First week in Chennai

We've been in Chennai for a very busy 2 weeks, the first being taken up with a schedule set up by Char's school for our orientation. Our days were filled with the school drivers & receptionists taking the new teachers out shopping, which consisted of taking us out to some of the more western department and grocery stores. Not exactly what we had in mind because most western items are much more expensive than what you can find in the local markets, but we were able to pick up a few items and were able to see some parts of the city, however disoriented we were.

We did spend one day at a very crowded government office to get our residency permits. This consisted of Char having to pick a number and wait in several different lines to emerge with a slip of paper three hours later with an appointment time to pick up the actual permits. Fortunately this only involved waiting in one line for about an hour.

Evenings we were wined & dined at the best restaraunts in town, most of them in the high class hotels or "hot" night clubs. The food was great, with many new tastes for us from Northern & Southern India & Thailand. Here's a picture of the largest peice of flat bread (Naan)(sp?) you can imagine. The most memorable dinner was at a Sheraton where we were serenaded by a guitarist singing Ring of Fire in a perfect American accent.