Zurich!!!

I am safely in Zurich. BUT, I don`t know how much I will share, because I am typing on a Swiss keyboard which has the keys z and y reversed, I am getting used to it, but that`ll explain the typos, not to mention none of the punctuation is where it is supposed to be.

Spent my last hour in Mumbai running errands with Stella. One of which was going to the gym to give them a farewell car. We got the biggest goodbye ever, complete with lots of picturetaking... those boys will really miss us! I then got back to the hostel and the car was an hour early, but that`s okay, I was happy to get to the airport early, since I didn`t know what I would face.

Got out of Mumbai, not without a lot of traffic and chaos though. As I sat in traffic and tried to take in the sights one last time... still not sure I have comprehended any of the images I have seen although I know they are burned into my mind at the same time... and enjoyed riding next to a rickshaw whose passenger was a goat... yes a goat. It was a great as I turned to look out the window and was practically nose to nose (yes, I will not miss India traffic) with a goat.

I checked in... my bags were slightly overweight, but they didn`t comment, thank goodness... the only complaint I`ll probably get is from Dad when he loads them into his car, it took two men to carry my suitcase down from my hostel room. The guy at the checkin counter then asked to weigh my carryon... oops... didn`t think they`d weigh that! Mine was 15 kg (about 33 lbs)... about 5 kg over the max. I made up a great story about how I called Swiss and they said it was okay... and was able to successful play the last "But I am a white foreign women" card and the guy was like "Oh okay then!" Whew!

Waited in the lounge in Mumbai for a while, reading my book then moved to security and the gate where there was a MASSIVE horde of people trying to shove in the gate at once. At this point.. I had to carry my rollon bag... good thing I`ve been working out. But the reason I had to carry it, is it is literally falling apart at the seams! The handle bar gets jammed, and I have to manually release it by digging my hand into the bottom of the suitcase and releasing it. So I fashioned a way to prevent the handle from retracting completely by tying electrical ties around the base of it so it stops the handle bar on the way down... yes, ghetto. But when I was waiting in the horde of people, I used my suitcase as a seat, and wound up pushing the handle bar back in despite my ingenious invention! So I had to haul my suitcase, with my "purse" (aka overstuffed laptop bag) over my shoulder and my finger intwined in my beltlooops to hold my pants up... yep my pants fall down to below my hips and I do not have a belt... guess that`s what happens when you go to India, lose weight from not eating, and then try to wear your jeans for the first time in 5 months. So... I was a sight to behold.

Sat down on the plane, got served dinner shortly after take off and promptly slept until breakfast. So nice to eat some good food and get some rest. I arrived in Zurich a few minutes early and had to haul my suitcase... stupid handlebar, until I got to security. Fortuntely they wanted to open my bag to investigate further.. and I say fortunately because that meant when I was repacking it, I could release the handlebar... and this made life much easier. I went up to the lounge only to learn I had to use a different lounge for outbound U.S. Airways... so back out through security to terminal A, where I sit now, waiting for about four hours when I can go back over to E, get my boarding pass printed and anxiously await my final leg of my journey to HOME!

I felt a burst of cold air when deplaning though, and I am not sure I am ready for the cold... but it is nice to see Christmas decorations!!

I am within hours of home... maybe 15 or so, and I can not wait.

Catch you on the other side of the ocean!

The moment we've all been waiting for...

Lassssssssssssssssst day in India!

I head to the airport in just about 4 hours, and I am excited beyond words! I slept horribly last night, figures, and wound up getting less than 4 hours of sleep... this changed my morning plans and I decided to forego the the gym and instead get some final things packed up since I had an appointment to get henna at 10 am, and would be unable to do anything for hours afterwards as my hands were drying. The henna looks great, I hope it lasts until the Open House on Sunday!

So I am fully packed and ready to go, sitting around anxiously for the car I hired to come pick me up! My suitcases may be a bit heavy... so keep your fingers crossed they aren't over the weight limit, the result of too much shopping I fear.

I am making my rounds today to say goodbye to the local community. I think they were overjoyed to have four foreigners living in the neighborhood... for perhaps the first time. As much as I complain about India, and let's be honest, it's been pretty rough at times, at most times, but as much as I complain, there are some things I am going to miss, and some friendly people that I will miss seeing. I was afraid the big tough trainers at the gym were going to cry when I told them goodbye yesterday! We keep telling our local merchants goodbye because we are leaving... they say, oh, another trip? When do you get back? And we have to tell them... no, we're going for good this time.

We gave the nice day guard and our maid a nice tip and some chocolates today, and I have never seen two people more grateful. We probably didn't give much more than the equivalent of $3.00, but you would've thought we gave them all our riches.

Now I have just a few more hours sitting in this barren hostel room waiting to start my long journey home. I will fly into Zurich, have a 7-hour layover, and arrive back in the States tomorrow (Thursday) evening. It can't come soon enough!!

I can not wait to see everyone and swap stories and pictures of all the adventures in our lives.

Will write from Zurich when I finally reach non-Indian land!!!

Watch out for that cow!

Yes... I think India is trying to kick me out.

I almost got attacked by a cow today... no lie. I was minding my own business, walking down the street... when a cow comes charging down the sidewalk from the opposite direction... but I jumped out of the way in time and flattened myself against the wall, although it was enough to give me a little bit of fright while at the same time make me laugh a little... where else can you almost get attacked by a cow on the sidewalk of a major urban metropolis.

My day was spent at the gym (where I had to shower because our shower is still not working.. "tomorrow"), and then working on a case study on JetBlue which will be the basis for our HR Exam tomorrow. I went out for a final round of shopping, picking up some Indian sweets for the Open House and two pieces of Sari fabric to be used for eventual decoration in my future house.

Then I sat around and waited for copies of the HR ppt notes from our professor, and have spent the evening researching JetBlue.

I'm feeling pretty good about my HR Exam... and then tomorrow it'll be one exam done and just two to go. I also think I'm going to start packing tomorrow night. I keep talking about packing, but haven't started yet because I am trying to push it off as much as possible so I have a carrot dangling... not to mention once I pack, I'll be ready to book outta here.

You're not making this easy on me...

I was enjoying a relaxing evening in front of the TV. My day was as frustrating as anything, and I am quickly losing my patience for the ineffectiveness and inefficiencies of the Indian system. After a few deep breaths... and a hard stint at the gym, I felt a bit better....

That was until I looked down at the floor and realized that our room was flooding... yes... flooding. All of my things were in a thin layer of water... the shower being the culprit... and water marks were rising on our mold-filled walls.

I went down to get the guard's attention who was busy on the telephone. Finally with the assistance of one of the other girls to translate we learned it was a plumbing problem that would be addressed tomorrow (Enchalla... remind you of Dubai?) and the water had been turned off... but what about the swimming pool forming in our room and our muddy footprints from walking through it?

So they called someone to clean... a skinny little cleaning boy from school came over with a small pocket and an even smaller dirty rag... and started soaking up the water, one drenched rag-full at a time... I'm pretty sure he's going to be here all night and still won't get the job nearly done... I think maybe I just won't watch, it'll be better that way. That or we'll turn the AC on full blast and have ourselves a lovely skating pond.

This is ABSURD. I am so beyond pissed I am eerily calm. Luckily I have less than a week left in this room and therefore the new colonies of mold that will form because of this won't further adversely affect my health.

But really now! India give me a break!!! I leave in 145 hours.

ONE WEEK!

One week from now... I will be sitting in my room, getting my henna tattoos done... and doing last minute packing so that I can head to the airport that evening.

I just have to make it through one more week... a piece of cake, right? I can do it, right?

I sure hope so...

Last Week...

I am in the midst of my last full week in India!! In fact, a week from tomorrow I will be piling up in a car with all my suitcases and heading to my last adventure with chaos: the international departures terminal of Bombay Int'l Airport. The chaos probably won't even bother me... I'll just walk with my eyes focused on the goal: home.

So far my week started out well... my IT Perspectives Viva (oral exam) was canceled due to our professor being ill. Although based on how committed and reliable he is to our class (or NOT)... chances are we won't have to make it up... which is a shame because that means our entire grade will be decided upon one presentation we gave a few weeks ago that he tore all the groups apart on. Oh well.

We had a guest lecturer on leadership from Prudential today. The highlight of the rather un-informative talk was a 10-minute movie clip... because it was so nice to watch a movie not on my laptop, tethered to head phones.

We had our last Finance class and celebrating December birthdays with a cake... then I hit the gym for about an hour.

Tomorrow we have free so I plan on heading down to Colaba to complete all my Christmas/souvenir shopping so that I can... PACK :-) Tomorrow night is also the Ugly Betty Season One Finale, so Stella and I have a pizza party planned (to also celebrate One Week 'Til We Leave night).

For now... I'm exhausted and can only think about delicious food I'm awaiting when I arrive home... but I'll put those thoughts aside, choke down one of my last protein bars and hopefully get some sleep.

Thanks to all of you who have sent cards... but hold your cards now. Because I leave in... let's here it again, almost a week... cards sent now will most likely not make it to India in time... and I do not trust any forwarding system they may have!! So you can give me your cards in person... in... one more time... about a week!!! :-)

My second to last trip leaving Bombay behind (the last being of course heading West and never looking back)

We went on an overnight "field trip" to Nasik (or Nashik depending on which spelling you believe) for corporate visits. We left Thursday evening at around 5:30... aka 6 pm and hit the road... if you can call it a road.

The road to Nasik is a glorified compacted dirt road, where they don't bother to paint a middle line, knowing it will continuously be abused. The road is narrowed and filled with "Goods Carriers" attempting to pass each other to be one truck-length ahead to their destination. The bus was severely lacking... mainly in shock absorbers, so the trip was loooong and bumpy!

We made two quick pit stops... one that took much longer than anticipated, but it was nice because I saw a nice patch of green grass... I'm not sure how green it actually was on its own standing though because it was heavily lit with green tinted lights... tricky.

I listened to my iPod for a majority of the time, and also got two hours into a book on tape I am listening to thanks to the free download from iTunes. It's Brad Meltzer's "The Millionaires" and it's pretty good... although I don't know how keen I am on books on tape, but it was free. It's weird because I am usually a fast reader, especially with a suspenseful read... so there were quite a few times I wanted the narrator to read a bit faster!!

We finally arrived to the Mahindra Guest House at... I don't even remember... midnight? It was actually really decent accommodations, we had double occupancy rooms in adjoining villas. I would've much preferred those accommodations for the last four and a half months rather than the prison-like cockroach infested digs I currently hang my hat in! I roomed with Mitika which was a nice change of pace, and we sat up for a while with the boys playing Rummy, and then wound up eating a midnight snack (they had some traditional Indian dishes... I had a few nibbles of Nan). I didn't sleep well though, surprise surprise, and wound up not really falling asleep soundly for the night until about 5 am... makes for a rough 9 am wake-up.

We had a 9:30 am sharp departure (aka 10 pm) and headed for the Mahindra Mahindra automobile manufacturing plant. We are never able to go straight to our destination... as is typical Indian custom, we stop and ask for directions at least 5 times per desired destination. India needs to invest some stock in GoogleMaps!

Our visit at Mahindra Mahindra was pretty cool... among the products they manufacture is the Scorpio SUV, a Bolero SUV, and the Logan through a Joint Venture with Renault. We had a quick Q&A session and then toured through the entire factory... I've never had to dodge so many new cars while walking through the factory. It was really neat though because they have 4.2 kilometers of conveyor belts that take the cars from the "press shop" to "painting" "assembling" and then final assembly. I've never seen a car made... so it was pretty nifty and a good behind the scenes look. That is the nice thing about the Mumbai-trek versus the Paris-trek of this program, we get to go on a plethora of corporate visits, and while they become repetitive and exhausting... we have gained insight into an incredible amount of industries and been able to see how a lot of everyday items are produced.

After Mahindra, we stopped for lunch at a rest stop... that had more flies hovering around our table than anyone should have to experience!!! I ordered my food first... Butter Nan to be safe... and it came last of the 15 that ordered. Gotta love Indian efficiency.

We left the restaurant and hit the road for Sula's winery. We had a tour of the winery... which pretty much just involved walking through the room where they "age" their fine wine for a whopping 5-11 months... that's some fine wine they're making. Ha. After seeing the vineyards... and their manufacturing facilities... and the fact that many of the silo-like structures the wine was stored in were partially opened and they allowed us to walk around freely and stick our faces in them... I skipped the tasting haha. I'm glad I did too... because rumor is, it was pretty bad wine.

So instead I sat out in the terrace (Nasik actually has semi-clean air) and enjoyed the view with Bhuvan and Mitika who also did not partake in the tasting. After much waiting, everyone was finally ready to go and loaded up on the bus. It was an even longer bus ride back and I wasn't very successful in napping. We stopped for a quick dinner... that lasted more than an hour... and then Mark convinced me to let him borrow a DVD... only if I could watch a movie with him though. We watched the first part of "The Devil Wears Prada" and as much as everyone else poked fun at him in the bus for watching it... we had to put English subtitles on so everyone in the surrounding seats could keep up without the benefit of sound.

We finally made it back to the hostel at ... 1 or so. And I made it to sleep at ... who knows... but it was late.

Not quite sure the 12-14 hours or so of travel time within the 30 hours we were away from Bombay made the trip worth it. But, it's the last time I leave Bombay until a week from this Wednesday when I head to the airport... FINALLY :-) :-) :-) :-)

Now it's just a matter of surviving a few last days with final projects and exams... and surviving on the last few protein bars, no sleep, and an itchy rash (which I am convinced is my body being allergic to India)... ahh, gotta love character building.

My Life in Two Blocks

Welcome to my life in Matunga...

The orange dot is my gym... the blue dot is my school.. the purple dot (in between the two big nice buildings) is my hostel :-)

Yep... my life in Mumbai... confined to two city blocks.

A Charlie Brown Christmas...

Mom was kind enough to bring me a little Christmas tree in October so I could have some festive spirit in my room for December..

I "put up" the tree yesterday atop my TV, with a tree skirt made from scarves given to me at a Sikh Temple I visited in New Delhi and filled with ornaments made with origami... you'll notice there are cranes, a dog, a house, a boat, a jumping frog, an oversized star and at the base some Christmas socks courtesy of a great friend and an origami pig...

It's a very Charlie Brown Christmas

I leave THIS month!

We travel the world to find what we need... and then return home to find it.

I haven't updated in a couple days, but there's good reason... I haven't done anything of note since my latest television appearance! The professors have finally realized they probably need to give us a few assignments so they can give us a justifiable grade so that has been the focus of this week... and I fear the remainder of my time in India. Luckily, the assignments are pretty easy so I still have to put in minimal effort (I promise I'll try harder once my other physiological needs are taken care of).

Actually an interesting thought just popped in my mind, completely different from where I was originally intended to go with this post. We were studying motivation theories in HR, and they always fascinate me. So we started with, of course, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs but then it evolved to Herzberg's Two Factory Theory of Hygiene versus Motivation Factors... and how you can't even begun to have motivation until hygiene needs are taken care of. Hygiene needs include physiological, security, and social needs (in the broadest sense of these words... as in, you need clothing, a clean work environment, shelter, and some human interaction). So actually, looking back on HR motivation strategies I can see why I've had little to no motivation for school work this semester: my basic needs aren't fulfilled. I'm hungry, tired, uncomfortable, dirty, etc. Well I feel better about my lack of motivation now... and feel sure that once I return home and have my basic needs met, I will once again return to my original state of an ambitious and motivated student.

But anywho. What I've been up to this week? A lot of time in my room, as usual. I downloaded Josh Groban and Michael Buble Christmas music to get myself into the festive season. I also gave in and downloaded 4 Lifetime Holiday movies... yes, go ahead, you can laugh at me. But it's those cheesy movies that my Mom and I love to snuggle up and watch that make the Christmas season special! I've already watched 2... so much for spacing them out to last the rest of the time while I'm here!

Wednesday I had the day off, and played catch up with work... and by playing catch up... I mean sat around, wrote a few postcards (well only two, I'll send more next week) and studied for a Finance Quiz (which was unsettling hard). Wednesday night was Ugly Betty night, as usual... and we're going to luck out because this is Season One which ends right before we leave... so now I guess I'll either have to give it up, or quick catch up on Season Two in the States.

Thursday we had HR in the morning, and then a quick lunch break before a Finance Quiz. Our speaker (who has canceled on us numerous times before) once again canceled, so we had the afternoon free which was nice.

Friday we had Strategic Management, and then the rest of the day off.

Yesterday (Saturday- HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAY :-)) I also had class, boo, for three hours. But it was delayed by a few hours which was nice because it gave me time to complete my case study for the class.

Today (Sunday) I woke up relatively early (I haven't been sleeping well at all! I blame my rash which makes me up in the middle of the night itchy.. I used an ice pack to no avail last night to try to soothe it... showering has become more than painful almost bringing me to tears because it stings so badly, I threatened to not shower for the rest of the time here... but decided that was probably a bad choice) but laid in bed for a long time (I don't blame myself... I was held captive)... so long that I decided to take a nap, which only lasted a few minutes before I decided I should really start my day.

I've been to the gym everyday during the week, and it's nice because it is the one thing during the day that breaks up my routine of sitting and laying... I really am going to miss my gym, it's such a nice release! I'm going to try and keep it up when I return home, but we'll see how long that lasts. But it's nice because all the trainers know me, and are very upset that I'm leaving soon (I like my gym... but not enough to stay in India).

I have a relatively busy week with a presentation in IT Perspectives tomorrow, well.. a free day Tuesday (that will be filled with work), a management case study due Wednesday, a happy hour Wednesday night with a representative from Temple, a paper due in Finance on Thursday, and then Thursday night (after a double header of class) we have a 6 hour drive to Nasik to stay the night so we can visit Mahindra (automobile factory) and Sulla Winery on Friday. We drive back to Mumbai Friday night... after a wine tasting... on bad Indian roads. That's going to be a pleasant bus ride... I'll bring my iPod and sit in the front haha.

Well! I can say I'll be home this month!! I leave for the airport in 17 days... I can do it :-)

Very much looking forward to seeing everyone!!!!!!!

My Indian Fame Grows to 30 Minutes...

This evening I went to the INX TV Studios and was featured on a program called "Mission: Ustaad." We didn't really know what we were getting into... so it was an adventure for sure.

We left school at about 4 (a mere 45 minutes late) and headed on the bus for the studios. It took us a long time because of traffic, but we finally arrived and were ushered into a room where we were finally informed of what we were doing (which we learned would last until 11 pm). Originally a week ago, we were asked if we wanted to attend a game show filming in Bollywood... we said "sure." Fast forward to yesterday, we are informed we are going to a reality show filming with a UN representative and would have to wear a uniform of jeans and a white t-shirt (which just seems like a great idea to wear under tv lights... right).

We learned that the program on Channel X9 was in support of the UN Millennium Development Goals... a worthy cause. Each week, famous singers perform songs that relate to the eight goals of the UN MDG and the "jury" (a panel of 3 famous judges, including the former Miss Universe) votes for the best songs which will appear on an album at the end of the 11-episode run. We sat around, signed releases for the TV station, and spoke briefly with the UN representative (who heads all the UN organizations that work within India) who serves as an advisor for the program. We then were offered snacks and ushered into the studio to the green room where we watched the filming of the first episode.

Then a TV crew came and interviewed a few of us about our experiences in India and our thoughts on Global Unity. They then selected three of us, myself and two of the guys: Kim and John that would go up on stage to interact with the judges and performers. We were armed with a mic and after much waiting around, we finally made it on stage at about 10:30.

I was somehow roped into doing most of the talking... and also wound up singing a few lines in Hindi, much to the audiences delight. I also was able to use some of my limited Hindi, which earned quite a bit of applause. It was AWESOME! I spoke on the importance of global unity and explained some of my experiences in India.

Needless to say... it was really cool and exhilerating to be on national television (again) which will be aired to roughly 50 million Indians on January 26th. I miss performing, and the butterflies you get right before you step on stage and forget all your worries....I am going to attempt to get a copy of the program, and will be sure to share it!

It was a VERY long evening though, with a lot of sitting around... so we were all greatful to get out of the studio and back on the bus to head back. Luckily we do not have any lectures tomorrow, so after two very late nights I can finally sleep in tomorrow!!

I really am going to miss being a celebrity :-)

Two Danes, a Girl, and the Taj Mahal

We took the Shatabadi Express to Agra, which left New Delhi at 6 am, arriving in Agra at 8 am. The train was actually the nicest I've seen in India so far... including an announcement of distance to the next stop (what a novel idea), and a free breakfast. In the train station, as we awaited the arrival of our time (our driver must have made record time to the train station!) we listened to the announcements of the other trains... I was most amused by the "inconvenience fee" one of the trains had... Doesn't an inconvenience fee sound like something the passenger should be paid!! Our ride was uneventful, my only complaint was some of the scenery... as I had commented many times before I have seen my fair share of Indians (vast majority men) peeing and pooping... perhaps I'm even up in the hundreds now. But with such an early morning ride, I got to see more than usual... in fact, at one point I took my glasses off to blur some of the detail. Although, later, in talks with Kerry, I decided to re-write the words to have "10 Little Indians Crapping on the Line"... since I saw a row of ten Indian men at one point, perched on the railway tracks... well you know. Ew.

We arrived in Agra... and I wasn't surprised to find that our promise hotel transport wasn't there. It's always overwhelming arriving at train stations here because everyone approaches you attempting to get your business... we finally found someone willing to take us to the hotel for Rs. 50 (which I later deducted from my hotel bill). Agra (and Delhi for that matter) are even more visibly polluted than Bombay, with a thick layer of smog always present. We checked into the Tourists Rest House, but had to sit in the garden quite a while to await our rooms. I got exactly what I paid for in my room... which cost $7.00 for the night, but luckily we would be in Agra for less than 24 hours, so it wasn't a big deal that I wouldn't be able to shower... or more like, would refuse to shower.

After we checked in, we skipped the nap and hopped a rickshaw to the Taj Mahal. It was SUCH an Indian hassle to get into the Taj (which charges Rs. 750 for foreigners... Rs. 20 for Indians!) including security that wouldn't allow any bags through. Since the ladies line was shorter then the mens line, I went and grabbed the Danes stuff and ventured off to the "bag check." A number was written on my bag in chalk (similiar to how they write your baggage claim number in chalk on your bag in the airport) and handed me back a little tile with the corresponding number.... needless to say, I kept my wallet and passport with me, just in case. I finally made it through security and wound up waiting with two other foreign females who were also waiting for guys... and finally met an American tourist (my first!) and as we stood and chatted for a bit, we were asked to be in multiple pictures. The Danes were quite impressed with my celebrity status in India... and liked the fact that if I walked in front of them, noticed noticed them.

The Taj Mahal was awesome and really beautiful... although very crowded. I most likely appeared in a lot of Christmas Card Pictures though as I was constantly asked to be in pictures... there were signs for licensed photographers and different packages they could offer... I suppose some of the packages were "Picture with family in front of Taj... Rs. 30" "Picture with foreigner in front of Taj... Rs. 300"... "Picture with American in front of Taj... priceless." I had Mark, my personal photographer, follow me around to take pictures, which will be posted later today. It was quite humorous at one point when we had to put shoe covers on our shoes (one of the benefits of paying the foreigner fee... a free bottle of water and shoe covers)... but the pictures will have to do that image justice.

After walking around the Taj (there really isn't much else to do there), we decided to move on to the Agra Red Fort. We made the 2 km walk to the Fort (stopped by every camel cart, bicycle rickshaw, auto rickshaw, and horse and carriage that couldn't understand why we would walk!) but at this point, Nic was feeling poorly again so wound up staking claim on a grassy patch just inside the Fort while Mark and I walked around. The Fort was impressive, but not as much as the ones in Rajasthan, so we made a quick circle through, and collected Nic to head back to the hotel. My favorite moment at the Fort was when I was taking a photo and turned around only to discover 5 cameras aimed at me... I guess they won't have quite the same photos of the Fort as I have.

We headed back to the hotel for nap time (which the Danes didn't wake up from on time... I guess they aren't used to traveling with someone as punctual as they are)... so after I woke them up at 5, Nic decided to stay back while Mark and I went out in search of food. We settled in a restaurant in the main bazaar of town and we wanted to walk (those crazy foreigners, always wanting to walk) and we had a bicycle rickshaw follow us almost the entire way... the fare by the end was free... that's how badly he wanted to take us. The problem was he was a very old man, and I'm pretty sure if we loaded onto his bicycle rickshaw he wouldn't make the trip... and besides, we wanted to walk! We went to a restaurant called Park and had a decent chicken meal. On the way back we stopped to pick up some crackers and bananas for Nic and a pack of cards (so Mark could teach me a**hole... which he thought as a "Newbie" I might have trouble grasping...). Mark and I sat in the garden of the hotel and played cards... after I had won two games in a row, Mark was "tired" and grumpily went off to bed. Haha. Actually, he wasn't feeling well (or at least claimed not to be since he was losing so badly to me), so I feared that I would have two sick Danes on my hand the next day, and that would not have been fun.

I laid awake for quite a while in my room, unable to fall asleep... but finally managed to get some sleep in before our 5:15 am check out time to head to the train station to head back to New Delhi. The same train was booked for our return trip so we took the InterCity Express... for about half the price... and that was Nic and Mark's first "Indian train" experience. It was a very long ride (a scheduled 4 hours... an actual of 5.5 hours) with plenty of "scenery" (not the good kind... you know the kind) and I was quite antsy by the end. I did talk to a guy from Australia that was volunteering with an NGO here teaching English... he had been here a week and was homesick... yea, NO sympathy here buddy! Try 4 months... then come talk to me.

We finallllllly arrived to the New Delhi Train Station and faced the swarm of taxi and rickshaw drivers attempting to earn the favor of our fare. We almost got roped into a scam right from the Lonely Planet Guidebook... but I caught it in time and we wound up walking to our hotel. The walk was longer than anticipated, and I'm afraid my suitcase may never recover from what I drug it through in the big bazaar we passed through. I was a little nervous about what we would find when we reached the location of our hotel, but I was pleasantly surprised. The hotel was quite decent (a relatively soft bed and hot water, always a plus). I was sharing a room with the Danes so the hotel made up a mattress on the floor for me and we all attempted (but failed) to nap, so instead ordered room service. At this point both Nic and Mark were not feeling well, so we took an easy in the afternoon and watched some CSI (I wish we had more English channels at the Hostel :-(...). We then decided to hit Old Delhi (I was armed with a roll of toilet paper... which is how I earned my keep among the Danes) and wound up being hassled on the way by a good-intentioned rickshaw driver that was trying to convince us to take an entire tour of Old Delhi... we declined but finally agreed to go to two shops so that he could get a discount for bringing tourists. He also took us on a personal tour of his Sikh temple which was pretty interesting. At one point, when we were deciding whether to take the tour he was offering, the Danes complained that I should know Danish, because then we could talk about our plans without the rickshaw driver knowing... I blame them for not teaching me... I now know one phrase "How are you?"... and I used it repeatedly for the rest of the day... I blame them for not teaching me more than one phrase.

We visited a Mosque in Old Delhi which was incredibly crowded!! We had to wait outside the Mosque for prayer time to finish, and we discovered Nic might have equal celebrity to me (until they learned he wasn't American.... and poor Mark has zero celebrity). We finally were able to go inside and we climbed to the top of one of the towers... which was quite scary. We had to take our shoes off and climb up uneven, steep stone stairs in a very tiny tower... in the dark. So for those of you who know my fear of falling down stairs.... the trip down... NOT enjoyable. But slow and steady wins the race, and we all managed our way down the narrow tower (with two way traffic no less) with only a few stubbed toes and scraped heals. The mosque was pretty exhausting, as was the surrounding area, so we opted to skip out on the Red Fort in Delhi (we figured one Red Fort was enough. We hopped a rickshaw back to the hotel (Prince Polonia) and I managed to convince the Danes to order Pizza with me... which was delicious by the way. I also finally got that shower I needed and was delighted to find a clean shower with hot water and water pressure. We laid in the room (ordered more room service... those boys can eat!) and watched part of Die Hard 3, Election, and the Pink Panther.

We were FINALLY able to sleep in!! We decided to get up at 10 the following morning in time for breakfast... which was fine considering we were all asleep before 10 the night before. I woke up before the alarm, as did they, so we went up to the rooftop for breakfast. We had toast and eggs and planned our day ahead (since we had to check out at Noon, but our flight wasn't until 11 pm). The boys "claimed" there was an earthquake the night before and they were shocked I didn't wake up... I didn't believe them, but they were eventually able to corroborate their story and there was a 4.3 scale earth quake in Delhi the night before. When they tell the story though, I'm sure the hotel will become the epicenter of the earthquake and it will gain a few numbers of the Richter scale.

The boys both showered, and I laid in their bed (the floor wasn't so desirable) and watched Gossip Girl, much to their dismay (I repeat... I wish we had more English channels in the hostel, cause then I wouldn't have to download my shows each week) and eventually headed to the heart of Delhi, Connaught Place. We walked about 10 kilometers that afternoon! We circled around Connaught Place, walked into an underground bazaar where shop keepers attempted to sell the boys Indian porn, stopped at Cafe Coffee Day for a snack(where I managed to get sick... I guess it was only a matter of time, I hadn't been in stomach distress for almost a week) and then walked to the astronomical observatory (very similar to the one in Jaipur). Don't go to an astronomical observatory with Danes that study physics for fun... haha. It was cool though, they explained how all the instruments worked and then complained on the lack of maintenance on some of the instruments.

We then trusted Mark's map reading (which for once, actually paid off) and made our way to India Gate, and then to the Presidential Palace and Parliament. We had a small detour as we had to take direction to avoid the riots! All along the way, we of course had multiple rickshaw drivers stopping to offer us a ride... we got one offer as low as Rs. 2!!! They still couldn't fathom us wanting to walk... but walk we did! When we got to India Gate... Mark almost got a celebrity moment until he discovered they didn't want a picture with him unless I was also in it. I finally agreed to be in the picture, to allow Mark his five seconds of fame, but after the second photographer started snapping photos we said we were done and walked away. We also stopped in at Le Meriden hotel for a cool drink (milkshakes!) and to use the bathroom... which is perhaps the nicest bathroom I have ever been in!

We then walked back to Connaught Place (which is a really neat part of Delhi) to eat at KFC and kill some more time before our car was scheduled to pick us up at the hotel. We decided to try out Delhi's new Metro (which was probably a mistake at rush hour) since our hotel was just one stop away. The metro was really nice... despite the MASSIVE crowd... and we walked back to our hotel and sat in the lobby and played a**hole until our taxi came.

We arrived early to the airport and sat around waiting until we could check in. Our flight was at about 11 pm, putting us back in Bombay at 1 am (quite unfortunate). We had to wait on the plane a long time, since the "stair driver" couldn't quite seem to get the stairs up to the door of our plane. We finally collected our luggage and hit the taxi stand.

Rachel and I shared a cab back to the girls hostel... where our taxi driver tried to outrageously rip us off! (His meter was clearly broken as it read 18.80, where it would usually read 6.40 (the meter reading is then roughly multipled by 13)) We wound up paying him only Rs. 200, but he was not satisfied and stood there trying to convince us to give him more... the fact that he wasn't angry meant we weren't ripping him off, he was trying to rip us off. But he stood outside our hostel with us and we attempted to wake the guard and then the guard stumbled to the gate and attempted to open the padlock with a foil wrapper from whatever narcotic he had been... of course this didn't work, he stumbled back to the desk to get a different foil wrapper. This is "fat guard" that often tries to get money from us when we come in late... so we assume he might have been trying to get money from us, but once we handed him our luggage and prepared to climb over the fence he miraculously remembered he did have a key to the padlock and went off and quickly grabbed it.... did he really think a foil wrapper would open the padlock!!?

So at 2:15 I collapsed into bed... I changed my skirt for shorts and quickly fell asleep, since I had Finance at 10 this morning.

All in all, a VERY adventurous time!! I will quickly post pictures... as they often tell a far better story than I do. It was a lot a lot of fun traveling with the boys though, and a very nice reprieve from my usual crowd. But then again, boys are always more fun to hang out with ;-)

This evening I am heading off to Bollywood to meet with a representative from the U.N. ? (I have no idea... that will be a story, I am sure).

Delhi- Delhi Belly was the least of our worries

I left for Delhi on Tuesday evening at about 6 pm. We got to the airport uneventfully, checked in, and awaited our boarding time. We flew Go Air... and I don't think I've seen more seats crammed into an airplane before, but I suppose that is to be expected when you fly budget Indian airlines. We arrived to Delhi Airport (minus two, one missed the flight, the other stayed behind to fly with them) and attempted to get into the cars that would take us to our hotel (at this point, it is about 11 pm). For some strange reason, our coordinator only booked TWO cars to transport 14 of us and our luggage... can you sense trouble? We finally tied some of the luggage to the roof, sat practically two to a seat, and after 45 minutes of debate about how we were going to all fit, we were on the road. We checked into our hotel, but we were all starving from not having dinner. We traveled to what we were told was the only 24-hour restaurant in Delhi (a horrible lie we would later find out) which was actually a disorganized cafeteria type restaurant at one of the local train-stations. I have never seen a more chaotic system for ordering and collecting food. Our food took forever (thank goodness I always travel with my own food) and we would later come to learn three of us would get food poisoning (once again, thank goodness for traveling with tuna fish and protein bars) from the questionable train station food.

We FINALLY got back to the hotel at around 2 am and had to go through the long check-in process (here in India, every hotel has to collect a boatload of information from you, including your passport and visa vitals) which they decided couldn't wait until morning. At about 2:30, I was finally able to lay down to go to sleep for an 8 am wake-up call.

Wednesday morning we were scheduled to visit two companies... neither of which we made it to. Instead we visited GS Lighting which wound up being pretty much a sweatshop where they made lighting housings (their employees were paid Rs 3500/month (about $80), worked 12 hour shifts with only a total of an hour break (three tea breaks and a lunch break), and worked in hazardous conditions). We walked through the factory, where we had to dart in between sparks from the welding, and then sat down in their "conference room" to discuss their operations. At least they were honest when they said the only reason they worked there was for the money. It took us about 2 hours to find this factory though after we took many many wrong turns down dirt paths. Luckily, I had secured a coveted spot in Bhuvan's Car (Bhuvan, one of my fellow IMBA students, lives in Delhi so was able to drive us around... we later formed a "Pact" for Bhuvan's Car to ensure we could maintain our seat all three days of company visits), so the ride was slightly more pleasantly. A lot of the dirt roads were wet though... and Mark surmised that perhaps they were watering the road, so it would grow. I also saw a number of dirt roads being "swept"... a pretty fruitless effort if you ask me!

After a relatively short visit at this company (that was at least an hour drive from our hotel), we learned that we would have no more company visits for the rest of the day. We wound up finding a TGIFridays and I had a great great lunch. After TGIF, Bhuvan's Car (Mark, Colin, Mitika, Bhuvan, and myself) deciding to go shopping in a local mall. I don't even know how long it had been since I was in a nice enclosed mall... with escalators!! We spent probably more time in the mall than I cared to, especially since I'm on a budget, but the company was very enjoyable and entertaining. We eventually headed back to the hotel, but had a stop in at a 5-star hotel as our second member fell victim to food poisoning. Once back at the hotel, I settled in for the evening (I was exhausted from no sleep the night before) and watched Ugly Betty.

The next day, we woke up at 8 am for breakfast and ready to hit the road by 9 (which by India standards means 9:45). Today we actually had two company visits scheduled which was an improvement I suppose. Since we were down one in Bhuvan's Car (Colin stayed back for the day), we were able to allow Nic in (he was the first victim of food poisoning and had stayed back on Wednesday) and we hit the road. We went to IndoAsia Electrical Management where they made... something like a fuse box maybe. We had a factory tour which took forever, as each intricate step was explained to us (it didn't help that I had one of the danes, Mark, in my tour group who is very interested in manufacturing (he has an MS in Engineering something) who kept asking questions even after I told him he had reached his quota... his new nickname is Kaisen (actually it's Snoopy haha)). After our factory tour, where we learned minimum wage should actually be Rs 5000/month ($125... shame on you GS Lighting), we hit the road again and stopped at a mall for lunch. Delhi has an inordinate amount of malls, and I can't imagine how so many malls are supported, but I suppose it is a booming market. We (Bhuvan's Car) ate at Pizza Hut, and rushed back to meet the group at 1 pm to hit the road again... as we gulfed our food down, worried we would be late, we arrived back to the designated meeting place... only to wait 30 minutes for everyone else. Will I ever learn?

We headed to the next place...a textile mill. Minus the disgusting work conditions and cotton-filled air, it was pretty fascinating to watch fabrics made from raw materials (I kind of wanted us to keep walking to the beginning of the operations where there would be a small flock of sheep) to final product. It was really cool, but at that point I was quite tired and wanted to be asleep... and we would have a long day ahead. We had to ride back in one of the vans, since Bhuvan had to head directly home as he was hosting a dinner for us (which was coincidentally Thanksgiving eve) at his family home. On the way back we stopped at the newest temple in India, which was beautiful (but no cameras allowed), for a quick visit through. We had to go through a ridiculous amount of security and couldn't bring anything in... but the temple was really gorgeous. We tried to make a quick tour, but wound up waiting for about 30 minutes for the last person to arrive back at the car. Inside the car we were at war with the mosquitoes, that are in full force in Delhi... and I'm afraid I lost and am covered in itchy bites!

We hit horrible traffic, but finally made it back to the hotel in time to make a quick change and head back out to Bhuvans. There was quite a bit of drama and tension in the group because of recent events, which I can't disclose at this time, so we had quite the time deciding who would ride in what car with whom... quite childish if you ask me. We finally made it to Bhuvan's, about an hour and a half late which I felt horrible about, and had a delicious and wonderful time! This was the first Indian food I liked.. and I asked Bhuvan where I could get food like that in Bombay, and he just looked at me and said "You can't." Too bad! We had a really nice time just sitting around and relaxing. We returned to the hotel that evening and I went to bed, because once again we would have a 8 am wake up time.

Friday was our most successful day of corporate visits (up until then, our time in Delhi had been a waste as far as valuable visits were concerned... but it was on Welingkar's dime.... actually, it was on mine in the end I suppose). We visited Subros in the morning, which has a really impressive and modern plant (the first in India) complete with a lot of Japanese management techniques (which made Kaisen.. aka Mark, really happy). We then had a presentation where we learned more about the company (they manufacture auto air conditioners), and they also provided us with lunch! Our next company visit was to Nirula's, which is a fast food chain in India. We walked through two of their restaurants... I felt really bad for the diners, and then sat in a training room and they explained restaurant management to us. The highlight of that visit was the employee discount we got when we bought cookies at the cake shop! Bhuvan then dropped us off at our hotel, and everyone settled on plans for the evening. At this point, everyone was parting ways since we had a long weekend attached to our Delhi visit to allow for travel. Four of us wound up traveling to the Defence Colony and ate at a really great Italian restaurant.... so tasty. Mark and I split a White & Dark Chocolate Cake... and he said he would take 70% of the dark chocolate, and 30% of the white... since I wanted the white chocolate, and obviously he wanted the dark chocolate... but when the dessert arrived it was a Dark Chocolate Cake with like three random white chocolate chunks in it... so I had to fight for my 50%! The dinner we really good though, and it is always nice to get good food in India.

The four of us (Stella, Nic, Mark, and I) crammed into a rickshaw and headed back to the hotel because the Danes (Nic and Mark) and I had a very early wake up call (a car was picking us up at the hotel at 5 am to take us to the train station)....

"Absolutely No Spitting Here"

The abundance of "No Spitting Here" signs never stops amazing me here. You see these signs posted at sinks during our corporate visits, on train platforms, or my favorite, in the toll booth lanes! Although I can understand the abundance of these signs... the Indians take spitting to a whole new level. This is probably because they are often chewing on tobacco or some sort of "drug" which requires them to spit... many a times I have had to duck and cover to prevent being in the line of fire of one of these impressive shows of spitting prowess.

Friday I went on two company visits which made for a very long day. We started off at Siemens, had some presentations on marketing and operations, a nice catered lunch, and then toured two of their factories. The factory tours were pretty interesting, although I couldn't understand what our hosts were telling us, so I'm sure much of the intrigue was lost on me.

We then hit Raymonds Clothing... and saw a suit factory. Unfortunately, no women's clothes are made by Raymonds as of yet, so no chance to nab a few samples. We walked through the suit factory literally step by step.... this piece of fabric is attached.. then this is done... then this little thing is done... so it became very drawn out and tiring.

Finally made it back to Matunga in time to hit the gym and be home for my daily online time with Mom.

Saturday we had class... for forever! 8 hours of class (with an hour break for lunch) is far too long. Especially because Indian professors haven't mastered the art of integrating different activities into class to break up the monotony... so we just sit there and are "talked at" for the entire lecture time. Boring!! Not to mention the uncomfortable chairs.

I hit the gym after class, and came back to treat myself to this week's episode of Gossip Girl and Grey's Anatomy and made a dinner of a packaged chicken breast, green beans, stuffing, and cheesy mashed potatoes... thanks to my Mom-supplied pantry. My variety of food is getting a little low... but I'm about at the month-way mark, so I can make it!!!

I leave for New Delhi/Agra on Tuesday evening and return the following Monday at midnight. Then we're almost down to 3 weeks!!

Luckiest Girl in the World

My day didn't start out well (sounds familiar from my tales of living in India). I haven't slept well since Saturday night (Sunday night I was worried I wouldn't get back to Mumbai, Monday night I was on a rickety Indian train... and then the last two nights I've had too much on my mind to sleep) so I was exhausted.

We had a guest speaker from Canada this morning... and no offense, but he should have stayed there. Never have I met a duller motivational speaker, he was soft spoken and continually asked us to take "7 seconds of silence." "14 seconds of silence." "Take 42 seconds of silence." It was too bad, because I believe his message was compelling and thought provoking (if not a little unrealistic) but the delivery was horrible... and 2 hours long in a very uncomfortable Indian auditorium.

Then I came back to the hostel to discover new restrictions have been placed on our washer. We are only allowed to use the washer from 10-2 and 7-11. This is absurd! The adapter was taken away... and I had laundry to do.

BUT

This is where the lucky part comes in.

I am so very blessed to have the greatest family and the greatest friends in the world. Without you all (and you know who you are), I would be so very lost and alone in India. Each time my energy gets low, I have a bad day and home seems too far away... someone from home reminds me that they still think of me and care for me. And they know just how to make me feel better. Whether it's an internet chat, a well timed card, or a thoughtful package to pick me up. The gestures are priceless and while it makes me yearn for home just a little bit more... it also brings me temporary relief from the frustrations and always brings a smile to my face :-)

So thank you. When I count my blessings. I count you twice.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words...

Please take a moment to check out my pictures from the trip... I know there are a lot, but some of them are pretty neat and insightful to what India is really like...


http://picasaweb.google.com/lbarteld


There are 4 albums from my trip, with lots of captions!

Placements

I was talking to one of the girls in the hostel about her experience here at Welingkar. Apparently, she thinks about the same of the conditions that we do... but she had some interesting insight (she visits me frequently, as I am her Blockbuster).

In India, "placements" (job offers) are guarenteed as part of graduate programs. Therefore, if I were a regular Indian student at Welingkar, I would have a guarenteed job after I completed the program. I thought this was pretty neat... until she told me more about the process. You can apply for a select few companies, there are about 3 or 4 days in December when there are on-campus interviews, so you have to sign up for when those companies come. But if you interview with a company on Day 1, that isn't your first choice, and they make you an offer, you MUST accept it... even if you top choice company isn't even coming to campus until Day 4.

Hmm.. I'm not so envious anymore of guarenteed job placement. I hope to have a job in August (and am confident I will find one I like, or at least more than tolerate)... any offers ?

Rajasthan- The Short List

1. There is NO place in India that is clean, smells good, is free of trash, or has good quality air.

2. Every person in India is obliged to try and take advantage of you. It is a blessing in Mumbai to have metered rickshaws and taxis.

3. I have had my picture taken more in the last 10 days then probably in my entire life. What do they do with these pictures you ask? I have NO idea and probably don't want to know. I try to remain uninteresting, but there are still intrigued. (Hint, if you want to take a picture on the slight, turn off the fake shutter noise.)

4. Visiting Rajasthan is much like a safari I saw camels, elephants, horses, cows (more cows than people probably), dogs, chickens, cats, crows, snakes, chipmunks, monkeys, vulchers, donkeys, antelope, a variety of birds, wart hogs, pigs, goats, sheep, water buffalo, ants, and DON'T forget my favorite: cockroaches.

5. Everyone will ask you where you are form, and you can't be playful and say "Guess" or they will say "Oh, Guess." No, Guess is not a country. We might be among the first American tourists to make it all the way to Rajasthan... which might explain all the picture taking.

6. I have seen more people go to the bathroom in public in the last few days, then I ever care to see in my entire life. We started keeping count... but lost track.

7. I didn't think it was possible for my living of standard to get lower, but I guess never say never! I have now found some of the worst bathrooms and hostels in India. I was covered in a layer of dirt all week, as will be evident from the pictures, and was ironically relieved to be back at my horrible shower at the hostel (showering with the use of buckets in a bathroom that reeks of urine, will make even the most makeshift showers seem desirable).

8. I still do not enjoy sleeping with bugs.

Rajasthan- Day 10- The Journey Back

I woke up early Monday morning, unable to sleep for fear that we would not make it back to Mumbai as we had planned. Since we didn't book the tickets as early as I had suggested, we were wait listed. We worked with a travel agent to attempt to get the tickets confirmed, and investigated other options for returning back. Unfortunately all trains for the week were booked, so we resorted to looking up plane tickets and I was uneasy at the thought of spending an additional $125 for a plane ticket (as that would pretty much be the budget for the remainder of my time in India including my trip to see the Taj Mahal in a week and a half). We managed to get on the VIP Quota waiting list, but had to wait until 11 to see if it would help.

Then it became 12:30... finally, the travel agent called back and two of us got confirmed seats. We were told to wait around 'til 1:30 to see if anymore were confirmed. So we ran out to quickly get food and agreed to be back to the guest house by 1:15. I was back by 1:10... and no one else was around. Our train left at 2:10.... finally at 1:45 all of us were there and had to run out to find a rickshaw to take us to the train station. Raced into the station, and then I was left to watch the bags while everyone went to collect more snacks. As I waited with a pile of luggage and a group of men staring at me and taking pictures of me, the train arrived, with my travelmates nowhere to be found. As the train arrived I watched the men board the second class car and it might be one of the most horrific sights I've seen, a mass of men piled onto the car, with men hitting each other, sticks batting at passengers, and people literally falling out the doorways and windows, in fact one person climbed over the car and fell down to the pavement, head first. I couldn't even imagine how many men packed into that car and how unsafe. But this is common practice, to have people hanging on to the side of the cars on a moving train. Finally, we were all gathered and loaded onto the train, in 1AC class (the highest class for train travel in India, and worth the $50).

We were technically riding illegally. We only had two confirmed tickets, but we agreed that we were just have two people per berth/bed and apparently this is common practice. We had paid for four tickets, so it wasn't like we were looking for a free ride, we just knew we would had to squish. Luckily for us the other two passengers for our cabin didn't plan to board until a stop a few hours later so we were able to spread out for the first part of our job. Our luck improved, when only one of the passengers boarded. The gentleman was very kind, and well connected to the railway, and said he didn't object if we wanted to share berths. He talked to us for quite a bit and managed to get the conductor to find more seats in the rest of the train. As it stood, another berth in the first class cabin opened up, he offered to move to it, and before sleep time we had an entire cabin with four berths to ourselves. I'm glad we risked it, since apparently we would have made it off the waiting list and on to the confirmation list if they had known a couple of passengers wouldn't show up.

I slept pretty poorly, but at least I slept a little. We arrived into Mumbai Central Station at about 8 am this morning, and of course faced the usual hassle getting a taxi, which is ironic, because all the taxis are metered here. My roommate started yelling at the cab drivers, which got us kicked out of one of the taxis. Finally we found a taxi who would take us back to the hostel at the metered rate. How exasperating!!! We reached our room, and of course found the usual cockroach. So I suppose it's Welcome Back to Mumbai, Leah... only 5 more weeks to go.

I will work on getting pictures up in the next few days, as they will tell a better story than I ever could!

Rajasthan- Day 9- Jaipur

After we finally got our act together in the morning, we hopped into rickshaws and headed for the City Palace. Our rickshaw drivers were friends and we had friendly races and banter between the dueling rickshaws. We finally arrived, paid our "foreigner admittance" fee (which is always almost tenfold the Indian fee) to gain entrance into the City Palace. The Palace was a bit underwhelming after some of the sights we had seen along our journey, and I was getting a bit tired of touring through old buildings. We all split ways to walk around and agreed to meet back at the main gate. I finished rather early, and sat on a bench near the gate monkey and people watching (the monkeys were more interesting), and the palace was quite crowded.

After the City Palace, we headed over to the king's Astronomical Observatory, an outside observatory filled with archaic astronomy tools. It was interesting, but mainly under repair and sort of resembled a crumbling sculpture garden. Also, it was poorly documented, so we were left clueless of a majority of the instruments. After this, I was completely "toured out" and decided to hop a rickshaw back to the guest house. After much negotiation (none of the rickshaws in Rajasthan have meters, I'm really glad the ones in Mumbai do, as it saves a lot of headaches on haggling), the rickshaw driver agreed to take me back and chatted a mile a minute on the short journey back. He was impressed with my Hindi, and wanted to tell me about some of his clients. He then insisted I sit in the rickshaw an extra five minutes to look at his business card collection from around the world, and then he showed me different phone numbers and text messages from foreigners. Finally I was able to break loose as I said my "boyfriend" (which he asked about, like all other Indians, probably looking for a greencard) was waiting for me.

I sat around and finished my book Teacher Man by Frank McCourt, and we were meeting at 7 pm to go to Om restaurant which is a revolving restaurant that rests atop Jaipur. The dinner was good, and the view was spectacular. It was nice to take in the city night life without the noises, and we had a panoramic view of the fireworks and Diwali lights. When we finished dinner, we took bicycle rickshaws back to the guest house (we walked there), and I felt bad for the rickshaw as a skinny little guy attempted to bicycle two girls back to our guest house, I felt like I should get out and help push, but eventually we started going downhill and his job became a lot easier.

I was tired, and went to bed relatively early after reading an US Weekly that one of the last American tourists had left behind about a month ago. I slept horribly, however, worried about whether or not we would make it back on the train tomorrow since at that point we had four unconfirmed tickets.

Rajasthan- Day 8- Pushkar to Jaipur

I woke up early (to the sound of explosions) and got ready to hike up to the Sharavi Temple. It was about an hour hike up and then another hour back down. It was a lot more challenging than anticipated, because part of the hike was an old stone staircase which was very steep and uneven. My thighs really felt the burn, and after getting to the top my lungs needed a break (which they got thanks to a few puffs of the inhaler). The hike up was gorgeous though, especially since it was still early and the air was cool. I passed a lot of monkeys, and unfortunately, a snake (ew!).

After the hike I went back to the room and we created a plan for getting out of Pushkar. Pushkar is a religious center, and is usually a quiet, calm place... with the exception, apparently, of Diwali. So we all wanted to get out of there. We learned however that since it was Diwali, there were NO buses leaving the town that day! We had to regroup and wound up hiring a car to take us the 4 hours to Jaipur. On the way out we were hassled by a group of little boys, one boy was playing a little stringed instrument, playing "Brother John" repeatedly and asking for money, saying "Don't broke my little heart." Carey wound up giving him a Rupee, but he wasn't satisfied, wanted more money from the rest of us, Rachel offered money, but instead he decided he wanted an ice cream. So finally we just got in the car, managed to see a snake charmer across the street, and headed out.

Our driver did not speak any English, but miraculously we found our way. I think he may have been going for a world record of fastest travel time to Jaipur because he drove like a maniac. Which I suppose most Indian drivers could be categorized as. He sped on the highway, around obstacles, in between trucks, and over speed bumps. We made the trip in record time but I was griping on to the door the entire time. My favorite part was when he was driving full speed and opened his door to spit out whatever drug he was chewing on (a popular past time for all here). We finally arrived in one piece to the Sunder Palace Hotel. And while the hotel doesn't compare to the ambiance of the last few places, it is by far the cleanest place we have stayed with the nicest bathroom, so that was a relief.

Jaipur, however, is probably a good transition back to Mumbai as this city is much like Mumbai (minus the size and height of buildings). The traffic here is equally crazy, although faster moving. I checked in, enjoyed some Cheese Nan on the rooftop restaurant and three of us trucked into the old city to do some sight seeing. We went to the Hawa Mahal, which was a building (connected to the palace by underground passageways) where the king, queen, harem, and concubines would sit to watch the festivals in the street, since the women weren't allowed out in the street. It was a really pretty building. We ironically ran into one of the guys we had met at our dinner on the fort in Jodphur. Small world!

Jaipur is the Pink City and the buildings are for the most part, really pretty. I'm not so sure I would call it Pink, it's more of a Salmon color... but I guess that doesn't have the same ring. We walked around the city for a bit looking for the astrologer, but I finally got frustrated and headed back to the guest house. It's tiring to have every single merchant call out to you, and have the feeling that when you ignore them, they mutter bad things about you under their breath. We also had a slew of children following us around the city which made me uncomfortable. Walking down the street, it's almost as if you trip a sensor as you walk down the street, and every shop you pass lights up as you walk by with promises of the greatest bargains and the best quality. It's best when you catch them unaware and they haven't been staring at you walking down the street preparing for the moment you stand before their shop, because it's funny to see them scramble to get a shawl to display for you and then ask why you don't want to spend money in their shop. I was finally fed up with the chaos, and since we didn't have a plan until dinner a few hours later, I bowed out and headed back to read my latest book, Teacher Man by Frank McCourt. It took 5 rickshaws before I finally found one that would take me back to the guest house for the same price that I got to the old city for.

I rested for a bit and met the group at Niro's for dinner. I then headed back, talked to my Mom for the second time that day and fell asleep relatively early. We didn't have a plan for the morning and I was looking forward to finally sleeping in past 6 or 7.

(It's Sunday morning now, and I'll wait to tell about my day until I get back to Mumbai and more has happened. I've been hopping on the internet when I get the chance at guest houses, and use my time updating my blog, so haven't checked my email since I left. I think our plan today is to do more touring in the city, which I'm not sure I'm a fan of, and then heading to a restaurant to celebrate Rachel's birthday. I'm off to continue reading and waiting for everyone to get ready for the day!... Wishing I could go home after vacation, although I suppose the benefit of traveling India via trains, buses, and hostels, it makes going back to Mumbai easier than experiencing India through the lens of a Marriott (which I prefer), at this point, ironically, I am looking forward to a nice camp meal in a bag, and semi-non hard bed, and a shower that occasional works and is not in the bucket-form. However, I am even more looking forward to going home... I want to go there so badly. But no point in bailing now, with only 38 or so days to go. I can do it. I just don't want to).

Rajasthan- Day 7- Ajmer to Pushkar

We had an early departure, and needed to leave the guest house by 6 am. We were told that someone would be up at 5:30 to prepare our breakfast and check us out. By 6:10 we finally had to wake someone up so we could give them our money and get to the train station. Apparently our haste was for naught because we arrived to the train station to find our train delayed by 45 minutes.

As with most train stations here in India, they are not among the loveliest of places, in fact they usually smell (even worse than the streets) and are very crowded. We also usually draw a lot of unwanted attention so the fact that we had to stand track side for an extra hour was not so appealing. Alas, we finally boarded the train and had almost an empty car which was a relief. This time we were booked in 3AC and I determined the difference between 2AC (our trip from Mumbai to Ahemedebad) and 3AC is the lack of privacy curtains and the infestation of mosquitoes. As I killed one, two appeared, as I killed two, three appear. I jokingly said to one of my travelmates that we had to kill all three to advance to the next level where we would be faced with four. As I walked down the corridor to check for the conductor, I determined there would be no end in sight as there were at least 50 mosquitoes, with new ones boarding at every stop.

We finally arrived to Ajmer, only 25 minutes late, and Ajmer seemed to be the dirtiest spot yet. This is when it started to feel like I was emerging from under the overpass as my Mom so eloquently put. We had a huge hassle with the rickshaw drivers, as we were told on the inside that the rickshaw to the bus station should only cost Rs.10. We wound up paying Rs. 20 after bargaining down from 100. We just kept going from rickshaw driver to rickshaw driver until the initial suitors eventually determined we weren't giving up. We got to the bus station and literally caught a bus pulling out of the station heading to Pushkar. It was a government bus that was old, rickety, and very smelly. I guess you get what you pay for, because our bus trip to Pushkar only cost Rs. 8 which is about $0.20. But the ride was hot, sticky, and I had about 25 pairs of eyes glued to me. Not so desirable.

We arrived in Pushkar to once again be hassled by people trying to get us to stay at their guest house. We thought the guest house was within walking distance so set off down the road. After realizing the guest house was not where we thought it was, we managed to flag down a hotel taxi to take us to our guest house. We checked into the Navratan Hotel and ordered some food since we were all exhausted and starving. We ordered room service, and were told it would take 10 minutes, after 45 minutes, Stella went down to check and we were told they were "understaffed" so they were having some problems filling the order. They asked Stella to write down and number the order. So she wrote "1- Baked Potato with Cheese, 2- A Fanta, 3- A Sprit, 4- Spaghetti." As she was told to number the order. Well, I was talking to my Mom downstairs in the garden and discovered "understaffed" was in fact, not true at all, as there were 7 people in the kitchen, sitting idle. But then the waiter passed by with a baked potato, 2 fantas, and 3 sprites. We corrected him and said one of each, "ek" which means one. He didn't seem to understand, but finally took back one fanta and two of the sprites. Then 15 minutes later I saw him walk by with 4 plates of spaghetti. I said "No, ONE." He gave me a bewildered look, walked back to the kitchen, then turned around and walked by me again with the same tray. Finally after 10 minutes of confusion, Stella got her one plate of spaghetti.

I took a nice shower that evening (after two days of showering with buckets of cold water) and settled in for the evening. Since it was the Diwali festival there was an abundance of activity in the street and I have an aversion to Indian festivals. But as I tried to get to sleep, I now know how it must feel to live in a war zone. Granted, I was not in imminent danger, but the noises outside sounded as if they were right off the soundtrack of an old war time movie. It was the loudest explosions I have ever heard! There were firecrackers being set off in the middle of the street right outside the window. The worst past is, most of the people setting them off were small children. I can only imagine how many die each year from these celebrations. The explosions shook the entire building and created a pounding in my heart. I was finally able to fall asleep and awoke to the same deafening noises.

It would be another early morning, with a 7 am departure to climb to the top of a nearby mountain and visit the Sharavi Temple.

Rajasthan- Day 6- Jodhpur (And my 15 Minutes of Fame!)

Our morning started relatively early. We booked a Village Safari tour to take us into the villages of Rajasthan. At 9 am we met our driver, whose name escaped me, who was overly excited to have us on his tour. He was driving a war-time Willyz American Jeep (including steering wheel on the "left" aka correct side of the car, so I'm sure it wasn't a street legal vehicle in Jodphur) and wanted to know all about us, including if we had any boyfriends (why he was asking was beyond me, as we eventually learned he had just had a baby with his wife, oh well). He was proud of his limited American knowledge, which mostly centered around types of cars. We headed off the road and into the villages.

Our first stop was to a Muslim community of potters. We were able to see clay pots being made, using a wheel that rotated on a piece of wood and manually had to be turned. It was pretty fascinating how they could create pots and matching lids with a wheel that spun crookedly. Next we went to a Bishnoi Village, where they believe in eco-friendly behavior (very unique in the trash-covered India) and protection of the green trees. They are thoroughly dependent on the monsoon, and live in very isolated villages where farming provides their main source of income. They share an opium pipe with us (I did not indulge) which is actually illegal everywhere in the world, offered us some tea, and allowed us to dress up in traditional Rajasthani outfits and attempt to carry a pot on our heads (we were unsuccessful in the balancing act). We continued on our way to a Unicef School, Shepherd's Community, a Co-Operative Weaving Society (who was very proud to show us his book of famous visitors, including Richard Gere, Prince Charles, the Smashing Pumpkins, and a few others I wasn't familiar with), and a Block Printing Family, and finally a nice lunch at the driver's brother and sister-in-law's house. We also spotted lots of wildlife along the way, and stopped at a bird sanctuary.

The highlight (which is probably the wrong word) of the safari was when we were stuck in a herd of sheep (which we actually encountered multiple times). Our driver was quite impatient (he was a fast driver, which was annoying on back dirt/sand roads with lots of bumps, while we had to hold on to straps for dear life in the back of an open-air WWII jeep!) and continued driving into the herd, despite our protestations. Well, he ran over a sheep. The sheep managed to get out from under the car, but was limping, and it just about broke my heart. The shepherd came to confront our driver since he had hurt one of his sheep, which is the shepherd's livelihood. Our driver refused to apologize, and a 20 minute fight ensued that scared us all. The shepherd wanted our driver to pay for the sheep and then take the sheep, since a lame sheep was no good to him and would slow the progress of the herd. Finally the argument ended with our driver agreeing to pay Rs 100 to the shepherd (which he had to borrow from us).

Finally, much later than we had anticipated, we arrived back to the hostel. When the driver offered one last plea for us to get him into Lonely Planet (Lonely Planet recognition means the world to businesses here! If they get in the guide, their business is set. There is a story of a man who had a shop somewhere in Iraq perhaps that waited 5 years for Lonely Planet to come visit, and was so excited when they did, the advisor had no other option but to write a lovely review). The village tour was rather fascinating, as it was like a heritage village, except these were real people living their real life. Apparently, National Geographic is coming in two weeks to do the same tour to film a special for TV.

I rested in the evening, read some more of my second book of the trip, Sunflower, and wound up having a very active evening!

I was on TWO Indian National News Channels.

So the owner of the guest house asked if I wouldn't mind dressing up in Rajasthani clothes and filming a special on Diwali. Myself, Stella, and Amanda (from Australia who was at the guest house helping with the NGO for Empowering Women), and Sofi (from Germany who was also with the NGO (Non-Government Organization) were dressed up in beautiful dresses and worked with a film crew for more than 2 hours. We created traditional symbols on the floor, adorned them with flowers, did a traditional Indian dance (that we were improvising by attempting to follow Sofi's lead), participated in a prayer ritual, and finally were interviewed about our thoughts on Diwali (The Indian New Year/Christmas equivalent). The interview questions were very leading, and you could sense the sound clips the station wanted us to say, which none of us did. They asked questions like "Do you feel more beautiful in this traditional Indian dress?" "Do you feel better with having yourself covered?" "How does this festival compare to those from your home country?" "Do you want to come back to India every year for this festival?" I was very careful with the wording of my response, and the other girls were impressed with my PC responses (perhaps from years of working with a State Senator). The evening was fun though, and I was very honored to be involved. I can't wait to share the pictures!

After our very long, tiring evening in the bright lights with the film crew, we were hungry. We went to a restaurant called "On the Rocks" and had a really nice dinner. The ambiance was great, as it was like the Rainforest Cafe (except real). I do find a funny similarity in the restaurants here, however, and that is the number of menus they bring. We are a group of 4 at most meals, and it would seem that most restaurants only have 3 menus... as we never get enough menus and always have to insist on more!!

I went to bed exhausted, and knew I would have an early morning with the alarm set for 5:15 (ugh!) to catch a train to Ajmer.

Rajasthan- Day 5- Jodhpur

Well, I guess it was about that time to shower again. Little did I know, I would be showering with buckets of water in a bathroom reeking of urine. Hmm… how many more days until home when I get a good shower? So after I “showered” we gathered and headed down to the Clock Tower again for some shopping. I bought some spices and we walked around all the different markets before venturing further into the city where we happened upon this bangle shop where they were making bangles outside the shop. The bangles here were gorgeous and made of gum from the gumtree. We wound up buying some bangles, but had to wait quite a while (my usual task here: waiting for others to finish) for some of the bangles to made larger for my big handed friends. We sat with the two boys from the shop who grilled us on WWE and Arnold Schwarzenegger, some people have a pretty misconstrued image about the “identifying” traits of America. After our time at the bangle shop (which was lengthy) we headed to the world famous omelet shop. This man is very proud of his books of pictures, post cards, and guestbook. It is everything in the world here to be listed in travel guides and shop keepers pride themselves on the listing, and pride themselves on their pictures with foreigners. The girls enjoyed their omelets in the middle of the street with some makeshift seating, while I choked down another protein bar, not willing to risk getting ill. After this we went on a tour of the Fort, the biggest in Rajasthan. From here, you could see the entire city of Jodhpur which is known as the blue city. The blue color dates back to the caste system, where the priests would paint their houses indigo as a sign of wealth. It ironically also serves as a good coolant and insect repellant. The city was beautiful from up there. The fort was also pretty spectacular. We toured the fort at our own pace, so I finished first as was able to enjoy some alone time up top in time for Mom’s daily phone call. We then enjoyed sunset from the fort, but then had to sit around for two hours waiting for our dinner reservation. We ate dinner at the top of the fort overlooking Jodhpur. It was a breathtaking view of the city all light up, with fireworks in celebration of Diwali. The restaurant was literally on the roof of the fort, with eight small tables, and the entire place lit by only a few candles. Probably one of the most romantic settings I’ve ever been in… but alas, I was there with three girls, rather than one special boy. Such is life. Dinner was good, but took entirely tooooo long, so I was quite tired by the time we got back to the guest house.

Rajasthan- Day 4- Journey to Jodhpur

The group was running late, as usual. We raced to catch our bus at the bus station, and just barely made it. The bus was half sleeper/half sitting. And crowded. The journey would take about 7 hours. The bus had a very obnoxious horn that grated on my nerves, but I simply sat there and listened to music and waited for the time to pass. We did sit at train tracks for a really long time waiting, for what I believed, a nonexistent train, when after about 45 minutes it finally passed through. But the sights along the way, as typical rural India is, were beautiful! There were all these mysterious walled enclosures, like wannabe secret gardens along the way that I am unsure their purpose. There were literally plots of land enclosed by a two foot high stone wall. I think perhaps they just have a surplus of wall builders and needed to give them something to do. I also noticed an abundance of hot pink turbans. Turbans tell you the region and occupation of a man. I wonder if the classified for a shepherd read “must be able to herd sheep, spend long hours alone, and carry off a pink turban.”

We finally arrived in Jodphur. As usual, met a lot of hassle, and finally made it to our guest house, Durag Niwas. This is a family run guest house and the people couldn’t be nicer! We checked in, and then sat down and enjoyed a meal with the owner, Govind. Jodhpur is a very polluted and dusty city, bustling with activity. We are on the outskirts of town and I am grateful for that! The rickshaws here are a class of their own, and embellished to the extreme! I’ll have to post some pictures of them. Rachel and I ventured to the clock tower to take in the Sadar Market. We stopped in Baba Art Emporium where we were shown beautiful bed spreads that are supposedly made for every top designer you can think of, I had a hard time believing every single fashion icon in the industry shops there, but they do have picture proof of Prince Charles and Richard Gere. Everyone who meets us tells us that Richard Gere was in their shop! Coming back to the guest house, empty handed, we faced a battle with rickshaw drivers. Luckily with fierce competition and 20 rickshaws waiting nearby, we usually win the bidding war. I read some of my new book, and then we headed out to dinner at Uncle Sam’s Pizza. Uncle Sam’s had some disappointing food and service, but the experience was worth it, and we were probably the only Americans to have ever eaten there, so they were pretty upset when a few of my travel mates left in a huff. We returned again to the guest house where I enjoyed some caramel custard and apples and curled up on the rock hard bed to go to sleep.