I have to admit, it's getting better...

It being me, in this case. For those keeping count, that's illness number 2. Yay for sketchy food and ice being a bad idea!
So in the tradition of talking about silly little things, I thought I'd try my hand at clothing. Mostly, men wear the same thing here as at home, with one exception: really tight pants. I'm still getting used to it. Some of the older guys (this is a Bengali thing, apparently) wear dhotis, which are the pants Ghandi wore. As for the women, it seems that for the most part (there are plenty of exceptions) married women wear saris and unmarried women wear salvar kameez. You can google that (spelling might vary...) if you want to see what it looks like, I figure that's easier than me wasting words. And fun fact: despite the name, there are actually three pieces to this outfit, the third being the dupatta, or scarf worn over the shoulders, which is not optional, as I was (fortunately!) informed very early in my stay. Not wearing a dupatta in public is kind of like wearing a sports bra (and no shirt) in public, I think: sort of okay, but not modest. And since it's still (sort of) winter here (heh heh, the coldest it ever got was probably like 55 or 60 degrees!), everyone wears scarves and shawls. I got a really beautiful peach-colored one with dark yellow embroidery... so pretty! My new favorite color here is orange: it makes up like half my wardrobe. I've also (re?) discovered the joy of scrunchies and hair clips, and have found some really cool/ridiculous earrings. Thankfully, I have a constant shopping buddy in Emma, and since we have tastes on opposite ends of the spectrum, we never fight about anything. This afternoon, we're going to go to Dakshinapan (the coolest mall in the world! it's outdoors... I'll have to take pictures sometime) with some new friends, Josh and Jessica, a young American couple. They are definitely kindred spirits, and it's great having them to hang around with.
Okay, I'm off to find some lunch for my poor wounded stomach, which will be quite difficult, as I've been finding. "Bland," anyone? Yes? No! Apparently that's not part of the food vocabulary...