So far, still alive.
India has definitely been an adventure. After finally getting some sleep I've managed to pull myself together and think a little more straight. I think that while the appearance of India can be quite bad some of the places we've been have been pretty cool.
Today we went to the Embassy suites and had breakfast which was pretty good. It's a little more expensive than other places but they wait on you quite a bit and the breakfast food is a mix of India and American dishes. For the most part we all stayed in today since we finally had internet access and needed to pay bills, call loved ones, and of course check facebook. After getting some recommendations from our Studio I counterparts we set off for 100 ft road. It's about a half mile from our places and took us down some very run down streets, more stray animals and humans, some goats, and darting across streets between cars. Once we got to 100 ft road though there were a lot of shops. The sidewalks and roadways were still pretty bad but these shops were really nice.
We chose to go to Smokehouse deli for lunch. The inside was like walking into a drawing. The walls were all covered in wallpaper that made it look like bricks were drawn on it, shelves drawn on, and bottles. Places where there were shelves or cabinets they had handles drawn on the handles, it was all really clever looking. The food also was quite good. I was going to have a lamb burger but they were out so I asked what kind of meat they were serving in the hamburger and they said it was indeed cow so I went with that one. Oddly they put cucumbers on the burger, I had it well done which I wouldn't do in the US but thought I'd stick to the safe side here. It was still really good if a little odd on the choices of seasoning. I also had an apple mojito which was pretty good, then for dessert we each had some rasberry mouse, which for some reason was called philly cheesecake. I think they got some wires crossed with the english translations.
Speaking of English, we've had no trouble speaking English everywhere. Everyone speaks it here, and those that do not are not working in shops we've been to. I was worried at first we'd have to learn some phrases but it's not been an issue at all.
Everything is very cheap here, food especially. My meal listed above, along with a couple bottles of water we purchased came out to about $17 or 1500-ish rupees I believe. I forget the conversion exactly.
Last night I passed out and slept pretty soundly. There is air conditioning in our place so I set it pretty cold and was very content all night long. The fact I hadn't slept for probably 48 hours or so probably contributed to that as well. Our house cleaner came by around 8pm yesterday to fix my shower since the water pump was messed up and made it smell like rotten eggs. That was great that he came back and fixed it but the downside was I had already passed out and had to get up for a little while. I was so disoriented. I think I may have texted my brother a little while I waited for him to finish then immediately fell back asleep.
Tomorrow is the first day of work here. Our plan is to just be ready for answering questions and probably to give some guidance and train a few people. For the most part though we want to not be doing any actual work, just checking over others. The goal is that they become self sufficient and so really the less they need us to do the better it'll be once we're gone and they're on their own. Sort of like raising a child. My only concern is finding a job for my return. I don't have one lined up yet and that worries me.
India has definitely been an adventure. After finally getting some sleep I've managed to pull myself together and think a little more straight. I think that while the appearance of India can be quite bad some of the places we've been have been pretty cool.
Today we went to the Embassy suites and had breakfast which was pretty good. It's a little more expensive than other places but they wait on you quite a bit and the breakfast food is a mix of India and American dishes. For the most part we all stayed in today since we finally had internet access and needed to pay bills, call loved ones, and of course check facebook. After getting some recommendations from our Studio I counterparts we set off for 100 ft road. It's about a half mile from our places and took us down some very run down streets, more stray animals and humans, some goats, and darting across streets between cars. Once we got to 100 ft road though there were a lot of shops. The sidewalks and roadways were still pretty bad but these shops were really nice.
We chose to go to Smokehouse deli for lunch. The inside was like walking into a drawing. The walls were all covered in wallpaper that made it look like bricks were drawn on it, shelves drawn on, and bottles. Places where there were shelves or cabinets they had handles drawn on the handles, it was all really clever looking. The food also was quite good. I was going to have a lamb burger but they were out so I asked what kind of meat they were serving in the hamburger and they said it was indeed cow so I went with that one. Oddly they put cucumbers on the burger, I had it well done which I wouldn't do in the US but thought I'd stick to the safe side here. It was still really good if a little odd on the choices of seasoning. I also had an apple mojito which was pretty good, then for dessert we each had some rasberry mouse, which for some reason was called philly cheesecake. I think they got some wires crossed with the english translations.
Speaking of English, we've had no trouble speaking English everywhere. Everyone speaks it here, and those that do not are not working in shops we've been to. I was worried at first we'd have to learn some phrases but it's not been an issue at all.
Everything is very cheap here, food especially. My meal listed above, along with a couple bottles of water we purchased came out to about $17 or 1500-ish rupees I believe. I forget the conversion exactly.
Last night I passed out and slept pretty soundly. There is air conditioning in our place so I set it pretty cold and was very content all night long. The fact I hadn't slept for probably 48 hours or so probably contributed to that as well. Our house cleaner came by around 8pm yesterday to fix my shower since the water pump was messed up and made it smell like rotten eggs. That was great that he came back and fixed it but the downside was I had already passed out and had to get up for a little while. I was so disoriented. I think I may have texted my brother a little while I waited for him to finish then immediately fell back asleep.
Tomorrow is the first day of work here. Our plan is to just be ready for answering questions and probably to give some guidance and train a few people. For the most part though we want to not be doing any actual work, just checking over others. The goal is that they become self sufficient and so really the less they need us to do the better it'll be once we're gone and they're on their own. Sort of like raising a child. My only concern is finding a job for my return. I don't have one lined up yet and that worries me.
