea to tie my research into theirs. So, it looks like my research project is up and running.....well, crawling at least. Now, I am going to need to combine their survey with mine so that we can both get the data we are looking for by administering one survey. My next meeting for this is tomorrow (Friday) afternoon. That means I have today (Thursday) free. Since I still have no phone, that is my main objective. Besides that, I'd like to go to the beach as well as a second round of exploration in Pondicherry! We'll see where the day takes me!

I hope everyone is well!

PS- It appears to be human instinct to duck your head when running through the rain. Indians do this just like Americans do. Note, you will not keep from getting wet if you duck your head in the rain. For those who do it, stop. It just makes you look silly.