2005 October | B&G’s Excellent Adventure

Finally get home….

October 29th, 2005

…and get beaten down with a severe sinus infection.

The ironing is delicious.

Home Sweet Home

October 25th, 2005

I have finally arrived at our humble abode in Minneapolis (actually Monday afternoon). I skipped my stop over in Amsterdam for two reasons:

1) it was cold (10 C) and raining and I was tired as hell, so I thought my chances of seeing Amsterdam where slim to none, and
2) I really wanted to get home.

So I was able to get on an earlier flight from AMS to MSP. It was quite uneventful travel which is a good thing.

Thanks to everyone who’s been reading, you can continue to find updates on more domestic travel here in the future (SFO, San Antonio, TX; Omaha, NE just to name a few).

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TGIF

October 21st, 2005

Fridays are the same all over the world - everyone in the working world is always happy to see the end of the week.

No new pictures today, being my last day in the office it was work, work, work with a small break each for lunch and some final shopping. Two of my co-workers took me to Pizza Hut for lunch (as opposed to the standard South Indian cuisine offered at the office, which I have found quite good). The Pizza Hut offerings in India are a little different, some interesting combinations of veggies, but small pan cheese pizza is about the same. One thing to note, a medium pizza in India is about 25% smaller than in the US.

Even the Indian food at the hotel is better than anything I’ve had in the US (which is only about 4 times), but not a spicy as I expected. The office cafeteria choices however, are much closer the ‘normal’ level, and occasionally a little too much for me (which everyone finds quite amusing). I did try ‘Samosa’ which is the hot dog of Northern India, found at roadside stands at any time of day - this one I couldn’t finish. It is sort of a pastry crust surrounding a mix of potatoes, peas and a variety of spices, fried and served with a sweet or spicy sauce. It is about the size of a baseball, but heavy. There was a lot of laughter when 3 bites in my eyes watered up and I had to put it down.

I’m ready to come home, but this has been a great trip, and I’ve learned a lot and accomplished a lot. India is quite a place, with such a rich culture and history. I’ve gained a new understanding of my co-workers on the other side of the world. There may be a few pictures tomorrow, but the next stop may be Amsterdam.

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New Pictures

October 20th, 2005

I was able to visit two Hindu temples this morning before work. The roads are a bit more clear at 7:00 AM. Here are the pictures.

I’m going to have to have someone write down the names and update later.

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It’s Official -

October 19th, 2005

Manhattan is the most expensive place to live in the US That’s right folks, despite the island being purchased for pennies, it is now the most expensive place you could want to live - even beating SFO!

In other news, the word of the day continues to be Smetana and smetana

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“In Chennai”

October 19th, 2005

This is a phrase that ‘transplants’ seem to use to comment on the idiosyncracies of this city. Things like little or no parking, or strange acts of other people. It seems to mean something like ‘you’d only find that here’ followed by ‘uhhh huuhh.’

Today was an interesting day, with less structure, which felt good - but I hardly know what to do without back to back meetings. Anyway, after lunch two of my co-workers took me for some shopping, which you would think would be easy - I knew exactly what I wanted and they knew exactly where to get it - the most auspicious store in town! Oh no - nothing is too easy in India. The whole process took over an hour - here’s the major points (I cannot describe the details of the transaction as there is a good chance the recipient could read this - and that would ruin the surprise):

- Drive 10 blocks (harder than one would think)
- Enter establishment and get directions to appropriate section
- Explain desired good to be purchased
- Be shown around 1 dozen goods no where near the said description
- Be led to another shop with same owner for the correct product (2 blocks)
- Walk back to the original store to complete the transaction - at this point the sales person disappears and we are left with someone who doesn’t understand the details of the transaction
- A rather lengthy and seemingly excited conversation in Hindi between my two co-workers and the new salesperson which I gather had to do with price as the calculator was involved. (I had been perfectly willing to pay the marked price)
- Agreement and completion of sales order
- Packaging of product (at length)
- Payment (at length)
- Presentation of packaged good
- Packaging of receipt and packaging of packaging in a new package
- Extract self from store
- Transaction with valet to determine location of car
- Crossing the street (which is more challenging than you would think) to get to car
- Drive 10 blocks back to office.

That was a little detailed, but it seems as though things take a few more steps, and those steps take a bit more time than your average Minnesotan would be used to. Not to mention that the store was packed at two o’clock in the afternoon on a Wednesday. Everything is always busy here - the shops, streets, even the hotel lobby.

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We interupt our regular broadcast….

October 19th, 2005

….for the cute photos of the day. Please meet Sophie, the cutest and youngest member of my parent’s family (but she likes Gina best).

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Photos for today

October 19th, 2005

OK - I was able to take a few pictures today, not a lot, and not overly interesting, but present - and that’s the key. Tomorrow morning I will have the chance to visit a Hindu temple in honour of Vishnu and possibly another, so I’ll take some more pictures then.

Here’s the office - looks like an office doesn’t it?

The next photos are from outside the office - a mid-sized street. This photo is from late afternoon, with comparatively little traffic - but you get a little sense of what a nicer neighborhood looks like.