McDonald's mein hai kuch baat

Yesterday we had another round of company visits. We went to meet with Godrej Properties (a real estate company) and McDonald's (needs no explanation). We left school, late as usual, and headed to the first visit. The bus's AC was on overdrive, so we were all freezing upon arriving. Our time at Godrej was interesting but rather uneventful (and the AC in the room was also on overdrive). It was sort of weird that they had a co-ed bathroom that was mirrored on all walls (including inside the stalls). Not sure what that says about the employees at Godrej...

We then had a break for lunch so headed to Colaba Causeway. I shopped my way to Leopold's restaurant, picking up a few more trinkets for people at home. I then decided I want to have some McDonald's fries before our visit to make sure I had the Indian McDonald's experience before meeting with them (little did I know our meeting with corporate would be in McDonald's in the birthday party room) and the cashier was tickled pink to be serving on me. I don't think you see McDonald's cashiers that excited to wait on you in the US. He kept confirming that I was from the US... probably to make sure he had the details right to share with his family later that night.

He was probably more than a little shocked when I returned less than an hour later escorted by the store manager on a kitchen tour. I hope he thinks that I was a "secret shopper" and gave him a glorious review, because I feel like that would make his day. Our time at McDonald's was long (4 hours) and the chairs were hard. This is probably because McD's doesn't want to encourage you to loiter around for hours on end (although they do offer Wi-Fi access). The kitchen tour was pretty neat, and everyone was estactic we were there, but I feel like we were definitely in the way. The kitchen was cool because it was divided into non-veg and veg parts. And there was no intermingling of the two... down to the color of the appron. We also got to walk into the deep freezer... why they brought us in there is beyond me. It was the size of a small walk-in closet and we hardly fit.

We then finished the afternoon with the marketing manager showing us practically every McD commecial ever aired in India over the last 5 years and asking for our input. We aren't their target market though, so I'm not sure what insight they were looking for. But we got a free meal out of it (after I had spent a dollar for my fries just a few hours earlier... instead of a dollar menu, they have a Rs 20 menu, which is about $0.50).

Afterwards, we piled into the bus (we often have to jump off or into a moving bus because our bus can never park and can't block traffic... who knew corporate visits would be an en extreme sport) and headed back for school. I then made a quick jaunt over to the gym to get some cardio in and some frustration out and then settled in for a night of laptop TV watching. I also may have earned "American Entertainer of the Year" award here in the hostel, because I let the Indian girls borrow my extensive collection of DVDs I brought here. Just call me the Bombay Blockbuster. They were very grateful, and it's nice to continue to build some nice relations with the girls I share this stinker of a hostel with.

This morning (Saturday) I slept in and then talked to one of my best friends for about an hour and a half on Skype. After this I got my butt out of bed and went over to the gym. On the way to the gym (which involves walking two blocks to the main street, crossing the street (always an adventure), and then climbing over a wall (no lie) and walking in a little path alongside the park (cricket field) to reach my gym (Inch-by-Inch) at the back of the field. There is often a family living on the sidewalk outside the park, complete with their laundry hanging on the wall and a fire cooking their dinner and there are always little kids around. I was surprised not to see any. But as I walked along the path all these little boys called "Hello" out to me (my Indian fan club has members of all ages, we don't discriminate, in fact even YOU could join ;-)) and I made the mistake of looking over at them. Well alongside the path, in a slightly shaded (very trash filled area) was a line of 6 or 7 little boys pooping. This is a rather natural occurance here... people pooping in public. But did they really feel the need to be social with me while they were clearly busy? Ew!! There's really no need to question why this country smells like poop so often (including oftentimes my shower water, gross, don't get me started... I will shower 50 times before I agree to see any of you in person :-)).

Anywho. Went to the gym and did a little cardio but mostly weight training. Came back and showered and then tackled once again my resume. I've been getting a lot of feedback on it, so I am now trying to incorporate all the feedback and create the best product to get employer's attention. I think I may send my resume out to a few companies this week (I know I keep saying I'm going to do that, and then I don't) before I leave for my big Diwali trip to Rajasthan (p.s.- was watching The Office the other day and it was an episode on Diwali and Steve Carrell at one point sang "The Diwali Song" after Adam Sandler's "The Hannukah Song"). But my only other objective for my day is to create more Ellie B elephants (get it? L.E.B) to send off to people with custom-made poems. If you're lucky, you might just find one in your mailbox (if I ever actually get them written and assembled).

I'm going to go enjoy a protein bar for dinner and put on this week episode's of Grey's Anatomy I downloaded on iTunes. India has made me rather bi-polar (no, not like that... Indian style) whereas I often feel manic-depressive (no, not like that...) as in sometimes I am "okay" with being in India (okay is the new happy, okay is as good as it gets here folks... happy will resume in 53 days) but then sometimes I am very "anti-India." Now this can change instantly from one second to another, but often changes day by day. So today? Feeling a little anti-India. I would very much like to go home, as usual. But at the same time, I am very excited about my trip to Rajasthan!! I will post my itinerary and then of course post updates upon my return. But I will be incommunicado from 3 Nov-13 Nov. I will be safe though. My parents will, of course, call me every day (they are worried, but I wouldn't have it any other way) so no one has need for concern.

I leave you with this: McDonald's mein hai kuch baat