Stacy Does India

This week was a little hectic! Friday is here and I am looking forward to my first weekend trip! Anna, Charise, and I are going southern India to visit 2 beach towns: Pondicherry and Mamallapuram. I am excited to see the water, and explore new places. We leave Saturday morning and return Monday morning. I'll be sure to post pictures of our trip as soon as I can! Take care.

Work was great; my team decorated my desk with streamers and balloons, and gathered around me to sing Happy Birthday! Each of them took the time to stop by my desk to shake my hand and say, “Many happy returns of the day to you!” (I guess that’s what they say here on birthdays).

I returned home to find a special present in my room from our house staff. Suravanan, our chef, made me a beautiful fruit salad (as fancy as you’d see at a nice hotel) and wrote me a little note that everyone on staff signed – it was precious.

Dinner at Little Italy was really great. There were about 15 of us there celebrating my birthday and bidding farewell to Tuyen and Jenni, who both head back to Mountain View tomorrow. They will be missed!

I was lucky enough to get two birthday cakes this year: one from my team at work, and another at dinner from the expats. The best part is that on both cakes, my name was spelled S-P-A-C-Y! I think I may have picked up another nickname…the list just keeps growing.

After our visit to Golconda Fort, we stopped for a quick lunch, then ventured off to Charminar. This was the busiest, loudest part of the city I have been in so far. Wall to wall people, cars, rickshaws, bikes, peddlers, beggars, & vendors! It was an unbelievable site. There, we climbed to the top of Charminar, walked the streets, & did a little window shopping. Rather than me try to explain what Charminar is...Click Here to learn more.

My day-to-day life here is much like home: at the office all day, at the gym at night, dinner and TV time at home in the evenings. We are in a bit of a bubble, I guess. Our visit to Golconda and Charminar really made me feel like I am in a foreign country. It was great to learn some of Hyderabad's history, and see some sights. Let me know if you want to see more pictures. I can send you a link to my web albums.

On Saturday, Anna, Kristina, Thomas, and I went to Golconda Fort. Our tour guide was fantastic and had been giving tours at Golconda for over 35 years! The hike to the top was over 700 stairs, and took nearly an hour. The view was great; you could see all of Hyderabad! If you want to learn more about this place (Dad, I know you're dying to know more about the old fort!) just click here.

So, on August 28th I shipped 2 boxes from the Palo Alto Post Office to Hyderabad. Some 23 days later they arrived! Needless to say, I was stoked because I was beginning to give up hope! They were a bit battered from the rough customs inspection, but nearly everything inside was intact. I’ve included a picture of the boxes, to help deter you from sending me anything!

Me, at the entrance to "Ah, Holla!"

Friday night we went out to dinner at a place called Terrace Bay. It’s pretty new, and sits atop a shopping mall of sorts. After dinner we met up with more people at one of the three nightclubs in Hyderabad, called Touch. The club is situated on the 2nd floor of a non-descript building that from the outside appears to be a bank. I swear, there are no zoning laws here! There, we partied with Bollywood movie stars (news to me)!

Saturday we celebrated Jenni’s birthday in style. At least 15 of us got dressed up, and met up at Ahala, another of Hyderbad’s clubs. The place was awesome, and we had an entire section of the restaurant area for our group. We, joked all night that were at “Ah, Holla!” Good lord, we’re so American! It was a really fun night! All of the clubs and bars here close before 1am, which is actually kinda nice, because we get home at a decent hour. Most everything here (shopping, restaurants, bars) are at least a 15-20 minute drive from our house. We're located on the outer rim of the city, which is nice because less hectic.

I'm really starting to settle in here. I'm comfy in my house, and excited because it's finally full. I live with Alysia, and now Emma and Stefan (from Dublin). It will be nice to have more faces around. It's Sunday night here now, a couple of the girls are coming over, and we're going to order food and watch a few episodes of Lost. It's nice to be home...we had a busy weekend!

Okay, so having someone do my laundry for me might one of the best things ever. But, when it comes back to me the next day ironed better than I could ever do it myself, neatly folded in stacks...that's amazing. Sean, I know you are so jealous! I'm going to enjoy this while it lasts.

So, each day when I return from the office, I come home to an immaculate room. As if that's not enough to make my day, there's something more.

I just couldn't stand to pack Bear up in a storage box for six months, so he made the trip to India with me. I come home each day to find him perched perfectly in a different spot in my room. Sometimes he's on the pillow, sometimes he's at the foot of my bed, once he was sitting on my chair, and a few times he's been on top of my TV. Vijay or Riaz must take the time to set him neatly in a new spot. It makes me smile...so I thought I'd share.

You guys have to check out this video that Sean forwarded to me. The only thing it is missing is water buffalo, and the occasional pack of stray dogs. Enjoy!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2063667852598904740&hl=en

I haven't uploaded any pictures in while because I am having USB port issues. I'm getting it fixed, and hope to have more pictures up soon!

Last night a group of us went out for dinner. We ate at this restaurant called Exotica. The food was excellent; a blend of Indian and Chinese. I had my first experience with SPICY food, sort of by accident. Let me explain…

This restaurant was on the rooftop of a 5 story office building. It was very nicely decorated, with fish ponds, and water features. It was also very dimly lit. We ordered some appetizers and a bunch of entrees with the intention of sharing it all. We passed dishes and bowls around until our plates were full. While eating a chicken dish, I bit into what I thought was a red pepper (like a bell pepper, not hot, right?). Well, it wasn’t a red pepper, it was some sort of chili that should only be used for flavoring, and never actually consumed. My mouth was on fire, and no amount of water or margarita could cool it! At the same moment I realized that my lips were burning, I looked across the table and Thomas was having a similar experience. We got a good laugh out of it and I learned a lesson: Don’t eat anything you don’t completely recognize in a dimly lit restaurant.

After dinner, we were convinced to head to the lounge at the Taj Krishna (my second home!) for one drink. There, we hung out, had a beer, and placed requests with the piano duo. This duo was from the Philippines and sung a few of our favorites including “Leaving on a Jet Plate,” “Right Here Waiting” by Richard Marx, and “Save the Best for Last” by Vanessa Williams. It was a fun night!

This morning I slept in until nearly 11am! I awoke to find 2 new expats had moved into the house next door: Rob and Paul. They are both from our Dublin office and arrived late last night. We had breakfast together this morning. It is going to be nice to have more people around.

I just finished a quick workout next door, and am going to do a little shopping later with some friends. They’ve promised to take me to the place everyone goes to have custom clothes made – I am very excited!

I was in training today at the Taj Krishna. There were about 25 of in the class, and I was the only American. The training was led by a third party, a father and son team both with connections to Santa Clara University. Brian used to teach business there, both undergrad MBA, and Jay is currently an MBA student there! It was so nice to have a little piece of the Santa Clara Family, here with my Hyderabad!

The training is incredibly interesting, and the group I am with is fantastic. Everyone is highly motivated, very introspective, and eager to participate. It made for a fun day. It also allowed me to meet and get to know many folks from our team here. With each day that passes, I am more and more convinced that I am going to really enjoy my time here.

We have another full day of training tomorrow, then I’ll be back in the office on Friday. Tonight, my housemates and I are hosting a game night. I guess the expats like to play Balderdash. I have never heard of this game, however, I am pretty competitive, so I hope to pick it up quickly! Anyway, popcorn, ice cream, competition, and good company are the agenda for tonight. It should be fun:)

This morning I started my day with an hour long yoga class. This was my first, and I really enjoyed it! It was a great workout, but relaxing at the same time -- a nice way to start my day. Not much else to add today, work was good and I am looking forward to training tomorrow and Thursday. Above, you'll see a picture of our office building. We occupy the 6th, 7th, and 8th floors of that building.

I almost forgot! Yesterday, during my car ride around Hyderabad, Joel mentioned that one of the former expats once saw a family of five all riding on the same motorcycle once. I laughed, and we agreed that it must be some sort of record! I kid you not, less than 30 minutes later, I saw a father, and his 4 children (yep, that's FIVE people) all riding the same motorcycle! We whizzed by so quickly, there was no time to take a photo to share with you, unfortunately. Maybe next time...

Sunday was my first day venturing out into the city. A met up with a few coworkers around noon, and headed to brunch at the Taj Krishna (a hotel here in Hyderabad). Brunch was incredible! There was a lot of good food, including fresh fruit, green salad, and a chocolate fountain. The highlight of brunch was definitely the Sri Lankan folk band that looked a bit more like a Mexican Mariachi band. They came over to our table, and even took requests! We heard “Hotel California” by the Eagles, then a fun little song called “Welcome to India”. They ended their stay at our table with a Sri Lankan folk song. My coworkers enjoyed it so much that they bought their CD.

After brunch, Joel and I headed off to run errands. We stopped at 4-5 different shops and stores. We saw bedspreads, pillows, figurines, jewelry, bags, purses, curtains, and more! Everything is so colorful and intricate. I surprisingly didn’t buy anything, but it was nice to see what’s out there. In the coming weeks, I’ll definitely buy a few things for my room, to make it more “homey”.

My day of brunching and shopping really wore me out! Our driver dropped me off at home around 5:00pm. Some of the expats had dinner/drinks plans at a local restaurant, but I had to decline. I was getting pretty tired. Sunday night is the one night each week that our staff has off, so I took to the kitchen. Dinner consisted of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, some Pringles, and an apple juice. I’m suddenly in 2^nd grade again! It actually was just right, as I wasn’t very hungry, anyway. I started to watch a movie, but was fast, fast asleep before 9pm.

This morning I woke up at 6:30am. I think my body is finally getting used to the time difference! I called Sean – it is so nice to hear his voice. It makes it feel like we’re a closer (in distance) than we actually are. It’s so weird, as I am waking up and beginning my Monday, Sean, and everyone else in California, are eating dinner, and settling in on Sunday evening. I’m living in the future!

This morning I was greeted by our cook, a plate of French toast, and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. I ate breakfast, read the newspaper (The Hindu), and got picked up around 9:15am for work.

My first (real) day at work was good. The work day starts here at 9:30am, and ends at 6:30pm. (There are no 7am shifts here, Katie!) I still haven’t decided if I am going to work out in the morning, or in the evenings. I’ll suppose I’ll figure it out soon enough.

I just realized that I haven't uploaded many pictures with ME in them. I'll work on that. I mean, I have to prove that I am actually here, right?

I've taken a few pictures of my house, and added them to my online album. You can view them here: http://picasaweb.google.com/StacyHartman/2006SeptemberHouseAndExterior

Here is a picture of my bedroom in the house. If you want to see more of my first 24 hours in India check out my pictures here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/StacyHartman/2006SeptemberFirstDayInIndia

My journey began in San Francisco on Wednesday afternoon. My flight from SF to Frankfurt, Germany took nearly 11 hours. I slept for a few hours, ate “dinner” and watched a few movies: Over the Hedge, Take the Lead, and Stick It. Over the Hedge was cute and funny, Take the Lead couldn’t keep my attention because I fell asleep right in the middle of it, and I wish I would have slept through Stick It. It was lame.

I arrived in Germany on Thursday at 9:30am local time, who knows what time that was for me! I was tired, and little disoriented, as it took me three attempts to find the train that would take me to Terminal B. After finding my departure gate successfully, I took a few minutes to call home and let my parents know that I had made it to Germany safely.

The flight to Hyderabad was over 8 hours, and I luckily slept most of the way. Immigration and customs at the Hyderabad Airport was pretty easy, and I recovered both of my bags with ease. I pushed my cart-o-luggage out the double doors and was greeted by heat, humidity, and one of our drivers holding a “Welcome Stacy Hartman” sign and a long handmade flower lei of sorts. We packed my luggage into the small white car, I sat in the front seat on the left side of the car (so weird!) and we were off!

The drive to my house took about 25 minutes, and boy was it an adventure! Cars share the roads with pedestrians, bicyclists, rickshaws, autorickshaws, stray dogs, and large tractors. If traffic laws exist, certainly no one follows them. Let’s just say, I’m glad I we have good drivers and that I’ll never be expected to drive a car in this city!

We arrived at my house close to 1:00am local time. The security guard greeted us, and woke up one of the house attendants to let us in. The house has 4 bedrooms and is brand new. There are marble floors, tall ceilings, and neat archways. My room is the only bedroom on the first floor, and I have my own bathroom. The room is very clean and has its own air conditioner, which is nice. I have lots of closet space (thank goodness, right Mom?), my own TV, and mini fridge. I haven’t explored the 2^nd level yet, as my housemates were all asleep last night when I arrived. I’m sure I’ll get the full tour later today.

I couldn’t go to sleep last night without contacting my family and Sean, so I got online, chatted with Sean and asked him to call my parents (because they were expecting to hear from me). It was nice to get in touch, and let everyone know that I’d arrived safely.

I slept surprisingly well last night for nearly 6 hours or so. I did a little unpacking this morning, showered, and decided that I’d head into the office since I was feeling so perky! I met one of my housemates, Alysia, and she and I walked to the office together this morning (about a 10 minute walk).

Since being here, I’ve met a lot of people! Everyone is very friendly, and welcoming. I’m not going to last all day, in fact, as I type I’m getting more and more tired. I'm glad I have this weekend to adjust to the time change, and recover from my case of jetlag.

It’s good to finally be here. I am excited for the challenges and adventures that lie ahead. I hope to make my house here my home away from home. I’ve taken a few pictures, and promise to upload them soon so you all can see what I’m talking about!