In the course of trying to get my visa situation straightened out, we learned that there is another American in Bilaspur, a white girl who married an Indian man, who is a pastor at a local Protestant church with the suspiciously Catholic name of St. Augustines.

I tracked down the couple, and last night we went to dinner with them.  The husband, Joseph, had been in Bilaspur for about 5 years, and the wife, Bryana, had been here for three months.  They asked us what type of food we were in the food for, and we settled on Chinese, and they knew a place.

The sign out front said "China Bowl: Chinese and Italian Food" and when we went in it felt suprisingly like we could have been in an American strip mall.  Except there was also pizza and pasta on the menu.  The staff was Chinese, and the menu was in English, so I started ordering in English and then realized I wasn't sure what language I should be speaking.  So I spoke my English-for-Indians and pointed.

The food ranged from bland to good, and it was also interesting to see how another American was coping with the local culture.  She seems to be mostly staying at home, as a housewife.  She speaks almost no Hindi, and said she doesn't go to the market by herself.

It was nice to hang out with some other people around our own age who spoke English.