T-10 Days Until GRADUATION

This week I have noticed..

My step is lighter
My laughter is louder
My stress level is decreasing
AND...
I am sick of writing, writing, writing..

Today I was occupying myself with things I want to accomplish next year. It started off with one simple thing:

Go on to the roof and see whats doing.

Yeah, I came up with other ideas..but this idea has been dancing in my brain all day (swaying of course to the song selected by the jutebox(the music machine endlessly playing on in my brain), It will be a blue Christmas without you).

These thoughts spanned after reviewing a new yorker magazine article this week about how few hours the french work and how many hours we work in the US. Okay, so before reading this I was PRETTY jealous of the french with their mandated 35 hour work week and their 6 weeks off a year...

But the author had one point I can't get my brain off of: Because we work so much in the US we create a whole pile of jobs because we don't have time to do things ourselves.

Case in point: going up on to the roof and seeing whats doing.

Now, lets be reasonable here, someone is up on my roof at least 3-4 times a year. His name is Adam. I "saw" him a few days ago when I peered out my window and saw him streamlining toward my home with a very, very tall ladder. This guy drops by every few months, leaves a note to say "Hey! I am cleaning gutters in your neighborhood...Are you interested? If so leave me a check". This is not the last letter I receive from Adam. This guy is the best! He writes me notes about the roof....whats the status, whats good, whats not etc.

So, do I trust Adam? Of course! I mean my gutters are not spilling over and I have seen him in action and his logs of roof top details are very interesting and very consistent...seems he is not happy with the DirectTV installation something about a cable cord being in the gutter...and he says the fan is "well sealed" and the gutters are "tight" .

It just seems like it might be time for me to get up there myself....perhaps if I moved to france these luxuries would be much easier to obtain.

Back from ATLANTA!

P and I had a great getaway weekend in Atlanta. Warm breezes, good food, cooking, museums, and lunch with Julie filled our weekend with happiness! This was the India detox trip and it was just what I needed before buckling down and finishing graduate school! WOW--do I have a great boyfriend or WHAT?

We stayed at the Georgian Terrace, and old hotel in Midtown. It was a beautiful place with a kitchen in the room! We were very excited about the idea of cooking breakfast...until we realized that the hotel wanted to charge us 25 dollars a day to borrow some pots and pans AND 25 dollars a day to loan us plates and silverware! Always the problem solvers we headed over to the grocery store around the corner and found a 12 dollar pan, plastic plates and cutlery, and a much needed knife! The best thing we bought was some seasoned raw shrimp! We asked the woman to add some spices she had sitting on the counter and she happily obliged. These guys cooked up in a flash for a great snack.

We checked out the Botanical Gardens on our first venture out. They had a train exhibit set up outside. It was amazing!












All of these exhitibts were created out of organic materials...and made to look like local attractions. Here is a picture of Turner Field.

We had fun checking out the indoor plants as well. P is standing near this weird tree that has very soft bark.
















A lot of plants were from South Africa...making me excited to view the landscape of this country with my own eyes in a few months.

We headed over to check out Olympic Park on other day. During our outing P and I have decided to rate all of the Olympic locations that we visit. Atlanta will be our second following the winter trip we took to Munich. I think we both agree that Munich was much cooler than the area put together in Atlanta. Munich's sky lounge and elaborate glass structures created to cover the swimming pools and other exhibition halls were unbelievable.

Atlanta does have some interesting components. They allowed people to purchase bricks so there are sidewalks made of personalized bricks throughout the park.












The fountain is amazing. It resides on the ground, forming the olympic rings in brick. It is coordinated to music at different times of the day. Its HUGE!





It is a very peaceful place in the middle of this bubbling city. I appreciate the quiet of America so much more after returning from India. We take the clean air and quiet city afternoons for granted here.




Finally, the quilts. There are several of them on one side of the park. Each has a message it is trying to convey. This one is showing the evolution of the Olympics through out time.

Other quilts included tributes to the medal winners, statements about terrorism and the importance of the global event. I imagine these were added after the actual games ended which give the park a sense of historical record not evident in Munich. If anything, the Germans have conveniently forgotten the terrorist incident that occurred on their grounds. There is no tribute or any information available on the kidnapping event that took place there.

All and all it was a GREAT WEEKEND! So wonderful to spend some time with P, see an old friend, relax and check out the city!

Experiences

Back in the US and feeling very overwhelmed...perhaps gaining so much insight into things is bad when you attempt to step back in to mainstream America. Over-stimulation. To much information. To much vivid reality...vivid smells...vivid colors clouding up my brains.

It feels like simple things people are freaking about are somewhat ridiculous compared to the people I saw last week eating and peeing on the same street. But this is the reality of the world and I can't fault people for minding their life...its what I will be doing in a few weeks when I recover.

I was at a silk store on Sunday for assorted reasons and overheard this woman talking about how silk farmers own these beautiful small farms, family businesses, they work for a very small clientele, and on it went...it was the story of silk farmers that American's want to hear. I assume they know better.

Ironically, the man helping P and I, after hearing this woman, proceeded to tell us about how he is setting up a silk factory in Bangalore. Two totally different worlds and experiences operating with in 10 feet of each other and successfully selling the same thing. Is this America? How did that man know, I wonder, that we would rather hear about his silk factory than the "story of the silk farmer?"

So over the past day or so I have been thinking about dramatic experiences in my life...things that have startled me...

Earthquake in San Francisco
First earthquake. I had just arrived in the city by the bay to enjoy my delicious bed at the W hotel...they have this ridiculous mattress topper there that is like 5 inches thick...pure heaven.

After a run, shower, and reading away....I drifted into a beautiful sleep until my bed started cruising around the room. All I could think was WOW, those people in the room next to me are having crazy sex! Um...no.

Training in Delhi after the 10/29 Bombings
In the middle of setting up projectors and other technical equipment, someone comes into the room and asks if they can turn on the TV. I look at the TV as the man is watching it and understand nothing that is being said....but see all of the pictures and the horror growing on his face..

As my students piled in over the next few hours...I saw their questioning faces...wondering where their peers were...cars were arriving late because the streets were closed off. Communication was sparse throughout the evening before I left for the next city on my tour. ..which seemed to soon to be honest. I felt like I wanted to know what happened...were they all okay?

Riots in Miami
Running to meet with a client in Miami...I was cabed there by a complete FREAKSHOW. This guy was dressed up in a complete Dallas Cowboy outfit. Sweatpants, sweat shirt and yes, SWEAT BANDS on his head and wrists! I got into the back seat and almost fell on the floor because there was SO MUCH vinyl cleaner on the seat...

As we were driving there, I noticed a child in the front seat(in a car seat) and thought, hmm...that kid looks way to young to be up there and wow, he or she is very quiet. Yeah, that was not a child, it was a CHUCKIE doll dressed in the same outfit as the driver. LOL. The airport is close, thankfully.

But anyway, in the middle of the chuckie recognition, I hear on the radio that Janet Reno has ordered the removal of Elian Gonzalez from his temporary US home.

I enjoyed the peace of my Miami hotel room for about an hour before I noticed a simple note slipped under my door, notifying patrons there may be riots in the streets with regard. I love hotels--so helpful. NOT.

Riots in the streets ensued...people chanting and screaming about Janet Reno, shutting down main roads.... In retrospect its just fascinating that Reno showed up there a few years later in a political race.

Fire in London
Love the British. Upon check-in or arrival at a business they always show you a map of the emergency exits. This map should be STUDIED closely so when a fire breaks out by the front desk of the hotel, sounding the elementary school bell fire alarm in your hotel room, you know how to get out of the hotel.

After this I made a mental note to always take the stairs down once I arrive at my hotel...so I at least know where they are....

Flat tire in Agra
A flat tire anywhere is a PAIN, but in Agra, India...its crazy.

A bicyclist tore off the plug to one of the tires on the car I hired to drive me to the Taj. It was a complete blow out! I can still hear the sound and see the air flying out and everyone on the crowded Agra street reacting to it...remember most people are on bikes or in open air vehicles like rickshaws.

The driver pulled over and started changing the tire. I got out of the car and people started stopping and staring at me on the street. I don't think you can stay in the car when you have a flat as you need to jack up the tire to change it...at least this is what I have been told.....so I just decided to wave to everyone. It worked--well kind of. People still stood there and stared but some folks moved on.

We have a flat tire in the truck and the spare on the car...4 hours from where we are going. Yeah, time to stop and the "tire shop." This would be a blue tarp tent on the side of the road. Here you will find a man that has some how acquired an air compressor...I have NOT ONE CLUE where the power to operate such a device comes from but this thing is HUGE! Its about 3 feet long. The driver speaks with him and he pulls back a board from the pallet that forms the bottom of this tent...out comes the tube we are seeking to fix out tire...

The Taj!

Here is our chalet to the Taj. The funny thing? This old beat up van is "pollution free." No idea how they managed this...perhaps they removed the whole engine and replaced it? Troy is talking to our guide in this shot--our driver acquired his services. It became very apparent that we needed an escort as the day wore on.

Here is the entrance to the Taj looking back from the Taj itself. I was to busy taking videos...until they took away my camera... to get this building from the front! This gives you an idea of how large this landscape is...the entrance to the Taj is a little under a 10 minute walk.



To give you a better idea of its size...remember this is just the entrance!



As you walk through this building there is an opening that is designed to "frame" the Taj


On the other side they take away your video camera and lock it in a locker, giving you the key. I love India, you never know if there is really a locker, if there is really someone handling these things....your guide just tells you that you have to pay the man standing by this entrance 50 rupees to run your camera past the door, and then you have to pay him 50 more rupees to store your camera.

We got some good pics while walking toward the Taj, primarily because our guide yelled at people to move out of the way and told us where the good shots were! This one would have been perfect...damn that hand!




On each side of the Taj is a "poor man's Taj". CRAZY! These buildings were designed to balance the Taj. One was originally a temple and the other was a guest house. They are identical!



Not sure what the story on this was...lots of women dipping their feet in the pool outside the poor man Taj


So before you are allowed to enter the Taj you have to cover your feet or take off your shoes. Yeah you are in INDIA where most people do not have shoes so you choose to cover your feet...and hopefully you have a guide like we did who brings covers for you...cause guess what? There is no one assigned to this duty, just a bunch of folks that show up everyday a pull the old covers out of the trash and sell them to you for a variety of prices....Guard = GOOD.



And we are off! Here is the walkway you take to get up to the main level of the Taj.



Finally when you get up to the top...guess what? IMPOSSIBLE to take a pic of this thing! Just to big! And then you can't take a pic inside....not allowed! So you get in line and the guide pushes and shoves you through the door while paying off the guard to get you through...and shows you all of the special jewels that are carved into the marble. Here is a picture of some work outside the door...there is much much more inside.



The Taj was amazing, beautiful, overwhelming...so according to the learning channel, I have 8 more wonders to observe:

1. Great Wall of China
2. Pyramids
3. Angkor Wat
4. Panama Canal
5. Sydney Opera House
6. Taj Mahal
7. Mount Rushmore
8. Trans-Siberian Railroad
9. Machu Picchu
10. Golden Gate Bridge

Think I will hold out on the Pyramids until the terrorism calms down a bit...had enough of being in cities being bombed for a while...perhaps I should see if the Machu Picchu railroad is running again...

Why you should check the State Dept web site...

October 10th warning stated that facilities associated with the US or locations in which US citizens and other foreign nationals are likely to be present could be targeted...attacks could include suicide car bombings.... No information is provided about the identity of the possible attackers, but candidates include the various Kashmiri-based militant groups that were implicated in bomb attacks at a central market in Mumbai in 2003 and an assault on parliament buildings in Delhi in 2001....

Message from my travel department....letting me know that the state dept has issued a warning about travel to India...after checking that I was still "beating"

Thanks!.... I told them....since I am on the ground here I will send you updated coverage on what is happening.....and will try to avoid crowded places (like this is possible in a country with 1 billion people) and places where international travelers hang out(um like any nice hotel in India?????)

NOTE TO SELF: Check State Dept web site EVERY DAY before you leave and while you are in country for updates.

Bombs blast Delhi

One of the things I have been working on over the past year is taking care of myself. Making it a priority. Today, I am thankful for my efforts.

Last night our host at the Delhi call center invited troy and I to shop at the markets before we arrived at the call center--lets leave the hotel around 5pm he said.

After waking up around 10am (we work 5pm-5am) I was exhausted. I caught up with P on skype and then headed to lunch. Troy and I discussed our options...and decided that we should naps instead.

Upon our arrival we learned that the same markets that we were suppose to be shopping at are exactly where those bombs went off......

We leave this crazy place tomorrow...heading to Mumbai.

Traveling to the TAJ

The trip to Agra is four hours from Delhi. Sleep in the car? Not on this trip.

I am going to write about what I saw yesterday on my journey to the Taj then I will show you how beautiful it is in my next entry...in an attempt to separate the two worlds that you experience on this trek. India is India, there is a new surprise around every corner.

Our driver arrived to fetch us at 7am..early considering we were delayed by the combination of rains in Bangalore and a helicopter accident closing one of the runways making us arrive very late to Delhi.

One of the first things we noticed on our drive was the dramatic increase in soot in the air. Delhi seems much dirtier than last year. It reminds me of the old movies about London when they employed burning gas lights, there is a haze over everything. I traveled to London with my family a few years back and they spoke of how dirty the air was during this time....not only can I imagine it..I have experienced it first hand. You know the air is dirty when you feel it on your teeth.

Camels....carrying everything you can imagine...more specifically, rice, dirt, beans, wheat...placing a new perspective on the indian rice I purchase from my local Indian store.



People are using animals to move everything here. Rocks, people, stacks of silk(I wanted to reach out and grab some brightly colored scarves), boxes full of televisions (NEW!)...bicycles, animals and people pulling carts all working to move everything everywhere.




And all of this is experienced while passing through extreme poverty on each side of the road.







And then the farms coming rolling in where people are growing rice and living in mud huts...just like this one.




And finally we arrive in Agra...and head to pick up our guide...

Raining, Raining, Raining......

Its raining..like you can not imagine here. Today on the way to the call center the roads were flooded in some sections with cars stalled out.

The ironic India continues to amaze me as we drive along the flooded streets, which are likely filled with sewage, trash, and anything else the water could grab, and you see the buildings, probably about 30 of them being constructed for future outsource contracts. These buildings look just like they do at home, empty concrete shells that will eventually look like modern office buildings. In front of them are pictures of what they will look like when completed, beautiful and sparkling ready to be inhabited by the highest bidder.

Along the streets they are attempting to install fiber, or more internet lines. The brightly colored cables float on the side of the road...no one thought to protect them before the downpour.

We leave today to head to Delhi. Tomorrow we head to the Taj!

How to get fit...in India

When ever I come to India, I hit the gym. Gyms here are usually in the basement so they are quiet....

The gym at my current hotel is a bit different. Basement yes, quiet, yes, weird DEFINITELY. First, there is the man that works there. His job is to provide you with water and towels while you are working out. The procedure he uses to implement this job are as follows.

1.) You walk in and he hands you a towel and water. I always reject the water and he gets fussy but gets over it. "Mame, you need water".

2.) You start doing your business on the treadmill and he just stands there and stares at you. Today I decided to see how long this could go on conducting a research survey called:

How Long will the Indian Man in the Gym Stare at me?

So this is interesting...talk about a great way to "breakthrough" any goals you may have set for yourself. I am NEVER on the treadmill for more than about 45 minutes. Today? 57 minutes I walked along with my Indian pal right there staring at me.

3.) Yesterday I asked the man to leave the gym, nicely of course at first and then firmly on a second try. He promptly left...then started pacing back and forth outside the gym, passing by the window about every 3 minutes....checking on me from the hallway.

4.) Perhaps the problem is they are working on turning those that work out there into people that look like this:



Surprisingly this poster is on the wall accompanied by other photos advertising muscle drinks.....hmmmm....

Beautiful scene outside the hotel

yes, you to could have this glorious view of traffic in Bangalore...for only 290 a night!

1.) Yes, that is a hole in the street next to the orange flowered tree. No clue what they are doing, but that whole has filled up with water twice now. Someone mentioned telephone wires...

2.) Those yellow topped things are rickshaws....lots of them in the city. They are three wheelers, pretty sure they just drop the body onto a three wheeler as the driver has the same handlebars, you know the one with the breaks?

3.) On top of the building on the right, which by the way has no windows on the top floor, there is a bunch of people that seem to have set up shop. Yesterday when it rained---over 121 cm so flooded--they washed their clothes in the mud puddles.

4.) I so wish I could send you the noise...there is no peace here only honking that starts at 6am every morning and ends around 2am. These people are on such disruptive schedules with the combination working on Indian time and the influx of work from Europe and the US offering hours starting at 3am in the morning.

5.) Behind the gas station a lake has shown up, full of dirty water from the rains over the last few days.

6.) No, thats not a cloudy day...thats the soot that sets in over the city about an hour after sunrise...there is no "sun" here as we think of it.

Motorcycle Accident

Yes, I got hit by a motorcycle yesterday. Troy and I went for a walk down M. G. Road to check out the sites. I was walking along and then stopped, looking at something on the street...then BAM. A motorcycle like this one came flying out of a driveway crashing soundly into my leg. Troy was yelling "STOP" and trying to grab me. Thing was, I was pretty much stopped already and this jackass was not paying attention.

WHY? Because in India the right of way is backwards. The biggest truck as the right of way, followed by smaller cars, rickshaws, motorcycles, bicycles, and then the ever discriminated against pedestrian.

The driver of the motorcycle just made a weird noise, then smiled, like this guy, and drove off. Injuries include a very swollen knee and big bruise on my leg. But, I was able to walk on the treadmill today...so I will heal eventually.

This mornings paper....

Thought I would share a few ads from this mornings paper. These are found under the "Matrimonials Wanted Groups by Religion section".




For those folks believing that the Caste system is dead in India, think again. It seems to be alive in well across all the religious groups--Hindu, Muslim, Christian, and Sikhs.

This ad is my favorite. This highly educated female, schooled at some of the best schools in the world is put up on the block in the Sunday paper:

" well established high status Bisa Aggarwl business family settled in Singapore/Delhi seek alliance from an equally high status family from India or abroad for their beautiful/educated/well cultured daughter, graduated Wharton Pennsylvania University, presently pursuing MBA from Oxford University. Born 1980 / height 5 6'

Thoughts on this...in all of my ignorance, I always assumed that matches were made based on known qualities, friends, friends of friends, etc. Perhaps these methods don't work as well as they used to in today's hectic world so facilities like ads in the paper are required. Perhaps being global, as many of these ads indicate, is another hurdle to matchmaking.

Whatever the reason, these ads make the arranged marriage process seem calculated. These women, hundreds of them in today's paper, are offered up for the taking based on their caste, looks, size, and education in some cases. Women are described as "amiable wheatish" in one christian ad, presumably this is a nice way of saying obedient. To end my rant, I am also quite taken by the ads the request a match in the US for a daughter already located there....

Power...

No fear folks....

If you find yourself in the elevator and the power goes out...well...just wait a bit. This sign would have cooled my nerves a bit when I was caught in a Delhi elevator last year. The power today has been erratic--to say it politely. Since 6am it has gone out about 5 times. And yes, it has been restored in about 7 seconds. Interestingly enough, they put a higher preference on the AC than the lights...so the AC is cranking and you are sitting in the dark.

So with all of these power issues you would think huh, they most attempt to conserve...NO. Check out the light show on the BANK next to my hotel.

Very similar to a Las Vegas scene...or perhaps something you would see in Miami to advertise a restaurant. Whats confusing about this? Again, its a bank, not sure why the building needs to be so exciting and why a bank would want to draw so much attention to itself.

My hotel room...

My hotel room is 290 a night here in Bangalore. That is US dollars. To place this price in perspective, the average Indian makes 400 US dollars a YEAR. I am staying at a new hotel, the Taj Residency, because the hotel I stayed at last year has increased their prices to 390 a night. Keep in mind, that hotel is just around the corner from this one....




What will 290 a night by you in Bangalore? The first surprise is the additional of an Aeron Chair. For those of you unfamiliar with the areon, its a fancy office chair that costs almost 2000 usd. So that would be like going to someone's home and seeing a 400,000 chair in their living room. This chair would support an Indian family for five years......YEARS...






Did I mention the TV? Yeah flatscreen...because I need to see Indian TV in widescreen mode(yes that is people dancing on the screen...lots of singing and dancing on Indian TV combined with really depressing news). Again, probably 3000...so here a family could live on this product for a little over 6 years. So you can see why I am spending SO much time watching it.

India again...

I have been studying...and neglecting my blogging duties. Or so I thought. Now I realize that blogging is a therapy mechanism I employ while in "Incredible India".

The trip over was rough--turbulence for the first 9 hours and then more during most of the next 8. We crossed our fingers that luggage systems would bless us with luggage on the flip side, last year we were not so lucky.

All worked out well and we departed from the airport with the essential NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, No, no. And so it goes. Everyone wanted to give us a ride or wanted money. All you hope for is the big sign that says MR or MS whoever...and whoever is YOU.

We find our driver and are led to the car. And well of course. We are parked with cars all around us and a large orange tarped pile of something in front of us. Thankfully, we did not arrive any earlier, as the locals had just "got on the problem" calling for the services of a HUGE tractor--like a farm tractor that is so prevelant here--to come and take away the big pile.

And we are off...to our hotel.

Stolen Americano

tragedy at Starbucks this morning...someone stole my Americano. I could of course, care less as they just made me another one...but the pour sole who probably ordered a grande skim white mocha latte with a dash of carmel is likely driving to work in disgust. Ha!

Time at Strabucks creeps me out...but I was forced this morning to take an appraisal of the place. I read the cups they were handing out. "Today our schools are just as segregated as they were in 1969, the year after Dr. King dies. Race is the biggest challenge we face, and we have proven unequal to facing it" Nice thought...but I thought the whole campaign about these "the way I see it phrases was suppose to provide a forum for average americans to enlighten average americans. For some reason, the board chairman of the NAACP doesn't seem to fit into this category. Question: are they handing out cups with these phrases in the deep south?