Probably Very Last Post

I arrived without event last Saturday the 12th, and my first day back in the Lincolnshire office was yesterday, has been good so far. Was a great reunion with Justin on Saturday. And we had an eventful week; Saturday picked respberries at my mom's, Sunday went to the indoor waterpark/hotel, Monday went to see the dinosaur bones at the history Museum, Tuesday saw Iron Man, Wednesday went to the Milwaukee Zoo (and we rode a camel, made up for not finding an elephant ride in India). Anyway, good to be home, but miss the team in India. It was a great trip.

Thanks to everyone that has taken the time to read my updates. It has been fun, and I hear it was a hit. That's all....

Leaving Today!!!!!!

Last update before I "hit the road." So everyone here has been great. I made a passing remark about how cheap and crappy my new wallet was to Sohenjeet several weeks ago, and they all pitched in to present me with an imported Italian wallet today as a gift for coming. Very sweet of all of them. Parul, the Client Manager, also gave me a beautiful picture frame, which I will keep on my desk at work with a picture of all of us here. Again very sweet of her. As much as I look forward to being home, I will miss these guys. As I write this, Sohenjeet is asking me, no insisting, that I tell him what kind of cake I like. Can't refuse good cake :)

We did see Hancock, the new Will Smith movie before coming to work today, 6 of us were there, and of course Divya is refusing to take my money to pay her back for the tickets. The movie was awesome, everyone had a good time.

Anyway, for anyone that reads this before 1:00 PM CST, wish me a safe flight!

Probably one or two more updates of my travels after I get home, then That's All Folk's.

C Ya

Almost time...

Hi everyone, no pictures this time :(

This will be my last full day at the office. I am starting to get pretty excited to come home, and Justin is feeling it too. He was getting so excited that he will see me in three days (one, two, three days! he said).

Tomorrow we are actually going to catch a movie before work as a whole team, either Hancock or Get Smart, though I am not sure the nostalgia factor would mean anything for them here. Even though I am not old enough to have seen that show first run, I used to love the reruns on late night TV.

Anyway, had to turn in my phone, and almost finished packing today, but will probably have to toss some of my older clothes to make space in my luggage for all the things I have purchased for myself and everyone else.

So all in all it has been a great trip. These guys have really busted their rear ends to get the material down, and they are doing pretty well with the information now that they are taking calls. I am really proud of them!

I am also happy to say that I have made a bunch of new friends, and am hopeful that I will be able to keep in touch with them after I am back home. They have all been great, like it is their shared responsibility to make sure I have a good time in their country, and I have. Still looking forward to getting home though...... See everyone soon!

Last Weekend Here!!!

The cake from the embassy party. Pretty much sums up the reason I am here, if it read "working together," it would be perfect.







So completed my last week here, and had a few adventures, though still didn't get around to riding the elephant at the Red Fort, gonna make it out there one day this week before work with Sohenjeet. We did head out for drinks again this past Friday, and had a pretty good time, though less out of control for this round. I did have to explain that a Mai Tai is a little bit of a "girly" drink to Jatin, at which point he became embarrassed that he ordered it, which was entertaining.

Before drinks, we did go bowling, forgot to take pictures though. Funny that they all thought I was awesome, scoring my big 91, Jatin 31 and Sohenjeet 90, a victory is a victory right, whether by one or one-hundred :) But seems like bowling is only just beginning to catch on here, there wasn't on person that broke 100 in the whole place.

Saturday just basically was lazy around the hotel until it was time to head to the embassy, and some photos are below as well, but it was pretty cool. Definitely a much larger turnout that I expected, at least 500 people were there. They had all sorts of cheap food; hot dogs, barbecued pork, cheeseburgers, and other stuff that you can't really get here. Lots of the guests were buying up the cherry-coke, they don't have that anywhere here.

They also had a bunch of games for kids, and good music (from DJ Boscoe, who must have googled "songs that have the word America in it" before the party). Some Springstein, Beach Boys, Lee Greenwood, and other similarly patriotic stuff.

I took place in a team tug of war, and unfortunately our team lost, but it was fun anyway. They also did have fireworks, it wasn't the most spectacular fireworks show ever, but it was definitely cool being the only place in India shooting off fireworks on the Forth of July. All in all it was pretty cool.

Today I went, again with Sohenjeet, to a market called Delhi Haat, a huge open stall market with lots of different types of souvenir type stuff. Got some good stuff for myself as well. It was pretty fun, he was my bargaining coach, telling me ,"act shocked at the initial price, offer them below what you want to spend, then come in just below their counter." Was entertaining. But I did have a ton of people I wanted to get stuff for, and got some of that done at least. Anyway, maybe one more update before I head home. Will be arriving at O'Hare at about 10:30 AM on Saturday, after a 20 hour journey that reads only 8 hours on my watch because of this "time zone" craziness. If I haven't said so already, I will not be returning to work until the Thursday after I get back, looking forward to seeing my family, especially my little guy. So that's all for now, except the photos at the end, have a good one!



The team sleeping during a break I gave them. Guess they never really get used to working overnight either!













Jatin acting all embarrassed about his drink selection:) Seriously though, he's a fun guy, and the only one other that the consistent Sohenjeet that joined us from the team (this means you Sachin!)











The setup at the embassy, pretty impressive, and surprising, that our government would go through all this trouble for us. Also have to assume it was done at a bunch of other embassys too.






Me trying to tug but finding our team slowly moving in the wrong direction. Maybe would have worked harder if we realized they were giving bottles of Jack Daniel's to the adults of the winning team!






The U.S. Marine color guard before a staffer sung a pretty good rendition of The Star Spangled Banner to start the evenings festivities.









The amazing hand painted prints I bought for the house. Absolutely awesome work, which they were doing right there at their stall. I paid only ten dollars for both prints, which are about 1 by 2 feet each. If only I could ship a few hundred home, could have a booming eBay franchise......







A little hand painted clay dog, larger that it looks in the photo, probably about six inches tall, for 9 dollars or so. Would be cool on my desk at work I think. Too bad I didn't notice the foot had bee broken and (poorly) glued back on, only to break again in my backpack. Gonna have to get another one, though I suspect there is no such thing as a warranty on stuff like this, but oh well, I like it enough to make the trip again.




So that's about all folks. See ya all soon. I will miss the new friends I have made here (love you Sohenjeet! and I mean it this time, lol), but it will be nice to be home, and not have to depend on others for every single little need I have.

Weekend Update

No pictures this time, maybe I will get to them later, just a couple updates from this weekend's activities.

On Saturday, Matt and I played golf at the Delhi golf club. Was quite an adventure just to get started, as even though we had a tee time reserved, they tried to tell us we could not play. Then when we told them we didn't want a caddy, they seemed pretty shocked and required us to take two caddies anyway. Turns out it was a good thing :) These guys seemed to think that each golf ball I embarrassingly shanked into the trees was the most valuable thing in existence, and would not give up until they found it. They would also take a few practice swings themselves, and one of them was a scratch golfer, which was amazing. As expected Matt completely destroyed me, he finished 3 over par on the 9 hole course, hitting a 36. And my final score? Drum roll please........ An amazingly good......78, just 42 over par. But I just wanted to have some fun, and indeed we did.

Before this next part, I must remind everyone that this blog is not endorsed by, nor does it represent the opinions of Hewitt Associates, its affiliates, or subsidiaries. I would also state that the Surgeon General of the United States advises that drinking can be hazardous to your health :) Drink responsibly.....

Saturday night Sohenjeet took me and Matt out to a pub. Turns out we ended up at the Cafe Morrison. Felt strange being in the middle of Delhi, India, listening to the Doors, and Nickleback and other U.S. stuff, but we had a great time. For those of you that know me, you will know that I do not drink very often, so therefore don't tolerate it very well, but I had 6 shots of Zambuca, 1 Tequila, and 1 Heineken in about 3 hours, so I was having a jolly time. At least I was smart enough to know that one more would have probably put me over the line of being sick. so quit at that point and drank about 2 liters of water and ended up recovering nicely the next day. We did have a little bit of an issue when I decided to make some calls to friends back home outside the bar, and was gone for like an hour. Sohenjeet said he was about ready to call his manager to figure out what to do, he just didn't see me out between the cars in the parking lot, and I wasn't answering my phone (sorry Dude). Anyway, was nice to get out and "paint the town red," haven't done that in a long time.

Because we were all recovering from our bender, we did not make it to the Red Fort, that should be next weekend. Also planning a bowling outing this Friday, as the office is closed, and still looking forward to the embassy party this Saturday, they say it is a traditional American barbecue.

And the last little thing that happened was my, in retrospect, entertaining difficulties getting Chinese food delivered to the hotel. Took me about an hour and 4 or 5 phone calls, with the help of the concierge, to find a place that would deliver to the hotel. Then, already starving, found it would take an hour for my order to arrive. When it finally did, it was all prepackaged, and uncooked food, which I was totally surprised by. At that point, I called the room service manager to see if they could cook it for me, and he insisted on sending the head chef to my room to discuss how to prepare it, even though I told them that the packages had instructions on them. So about 15 minutes later, the chef, the duty manager, and the room service manager showed up to ask what I wanted. Eventually, they did cook the food, and prepared it well, but it ended up being a grueling 3 or 4 hour task just to get some Chinese. Needless to say (but here I go saying it anyway) I have learned that I should just eat at the hotel from here on out.

Hope everyone is well. Looking forward to seeing everyone at home in about two weeks. Two weeks plus two or three days for everyone at the office, depends how long it takes to recover from the jet lag, should be fun....

Taj Mahal Trip and Photos

For anyone that has been keeping up with my blog, sorry for not posting in a while, I know at least my parents were eagerly awaiting photos from last weekends trip. I do have to leave for work shortly, so I won't be writing as much today though.

Last weekend we did take the trip to Agra, the site of the Taj Mahal. Two associates from the Gurgaon office went with, Sohenjeet and Sueshmita, as well as Matt from the Lincolnshire office. The car ride was pretty long, about 4 hours, but comfortable (the train ended up being overbooked, so they gave us a car).

We did have a pretty uneventful ride up there, but I did snap a few shots along the way. The guy with the Cobra offered to let us take a photo with the snake around our neck, but neither Matt nor myself would get out of the car near a venomous snake, so Sohenjeet was the brave one that took the picture. At basically every stop where tourists might shop or eat, there was someone with monkeys that wanted to charge a fee for photos.

So we eventually made it to the Taj Mahal, and it was absolutely amazing, even though it was crazy hot outside, almost 95 degrees and very humid, enough so that the local people were complaining. But it was definitely a sight to see one of the seven wonders of the world, the amount of work that went into the design and construction were just incredible, all of the marble blocks had hand carved engravings of various flowers or religious texts. They say it took 20,000 workers 22 years to build. So anyway, take a look at the pictures.

Still missing everyone at home, especially my little guy, but I have just over two weeks to go. This weekend we are going to the old fort in Delhi to ride the elephants up the hill. I wanted to do at least one activity I could not do at home, and riding an elephant is certainly not possible in Illinois. Also going to get in a round of golf with Matt, I will try not to embarrass myself too much. Anyway, other than the pictures, that's about all for now.

One of the guys with pet monkeys for tourists to take pictures of. Tried to charge us a fee for it, but Sohenjeet said I shouldn't pay because we never even got out of the car.

Our group at the gate of the Taj Mahal. The guide told us that this massive building serves no other purpose than as an entrance to the main grounds, pretty impressive for a gate.

The world famous Taj Mahal from just inside the main gate. Amazing!

Me looking like a goofball tourist outside of the Taj Mahal.

Some of the amazing carving work just inside the mausoleum.

So Matt and I had to pay nearly 20 dollars US to get into the Taj, and Indians only pay about 50 cents, but at least we got some of it back. Bathrooms are free for tourists, but the locals have to pay, ha!

A massive herd of cattle passed us on the road on the way back, had to be at least 100 cows just trudging down the highway.

The snake charmer with the Cobra. Pretty cool. So that's about all for now, more to come later!

C ya!

Brian-

Busy Weekend Coming!

So just a few quick notes about some stuff I am looking forward to. First, this Saturday, the hotel is screening the new Iron Man movie, seems an unusual choice for a hotel hosting international guests, but I am psyched about seeing it anyway, so that should be fun.

Then Sunday I am heading out to Agra with a couple associates from here and one other that is visiting from home. It will be a long day Sunday, starts at 5AM and ends at 10PM, but we will see the Taj Mahal, an old fort, and a "ghost town" so it should be an awesome experience.

Also am excited that I received an invitation to attend a 4th of July celebration at the U.S. Embassy in Delhi (though it is on Saturday the 5th, but whatever). Attending a party at an Embassy, seems like a James Bond movie or something.... Should be fun, and even though everyone is great here it will be nice to socialize with a bunch of other people from home, they are only allowing citizens to attend.

I will post a bunch of pictures and stuff from my trip this Sunday. I hope everyone is doing well! See ya later!

One more Picture

Had to get this one up from a trip in the car to the market today. A Family of four on a motorcycle. The child up from is probably 5 or 6 years old, and the mother is hodling the toddler on her lap.

Weekend Stuff

For everyone at home that is worried about me based on my last post (mom) and those here that are concerned about my being sick a bit (Sohenjeet, you too!), I am feeling much better, the antibiotics I brought with me seemed to have done the trick. Only now I have slept so much this weekend that I am right back to where I started with the sleeping thing. It's ok though, the extra sleep probably helped my stomach recover.

Back at home, Justin spent the whole weekend at my mom's house, and we finally got the webcam working, it just about melted my heart to see my son for the first time in over a week. Though sadly he is not feeling well himself, he has not eaten in almost 3 days, so I just found out my wife has taken him to the emergency room. I know he will be ok, but I am very worried anyway. For al the parents out there, you know what it feels like to see your child fall ill, it is never any fun, especially at such a young age where they don't understand that they still need to do things like eat and drink even if they don't feel well.

So because I slept away much of the weekend I still have not gotten out much. For the likes of Margaret and Carol at home that will yell at me for seeing none of the country yet, I am planning on heading out to Agra to the Taj Mahal next weekend, and maybe the Red Fort in Delhi as well, Sohenjeet is planning on coming to Agra as well as he has never been there.

Even though I have not really gotten out I do have a couple more photos to toss up, see below.

This one is from my walking to a nearby golfcourse last Friday and crossing the highway. Just wanted to show how common those little 3 wheeled cabs are. Also, can't make it out so well in this picture, but there are pedesrtians alking along the side of the highway as well.










Below is another of those advertisements which I find highly entertaining to see here.










And some native wildlife. I was taking a walk to get some blood flowing last night, and was surprised to see such a large and pretty seashell on the sidewalk, then noticed it was moving. Seems a weird thing to take a picture of, but this snail was huge, at least 3 inches across, just seemed an unusual thing to be crawling across the sidewalk in the middle of the city.










And finially, on a similar note there is this guy. Of course many of us have seen slugs in our gardens or lawns, but rarely are they more than half an inch long, hard to see scale in this photo, but this thing was at least 4 inches long, just creeping along the road.

I promise more interesting stuff once I get to play tourist a bit and see the country next weekend. Hope everyone at home is well. See ya!

So I have hit the first roadblock in my travels, having come down with a moderately bad case of Traveler's "Digestive Issues" or Delhi Belly as some call it. While I would not have left work at home due to feeling this way, I made the mistake of telling the guys at work that I was not feeling well, and the manager in the Hewitt office, Sohenjeet, called the hotel and asked them to pick me up early, even though I told him not to. Once again, they all really want to make sure I am ok while visiting their country, which is really sweet. I did make it through 6 hours of the day, and we were a little bit ahead of schedule in training, so we should be ok come Monday, and they continued reading through the training modules without me anyway.
So fortunately I brought some immodium and antibiotics with me, and have two days for them to do their thing. (Mom, I will be fine, please don't worry, if I do need a doctor or something the hotel will call their staff doctor, but again, I'll be fine)
Since my flight got in at almost 3AM last Sunday, was actually planning on just relaxing at the hotel this weekend, and take care of a couple of things. Assuming I am feeling better after I wake up later, still want to try to find a grocery store and buy some snacks and detergent and stuff. Also found a golf course that is literally right around the corner from the hotel, might go badly whack some golf balls later today (assuming I can go more than 30 minutes without needing a toilet....sorry if that is gross).
Anyway, that's about all for now. Looking forward to meeting up with the other Lincolnshire associate tomorrow, he is supposed to be here late tonight.
OK, just a couple more pictures. Everyone at home is asking me if I am eating ok, actually just like the people here are asking :) So took a picture of one of the room service meals, traditional Indian..........fish and chips:)











And below we have the team from the Gurgaon office, from left to right (I think I finally have the names right, so sorry guys if I put someone in the wrong order): Jyoti, Divya, Shelly, Smirti, Pryanka, Me, Sachin, Sohenjeet, and Jatin (also may have misspelled some names, will correct after I get to the office).


They are a wonderful bunch, all so eager to learn, and very upbeat and positive, they even look happy for 1AM on Saturday morning:) Anyway, that is really it for now, until next time.....

Just a couple more, then sleepy time....really

Really really last post for today...

Hewitt office from highway.










Another of the office.









And these little cabs are absolutely everywhere in the city. Always asking me if I need a ride.

Some randon first pictures

since I can't sleep for some reason today/night, figured I may as well toss up some pictures.
Just a brief explanation for each photo. Then I really have to sleep.....

The the left is just a shot of the outside of the hotel.











The view out the window of the hotel room.












The army officer's barracks across the street.










A typical sidewalk.







Couldn't help but laugh when I saw this at the mall. It seemed so out out of place in what is thought of as a conservative culture.

First few days

Hi everyone. Just remembered I promised I would start a blog of my travels, it has been a little hectic so far, so just now had a moment to start it. Also am being lazy with my first post and just cut and paste the text of an email I sent to my mom, easier then typing the whole same story twice in slightly different words :) I do plan on adding some pictures once I get out to see more of the country. Right now haven't seen much other than the hotel and the road to work, and the office, though I will get some pictures up of all those things soon too. I miss everyone both in my family and at the office, and hope everyone is doing well.

No for a small disclaimer (and I am only partially kidding): This blog, and the postings therein, are not sponsored by, nor endorsed by Hewitt Associates, its subsidiaries, or affiliates; The opinions expressed here are my own and no one elses, and this is intended to be a completely informal way for me to keep those that care to read the blog up to date on my adventures and work.

(To translate: This isn't going to be just about work, and the writing is going to be less than formal and/or coherent, but hey I'm 8,000 miles away, give me a break)

Work is going really well so far, everyone there is so accommodating and nice, and they all want to seem to watch out for me too, they are great, and all really into the training. They already figured I wouldn't want to eat their cafeteria food, even though it's free, so they ordered me pizza Monday night and Wednesday, from Domino's pizza no less. Was exactly like pizza at home. I did eat the cafe food at work yesterday, and it was very good actually, though really spicy. The hotel food is better than anything at any U.S. restaurant that I have ever eaten at, and since they have U.S. customers mostly here, they have more American dishes than Indian ones actually. Costs about 10 dollars to eat a meal in the cafe at the hotel, but a 6 oz can of coke is almost 3 dollars, so one of the first things I did was find a gas station I could walk to to buy some for the fridge in the room, a glass bottle of coke, which is probably a dollar each in the U.S., comes out to 20 cents here, pretty sure the shop keeper thought it was strange that I was buying 5 at once, and he made me promise to bring back the bottles, and when I did two days later, the next time he only charged me 25 cents each for 5 more cokes, maybe he is happy he has a repeat customer for the next month :) So I have walked there every other day, it is perfectly safe by the way they say. Seems like it would be considering almost the whole block is Indian Air Force and Army officers apartments. Though there are these little three wheeled cabs that run around all over the place, and in the half mile walk I have to decline a ride at least 5 or 6 times from those guys as they drive by, it seems they think if I make eye contact I must need a ride someplace.

Haven't really had a chance to see much of the country yet, with working over night it has taken me really until yesterday to figure out when I should be sleeping. It is 7:00 PM at home right now, but 5:30 in the morning here. I am also a little scared about being a tourist by myself, but there is someone from another team in Lincolnshire that will be coming this weekend and we met before I left, and we are already chatting about taking some weekend trips together. Can't come to India and not see the Taj Mahal at least. One of the chauffeurs from the hotel that took me to work told me he would drive me all the way there, which is about 3 hours each way, I think he was so surprised I tipped him 50 rupees to wait for me at the mall (about 1 dollar and 25 cents) that he wanted to make sure I used him for any other excursions. It was just too hot to shop anywhere outside, and I needed some clothes, but was almost 10 degrees outside.

Oh, and I realized after I got here that I didn't bring enough of some stuff, like socks. The hotel washes two items a day for free, but after that I would have to pay, and even after the conversion, it costs about 4 dollars to wash one pair of socks, so it is cheaper to just buy them, hence the mall. As soon as I figure out the Indian equivalent of a Wal-Mart or something, I will probably start washing that kind of stuff in the bathtub.

But even though it is expensive in some things, the service in the hotel is like nothing I have ever seen in my life. Just a little story about it. They had left a small box of chocolates in the room when I checked in, just four little pieces, but it was so tasty I had to ask for some more. So I stopped down at guest services and asked where I could buy some. To my surprise, they told me they do not have it for sale, that it is a special creation of the house chef and and only provided for guests at check in. The manager then asked me if I would like him to send some to the room, and before I could respond, asked how many boxes I would like. So I sort of sheepishly responded "one ore two." He then responded "OK, I'll send ten, it can be a chocolate lunch for you today, on the house." So now every time I see that manager he asks me if I would like more chocolates, which I have managed to decline so far.

I did take a few hours this week to check out a bazaar, which sold a bunch of hand made artwork and jewelry. The work was all amazing, little marble figures, and bracelets, and carpets. The carpet dealer seemed to think that because I am an American, I must be rich, and spent an hour trying to sell me $2,000 carpets (with free shipping to the U.S!) before they would let me politely leave. When I told that to the guys at work, they said I can't be polite in those situations, just have to say a firm no and make my exit.

Also found a golf course nearby, so hopefully either he or someone else will join me so I can demonstrate my lack of any golfing skills whatsoever.

I miss Justin a lot, so much I try not to think about it, though I talk to him every day. I can not describe how painful it is to hear my little boy tell me that he misses me and wants me to come home, especially when I can't let him hear me upset or he would get upset himself. Guess I knew it would be hard being away from him, but didn't fully understand how hard it would be. But I will manage, and we will have a fun reunion, will probably reserve another room at Key Lime Cove in Gurnee for the weekend I get back, since I am going to take two vacation days to spend with Justin before I get back to work, will probably take me that long to sleep again anyway.

Anyway, that's about the story for now. Will try to post at least every three days or so, and will try to get the stories more interesting.

Also, as a "final" note, I have already went back and re-written or added to several pieces of this post, so it is even less structured then it was to begin with, for which I offer my since apologies :)

P.S. (Will this post ever end! jeez) Also should mention that while the actual flying part was OK, the Ohare flight was delayed almost 4 hours, and I had exactly four hours that I was supposed to be in Frankfurt, but because of the delay, even though the flight attendant told me it was impossible, I sprinted across the Frankfurt Airport, which is for no reason seemingly the largest airport on the face of the Earth, and I did catch my flight out of Germany on time, but the flight was not. They discovered some trivial dent in the wing during fueling that would have "possibly altered the airflow over the wing, causing turbulence" so we sat on the tarmac in Germany for over two hours before we took off from there. They then lost a bag of mine in Germany, and it took two extra days to make it to the hotel in India, and Lufthansa did also give me $50 in "We're sorry" money. So that was fun. All I wished for was a safe trip, and I definitely got what I wished. So I promise no more edits of this post, I will create new ones in the future. Thanks for reading my novel if you made it this far.

See ya-