Playing Catch-Up - Monday through Wednesday

OK, I've been terribly neligent in posting to my blog. And, tonight I've wasted too much time trying to figure out how to post a slide show of pictures. This photo is the Ascendum Keyboarding Team that we came all the way across the world to see. They are a talented bunch. In our first day at the office, we met with the entire team and then got right down to business.

Now, let's catch up on some other details of the trip.......

TRAFFIC - Words can't even explain it. If you've ever complained about traffic in your home town, you ought to experience the excitement in India. When you're out and about all you'll hear are horns, horns, and more horns. If you rent a car or a taxi, a driver comes along with it. It's a good thing. There are inches between cars and most of the time you just hold your breath hoping that you aren't involved in a side-swiping or head-on collision. I don't know how they manage to drive like this. Our drivers, I'm told, have been good for the most part. I'd hate to get a bad one. Jane and I sit in the back and just cringe. I get my laughs when Jane lets out a big yelp! It's either laugh or have a myocardial infarction on the spot. I figure laughing is safer. Each day our driver has taken a different route to the office. That's OK, but I've been anxious to see some of the sites that we saw the first day, like the cow in the median and the schoolhouse behind gates. Who knows, maybe tomorrow's driver will take that route. You just never know.

SLEEP - Getting used to a huge time difference like this is taxing on your body. Upon arrival in Bangalore, I slept most of the day Sunday. I needed it. I took a Tylenol PM that night to try to get sleep, but that didn't work out. I sent an email at 3:00 AM to my collegaue, Jane. To my surprise, she answered right away. Neither one of us could sleep. I managed to stay awake all day for our meetings, but by Monday night I was ready for some rest. I didn't need any Tylenol PM this time. I crashed out about midnight and slept straight through until about 6:00 or 6:30. Thank goodness, I was back on track. Hopefully this means, I'm now adjusted to Bangalore time. Liz tells me I need to change my watch, but I refuse. I just feel better knowing what time it is in Cincinnati. In addition, I've been ready to leave for the office EARLY every morning -- probably because by the time I figure out the calculations, I'm all ready to go. As most of you know, I'm not an early riser, so this is working out just fine for me. I wish I could say the same for Jane. I think she's been struggling to get much sleep at all.

HOUSE-KEEPING and ROOM SERVICE - Another interesting topic....The rooms here are fine and they come and clean every morning. But, I've ordered room service coffee several times and it seems like the bill is different each time. When I call in my order, they ask questions and most of the time, I can't seem to understand, so I just say "Yes." This morning, when my coffee was delivered I had a small pot of coffee with the same size pot of warm milk. I think I messed up when I said I wanted some cream. And, since I packed so light for this trip, I sent laundry out this morning. So tonight, the phone rings. Again, I don't understand. Something about laundry...I just say "Yes." Next thing you know, my phone rings and Jane says she received the same call. Neither of us can figure out what they said. "Do we need to go pick it up? Are they coming to deliver it now? " We just don't know. So, we traipse down to the lobby and try to get clearer communications from the front desk. As it turns out, a gentleman walks by with a bunch of clean laundry and I see Jane's room number on one of the bags. That answers that. We race back upstairs. We sit outside our rooms waiting for it to arrive.

FOOD- I've tried Indian food and I really liked it. I thought this would be the easy part. I'm not a picky eater so this should go smoothly. After 4 days of Indian food, I'm debating whether or not I still like it. Everything starts to taste the same and some of it isn't really agreeing with my stomach. Desserts are served with every meal and since I'm not much for dessert, I just wind up eating whatever chicken dish is served. Oh, a hamburger would be good about now. That'll be a while - no beef here. Just the cows in the median, that's it.

ELECTRICITY AND INTERNET CONNECTIONS - It's interesting that Ascendum is located in Electronic City. And, our hotel is not very far from their office. Randomly throughout the day, we experience outages. The lights will flicker and you'll lose an internet connection. I also learned that if I remove my card from the slot in the room at the hotel, it turns off all electricity. The card monitors whether or not you're in the room and can use electricity. If the card isn't in the slot, then none of the electricity will work. I learned this the first day when I thought I blew a socket or something -- my hair dryer wouldn't work, my computer shut down, and none of the lights would go on. I was getting ready to complain about the situation when it dawned on me that I didn't return my room card to the slot. No electricity for you Missy!!! Conserving electricity is OK; I just wish I'd known how it worked. Now I know, but that hasn't seemed to stop the flickering. Lights have flickered several times tonight already. And yes, my card is in the slot.

SCENERY - It's just too difficult to describe in words. I've taken lots of pictures and will create an electronic photo album when I return. There is beauty in India, but you see so many impoverished people. Certainly makes you appreciate the infastructure and luxuries we have in the US. But, the lifestyle here seems fine for most and the people seem completely satisfied. I guess it's all in what you get used to.

Enough from me....My sleeping pattern is going to take a beating tonight. It's almost 2:00 AM here in Bangalore and I've got to get some sleep. I'm expecting a long and intense day tomorrow.