on tuesday, i had yet another day-of-indulgence with jojo and jo (fellow smith alum who's living in varanasi right now) in the cantonment - the swanky part of varanasi with lots expensive hotels and restaurants. we each paid 200 rupees (about $4) to use the swimming pool at the clark hotel, and spent the day lounging around, ordering overpriced food and drinks from the pool. we had the whole place to ourselves - it was wonderful. by the end of the day, each of us had spent about 1000 rupees, which is generally what i spend in a week here, but in U.S. terms that amounts to just over $20. not bad for a day in a fancy hotel.

in the continuing graduate school saga, i may have been offered a spot in emory's Ph.D. program. i got a phone call on wednesday from john dunne, the guy there who i'd really like to work with. he said that he's trying really hard to get the admissions folks to make me an offer, and he'll be calling me again in the next couple of days to let me know. the offer would be way more than what chicago wants to give me, and slightly more than UNM (and i wouldn't have to work or teach for it). i figured that emory would be a long-shot, since they usually require all of their applicants to have an MA, but john said that since i know some tibetan, they want to let me in. (see, mom? this year in india was good for something!) so now i'm sitting by the phone, waiting for somebody to call me from atlanta.