Slept in and woke up feeling a little "blue" - unmotivated to do anything and not happy. No unhappy, but just kind of blah. I checked the internet to see what the status of my package was - it was listed as in Calcutta, but not delivered yet. Last night I'd talked to someone who had recieved a package via FedEx and they'd had problems finding it - it didn't go to the building it was supposed to. So I thought I'd get a jump on the possibility of a broblem and go to the FedEx office. Thanks to yesterday's explorations I had no problem finding the office and there they were able to use the phone and track down that my package was ready to be picked up, but not there. They gave me directions to the place I needed to go and off I set. It was a half an hour walk in the other direction from where I'd gone before. I didn't see anything that was remarkable about this part of Calcutta - no decaying colonial buildings, no vibrant new growth, nothing - it was kind of blah, like my mood. I would have never found the shipping office if it hadn't been for a very good map that the guy at the other building drew for me. It was down a narrow alley through an unmarked door. Very dodgy, but they had my package. And I only had to pay $170+ duty on it (this for goods with a declared value of $250, that I'm going to take with me when I leave!) Hopefully I'll be able to get most of that refunded when I leave India, but it seems unlikely.
I walked back to Sutter Street and spent some more time on the internet then went back to my room to play with my new toys. The package was stuff for my digital camera - a spare battery and memory card, but mainly an underwater housing. The housing looks perfect and I can't wait to try it - Andaman Islands here I come! While playing with the housing and trying to read the manual the light in my room started to flash on and off - of the three lights in my room this was the only one that worked - this was a problem. I left my keys with the desk and they promised they'd fix it and I headed out. I decided to explore the markets and walked through both the old market nd new market buildings, but I wasn't in it. The porters are looking for a commission and they're a nightmare. I was running the risk of loosing my temper so I gave up. I went to Dominoes Pizza - it seemed the most "normal" thing I could do so I thought it might make me feel better - but it only made me feel ill. I went back to the internet cafe then went to my favorite restaruant for an orange lassie before heading back to my room. At the guest house I was told the light was fixed, but it wasn't so then I sat there in the dark fuming while they ran to buy a bulb. The new bulb was dim and certainly didn't replace the flourecent light that had failed, but the important thing I tried to keep in mind was that it was better than it had been.
