Nothing special today. Alot like yesterday. Class started their "certification" practical test.
Home around 5 and on phone with kids and cathi til 930 I believe.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
3/18/09 Noida, India
We left office at 430am. Tonight dinner will be provided by class. Should be very authentic.
Was authentic, although not as spicy as hotel. We had the cottage cheese dish in the red sauce and butter chicken, 3 different types of bread (nan, paranta, and puree --small round), kheer (sweet white with rice and small grapes and cardomom seeds), lentle soup and pepsi. I tried diet coke here and it doesn't taste like diet coke in states- no bitter aftertaste.
Home from office around 5am and up til 8 on phone w/kids and Cathi.
Was authentic, although not as spicy as hotel. We had the cottage cheese dish in the red sauce and butter chicken, 3 different types of bread (nan, paranta, and puree --small round), kheer (sweet white with rice and small grapes and cardomom seeds), lentle soup and pepsi. I tried diet coke here and it doesn't taste like diet coke in states- no bitter aftertaste.
Home from office around 5am and up til 8 on phone w/kids and Cathi.
3/17/09 Noida, India
I called home on the computer phone and talked to girls and Cathi while working on emails and issues. Went to bed at 730am and got up at 830 to eat breakfast. went back to bed around 930 and got up again around 330. Time flew while I ironed shirt and pants , showered and packed computer away. We didn't have time to eat and Ranveer was waiting for us in the lobby when we went down around 5.
Another day of training flew by and we quized class verbally and awarded with candy.
Our hosts ordered food and we all ate in the cafeteria. All mild food- some chicked w/gravy, more gravy - a bit sweet with crumbled potatoes in it, redish orange gravy with cottage cheese slices.
Another day of training flew by and we quized class verbally and awarded with candy.
Our hosts ordered food and we all ate in the cafeteria. All mild food- some chicked w/gravy, more gravy - a bit sweet with crumbled potatoes in it, redish orange gravy with cottage cheese slices.
3/16/09 Noida, India
Ranveer was going to come and take us shopping today, but he was unable to because his car was not working. So we ventured out on foot from the hotel. The neighborhood looks pretty rough as do all neighborhoods here. We walked down to the end of the road where, if there is a light, it was not being obeyed. We had to walk carefully to cross as car, autorichshaw, truck, bus, bicycle tried to guess each others moves and ours while turning onto the cross street. No yielding to pedestrians, just dodging and honking. Some kids came begging and we told them no. They asked Tracey to take their pictures and she obliged. They were anxious to see themselves on the display afterwords. They wouldn't leave us so I waved and said bye bye. The kept saying something and holding out their hands and acting like they did not understand us. As we were crossing over to come back on the other side of the street, the kid waved and said "bye bye."
We walked over holes in the ground that looked like sink holes, but it turns out they were sewer man holes that disintegrated (we could tell by the smell and the flies).
We walked part way down an ally were the fronts of the buildings had no walls or doors on the front. Shops had bikes and bike parts, 50 foot pieces of rebar folded in half, paint, scooters, and other hardware, none of which looked new (except for maybe the rebar and some of the bikes). There was a couple of guys unloading a truck full of red bricks on the other side of the alley against a wall. They were next to some sand and gravel piles. Further down where we turned around, there were 3 cows on the other side (main street side) of the wall eating from what looked like piles of trash on the side of the road. I noticed there was a trough like gutter beneath the sidewalks with murky water in it and wondered if that was the sewer too (Ranveer later verified this is gray water sewer).
On the way back, I saw a Royal Enfield motorcycle parked on the side of the road.
Around 5, Ravinder, who is a native Indian, but a--n employee of the company we work for--and liaison for the reason we are here, Akhil, and Gogan came to pick us up. When we weren't quite done eating dinner. I ordered some shrimp in some kind of red curry sauce and asked for not too much spicy. When they brought it out they said "this is a spicy dish", and if I wanted they could add some cream. I declined and ate it. It might have been the hottest thing I have ever eaten. Tracey tried it (she likes spicy food) and said yes, it was very spicy. I ate a shrimp that was oven hot too and had to take a drink. When I did, it went the wrong way and I nearly choked to death while my sinuses burned from the spiciness.
We sat with the 4 of them for tea and coffee for a little bit before we left for the office. They drove us past about 5 other buildings occupied by other divisions of their company before arriving at our building. When we arrived, there was a crowd to greet us on the steps on the way in. We stopped in the building foyer to more greetings and applause. They had us light a group of 5 ceremonial candles and then put a red dot on our foreheads as a welcome gesture. (I later found that the dot is called a bindi or tilak).
We then were given a tour of the building and assigned to our "cabin" (office). We weren't in there very long as we started right away training.
At dinner time, we went out with Ravinder, Mohit, Gogan, and Petri to a Chinese restaurant. According to Gogan, they have the best "non-spicy" chinese food (it was very good).
We left the office around 5am and arrived at hotel around 550.
We walked over holes in the ground that looked like sink holes, but it turns out they were sewer man holes that disintegrated (we could tell by the smell and the flies).
We walked part way down an ally were the fronts of the buildings had no walls or doors on the front. Shops had bikes and bike parts, 50 foot pieces of rebar folded in half, paint, scooters, and other hardware, none of which looked new (except for maybe the rebar and some of the bikes). There was a couple of guys unloading a truck full of red bricks on the other side of the alley against a wall. They were next to some sand and gravel piles. Further down where we turned around, there were 3 cows on the other side (main street side) of the wall eating from what looked like piles of trash on the side of the road. I noticed there was a trough like gutter beneath the sidewalks with murky water in it and wondered if that was the sewer too (Ranveer later verified this is gray water sewer).
On the way back, I saw a Royal Enfield motorcycle parked on the side of the road.
Around 5, Ravinder, who is a native Indian, but a--n employee of the company we work for--and liaison for the reason we are here, Akhil, and Gogan came to pick us up. When we weren't quite done eating dinner. I ordered some shrimp in some kind of red curry sauce and asked for not too much spicy. When they brought it out they said "this is a spicy dish", and if I wanted they could add some cream. I declined and ate it. It might have been the hottest thing I have ever eaten. Tracey tried it (she likes spicy food) and said yes, it was very spicy. I ate a shrimp that was oven hot too and had to take a drink. When I did, it went the wrong way and I nearly choked to death while my sinuses burned from the spiciness.
We sat with the 4 of them for tea and coffee for a little bit before we left for the office. They drove us past about 5 other buildings occupied by other divisions of their company before arriving at our building. When we arrived, there was a crowd to greet us on the steps on the way in. We stopped in the building foyer to more greetings and applause. They had us light a group of 5 ceremonial candles and then put a red dot on our foreheads as a welcome gesture. (I later found that the dot is called a bindi or tilak).
We then were given a tour of the building and assigned to our "cabin" (office). We weren't in there very long as we started right away training.
At dinner time, we went out with Ravinder, Mohit, Gogan, and Petri to a Chinese restaurant. According to Gogan, they have the best "non-spicy" chinese food (it was very good).
We left the office around 5am and arrived at hotel around 550.
3/15/2009
We didn't sleep too much , partly because we slept some on the airplane and partly because we were up very late trying to get computer and phone to work to call home and let everybody know we made it. There's a couple second lag or delay in the computer phone but overall sounds good.
Today, Ranveer and the driver picked up up and we went to Dilli Haat and shopped for silk, jewelery, and other things. It's kind of like an India national bazaar with pashminas, scarves, some other clothes, jewelery and etc from several different Indian regions. I got this book (need green and red cloth journal with natural paper that has leaves and such embeded in it) to write in and a couple small gifts for the girls. Ranveer paid since we still don't have any Rupees. We stopped at the India gate which is a large monument to Indian and British soldiers. It has a very large park and parade route to the capital.
Today, Ranveer and the driver picked up up and we went to Dilli Haat and shopped for silk, jewelery, and other things. It's kind of like an India national bazaar with pashminas, scarves, some other clothes, jewelery and etc from several different Indian regions. I got this book (need green and red cloth journal with natural paper that has leaves and such embeded in it) to write in and a couple small gifts for the girls. Ranveer paid since we still don't have any Rupees. We stopped at the India gate which is a large monument to Indian and British soldiers. It has a very large park and parade route to the capital.
Delhi/Noida, India March 14, 2009
We arrived at the airport yesterday (Saturday 3/14/09) and did not see the expected sign w/our names on them. We couldn't get either of the international cell phones we were issued to work and ended up having a local man call Ranveer (our contact here). He directed us out the door to meet them. We waited about 15 minutes and the man who had called for us came to check on us. We told him we had not seen them yet. He called Ranveer again and soon after, we were greeted with rose bouquets (both of us). We then walked over to the lot where the car was parked and waited for it to emerge from the lot. I couldn't wait to start taking pics of the different cars and trucks. There was a neat tow truck right there but I missed it because the camera was in video mode.
Catching up
So I went to India and survived! I will be catching up now, so the dates I enter in The titles for the next few entries will not match the dates they are entered just for the fact that I am indeed catching up.
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