weekend of relaxation

My second weekend in India is coming to a close. This was a pretty low key weekend. I did hit the bars on Friday night but was flying solo on Saturday so I used the opportunity to walk around the hotel neighborhood and unwind from a tiring week of training. I have provided training to people before but never the volume I have been doing. And never where I had to spend so much effort to carefully articulate my sentences and focus on the questions. I am getting much better at understanding Indian English. So hopefully week 2 of training will be a little easier. With much more hands on work coming up, it should be.

For lunch on Friday I brought 2 peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches to eat. I think not eating cereal and my limited consumption has been the biggest shock to my system. They have cereal in the hotel but I do not trust the milk. It is probably not pasturized or it might be goats milk. I let them put it in my tea and that is it.

Friday night after work we went to a place called Lush. It was a dinner and drinks place that has a dance floor. In addition to myself and Dolly (who left early Saturday morning) there were 6 Indians with us from the office. We were virtually the only ones there at 8pm which was good. It gave us a chance to eat and talk. Sometime around 11 it started to pick up and by midnight the place was in full swing. As I expected, it wasn't much different then being out in the US except the style is a little different here. Nobody was wearing traditional indian clothes but the style might have been more European than American. This is probably a good time to mention that I traveled to the bar riding shotgun in a car. What an odd feeling to ride shotgun in the seat that should have the steering wheel and gas pedals. Initially when we started to move, I moved my leg instinctively to hit the break. Not because we were going to hit anything, just didn't think we should be moving.

Saturday, I woke up late and ate breakfast. Then I began walking around the hotel neighborhood.



There isn't that much to see around here.



One of the streets I went down must have a hostel nearby because I saw some fellow whities (of european persuasion) with back packs. Additionally, I found one of those "western hangouts" the chief security officer warned us in an email to avoid. I wasn't hungry or thirsty at the time so I skipped it. Since 2 more people were flying into Mumbai Saturday night/sunday morning, I was left to my own devices on Saturday night. I happened across "Little Italy's Italian Pizzeria and Restaurant". I ordere pene pasta with a red sauce, bread, mineral water, and a ruffino chianti classico. If I go back again I might order a pizza and pretend I am at the Trotteria. Arriving at 8:15 I was the only person in the place but by the time I left around 9:15 it was pretty crowded. The food was good and I entertained myself by begining my 4th book since departing 10 or 11 days ago.

This is probably a good time to talk a bit about the food here. I have come to the conclusion that I need meat on a daily basis when I am not familiar with the food. The office provides breakfast and lunch for all employees (employees pay 50 rupees per month or roughly $1 for this service). Additionally at 7pm there is a snack which is stuffed bread. The stuffed bread is a little on the spicey side but not too bad. Unfortunately the office only provides the veg menu. This means bread, rice, and 2 or 3 vegetable gravy type toppings. Some being extremely spicey. After 3 days of this Dolly and I went to the restaurant across the street from the office to get a little variety. I have settled into a routine for ordering where I tell Vasan what meat/fish product I would like and he orders me a different dish each time (similar to Friday night dinners with Smarda). Of course when I want meat it is not beef. It is usually chicken or turkey. Additionally I have been sampling a variety of prawn dishes which are shrimp. So far I have like everything I have tried. But far and away the best things I have had here are the breads. They have so many different types of bread and they are so good. Since I have been here, I have had at least 5 or 6 different types of bread.

Sunday was another low key day. Brian and Sheila arrived and will be here for the next 3 or 4 weeks. I walked them around a little today so they weren't trapped in the hotel. However, both were extremely tired so the walk was only an hour or two with a lunch break thrown in there. We stopped at Subway. The unfortunate thing is that I can not order food here from an Indian restaurant on my own. I need a guide. Seeing the roads and people was probably a bit overwhelming for the two of them but in a few days it will be second nature. I didn't have my camera with me today so I missed the chance to snap a picture of a camel walking down the street. Brian had his camera and I will steal it from him.

I have grown tired of the water restrictions that everyone says I should follow and have slowly broken away from it. I still drink bottled water when given the chance. However, if I want to get a mixed drink I need ice and I order it. I brush my teeth with the tap. And today when we were at Subway, I got a fountain Mountain Dew which is probably made with local water. I will let you know if it brings me down.

This is probably the first country where I would discourage people from crossing at the light. It is actually easier, and in my opinion safer, to j walk. The lights are often times just a suggestion and traffic doesn't stop at it. If it does, the lights only seem to apply to vehicles with 4 or more wheels. The autos (3 wheeled cabs), 2 wheelers (that is what they call scooters and motorcycles), and bicycles just go through the light.