Thoughts on being back

So returning to India after 9 days in the US I noticed a few things that I hadn’t really noticed before; or I had noticed but had gotten used to I guess. Such as:
- man it is dirty here. Like actual physical dirt, it is everywhere. I had noticed it before but I swear it got dirtier while I was away. The morning after I arrived (I landed at around 11 p.m.) I noticed my landlord’s maid sweeping their terrace and she had collected a significant pile of dirt – and she sweeps this every day! It really freaked me out the first few days I was back, I’m a little more used to it now, but I find that I can no longer walk around my house barefoot, I must have flip flops on at all times because how dirty my feet get really freaks me out. This is why I have a maid that cleans every day; she has Sundays off and I noticed this morning just a very little layer of dirt and dust over everything – after 1 day of not being cleaned. Unreal.
- I missed all the pretty birdies here. You don’t see many birds other than sparrows or pigeons back home, here every day I see lots of pretty birdies, although oddly I haven’t seen a parakeet since coming back. I think the birds and the flowers are my favorite thing about being in India.
- It is so hot. I will continue to say that for a few months but ugh, it is hot. That said we have had a few days where it has hung just under 100 and that I can work with. Saturday it was reasonable, probably around 98 or 99 and I was able to be out and about for 5 hours rather than just 2 so I am making progress with the heat.
- Indian food is soooo good. I always knew that but I only had it once when home and I started to miss it; but I have had it almost every day since coming back and YUM! Especially the naan bread, that I think is about a million times better here.
And those are my thoughts. Well, there are others, but those are the most significant ones that really jumped out at me when I got back. Happy Monday and Happy June!!

a few thoughts on long haul flights

Something you may not know about me is that even though I love to travel I hate to fly. It wasn't always this way, I used to love to fly, but a few years ago that all changed. It happened around the time I went to Egypt, too many flights in too short a period of time and now I'm a very nervous flyer.
So, since I just in the last two weeks took two super duper long flights (well, I guess 4 long flights, but in two segments) I felt the need to share a few thoughts on these really long flights.
- For some reason I'm much less nervous on long hauls than on short flights, not sure why, but for some reason I really like very big planes.
- I think that flight attendants have the patience of saints because some really obnoxious people fly. Like on my flight from Delhi to Amsterdam the women next to me first asked for a kids meal for her daughter which, of course, they don't have; then she complained that the snack was vegetarian, then proceeded to ask for 5 different drinks, all in one conversation...and she was really rude the whole time. I am so amazed that the poor guy didn't smack her upside the head. To counter this I try to be super duper nice to them.
- Airlines should try to coordinate their meals because I had the same dinner on two flights in a row. It was a good meal but I was a tad bit disappointed to see the same thing.
- If you ever happen to fly to India via Europe the flight seems to be (in my humble opinion) fairly bumpy. I've done it 4 times now and have noticed that it is definitely much bumpier than a transatlantic flight, must be something in the air.
- It is not comforting to hear that your flight path will be taking you over Kabul. Why can we fly over Afghanistan and not Iraq? (note: I'm happy to not fly over Iraq). Maybe it is because we are super duper high up over Afghanistan? Of course it would probably add about 2 hours to the flight to avoid it so what can you do.
- KLM has really yummy deserts.
- If you ever have a layover in the Amsterdam airport there is a a mini-museum, just a room really, with some pieces from the Rijksmuseum between the E and F terminal areas. A very pleasant way to break up a layover (and they have a gift shop that had puzzles...yes, I bought one)
- Wind is amazing, it took a full 2 1/2 hours longer to get from Delhi to Boston than from Boston to Delhi just because of wind.
And these are my thoughts on long flights. Can't believe I'm going to do it again soon. Maybe I'll connect in Amsterdam again and pick up another puzzle!

Back in the U.S. of A.

So what was it like being back in the US of A after being in India for 10 ½ months? Oddly not that odd. I thought I would be really freaked out by it but I wasn’t. I landed and got myself a cuppa Dunkin Donuts coffee and it was like I’d never left (seriously, first thing I did was get a coffee, soooo good). But I do have a few thoughts:
It should be illegal for a transatlantic flight to not have personalized TV screens. I slept on the flight from Delhi to Amsterdam which was a really nice plane with the indiv TVs but was awake most of the time from Amsterdam to Boston only to discover it was a super old plane with the TV screens in the middle and some weird movies. Thank goodness for iPods. (aside, I thought I had it tough flying for 8 ½ hours then flying for 7 ½ hours but the guy across the aisle from me had been on a plane for 12 hours before the second flight – yikes!)
I really miss flat screen TVs. I had gotten used to my little 13 inch TV over here but man, flat screens are the way to go. I suppose it is a good thing that I almost never watch TV over here so I don’t really notice.
I felt guilty for having laughed at the Indians being cold in the winter because I was soooo cold for the first few days. Of course going from 100 to 60 is quite a drop. Luckily it warmed up later in the week and I was comfy.
The one thing I really did notice that kept weirding me out was how much space there was everywhere. On the roads, empty; on the streets, empty; even walking through New York City I felt like there was so much space. There are so many people in India that even when it isn’t crowded there are still lots of people and I have totally adapted to that. Times that before would have seemed crowded to me didn’t feel crowded at all. It was nice actually. One morning I went for a walk on a trail and for a little while I was the only person and that really freaked me out. I cannot remember ever being completely alone (except in my apartment) in India. When I move back that will take me a while to get used to.
And finally…I have definitely adapted to the Indian way of driving. We got stuck in traffic and I thought it was very silly that everyone didn’t just use the shoulder to get through things faster. I’ll definitely have to watch that when I leave because I’ll end up getting pulled over and I don’t think that “but this is okay in India” will get me out of a ticket.
And really finally...I enjoyed catching up on food I missed. Like lasagna, a burger, bagels, lobster, etc., etc., and, of course some good beers. Yummmmm.

back in India

So I'm back in India after a little over a week in the States. Why didn't I say where I was going? Well, after scheduling the trip (it was to renew my visa - yes, India is so messed up that it is easier to fly back home to renew my visa than to do it here) I discovered that my brother Dan would be arriving at my parents on May 23rd for a day so I pushed my return back to May 24th and decided to surprise them (he and his daughters). I'm thrilled to say that I actually managed to pull off the surprise!
Anyway. Will blog more on my thoughts about there and here now that I've been back but I have gobs of work to catch up on and it is entirely possible that I will suddenly get super sleepy since I'm a few time zones off.
My only thought for today is...I already miss the good coffee. I brought back a pound of the good stuff and think I'll have to make my own every day rather than going to the coffee shop because this just isn't very yummy.

on hiatus

Will be on blogging hiatus again tonight. Shall be back on line in about 10 days or so. I will likely have lots, or not much at all, to write about. We'll see.
Aside: 1 month ago I knew I was going on this trip and I asked our office helper guy to make sure that international roaming was activated on my mobile phone because it is a business trip and I will need my phone. It is 5:07 p.m. and I'm leaving at 5:30 and I've been asking him almost every other day for a month and he has finally activated it.
Such is India. Things get done but with no time to spare.

This explains sooo much

Every once in a while it seems like all the crazy drivers are out. Well last month went we went to Agra it was pretty much crazy driver day. So my driver (well, his dad who was driving that day) commented that in India you don't have to be able to read or to have any education at all in order to get a licence.
I figured that there was no way that was true. Turns out it is! There is a "written" test which you can take orally where you look at a sign and explain what it means. Although having done more research on the subject I now realize that there are almost no street signs at all. I've seen the "do not enter" X sign but no other street signs here in Delhi. I'm sure that if you don't feel like taking the test you can just drive without a licence and if you get pulled over you can just pay off the police.
The fact that you don't need to be at all literate in order to drive definitely explains a lot about driving here. I don't mean that being educated makes you a better driver but if you cannot read the signs chances are a lot better that you will drive the wrong way on a one way street (which I see almost every day), or miss a turn because you didn't see the sign so you will just reverse into traffic (I see about once a week), or just generally be a bit all over the place.
Its always an adventure on the roads in India and now I understand better why. Well, that and the cows, donkeys, etc., etc. I actually really enjoy watching the cars drive and seeing how it all works together, and luckily the crazy driver days are few and far between.

one of those days

I think that there should be a law against people asking if you are sick because "you look awful". Seriously, that just isn't cool. I am slightly ill actually, but I think it is allergies because I keep sneezing non-stop which does make my eyes kind of puffy.
Anyway...along with my sneezing I'm just generally very discombobulated. Why, you ask? Well, both my driver and my maid are going to be away starting tomorrow so I will have replacement people. My maid's son (who speaks some English; she speaks none) came by last night to tell me that she is going to her village for 12 days so someone else would be cleaning during that time. Realistically I almost never see her but there is a comfort level I have with her so it will be weird to have someone else there, I'm pretty sure I will obsessively check every room until she is back to make sure everything is in its place.
Then this morning my driver and his dad picked me up together to explain in a unique Hindi/English combo that they are going to their village tomorrow because (I think) my driver is getting married. They have a substitute driver set up who they said is "safe, doesn't drink and doesn't smoke", but I have such a comfort level with my driver that I will really miss him.
So here I am all discombobulated but also feeling a bit selfish for feeling so. It is odd since I'm so new to having "help" how quickly I've become comfortable with it. But I'm happy that they take time off too and that their lives don't revolve around mine.
Just one of those days I suppose.

Elections follow up

So, some interesting things about election day. First of all...election day is a dry day in the city. All the liquor stores were closed and the restaurants couldn't serve alcohol. We had our offsite meeting at the local Hyatt and usually all day meetings are finished off with a nice dinner and some wine so I was bummed out when I saw the "dry day" signs (I almost never drink wine here because outside of the swanky hotels it is sold in non-ACd shops, can you imagine what wine dealing with Delhi temps must taste like?). Fast forward 'til around 6 when I saw a bottle of wine being opened...turns out that it was only dry 'til the polls closed at 5 so I got my glass of wine anyway...hooray!
I guess it is dry because they don't want people getting drunk and causing problems. I wonder what could happen in the US to get a "dry day" in a huge city to happen?
Anyway...you know how at some voting places after you vote they give you a sticker saying that you voted, but really there is no way to know if someone actually votes? Well in India there is. After you vote the put a black mark on your index finger, like a little line, maybe 1 cm long, near or on your fingernail. Apparently it takes months to come off. They do this to avoid people going from polling place to polling place voting (you can vote anywhere in the city). So now I can tell for a fact exactly who voted and I know that the girl that took 2 hours off yesterday to vote didn't but about 1/3 of the office did. I also think that one guy who is really superior faked his mark because it is a different color and shape than anyone elses.
I personally don't care if people do or don't vote, my only rule is that if you don't vote you can't complain about politics. Apparently one of the political parties here actually said that same thing because voter turnout is really low but people complain all the time.
And a final thought before I leave the elections behind...apparently in Singapore if you don't vote you are fined so their turnout is pretty much 100%. I wonder if there are other countries like that.

election day!

Tomorrow is election day here in Delhi. Elections are completely different here from back home. They take about a month with each city or region having their own election day and Thursday is Delhi. They swear that they don't count any votes until the end of that month. I can't help but wonder if that is true. I don't know why it is done this way. Maybe just tradition, or maybe it is the logistics of it. I think that the voting is done very old school with no computers or anything, just written ballots, and security is a huge concern.
See politics here is very corrupt, not like the occasional bribe or something like that, but lots of people pretty much buy their way to power. Newsweek had a great article about the corruption a few months ago actually:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/188166
So, on election day there is (apparently) a huge effort at the polls to keep the people away who will bribe you to vote one way or the other (although the police are pretty corrupt too, so who knows how well that works). About half of the staff are taking they day off because if you live outside of Delhi it can be difficult to get in with the police blocking the roads. I will be working; we are taking advantage of the staff being out to have a long planning meeting all day and it will probably actually be one of the safest days in Delhi.
The thing I find odd is that even though people are taking time off "to vote", I don't think that any of them actually are going to vote. I have heard no one in the office talk about the election other than asking if we would close the office for a 'holiday'. I find that very odd. I mean just imagine not hearing anyone discuss the presidential election. I mean it is good to keep politics out of the office but I honestly don't think that even one person in this office is voting.
All I know is that one party that is running (you elect a party and then they chose the prime minister/president) whose entire platform seems to be anti-anything that isn't "real India", meaning Hindu. I really hope they don't win because muslims are treated badly enough in this country without the government getting involved, not to mention that they are also anti-christian and anti-foreigners so here's hoping they don't win.
But it will be a few more weeks before I find out. Stay tuned for updates!
And an aside for the day: the heat has broken! Tomorrow the high is only supposed to be 37 which is under 100! That will be the first day under 100 in over 2 weeks. That is just one day but it is hovering now around 102-104 every day which, trust me, I can deal with.

Tweet tweet

Last night when I got home there was a hummingbird right outside my living room window. He was there for quite a while. I tried to get my camera but he was too fast and zoomed away. They are the coolest birds, their wings move sooo fast!
I love all the different birds here. It is amazing to me how in such a huge city like Delhi that you will see such a variety of birds, and not just in the parks. Most days I see some parakeets which I love, there are a ton of crows (or ravens, I don't know the difference) and lately there have been these huge birds that look like small hawks, and I do have the very occasional peacock spotting. Sometimes I see other birds that I don't know but they are really pretty. I have a bird book but keep forgetting to look them up. There was one the other day that I call the Indian robin because his belly was red, a super bright red, but only a small area of his belly. Then another one which had a big red plume thingy on his head and when it flew its wings spread into a cool black and white striped pattern.
I sometimes feel quite silly with how often I stop and stare at a bird but it isn't every day you have a hummingbird hanging out outside your window. I wish it was...but at least I see my parakeets almost every day.

Hotter than???

So lately it has been hotter than hot here in Delhi. Like making me wonder what exactly God was thinking when he created this part of the world (although no doubt global warming contributed to it). How hot? Well for a non-numeric interpretation of it, this morning I took a shower and didn’t use any hot water. The water is up in a tank on my roof so the cold water gets kind of luke warm anyway and anything above luke warm is out of the question. A good way to save on some electricity since I have to have the AC on (but if I wake up around 5 a.m. I can sleep then with just the fan). And for a numeric answer….you will have to do some googling if you aren’t familiar with Centigrade, but yesterday at 10 a.m. it as 38.4 C and the highs have been hovering somewhere between 42-44 all week, with one day at 45 – yikes! It has not been easy, especially since I know that it will be hot for quite a while now, but yesterday I decided to take a different approach to the summer here to help myself mentally deal. See, back home winter is cold as can be and snow can keep you locked indoors for a few day at a time and you are pretty much a homebody for 3 or 4 months. But here winter is great. I was out all the time taking long walks, sightseeing, I was one happy camper. So now I’m looking at summer here as though it is winter back home. It is my hermit time. I’ll go away for a while to get a break from it (2 weeks in July back home!) and take advantage of the good days but otherwise I will be super active until around 12 noon and then hide away. Funny thing about the winter correlation is that you always have to bundle up to go outside in the winter back home and here I have bundling up but in a different way, like I can’t leave the house without my sunglasses, a bottle of water, a hat and sunscreen.