Party like a rock star.

Last night a bunch of us went to a bar called 10 Downing Street. It was a lot of fun, and I'd recommend it as a place to go if you're looking for a place to just hang out ... especially on Thursday night which is karaoke night!!! We were so hesitant to get up and sing at first because everyone up at the mic sounded so good. No seriously, they must practice or something, because the person singing a Leann Rimes song sounded like Leann Rimes and the person singing an Enrique Iglesias song sounded like Enrique Iglesias. They were that good.

Of course, after a few drinks, we were ready to do some damage at the mic, and the whole group (7 of us) kicked it off with "Baby One More Time," complete with sassy choreography. After we let the locals take their turns with more power ballads, we realized that they don't ever choose rap songs, so we gave an encore performance by doing Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise." Because, you know, we've been spending most of our lives living in a gangsta's paradise. Word up. The performance was even complete with the C-walk and some "yeahs" from yours truly. (Don't hate -- I make a great hype man, er, woman.)

Now we're all rested and taking some time to sleep in before our first trip to Hampi tomorrow. So, don't expect to see any posts from me for the next few days. :)

Oh .... and as promised, here are some pics of my apartment, courtesy of Priscilla. You really only see about half of the apartment from these pics -- you don't see the kitchen, the living room, or any of the bedrooms. It's a really nice place.

This is the main area. On the left you see a couch set. Far back is the dining table. Between the couch and dining table is the kitchen entrance. The walkway in the rocks leads to a little outdoor area enclosed by glass walls in the middle of the apartment. Out of sight is the living room, the hallway to the bedrooms, and at least 2 more couch sets.

A close up of the dining table. You can see the outside area in the back right.

My bedroom. Stitch and the little brown bunny are happily perched atop the bed. (The guest house staff actually placed them like that, which I thought was cute.)

The shower in my bathroom. It's a pathway embedded in a bunch of white granite rock. Isn't that crazy?

To end, here are some other random tidbits I've learned over the past week:

• Hindi is the official language of India. Telugu is the local language in Hyderabad.
  
• The majority of the channels on my TV are in Hindi, or dubbed in Hindi. I was watching Disney's "That's So Raven" dubbed in Hindi. I actually found it a little entertaining.
• Every time I take a malaria pill on an empty stomach, I get sleepy and nauseous. I should always take them after a meal.
• Driving in India is like the Philippines: lights and lines don't matter, and honking is a way of life. In fact, in the U.S., honking the horn is more defensive and usually means "Watch out! I'm over here!". In India, it seems to mean "Watch out! I'm coming through!"
• It seems like Americans are the odd ones out -- we don't use the term "holiday" to mean "vacation" or "day off". We only use it literally for holidays. So when someone says "I'm on holidays" it really means "I'm taking the day off."
• India has a caste system. This may explain why some are harder for me to understand than others.
• All food tastes like Indian food. Even the Chinese and Italian food tastes like Indian food. It makes sense since they have different spices here.

All right, that's a nice long post for you loyal readers. Now it's time for bed!