I have heard there are more people that are reading this blog. I guess I need to warn everyone....I am not a writer, my spelling is ridiculously bad, and I am not that funny. :)
Yesterday I came into the office and spent about 2 hours dealing with my computer connection problems. I won't go into details but basically I have not had much of a connection (none in the office) this entire time, especially to any of me work emails and work stuff. That has really made some things difficult.
It has however been wonderful to be in the office with everyone. I think most of the group is becoming more comfortable with me being here, and I am really enjoying talking with them, learning more about each of them and the culture here. There is so much to learn. India is such a large country, and my co-workers are all from different parts of the country, so it has been fun learning about the different areas.
The hotel continues to be great. It's 5star on the US scale (7 star on the India scale). The food and drinks are terribly overpriced, but overall it's great.
I thought I should talk about how I get to work each day. I have a driver, his name is Harish. He drives a Toyota Innova (I think that is what it is), sort of a small mini-van type of thing. At our hotel, The Leela palace, everyone is picked up by drivers. 99% of the cars that pick people up are nicer then the one my driver has. I did get lucky in that my car is much nicer then the bosses car (he and his wife are also here). So, we are the only 2 people that aren't being picked up in fancy cars. However, the convenience of the whole thing makes it all worth it. I did find out that many families here (like my co-workers) will pay a car and a driver for themselves. My one co-worker pays about $150 a month for a driver for her and her husband. Some of the other co-workers have their own cars or motorcycles. So, each evening I tell Harish what time to be at the hotel. He waits in a lot right on the property. When I get to the lobby, I tell this man in an elaborate outfit (I told Matt he has to get a pic of this guy) the number of the car. He radios over to the lot and in a few minutes my car arrives. The, Harish drives me to work. There is a way to get there that is more main road, but it can be very crowded and busy. So, Harish opts to drive the back roads and into neighborhoods. Wow, that drive is much different and I get to see all sorts of interesting things. One morning we did get stuck for a while. There is a single lane bridge that leads to a single lane road in a neighborhood. There was a water truck just stopped in the middle of the road, so both ways everyone was just stopped for a long time. In the mean time I just watched the cows walk around all the cars, the motorcycles try to squeeze by, etc. There is always something interesting to see. Once cleared we headed over the one lane bridge, then past several meadows where cows were grazing. Each day I see people alongside the meadow chopping weeds and putting them in a big mat. They then carry them, sometimes in their bikes, home to feed their cows and other animals. I sometimes see women washing clothes in the stream. Sometimes they are washing cows in there. It is clear there is a ton of pollution in the stream, which is sad for 2 reasons, one, many locals rely on that water for their homes/cooking/etc and two, it could be so beautiful.
Oh, I should mention that Harish also puts on a specific radio station when I get in the car "Indigo something". It plays mostly American songs, top 40 and some rock from the 80's and 90's. It's all stuff I like, so that is good. Harish has also been really good about driving Matt around. Today he's taking Matt, Sandra and Alex to the National Park to see the wild animals. I am really jealous! I am glad the friends are here as well, they really encourage (or maybe insist?) Matt to go out of the hotel and see stuff. I can't blame him, it's nice to have people to go places with.
So, yesterday 2 of my female co-workers took me, Alex, Sandra and the bosses wife shopping. We went to something called "Commercial Road". It was one long super crouded road with lots of shops. It was great! I got tea, sarwals, kertas, beautiful pillows, fabrics, clothes for Mia, etc. I still have to get some small things, and some good boy things for Mason. I am trying to get him a cricket jersey.
Speaking of cricket.....Matt has been invited to play on Saturday. That shoul dbe very interesting since everyone is 12+ years younger them him, and substantially more fit.....oh, and unlike Matt, they have all played cricket before!
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