Kabini

This past weekend we went down to Kabini Jungle Lodges and Resorts to go on a wild jungle safari. It was a really lush resort area, monkeys all over the place, and we had two jungle safaris and a boat ride. We actually got up really close to some of the animals and those with better cameras than I got some great pictures.

Been doing some learning

I don't really talk about work all that much, but I am learning a lot. I'm a lot more comfortable with Java and application structure now. The workdays are fun, the people are great, and I'm excited to get onto a project after all of this. I'm probably most curious to hear about what it's like at other companies from friends at Diamond and Accenture.

On another note, I've grown to like foosball. We've got a foosball table in both offices and the game is a lot more fun than I remember. I've also gotten some good ping pong practice in during the off hours with Steve. He'll let me win one of these days.


No.

Karaoke

So there's this pub near the office called The Legends of Rock. Last week we ventured out there and had a good time, so we decided to head back there for karaoke night. If you take a look at the website and think a little bit about the name, you'll probably get a good grasp of what kind of music they play there. Of course, the music range isn't as constricted as I thought it would be. They playing RATM, NIN, Ozzy, but then they played:


You oughtta know.

Anyway, karaoke night was a blast. It really is nice to hear familiar tunes, even if its not exactly my favorite music. The coolest part is seeing this other side of India compared to the more conservative parts. Of course, we didn't just go to watch; we contributed our fair share: RATM's Renegades of Funk (Steve), Tom Petty's Free Fallin' (me), NIN's Head Like a Hole (Sherry), Def Leppard's Pour Some Sugar on Me (Julie), and Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart (Derek). Sadly the night ended before we could get Andrew, our token Australian, to sing American Woman.

Bannerghatta National Park

Today six of us went down to Bannerghatta National Park to see the zoo and go on a nature safari! The zoo area was pretty big and monkeys roamed around pretty freely throughout.



After the zoo, we went out on the safari and got to see some big animals up close. The animals here are supposedly all rescued from circuses and other shows like that. I also got to see a white Bengal tiger!







The real zoo was outside:

Pecha Kucha

Today I did my Pecha Kucha. It's a style of presentation where you create twenty slides that each transition on a twenty second timer. It's a good way to practice presenting, and it provides constraints that help boost creativity in presenting. The slides on the video might be a little hard to see, so if you want to follow along, you can find the slides here



Also, you should check out Steve's blog for an awesome video of him dancing.

Dream

Every once in a while, I have a really vivid dream - so vivid that I could draw every scene with precision. I started to write these down the second I wake up, so that the memory doesn't fade. This is last night's dream.


I’m in a house (looks like my old Dothan house) and with three unknown women, my mother, my brother and his wife. I get up and play some acoustic guitar for a bit. One of the girls gets up, claiming I was showing off and says that its her turn to show off. She wants to prove she’s better. We go to the other room – she’s carrying a guitar amplifier with her. She sets it down and hooks it up to an electric guitar on the ground. It looks like just the top half - no body of the guitar. She puts her foot on it and starts playing with her feet. She seems to be playing along to the tv, making up a soundtrack as the tv program plays. I start watching TV in the other room with my brother, his wife, and my mom. The Simpsons are playing. It’s a Halloween episode with the aliens and a big weather balloon, and they’re going through the forest. Kathy says she’s hungry but everyone else has eaten except for her. She tries to drag Michael along with her to go eat, but he doesn’t want to go. He claims that he hasn’t seen this episode of Simpsons, but I’m pretty sure that he has – he just really likes it. I almost forget about the girl in the other room, so I go back to listen to her playing guitar with her foot. I turn on the TV in this room to get a feel of how the music blends with the tv. This time I’m watching some show where Muhammad Ali is at a police station and he’s been caught for some petty crime. The sheriff chides Ali about how he couldn't just be patient.

Chillin with the kids

Today after work, we all went down to Angel's Orphanage in Bangalore to see some of the kids.





They even held a performance for us. It began with some fun little songs, including "If you're happy and you know it." Then they performed some traditional dance routines. However, there was a very clear turning point in the direction these performances were going. About seven of them stood and sang a bible hymn, which I wasn't expecting. Then immediately afterward, they blasted "Soulja Boy" and promptly began to break dance.

After that we all got up and dance partied for two hours and had a ton of fun. I don't know what they feed those kids there, but they had immense amounts of energy. All the guys were breakdancing, doing handstands, and rolling around. The girls were running around and teaching bharatanatyam to us.

I got pampered!

Today was a good, relaxing day!

Started off with steak and potatoes for lunch at Road Trip. Afterward, Felix (Chinese trainer from Calgary), Weiwei (Chinese TWUer from Melbourne), and I went to a salon to get haircuts.

That haircut had to be the best haircut I've ever gotten. Growing up in white suburbs, very few know how to cut an Asian person's hair. In Evanston, there was only one person that knew how, and every Asian had her number and work hours. Luckily, I'm in Asia, and they've all specialized by now.

After the haircut, Felix and I decided to stay after for some relaxing back massages. It was my first time getting a massage anywhere, and it was a new, slightly invasive, but good experience. Sadly, I'm ticklish. It probably would have been a much more relaxing experience if I didn't flinch every time my armpits, sides, or neck was touched. After the massage, we winded down in the steam room and just sweated.

The shower afterward was also the best shower I've had since I got to India. The water was nice and hot, and the water pressure was perfect. Once we got dressed, they even brought out tea and water for us. Wonderfully relaxing stuff. I definitely plan on going back before I leave India.

Weekend in Mascal - Sleep and Morning

The night accommodations were rough due to poor expectation setting. We were told that we would be getting huge tents with comfortable bedding, sheets, and everything else we would possibly need. With this in mind, I only brought some extra clothing with me on the trip. Unfortunately, when night came, we were presented with our 2-person tents (which they claimed fit 5 people), and blue foam pads to use as beds.
Of course, I only buy multi-purpose clothing, so I quickly transformed my T-shirts into pillows, and my shorts into blankets.


Expert camper.

The night was pretty cold and the wind was picking up in the middle of the night. Also, one thing that never fails to keep me awake was within reach - a snorer. It wasn't even my tent-mate though. The tents were so close together that I could hear a neighboring camper snoring. Given a snoring situation, I "accidentally" kick the person to get it to stop, but this one was safely out of my reaches.


You win this time.

I got up at 5am in hopes of seeing the sunrise. Sadly, the clouds put a damper on the morning and the sun wasn't spotted until 9. Anyway, we spent most of the morning lounging around. Half of us went out on inner tubes, while four people went out on the kayaks. It was a great, relaxing experience. Being out there wasn't like being in India or any one place - it was just being outdoors.

Weekend in Mascal - Into the night

Since spending the night was not mandatory, a lot of people headed back to Bangalore after dinner. Although sleeping was rough, the night was great. After most people had gone back to their tents to sleep, I stayed up by the campfire with a fellow TWer Aarti, and two of the Outback India guides, Karan (male) and Sam (female).

We stayed up playing games like twenty questions and just talking about all kinds of stuff. Before I got to the know Karan and Sam, I had assumed they were from around the area - like the villages that we had to drive through to get the campsite. After asking them if they were from Bangalore, Karan responded, "Yeah, why? Did you think we were from around here?" Wooo, I felt ignorant.

They were probably the most American-like people I have met since I got to India. We spent part of the night just listening to music on Karan's phone. I didn't think I'd be in the middle of nowhere of India, listening to Fireflies with a group of Indian people. It was nice going through his phone and recognizing band names that weren't all from the 80s.

At one point Sam took out her camera, and we played around with some light exposure pictures. I told her to send me the picture, which I don't think will ever really happen, but I made an awesome smiley face.

We played a bunch of twenty questions for a while - most of the answers had to do with Indian history, so I was pretty useless after the first 3 questions. Eventually it started getting cold and windy, and the fire was dying down, so we all went to bed.

Weekend in Mascal - Sportiness

The reservoir next to our campsite is formed by a dam that blocks off the flow of water. After our team competition, we headed down towards some huge rocks for some rappelling. However, in order to make it across to the dam, we needed to cross a stretch of water. In our teams once again, we needed to create a raft for 10 team members using 5 inner tubes, 4 wooden poles, and a sack of rope. Of course MacGyver could do it with much less.


This.

After making it across the water, we just swam, played with the tubes, and later went up a rock-side to do rappelling. I also found out that the location is next to the Manchanabele Reservoir - The water was clean, and it was great being out in the sun. Rappelling in India was not quite what I had expected, in the sense that, I expected ACTUAL rappelling. The first two steps were like walking down the rockface, but after that, rappelling quickly turned into "hold the rope so you don't freefall to your death."

"Weeeee!"

Just as everyone finished rappelling, rain started blasting down in sheets. I stayed in the water and swam back to the campsite because the water was warmer than bearing the rain on land. I swam back accompanied by Sam (a female Outback India guide) and two other Outback India guys in a kayak followed alongside, all to make sure I stay alive. I felt pretty safe until after 20 feet, Sam got her legs stuck in a fishing net.

As quickly as it started, the rain stopped. The sun was beginning to set and everyone relaxed by the campfire and enjoyed the free time outdoors. Some people played volleyball, others just laid on the rocks. The day was winding down and so were the people.

Weekend in Mascal - The Competition

The first item on our agenda was a team-building competition. Karan, one of the Outback India representatives, divided us up into four teams of about ten people. The competition consisted four events - five minutes at each one. Teams rotated around events attempting to rack up as many points as possible in the given time.

Activity #1 - The Australian Car:
Two planks of wood lay on the ground like skis, and 5 pieces of string on each plank are sticking out of the top. 5 people then stand on the planks like skis, grasp the strings, and attempt to synchronize walking. With the lead person blindfolded, the team must then attempt to walk 30 feet, make a U-turn around a rock, and walk back. Also, the first person in the line is blindfolded. We made it 10 feet.

Vroom vroom.

Activity #2 - Spider Web:
A bunch of string is hung across two poles, leaving holes big enough for a person to fit through. Then the team has to get everyone from one side of the web to the other; however, once a person goes through an opening, that same opening cannot be reused. So, we ended up hoisting the girls on our team through the top holes, while the heavier few crawled through the bottom holes.

Activity #3 - Some event that made fat people feel guilty:
The activity begins with everyone crowding together, creating the smallest circumference possible, and being measured. The thinner we are, the better we do. After three measurements, a medium-sized band of rubber is placed around us, and we are required to run as far as possible before time ends. The band can stretch, but only so far.


I'm just "preparing for winter."
Activity #4 - Mine Field:
The mine field was basically an obstacle course that a blindfolded team member must cross with the help of his teammates' guidance.

My team actually did really well in the activities, but ended up placing in second. It was probably karma as I definitely did my share of taunting before the competition began.

Weekend in Mascal - Arrival

This past weekend, we all went out on a one-night camping trip in a place that you can't even google - Mascal, India. The trip and events were planned out by an outside agency called Outback India.

In the beginning, I admit I was skeptical of the trip. I like camping outdoors and being able to relax in the wild, but my most recent experiences have entailed a lot of walking/hiking followed by exhaustion. My other concern was what kind of accommodations we would receive. When the bus finally stopped, we were in the middle of a tiny farming village, surrounded by livestock and farmland. I was afraid this supposed outdoorsy camping experience would transform into "Live Like a Farmer Day."


Fortunately, the trip exceeded all expectations. After marching on makeshift paths through farmland and admiring the scenery, we reached our destination. Our campground laid right next to a man-made reservoir and included a volleyball net.




The campsite even came with an homage to stone henge.



There was also street dog that came down to hang out with us for the day.

Puppy!

How my weekend was ruined: Going to Chili's

WARNING: PG version - Not only will this be long and whiny, but the humorous/inappropriate photos have also been omitted.

Despite returning today from the most amazing day and night I've spent in India, that good feeling was quickly destroyed by one horrible, horrible decision: going to Chili's for lunch.

Before you jump to conclusions: I realize I'm in Bangalore, not the U.S. When I go to an American restaurant in another country, I drop my standards. I don't expect more service than what any local restaurant would provide, and I anticipate being disappointed by local variations of dishes. Although I love the food, I haven't exactly known Chili's for its service in the U.S. either. However, this trip to Chili's fell so far below expectations that it has left me more frustrated than I've felt in a long time.

Upon entering the restaurant, I almost felt like I was back in the U.S. The same chili-shaped handles rest on the door, and the same type of memorabilia populate the interior. After being seated and placing orders, the frustration began. I was accompanied by two co-workers, Steve and Kyle, who lay witness to the day's events.

The meal began with a veggie queso dip with chips. To refrain from using profanity, I can only describe the queso dip as, bad. But that's okay - I ordered an appetizer and a meal with the expectation that between the two, I would have enough edible food to get full. So, I began munching on the chips.

After about thirty minutes, Steve's meal arrived. Since many meals are eaten family-style, dishes are often cascaded in, rather than flooding the table all at once. With this in mind, Steve began eating, expecting our meals to follow shortly.

Twenty-five minutes pass. Steve has been done eating, and Kyle now receives his meal - total of fifty-five minute wait. Unfortunately, his change of side orders wasn't recorded. Kyle began eating as they prepared the proper side. After twenty more minutes, he has finished his meal, and his new side order arrives. Kyle eats his proper side dish, Steve awaits the end of the meal, and I continue to gnaw on tortilla chips.

Despite the tendency to cascade dishes, at this point I'm beginning to question the certainty that my meal is actually going to arrive. Then, I watch the waiter serve dishes to a family of five that entered the restaurant much later than us. With this confirmation, I call the waiter over and ask him if my meal is ready. If it's not, just simply cancel the order and bring us the check with Steve and Kyle's items. If you're skeptical, this was not an issue of language barriers. The waiter spoke English well, clearly understood we were concerned about our wasted time, and then went off to check the kitchen.

After ten minutes, watching him debate with his co-workers, he returns and tells me that my dish is ready, and it will be brought out in one minute. Little did I know that he was lying right to my face. Twenty minutes pass. I ordered a simple pasta dish, so they're obviously making it from scratch. We're in the process of adding up the cost of everything else we've had, so that we can just drop some cash and leave, when my meal finally arrives - total of an hour and forty-five minutes.

At this point, I don't even want it. We complain about the waste of time when he asks us to stay. In the end, we compromise that they'll offer the meal at a reduced price for wasting our time. So, I eat the angriest meal I've ever had, and they bring the bill. They applied a 145 rupees discount from the total of 1664.65 rupees. To give perspective - the only things I could order off the Chili's menu for 145 rupees were beverages - some diet Pepsi, if I wanted to splurge.

They even decided to keep the 157 rupees "service charge" on the meal. In the end, we paid what we felt the meal was worth and left as dissatisfied customers.

As frustrating as the experience was, something deeper about the situation continues to bother me. Whether you're studying abroad, working abroad, or just traveling, you are constantly acting an ambassador for your home country. McDonald's took the opportunity to become more than a last resort like in American culture. Sadly, Chili's went the other way and proudly flaunts American memorabilia throughout its interior.

Some drawings!

Sometimes we have breaks during the day, and I like to let my mind relax a bit rather than trying to overload it. So, often I find myself drawing the people around me. I'm not actually good at drawing, so I tend to draw people with some sort of defining feature, usually a beard. Also, hair is pretty difficult, so I haven't ventured into drawing girls yet. Anyway, rather than uploading legitimate photos of some fellow TWers, I will present drawings instead.


Mahadev, owner of one of the most awesome voices.


Vatsal, constantly on the prowl to mess with someone's unlocked computer.


Rahul, the nicest guy around.


Steve, white male.


Dan, our CFO. Every time I see him, he's got a smile on his face.


As the day goes on, my sketches become more abstract.

Food!

What kind of food do you think of when someone mentions "Indian food?" Well, yesterday I ate the opposite - steak. I asked for medium well but apparently, it sounded more like "I love raw meat." Probably not the most health-conscious move, but I gladly gulped it down. A great steak with a side of mashed potatoes and steamed veggies came out to roughly 300 rupees ~ $7 U.S. dollars.

I'm pretty surprised with my diet here so far. I came here expecting to eat Indian food 24/7, but it hasn't been the case. My mornings and lunches are usually provided, so they end up being Indian food. But, the nights are usually on our own, and a lot of times, it's pizza. And frankly, pizza is actually pretty expensive here. For a large pizza - which is more like a U.S. medium - it can cost 300-500 rupees. That's ~$6-11 U.S. Compared to most U.S. meals, that's not a lot, but considering the Dominoes 5-5-5 deal (3 medium pizzas for $5 each), it's a big hike in price.

Indian Wedding Reception

On Monday I went to a friend's parent's friend's son's wedding - I might have been a little out of place. Fortunately, not as out of place as the white guy I brought with me. You can check out his blog for his experience as well: sghill.blogspot.com

After hearing that his parents were going to a wedding, Anup suggested that they take me along with them. I love learning about different cultures and the wedding was a great opportunity for me. Of course, that doesn't mean I went in fearless. Luckily the night went well.

Relief #1:
Anup's dad speaks excellent English.
Before that first phone call from him, I was dreading that I wouldn't understand him, make him repeat himself endlessly, and offend him to no ends. Thankfully, there wasn't trouble communicating with him, and I didn't need to deal with a language barrier.

Relief #2:
The bride and groom didn't freak out when we showed up.
So I didn't just attend a wedding reception and hide in the background. I shook the groom's hand, and with the help of Anup's dad, I even presented him with a flower bouquet. The groom definitely showed some confusion, but I'm guessing he didn't know all the other 2000+ people there anyway. He was probably more angry at the family that I watched throw petals in his face. Not a toss. There were petals all up in his face.

Left to Right: Steve, me, the married couple, Anup's mom, Anup's aunt, Anup's dad, some guy

Relief #3:
The food didn't kill me.
Since so many people with all different tastes were in attendance, they made most of the dishes milder than usual. I ate panipuri, palak naan, paneer makhani, "Italian" pasta, ice cream pizza, and all kinds of stuff (Everything was vegetarian by the way).



They even gave me a coconut for a parting gift

Thanks Vinita and Rupesh!

Mysore - the Palace and Garden

Again, if you come to India, keep in mind that tourists pay a different price when you're looking up costs. To enter the palace: 20 rupees for residents, 200 for foreigners. Pictures weren't allowed within the palace, so we snapped a few outside the gate.



Like most important places in India, you have to take your shoes off before entering. As foreigners we were actually entitled to a free audio tour, which helped put things into context. Electricity came to India in 1906, while the palace was finished in 1912, so the royal family had electricity since day one.

After the palace visit, we went to the Brindavan Gardens. It was a huge garden filled with fountains and greenery, and at night they light up the place for quite a sight.





Overall, the trip was a good experience, and I got to learn some of the history. Try to go when it's not raining!

Mysore - Srirangapatnam

Our first stop in Mysore was Dariya Daulat Palace in Srirangapatnam, the once capital of Mysore. After approaching the gate, the first thing we learned was this: Foreigners pay more. To enter the palace, Indian residents pay 5 rupees; tourists pay 100 rupees.

Yeah, that price hike is pretty high, but honestly the differences in cost of living and wages in India compared to western culture are so vast that I'm okay with paying as a tourist. There are deeper issues to worry about than fretting over the price. With a twenty times increase in price, I'm paying two U.S. dollars.

After we passed through the lengthy courtyard, we arrived at the exhibit. They didn't allow photos inside the exhibit, but we took some facing the out towards the courtyard.



Inside were paintings and artifacts from the time of the Tipu Sultan. I kind of went through the paintings for a while, not really grasping the history behind them. Then, I discovered this one painting of the Tipu Sultan, dying. To the British. Ooooh, so that's what this museum is all about. The British weaponry, paintings of the Tipu Sultan's family, and all the artifacts started to gain meaning. Unfortunately, one of the Australians brought a bag with the Union Jack across the entire thing.

My trip to Mysore - Breakfast

Yeah it's a place. Not even going for the pun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysore
There's a lot of history to the area, which Wikipedia and other sources can explain better than I can.

12 of us, none being from India, left Diamond District at 7am by bus towards Mysore. About 9am we stopped by an all you can eat buffet breakfast and gorged ourselves on
dosas, idli, and other South Indian dishes. Everything was set underneath a sort of huge modern-day hut.


We lined up, grabbed idlis, dosas, curries, sweets, and whatever else we wanted then found a table. Every 3 minutes, someone would walk around passing out dosas - I ate 5. The more distinct feature of this location was the monkeys. Any direction you look, you've got 4 monkeys in view.

Clash of cultures: Driving

I've begun to understand the driving culture (the constant honking) a little more with help from fellow TWers, and the difference is huge compared to the U.S. The honking is just a signal saying "Hey, I'm coming through. Watch out" or "Hey, I'm here. Be careful." Honking doesn't have the same connotation as it does in the U.S. Every time I'm walking around and get honked at, I get just a little bit angry still. But, that's just how it is here; they aren't trying to be rude or anything. Also, the driving etiquette is just different. Here, if someone is faster than you, they should get in front of you. That's how it is, and it's accepted here. It would be poor driving and just wrong to prevent someone from passing you. Also, since traffic is so tight here, by passing I really mean cutting off.

In America, we can try to claim that we're more advanced, more developed, and whatever else, but the second we get into our cars, we become primal beasts. Suddenly, you're the Alpha male of the road, and all these lesser beings are intruding on your territory. Imagine:

You're waiting in a long line of cars, waiting to make your right turn. You glance in your mirror, and notice a sports car weaving in and out of traffic. He's jumping back and forth between lanes to get to the front and out of this mess of cars as fast as possible. Sometimes he's even driving in the middle of two lanes or on the wrong side of the road to make his way past cars. What's your first thought? "AWWWWWW HELL NO." Then, if you're aggressive, you'll pace the car next to you and block him from passing. Of course, if you're passive-aggressive like most people, you'll probably think mean thoughts, write an angry letter that you never mail, and regret not blocking him later that day.

Exploring the city!

The past two days I headed out down into the city of Bangalore for some polarizing experiences. The first day, I went out into the city with two Indian guys from outside of Bangalore, and later meeting up with some locals. Rohit, Nitin, and I left for a music store to get Rohit's guitar fixed. To start it off, Rohit decided to make us look like criminals by locking his guitar case, but finding out the key doesn't work. So, we have walk into the music store and ask the guy to break into this case for us. Of course, no questions asked, the guy breaks the zippers right off. While at the store, I grabbed myself a nice Indian flute and am on my way to mastering it.



Throughout the night, I had the chance to learn all sorts of things about Indian culture, which I'll throw together in other posts. We went shopping down in the market streets, ate at a place called Hyderabad Biriyani - biriyani being a sort of masala fried rice, and rode a public bus. Apparently the bus "stops" here are more like roll and go. Throughout the night, if any question or thought came to mind, I just bugged someone around me and got my answer. I learned a lot about the driving culture, foods, eating habits, and music. More important than the raw answers though, learning the culture really came from seeing little nuances and getting a feel for the attitudes when people answer the barrage of questions I throw out at them. It was a ton of fun to learn and experience the differences.

However, the second day was a bit different. This may or may not have been due to the difference in company - I went with four other Americans and two guys from Australia. We look, feel like, and really are a bunch of tourists. Everything was so chaotic - we're just wandering the streets, not too sure what we want to do or where we want to go, and I loved it. Sometimes, it's more fun to learn on your own than having someone more knowledgeable feed you the answers. One of the great, and rather ridiculous, features of the markets here is the deals.


Yup. 1 for 6.

It was great spending some time with westerners, but I was still missing aspects of the night before. Rather than learning about the country I'm in, I sort of fell into a little western culture bubble. We get the comfort of similar backgrounds, lifestyles, etc, but we miss out on a huge part of being here: discovering India. Although, I have to admit, I did learn a lot about Australia today, but I think I'll just have to make that a trip for some other day.

Some Indian Culture Notes

Before I came here, I was told some things about India, and I had my own perceptions as well. I used to think that the majority of India was vegetarian, but according to some locals, they estimate that only about 20% of India is still completely vegetarian. Most people tend to eat chicken, eggs, etc; the main thing that's still avoided is the consumption of beef due to the cow being a sacred animal. Every restaurant I've been to and every menu I've seen have meat dishes available. I thought I'd be forced to live as a vegetarian for 6 weeks, but it's hardly the case.

Another custom that was drilled into my mind was to use my right hand for eating and interactions with people - to use the left would be a sign of disrespect. Supposedly this is still true in the suburbs and outskirts, but within Bangalore I'm told that the custom isn't really practiced. Kids are told by their parents to do so, but the tradition is not really enforced, likely due to the amount of western influence on the city.

Finally, the head bobbing thing still gets me. This was mentioned to me briefly before I came, and it still throws me off whenever I see it. Sometimes, rather than saying yes or giving verbal confirmation, someone might just bob his head side to side as a signal. After growing up in the U.S., bobbing side to side looks a hell of a lot like they're saying "no", and it trips me up. It also doesn't look like a normal "no" either. Since they're actually saying yes, they're smiling too, so everyone just looks incredibly sarcastic. I'll get the hang of it one day.

Looking for some Indian Food

Today was our first free day, so I needed to work out meals on my own. I slept until 11, so when I woke up I was ready to grab some lunch. Four of us made a trip down Airport Road to find a restaurant recommended to us: Mac’s Fast Food. After glancing at the menu, I noticed: they don’t serve Indian food here. Some of my co-workers aren’t too keen on Indian food, so it was a plus for them, but I was shocked. I expected every restaurant in India to serve Indian food. If you were lucky, maybe you’d see 2 or 3 western items. Instead there seems to be a lot of outside influence on the cuisine here – even to the point of restaurants serving exclusively foreign dishes. It’s a big difference compared to my experience in China where it was Chinese food all day, every day. If you wanted American food, you went out and bought peanut butter and Oreos from a convenience store.

Anyway, I decided to steer away from the burgers and went with a Veggie Chinese Noodle meal, while the others got cheese pizzas and a lamb burger. Not the greatest Chinese food out there, but I didn’t really expect much either. After returning to the office and wasting our day away with ping pong, pool, and foosball, hunger struck again. We were ready to order some Indian food, only to discover that delivery didn’t start until 6:30; it was 5:00 at the time. I wanted some Indian food, but hunger was getting the best of us. In the end, we went with Papa John’s. That’s right, pizza in India. I got a medium Tandoori Chicken pizza, expecting to have leftovers. But when it arrived, I discovered that the serving sizes can be pretty different here. The medium ended up being an American personal pan sized pizza. Although delicious, it left me hungry afterwards. Sadly, there was a pizza size even smaller than the medium. But the saddest part of all is that I’m in India, craving Indian food, but failing to get any.

It’s okay though. Tomorrow is India’s Independence Day, so I’m sure we’ll be showered with all kinds of Indian treats then.

Shower

One thing that I failed to mention was the shower here. It’s cold. If I wanted to shower at night, I had to plan in advance because after you step into that water, you’re wide awake. After water like that hits your body, you aren’t sleeping for a while. Luckily I got into contact with one of the building managers today. After 10 minutes of hand signals and almost offensively-slow speaking English, I learned that there’s a switch outside my bathroom to turn the heater on. Just flip the switch, wait ten minutes, and I’ve got a hot shower waiting for me. A scorching hot shower. So hot that you’re wide awake after getting roasted. I’m not complaining though; I’m definitely grateful for it.
The only part that annoys me is that I had heard about the switch before I came here. I have been flipping a switch inside the bathroom (rather than outside) which turned a red light on that I assumed meant the heater was on. I thought I was such a pro coming here the first day, flipping that switch, and waiting ten minutes only to step into the ice storm brewing in my bathroom. After asking management about it, I found out it does nothing.
But really, I got lucky with my shower. At least in mine, I have a divider and curtain to keep the rest of the bathroom dry. Steve got it rough. Or maybe lucky depending on how you look at it. He can pee while he’s in the shower – just turn left. No divider, no curtain, and toilet sitting inches away. Moreover, this design also comes with the price of his toilet paper getting wet whenever he wants to shower. Other than Steve’s room though, the accommodations here are western style. Some of the apartments even have marble flooring, including a marble balcony.

I stayed awake today!

After settling in with the office and receiving my badge and power converter, a few of us decided to go on a little walk around the neighborhood.  Fu Yong from China, Steven from Chicago, Sherry from San Fran, and I headed out of our little gated community known as the Diamond District and explored the surrounding area.  Right outside our gate (which is always open and the guards don't seem to check anyone) lies Airport Road.  On the other side of Airport Road is a straight path that leads to a series of parallel alleyways with small shops and grocery stores, which eventually leads to a more significant road, 100 Foot Road, with recognizable western shops along with the local ones.

However, we still had our first feat to overcome - crossing Airport Road.  As I mentioned before, there aren't really any traffic lights here.  Now, it's pretty cool to be in a car and never really have to stop for a light - imagine driving on the highway except none of the exits have street lights either, so a bottleneck never really forms.  Instead there's just a steady, albeit aggressive and dangerous, flow of traffic.  As a pedestrian, this sucks.  You can't just sit around and wait for that green man to tell you that you can cross safely.  You stand on the tip of your toes, looking for that one driver that hangs back a little bit too far from the crowd, then you run like hell.  To the middle.  Then you look the other way and do it again.  It can take some time to find an opening, but it's not too terrible.  Also, after watching elderly folk and parents with small children cross, pride starts to kick in and you make a dash for it.

After making it across, we took a nice stroll and took in the view.  Along the side alleyways were grocery stores, merchandise shops, an internet cafe, and small food shops.  On 100 Foot Road were stores like Wrangler, Levi's, and United Colors of Benetton mixed in with the local ones.  One of the differences that's often mentioned is the number of stray dogs on the street.  There weren't as many as people described there would be (I imagined at least 6 on every city block), but we still ran into quite a few of them during our walk.  There were maybe nine dogs during our ~1 hour journey.  On the way back, we encountered a cow walking down the street.  Chillin.  Doing whatever it wants just because it can. 

Anyway, once we got back, we hung out for a bit in Steve's room.  Turned on some Indian MTV and browsed the internet.  But then I realized - every time I looked up, I could have sworn the exact same music video was playing.  Sure, the people and music and a little different, but every Indian musician made the same video. 
They're at a club - dancing.  Ooooh and now the guy does a chest pop. Then the camera does a series of awkward angles on the girl's face.  Now there's some random guy breakdancing.  Suddenly the entire club begins a synchronized dance composed mostly of wrist movement. 
Oh, and the best part was finally noticing the name MTV gave this series of music videos - Torture Tunes.

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful.  We had some dinner at a local restaurant within the Diamond District complex - I ate Murgh Tikka Mahkhani (basically butter chicken?) and Veggie Biriyani (a fried rice type of dish), which totaled to about 300 rupees.  After that, some of us went up to the ThoughtWorks office and played ping pong.

Today was nice and relaxing - got some things done, and I managed to stay awake the whole day and adjust to the time here.  Tonight, two other Chicagoans that I've been working with, Kyle and Derek, will be arriving.  Then tomorrow we begin our orientation, do icebreakers, and even have a treasure hunt! Yay!

Arrival

After 22 hours of travel, three books, and several microwaved airplane meals, I have finally arrived in Bangalore.  I was greeted outside of the baggage claim by three ThoughtWorks India employees and escorted back to the corporate apartments along with two other Americans and ~7 TW China people.  I am safe.


First Impressions:
After Steven (a fellow Chicago employee) and I packed our things in the car, Steven called shotgun and we both walked around to get in when he realized, "Heeeey, this is the driver's side."  It was awesome.  Now, I'm not sure I could say the same about the actual car ride.  That was more of a suspense/thriller.  First off, driving in the middle of the road?  Totally fine.  At first, we came up behind a car that was in the middle of the road, and our driver honked the horn and flashed his brights.  The other car inched its way to the side and we passed.  I was thinking, "Okay, so not everyone stays between the lines.  That's cool.  At least our driver knows what he's doing."  Then we started drifting.  The roads were pretty clear since it was three in the morning, so it wasn't really a problem.  It was more intriguing than anything else really.  I would love to be able to drive like that.  No worries about hitting the side-railing all and two lanes to swerve around in.  Then I realized another aspect of driving in India.

Every once in a while, our driver would honk his horn as seemingly nothing.  At first, I thought he was accidentally tapping it and I ignored it.  But then something happened that made me realize what was going on.  A car was turning out of a side road onto our road, and it apparently didn't see us (or didn't look).  As it turned out in front of us, we moved into the right lane to avoid it.  This whole time, even before we saw the car come up, our driver had the horn blasting.  Then I realized what his random honking was doing.

There weren't really that many traffic lights (which makes sense considering we were on a highway-type road), but there was still the occasional intersection where cars might come out.  So in place of traffic lights, every time we came up to one of these roads our driver would blast his horn to warn any turning cars.  It was just a "Hey, I'm coming.  Don't kill us because I know you're not looking" honk.  Basically the most insane replacement for traffic lights there is.  On top of that, the drivers just seem more aggressive, but I haven't even seen rush hour traffic yet. 

Anywaaay, after about an hour driving we arrived around 4am to the apartment - really nice place.  We have a huge living area, kitchen, washer/dryer, balcony, A/C, and our own individual bathrooms with western toilets.  In our rooms we also have huge closets that lock to protect our belongings.  I'll try to get some pictures up later.  The internet wasn't working (I'm in the office now), but there's normally wifi for us to use.  I'll try to keep this updated every couple days - at least with a "I'm safe" line.

Also, on a side note, I tried the Indian version of Coke, Thumbs Up.  Meh.