I've just returned home from a night out on the town, which in Hyderabad means Bacardi Breezers at the bar, where the DJ's idea of good music is to play the same song every half hour. No joke, we must have heard 'Turn me on' by Kevin Lyttle at least 5 times. And while it is admittedly a dance hall masterpiece.... well, let's just say I wasn't exactly keen to dance all night.

I am looking forward to seeing my mom on Wednesday, she's bringing an Ethiopian dinner from Addis, about which all my friends here are quite excited. She arrives the night of our company xmas party, which should be very interesting. I'll get to meet the spouses and family of a lot of people on our team, which should provide some insight into their lives outside the office. I'm also really looking forward to heading over to Sri Lanka for a few days, where the DVD's are cheap (pirated), and I will have nothing to do but sleep, and sleep some more :) I should be able to squeeze in a day of shopping and sightseeing, and I've heard that there is an elephant orphanage that shouldn't be missed.

Two of my friends and I joined a gym near work today, to begin working off the Hyderabadi food. Although we think we're eating healthy food, apparently it's all full of butter. Guess that explains why it tastes so good. After the triathlon training has ended, my body is in lazy mode again, and motivating to run on the treadmill is pretty hard. I haven't quite worked up the courage to run outside yet, women in jogging shorts are definitely not socially acceptable here. So until I'm ready to completely shatter the norms, I'm parked on the machines at the gym.

We all went to see Ocean's Twelve at the IMAX theatre this evening, before the bar visit. The minute we entered the cinemaplex, it felt like we were magically transported to the AMC Mercado in Sunnyvale, scene of so many office movie outings. There is an arcade there as well, that will definitely be getting some serious use soon. They've got 'whack-a-mole,' which, in my opinion, is second only to Ms. Pac Man in terms of sheer enjoyment. Movies in India cost 60 rupees. That's $1.50. For all the movies for which I've paid $10.00, I feel somewhat violated.

Okay, it's time for bed, I'll post some pictures soon. Keep the comments coming, if there's anyone out there. Anyone? Bueller? :)