Weekend in Bangalore

What a fun weekend!

Like I said in the last post, after Cricket, Matt and I did some shopping at the Galleria. It's a bit on the pricey side, but the location and ease makes it nice. We spent a lot of time in one particular shop that sold all sorts of handicrafts, pashminas, jewerly, etc. The main sales guy (possibly the owner) claims they are all from Kashmere. He proimised me that I was getting the best deals from him. Yeah yeah. I know we likely overpaid, but honestly there is a lot of value I place in convienence here. It is significantly more difficult to try to drive to another shopping location, find a person who speaks english, figure out where the heck you are going, etc etc etc. I basically wasn't willing to do much of that without the help of my female co-workers. I do think I have some lovely gifts and items for our home that were well worth it. I know there's some cool stuff the kids are really going to love.

We ended up taking it easy on Saturday afternoon and evening. I really needed some sleep since I haven't been sleeping very well here, and haven't really adjusted to the time completely. So, we just had dinner at the hotel, and got to bed early.

On Sunday we did some more shopping, and ran to a few stores that were not too far from the hotel to get some specific items we needed. We then headed to MG Road (a major shopping and social area) and checked out a new mall. It had a large electronics and appliance store as the main part of the mall. Matt checked out the proces for comparison. Electronics are more expeisive in India then the US.

There was a Fab India in the mall, so I did some more shopping there and we found some cool organic Indian spice mixes and organic teas. We then met up with Ram (my co-worker) and Ambar (his roommate, who I also used to work with). They took us to a pub (I think it was called Baywatch.....). They served Kingfisher and Fosters on tap. A pitcher of Kingfisher was very cheap....so we drank 4. We had some really great pub food including my first beef of the trip. It was really good. We also had chicken curry and this pancake bread stuff. I was much better and more skilled about eating without utensils. I am improving! The pub played all music I love. Styx, Beatles, John Lennon, Rolling Stones, etc etc etc. All great music. It was of varying volume, as it seemed to get louder and louder as the afternoon went on.

After the pub we headed back to the hotel and the guys headed home. We were invited to come to their home at 7pm. So, we did some more shopping and some organizing then headed over to their place. They live closer to the office, so first our driver took us to the office, then usedtheir driections from there to their place. My driver likes to take backroads to the office, rather then the main roads. We have had no issue all week with this. However, driving there last night we had something interesting happen. We came to a turn that is right in front of some military facility. It was dark, and all of a sudden the cars stopped. There were 6 or so men and young men that were holding little pink recipt books. They we stopping the cars and asking for money. They spoke to our driver in Kanada, the local language, so we had no idea what they were talking about. They seemed to be yelling at our driver and asking for money. Now, the paranoid Monica was beginning to panic. I was first saying "we have no money" and just wanted Harish to put his foot down and drive away. I did see other cars just drive by, like they knew what was happening and just knew to not stop. They never let up, so Matt gave them 10 rupee (like 25 cents) they thanked us and let us go. We then figured out as we drove further that their temple (which I drive my every day) was having a celebration/ceremony of some sort and they were asking for offering for the temple. If this had been clear, we would have been more then happy to give them 100 rupee or so and be on our way. But the communication differences were so extreme with this group of people that I automatically worried that they were planning on robbing us or something. Anyway, we made it through safely and arrived at Ram's place in no time.

Ram and Ambar live in a large apartment complex, complete with tennis courts, guards at the gate, etc. It's a nice place. There was a minimart type place right in front of the main gate. Matt and I went in the check it out. It had a small produce section and then a few rows of shelf stable goods. We got some treats from there that we hope to bring home. We then went up to their apartment. They have quite a large flat, 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. By San Francisco standards it would be considered quite large.

Ambar had just arrived in the morning from Spain. He had been there 10 weeks. He bought French wine and chorizo sausages. So, we had the wine (plus wine we brought), the chorizo, and some chips. The chips were interesting. There were ruffels potato chips, but with a tomato (Indian) flavor. They were really good. They also had these chips that are basically cheetos (Frito product) but had a masala flavor. They were interesting and good.

After our happy hour we decided to go for dinner. Ambar used to be in a band and his band was plaing at a club called Take 5. I forget the name of his band, but there are a rock cover band. They were quite good and we really enjoyed their music. The lead female singer does a great Janis Joplin. I also enjoyed the Areosmith songs. The band seemed very popular. The bar sold a long list of Belgium beers, Matt enjoyed that!!! I stuck with Kingfisher since after almost a full day of it I didn't want to change. We also ended up eating dinner there. They had a very large food menu. I ate a pasta dish, which had some Indian/Asian influence. It was very good. Matt had a fish soup, and it was very good. We ended up closing the place down. They close bars/pubs at 12 midnight in India. So, all of a sudden everyone left and they were turning the lights off. Ambar dropped us off at the hotel and he went home. We really had such a wonderful time hanging out with people who live here. I think that was the best way to understand how people similar to us live.

Today I am at work again and will have a full day. I have meetings tonight (am for US East Coast) for work. Matt some shopping and coordinating of things to do today. And I think he might go to the hotel gym and pool. We have a restaurant that we have been wanting to go to for 3 nights, so hopefully we can go there tonight. I did eat lunch in the work cafateria today. 5 of my co-workers went with me. They have a great set up, and for $1 I had a huge meal of Southern Indian food. Plus, each co-worker had me try something they had brought form home. Karthick's mom in town, so he had some tasty things! Sayantani also had something really good she had brought from home (I have no clue what it was).

Tomorrow is my last day here. I will come in to the office for a few hours in the morning, then after lunch we go directly to the airport. We fly to Delhi, then change airports from domestic to international, then fly directly to Chicago. We then head to SFO where we arrive about 10:45am on Wednesday. After being here for 12 days or so now I am both excited to go home (to see Mia and Mason) and sad to leave. I feel like I am just getting settled here and wish I could stay for a month. There is so much to see and learn. The experience working in the office with the co-workers has been extremely valauble. I am not sure I can communicate how great that part has been. Ihope my other co-workers have the opportunity to come, and I would LOVE to come again (Jenny, put me on the list :) ). Communicating with someone face to face, in their environment is so much different from email or phone. And, I now know what facial expressions people are making when on the phone. :)