Ain't networks grand?

Okay, this note comes to you courtesy of my work losing network connection again... Supposedly, they only lose the connection for moments, and system-wide downage is a very rare occurance, but this would count twice in a week, so I'm starting to get skeptical... :)

My life has adjusted to over here for the most part. That is not to say that I feel like a native, but I have gotten past the every day living adjustment... I know where to get food, have mostly figured out my apartment, and am still REALLY loving the housekeepers doing the dishes everyday. Still feel a little isolated, but that is mostly a language barrier and probably more to do with my laid back and introverted personality than with anything in this country.

I still have to smile at the fact that most folks here in the office switch to Hindi when they aren't focusing on speaking English, so somethimes in the middle of a discussion they will (withouth themselves noticing) switch to Hindi, and at the end of their sentance look at me for confirmation... Kind of fun, because everyone here is kind enough to be able to laugh at themselves easily.

I'm starting to feel slightly sureal in the fact that my timesense is starting to forget what living in the states is like, and switching over to this being my reality. The surroundings are starting to feel "normal", but I suppose it could be said that this is more an indication of my need to start exploring more than anything. I think I am going to try to get out to New Delhi, at least in some manner, this weekend. Sherry (one of my co-workers at Ingenix) said that a place called Delhi Hut existed in New Delhi (a cool shopping place), and I think that may be my target. I am massively excited for Judy to be here to goad me into exploring more... Left to my own devices, in some manner, I tend to be a fairly boring person. Maybe it's just a part of exploring being more fun with someone to do it with...

Below is a fairly non-inspiring (sorry) picture out of my office window. When I walked out of the complex tonight to leave, it turns out that I had just missed a colorful sunset, so I am planning on going outside a little earlier tomorrow and seeing it. The light bouncing off one of the prettier buildings in Gurgaon at sunset, I think, will make an awesome picture.

Peace - Joel

Judy's first post... Still in America!!

HEY ALL!! Figured I better get in here and get familiar with the blogging world so when I DO get to India I can dive right in!

Wow! 10 days till I’m on my way to the land of Mangos… YES Mangos IS capitalized! Yoga masters and the world of ayurveda to immerse myself in. I CAN NOT WAIT! Keeping busy with school and all there is to do in preparation to leave. I wonder if I will look back on this day in a month and it will be a strange blurred dream. In some ways I am grateful for the over load of things to do to keep my mind on the adventure that lies ahead.

I feel there would be lacking in my post today if I didn’t include a comment on the WEIRD AL concert last night. It was FANTASTIC!! And, since I think it is only fair that I respond to Al and the words he said... well SANG... to me last night… AB-SOO-LUTELY!!! :) Hey, how could a girl resist!?

It is fun to hear the stories Joel has shared. I can’t wait to buy a snickers from a locked case in the back of the counter. I think America really would benefit from this practice. I can’t believe I’m gonna live in a place with a white couch!! Wiat! I just realized. I’LL HAVE A COUCH!!! I’m SO not coming home!

Much interesting adventures ahead! Much missing of friends and kitties here though. It will be strange to live for months without the babies under my feet. - sigh-

Till later - Judy

Thunderstorm - and other pics

I'm sitting here listening to the wonderful sound of a thunderstorm, which is fun. I was sitting out on the deck for a while listening to it, and ran back inside to see if I could catch a photo of the storm... got good video, but the lightning eluded me for the most part. Got one cool shot, which is included below.

Things here are fairly routine. I got a chance to watch quite a bit of cricket here on Sunday, and am trying to figure out whether that counts as culture, or if that really only counts the same as sitting around and watching baseball back in the states, for which I would feel somewhat lazy... :)

Got a chance to talk to some of my team-mates today and got an idea of how to make roti/chapati , which is a type of flat-bread that is very common to eat with lunch. Most of the folks who bring lunch here bring some roti and a small portion of chutney or other type of lentil/curry to eat with the bread. Looking forward to getting some wheat flour and trying it out... It sounds kind of "knack" based to make it well, so we'll see how I do.

On other food fronts, I must say that, yet again, I learned the lesson of occasionally reading the box before diving into cooking.... :) I made some masala gravy with mutton that was really good, but oh my gosh hot! Would have helped if I would have read the package and seen that red chili powder was the second ingredient on the masala spice pack, before I decided to enhance the spice with a portion of red chili powder of my own. Was searching out beer in the fridge to drink with it to cool my lips in quite a anxious moment after the flavor built up a bit. Was awesome tasting, if I don't say myself, but really hot.

I've got to get to sleep (and calling Judy), so I'll post again soon... Below are pictures of a view of one of the malls (sorry about the picture quality - judy will be here soon and she will have better pictures),

my building that I work in - the one of the right, which looks better than this picture does it justice,

and a picture of the storm that I got.

Peace - Joel

Catch-up entry and COWS

Feeling guilty because I haven't updated this very much lately... Too much to do, yowsa what a distracting country! In a good way, but wow.

On Saturday past, I went out with a service that contracts with Ingenix to "orient" us travellers to the city, and she took us to many places, and for the most part, did give me a much better idea of what the city has to offer and how to get day-to-day things.

We saw lots of the malls in the area, of which there are many. There really is little in the way of small changes between the two types of stores that I have seen so far. Either you have a very modern, multi-story mall, kind of feels like smaller versions of Rosedale stacked 3-4 stories high, or extremely small (10 people max occupancy) stores scattered around with more of a strip mall feel. These are, from what I have seen so far, more the day-to-day stores, with the malls being very much more the Nike, Apple, and high-end stores that don't really get you "everyday" things.

I finally found a place that supplies power sockets that change the shape from US to India for plugs (major YAY), so I don't have to keep walking around the house having only one of my electrical appliances plugged in at a time... Need to go back there for a power strip, as the computer room/study is still under-plugged. :)

Ate out at an italian restaraunt, that was good italian, but the remarkable thing about it was that it is mostly composed of couches with coffee tables. So, this means that it is majorly comfy when you are waiting for your food and socializing, but different to try to eat your food when it comes... all in all a fun experience, however. And good to occasionally get non-indian food.

On that score, I have eaten out a few times, at "indian" restaraunts, though, really, unless you go really high end restaraunt, everything here is somewhat indian. The two or three "asian" or chinese restaraunts, and the one mexican, that I have eaten at all have a distinct indian influence... But the traditional Indian restaraunts.... mmmmmmmm.... I have truly come to the right country for me. The flavors are so much stronger than in the US, and very good food.

The other main thing that I found out with the Saturday training is that, once Judy is at the apartment during the day, it will be spoiling in the extreme. EVERYTHING can be delivered to pretty much anywhere in the city. From shampoo to McDonnalds, to groceries, to liquor. Pretty much any shop wants the business enough that they will deliver any order above 3-10 dollars to the apartment when they are open. Sadly, I am at work most of the hours that shops are open, so that so far I haven't been able to take advantage of this.

I am interested to try the McDonnalds here, because it is soooo different from the US. Their burgers are either chicken, potato patty, or vegi, and they have other things like curry platters that look like they are a kind of bread bowl filled with curry gravy and vegatables. I may just end up appreciating McDonnalds, which will be a blow to my sensibilities (I had a sense of guilt, even as I enjoyed it back home)... The main McD's near me has a huge delivery number posted, and I got quite a chuckle out of the numbers. They express my own feelings about McD's, for those biblically minded out there: 66-00-666.

Other than Saturday, I really haven't done a whole lot. Work takes most of my days - I work 10AM-8:30PM most days, and then go home to crash, getting up in the morning to check woerk e-mails before I leave for the office. I am trying to switch over to doing some e-mails when I get home, but usually after talking with Judy I just get too tired. Sucks, because most of Ingenix folks are working when I get home at night, but are themselves home sleeping when I get back up the next morning.

Anyway - more to come... I am well, and extremely well fed and watered. :) Other than that, I am leading a boring life, for all that it is extremely interesting at the same time. I would assume that when Judy gets here I will do more exploring and traveling, but for now, I just get so busy with living that I haven't packed much more in.

Oh, and I "learned"/experienced a new way to eat a new type of Mango today, which I really hope doesn't make me severely ill. :) There is a smaller version of mango here that is REALLY sweet, and you pretty much beat the heck out of it so that the insides kind of liquify, then clip off a very small hole from the stem and suck/pour out the mango. Really tasty, though breaks the cardinal fruit rule of "travel advisors" of never eating or getting the skin of fruits near your mouth, due to that being where the bacteria seem to hang out... Oh, well, what is one day of illness compared to awesome mango-ness!

Below is a typical (not kidding) street scene on my way to work in the morning. If you can't see well, I think you can pop the picture open and scroll in... Gotta love a country that worships it's steak. All kidding aside, I think the animals here are just plain fasinating to watch every morning.

Peace all - Joel

Updated Apartment Pics

Here are the updated apartment pics that I have, though they are about the same as the ones that are posted, I like my color scheme better. :)

Not much is new here, mostly because of the silliness of me getting ill on Tuesday and primarily sleeping through it. One of my co-workers from Genpact, (Shreyange <-- that's phonetic - I don't have the correct spelling at the moment - will get it soon) who is also an MD, came to check on me to make sure that I was alright. Although embarrased, one, to have fallen ill this quickly, and two, to have him and Sonia (another Genpact person) come all the way over to the apartment to check on me, I was humbled by the caring of them. Shreyange's opinion was that I had gotten myself a mild heat stroke, which will pretty much convince myself to over-do with the water drinking in the future. I was drinking tons of water, but Monday I had run out of water at the apartment, and thought I would just get through until work, and then didn't drink enough there... One day is all it takes, evidently.

Anyway - Soon I head in for the next day, and if mornings are anything to judge by, it seems a little cooler than it did other mornings, so here's hoping!

It is in my plan to hopefully venture out a little tonight and tomorrow morning to go grocery shopping again, so maybe I'll get a little more exciting of a time soon.

Peace - Joel

June 11th

Hello all – I can’t say that I’ve done a whole lot as of yet… It has been record high temperatures here in India – which is my way on emphasizing that it is really HOT!

Not complaining too much, as I have spend most of the time inside and air-conditioned, and frankly, spending much of the time recouping from the travel and making sure that I am up to speed and fully functional for Monday, my first day in the office at Genpact.

Spent some time grocery shopping - which was a blast. I know that may sound a little pathetic, but we’re talking mangos here! Also went out with an Ingenix long-term guy, Jerome Gold, works in Subro in Wauwatosa, and he took me out for my first meal in India. Now, I must say, eating Mexican food for your first meal in India goes a long way to being ironic, but it was really good food! Surreal to have a power outage while you are eating in a mall, and have no one really react (Power outages are VERY common here), but they are always short, and people must just get really used to them.

I had fun yesterday morning sitting out on my porch and watching the day wake up. Sadly, the sunrise itself is right behind an apartment building for me, but other than that, it was a sobering experience. Being this far from MN, and it being really hot, even at 5:00 in the morning, but still taking a minute to just sit there and soak in the moment and enjoy the wonder of it all.

Everyone here, both Ingenix and Genpact folks have been absolutely wonderful to be around, and I am looking forward to my first day at Genpact later today.

Peace All - Joel

View out my balcony

Picture taken while driving in Gurgaon - cool buildings

Shopping trip - lame, I know, but cool food.

I'm here in India!

This is bound to be a fairly short post, because I am darn tired after flying all this way!

So far, I have seen fairly little of the country, but I have an entirely new appreciation for the courage it must take to drive here. And let's not even talk about motorcycles! I saw a motorcycle weave through two large trucks and a tanker truck that were all converging together to a distance that I was uncomfortable with the TRUCKS being that close, let alone a person gunning a bike through the space! We're talking inches between vehicles, if not less.

Basically, some folks from Genpact, one individual (Jerome) from Ingenix, and the driver, Moses, met me at the airport, after a long but not too unusual baggage claim process. We then drove through the above mentioned chaos, and interesting looking night-life, to my apartment. Would be interesting to go exploring some of the little shops I saw, but it may be a few days/weeks before I am that brave.

My apartment is glorious as far as space, if not a little rough around the edges because of its new construction feel. Lots of space that I will appreciate more when it's not just the bed that I'm interested in.

Tomorrow, I go Grocery shopping!

Peace - Joel