Went to visit Harriet at the hotel and have lunch. My driver didn't have a car this day and sort of flaked out. So I rode one of the three-wheelers. I felt amazingly bold because I wasn't sure this guy understood where Harriet's hotel is. People tend to say "yes" when they mean, "I donknow." He did not weave his head, so I had no real clues. He got me there. I'd read that you must negotiate the price ahead of time. I have no concept of money. So I probably paid too much. So much for negotiating.
My friends who follow my eating preferences will be happy to know that I had duck. It was Chinese food, wonton soup and beijing duck. Num. So good after so little. It was great to have Harriet back in town. She and Harold went to the Taj Mahal and had a wonderful time. It's good they got away.
We made an appointment for a massage tomorrow. I have to scout these things out for when Sophie visits in May. I don't know about the rest of the travelers' preferences, but pampering is big in this town and I aim to partake.
We then went on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride to find Pervez and Mona. This time the driver had no clue as to where to go. They live in a beautiful new apartment complex overlooking a lake. Actually, they live VERY close to my apartments. You never would have known it. As Pervez was giving him directions and the driver was saying that he understood, he as pulling over to ask an Auto driver where the milestone was that Pervez mentioned. Of course, we made it. I have to learn that even though it's the destination, not the journey, the journey is sometimes long.
I'd not met Mona and the children before. All good people. We had a drink at the apartment before dinner, so we got to see pictures of their trip to Kerala. Wow, this is one gorgeous place. I wish I wrote down the names of the children, I don't want to misspell them. The little girl is 8/9 and bright and articulate. The little boy is 12 and the same. I really liked talking with them.
We had Thai for dinner. It was stunning. I will be bringing future travelers to this place if they want to eat good Thai is a beautiful setting. And next time, I promise to take pictures. I wouldn't want to embarrass Pervez or Mona by taking pictures of the food. We had a single perfect scallop, a shrimp roll, chicken curry and sauteed vegetables. I stupidly ordered a soup, which was delicious, but soooo too much food. Everything was well prepared and the company was good.
Lonely girl 59 is gone. I hope for good. It helps to be feeling much better. Mona says it takes one week to totally get over jet lag. She is a very smart woman; I believe her.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Lonely Girl 59
I got a case of something awful on Friday. It has made me terribly sad and restricted me to my apartment next to my toilet. I've also stopped eating, pretty much. Nothing takes the fun out of food like knowing that something can cause you to be sick again. Here's a picture of my cooking guy. On Friday, he brought help to cook, because he finally understood that I can't eat things from containers that have been washed with sink water. I can't drink anything made with sink water. The new person was making chicken water, which I figured was something like soup. No, not really. He boiled a chicken and then threw away the broth. He fried onions and then asked me what spices to add to the chicken. I said no spices and looked in the onion pan. It had chili peppers! What don't they understand about the word BLAND? Well, maybe the whole thing. They were very accomodating, however. I ate that with rice and reheated it the next day. This young man was devestated that I wanted to heat it up myself. This is very unpleasant. I either want to be left alone or to be with people who can talk with me. This head weaving, "I donknow" kind of shit is really getting me down.
Harriet is back in town and I will visit her for lunch tomorrow and then we will go together to see Pervez (used to work at The Times as a director) and his family. They moved back to Bangalore. This will probably be very good. It will be nice to know someone here who speaks English. I would give him a call, but I still have been unsuccessful calling anyone who isn't in my blackberry. Beyond challenged.
The joy is still talking with my sister and my son each day. Karen keeps me up on the news and Adrian gives me perspective. He thinks I should learn the local language. The national languages are English and Hindi. But many people only speak the language of their local area. No, I won't be learning that. Saying hello and thank you is one thing. But I'm never going to be able to communicate with the house boy.
For now, I am lonely girl 59, looking forward to a new week surrounded by a lot of people.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
To Start The Day
I have a man who comes in every morning at 8:00. He cooks my breakfast and serves it to me and waits until I'm done eating then cleans up. It freaked me out yesterday. The food was good, but it was too weird. I ate at my computer, reading The Times, instead of at the table, looking at the ceiling fan. That seemed to work, so I did the same today. Today I had these flat fried breads, a rich potato soup whose name I don't remember, freshly blended and strained oranges, and papaya and mango. It was fabulous and, yes, my blood sugar must have gone to the moon. But it was so good. I'd just finished talking to Karen and Adrian and was chatting with my friend Per on Google Chat (and now a word from my sponser). Then I looked through my email and started to respond to my boss, Bill. Then we started to chat on Google. It is an amazing world. It is getting a little hard to keep up with email because I can't get a network connection at IBM, so I can only glance at my Blackberry. Soon we will have connectivity resolved and I can do some of this (not the talking and chatting) when I'm really at work.
Before the cook arrives, I have to turn on the geezer. See switch marked Hot Water. The water takes half an hour to heat. Just enough t
ime to do email and chat stuff and eat breakfast. After my gentleman caller has left, I can bathe. Luckily, no pictures of that. See the bucket. I asked the poor guy showing us around the apartment what they were for. Just curious. Chandan got to answer that one. You turn the water on at the handle at the top of that picture. Water pours into the bucket. If you chose not to shower, you use the cup in the bucket to pour water over yourself. My assumption is, you should do this squatting. Not my forte'. There is a little pull thing under the lever. If you pull that, water comes out of the shower. But you have to keep holding it. All who follow, bring one of those clampy wrenches to hold the thing open if this will bother you. I was laughing too hard to be bothered. I am so uncoordinated. This is a four hand job, two is not enough. Hummm.
ime to do email and chat stuff and eat breakfast. After my gentleman caller has left, I can bathe. Luckily, no pictures of that. See the bucket. I asked the poor guy showing us around the apartment what they were for. Just curious. Chandan got to answer that one. You turn the water on at the handle at the top of that picture. Water pours into the bucket. If you chose not to shower, you use the cup in the bucket to pour water over yourself. My assumption is, you should do this squatting. Not my forte'. There is a little pull thing under the lever. If you pull that, water comes out of the shower. But you have to keep holding it. All who follow, bring one of those clampy wrenches to hold the thing open if this will bother you. I was laughing too hard to be bothered. I am so uncoordinated. This is a four hand job, two is not enough. Hummm. And do you see the toilet paper in the furthest right of that picture? If it had stayed there, it would have been papier mache'. I was clever enough to move it to the counter. Although there is a shower curtain, I think the idea is to just let it rip and wet down the room. But I could be wrong.
An Email That Said It All
Although it was said that sending emails and posting blogs at the same time (multi-media) is a good thing, I don't want to repeat. This is my summary email that I sent Monday night:
WEATHER: hot. Peg doesn't do heat well. Hot is only 90 degrees. I heard it was 106 in Calcutta. This is not debilitating. Places have AC, cars have AC. Harriet and her husband, Harold, and I went to Mysore on Sunday and learned how to travel. See sights early in the day and late in the day. Be inside sipping cold beer or Gin and Tonic during the hot part. I guess that is the time to shop or get a massage. :-) If one were a complete hedonist.
ACCOMODATIONS: I moved from the hotel where I was staying with H&H to the apartment where I'll be staying for the next 11 weeks. Suresh had arranged one close to IBM, but IBM is in the wilderness. The apartment was down a dirt road with construction (not heavy) on one side. The apartment was good, but the location was dismal. I have to consider the other people who will be staying there as well as myself. It was like in the middle of a field, for heaven sake. Where do you go for a meal and to shop?? So we moved closer to down town. The ride will be longer, so bring an Ipod. It has a pool, they deliver either continental or Indian breakfast and clean the apartment every day. AND it is very close to shopping and you can see other buildings.
All my Helpdesk family know what a complete non-techie I am. I was devestated last night that the wifi didn't work. But I was exhausted for some reason, so I watched TV and went to bed. Woke up at 4:30 and looked at the wifi. Even I know that you just can't have the damn thing plugged into the electricity. So I connected the cable from the modem to the wifi and gave it a try. Techies must just use logic to do all their miracles. I'm feeling more like one right now.
GENERAL WALKABILITY OF THE TOWN: Not good. I'm not a walker, so that is probably no loss to me. H&H hotel is on the prime shopping street of Bangalore, but you can't stroll it like we're used to. When we would arrive at the hotel, it was being plunged from chaos to serenity. There is a secret garden aspect to it. The apartments are similar, but from what I saw at 7:00 p.m., things seem much quieter here.
PEOPLE: Lovely, gracious people. Almost understandable. But when touristing, don't smile. Not smiling at everyone is nearly impossible for me, but when you do, they approach you with a hand out or something to buy. So I am wearing my hat pulled down and dark glasses. Every fiber wants to smile, but I'm getting better at Miss Stoic. And yet, when we were visiting the Sultan's Summer Palace, we met a great family. Most people who are not trying to get your money want to practice their English, learn more about this strange, large white woman. The family is from Coorg, where I want to visit. There were about 10 of them, obviously mom, dad, kids and other relations. The families are very tight here.
I have to reserve my chatting up to the drivers. Everything has a story, so it's good to have someone to tell you about it. We must be driven everywhere so we get an opportunity to chat.
IBM: We met the group that will be taking care of our calls. They have good English skills (althought I only met them once, we will have to see as we converse more.) I got to teach a class about The Times and newspapers in general. No one went to sleep. Always a good sign. IBM has two buildings. One is huge and has the eating and shopping areas. We are at the other one about 5 minutes away. The layout is lovely, but it is in the middle of that field. We will be very comfortable when we are in the building. It is modern, has a nice looking call center. And it was delightful to see Suresh and Teena again. Now they are in charge, whipping the newbies into shape. Harriet spoke and was very charming, making them all feel like a part of The Times. That is so important. They have to feel a part of the paper and know the urgency of what they are asked to do. I'm happy that I will be here 11 weeks to help make sure they understand that part of what they do.
SHOPPING: Not a shopper. Never have been. But I had a request for a sari and a pashmini shawl. Already purchased them. Now I don't have to do that anymore. But these are lovely things and I may use them to decorate my apartment until it's time to pack them up. Harriet kept telling me I need pictures and a rug. She and Harold bought a gorgeous rug. Spending loves company. I saw a gorgeous rug, too, and if I had a spare 5 grand, it would be mine. It was stunning. So is the 6x5 tapestry that I whimsically bought in St. Emillion. Although I know that Harold could have reduced that 5k to a much more reasonable fee, I am being strong. The new stoic Peg. Anyway, the beautiful colors of the saris and shawls will brighten up this place.
SLEEPING: Having trouble with that. I tend to wake in the middle of the night because I tend to wake in the middle of the night. Now I just get up and type. This will need to stop as I sort of faded in the middle of my discussion about the newspaper. Sort of like the newspaper, fading in the middle. But it is hard to realize we have just been here for 3 days. I'm sure I'll get the hang of this sleeping and waking stuff.
COMPUTING: By the miracle of Gtalk, I've been able to talk with Adrian and Karen. This is an amazing thing. We are half a world away and we can talk through the computer. I'm reading "Passage to India." I think the British would have gotten less freaky if they could have talked to family periodically.
WEATHER: hot. Peg doesn't do heat well. Hot is only 90 degrees. I heard it was 106 in Calcutta. This is not debilitating. Places have AC, cars have AC. Harriet and her husband, Harold, and I went to Mysore on Sunday and learned how to travel. See sights early in the day and late in the day. Be inside sipping cold beer or Gin and Tonic during the hot part. I guess that is the time to shop or get a massage. :-) If one were a complete hedonist.
ACCOMODATIONS: I moved from the hotel where I was staying with H&H to the apartment where I'll be staying for the next 11 weeks. Suresh had arranged one close to IBM, but IBM is in the wilderness. The apartment was down a dirt road with construction (not heavy) on one side. The apartment was good, but the location was dismal. I have to consider the other people who will be staying there as well as myself. It was like in the middle of a field, for heaven sake. Where do you go for a meal and to shop?? So we moved closer to down town. The ride will be longer, so bring an Ipod. It has a pool, they deliver either continental or Indian breakfast and clean the apartment every day. AND it is very close to shopping and you can see other buildings.
All my Helpdesk family know what a complete non-techie I am. I was devestated last night that the wifi didn't work. But I was exhausted for some reason, so I watched TV and went to bed. Woke up at 4:30 and looked at the wifi. Even I know that you just can't have the damn thing plugged into the electricity. So I connected the cable from the modem to the wifi and gave it a try. Techies must just use logic to do all their miracles. I'm feeling more like one right now.
GENERAL WALKABILITY OF THE TOWN: Not good. I'm not a walker, so that is probably no loss to me. H&H hotel is on the prime shopping street of Bangalore, but you can't stroll it like we're used to. When we would arrive at the hotel, it was being plunged from chaos to serenity. There is a secret garden aspect to it. The apartments are similar, but from what I saw at 7:00 p.m., things seem much quieter here.
PEOPLE: Lovely, gracious people. Almost understandable. But when touristing, don't smile. Not smiling at everyone is nearly impossible for me, but when you do, they approach you with a hand out or something to buy. So I am wearing my hat pulled down and dark glasses. Every fiber wants to smile, but I'm getting better at Miss Stoic. And yet, when we were visiting the Sultan's Summer Palace, we met a great family. Most people who are not trying to get your money want to practice their English, learn more about this strange, large white woman. The family is from Coorg, where I want to visit. There were about 10 of them, obviously mom, dad, kids and other relations. The families are very tight here.
I have to reserve my chatting up to the drivers. Everything has a story, so it's good to have someone to tell you about it. We must be driven everywhere so we get an opportunity to chat.
IBM: We met the group that will be taking care of our calls. They have good English skills (althought I only met them once, we will have to see as we converse more.) I got to teach a class about The Times and newspapers in general. No one went to sleep. Always a good sign. IBM has two buildings. One is huge and has the eating and shopping areas. We are at the other one about 5 minutes away. The layout is lovely, but it is in the middle of that field. We will be very comfortable when we are in the building. It is modern, has a nice looking call center. And it was delightful to see Suresh and Teena again. Now they are in charge, whipping the newbies into shape. Harriet spoke and was very charming, making them all feel like a part of The Times. That is so important. They have to feel a part of the paper and know the urgency of what they are asked to do. I'm happy that I will be here 11 weeks to help make sure they understand that part of what they do.
SHOPPING: Not a shopper. Never have been. But I had a request for a sari and a pashmini shawl. Already purchased them. Now I don't have to do that anymore. But these are lovely things and I may use them to decorate my apartment until it's time to pack them up. Harriet kept telling me I need pictures and a rug. She and Harold bought a gorgeous rug. Spending loves company. I saw a gorgeous rug, too, and if I had a spare 5 grand, it would be mine. It was stunning. So is the 6x5 tapestry that I whimsically bought in St. Emillion. Although I know that Harold could have reduced that 5k to a much more reasonable fee, I am being strong. The new stoic Peg. Anyway, the beautiful colors of the saris and shawls will brighten up this place.
SLEEPING: Having trouble with that. I tend to wake in the middle of the night because I tend to wake in the middle of the night. Now I just get up and type. This will need to stop as I sort of faded in the middle of my discussion about the newspaper. Sort of like the newspaper, fading in the middle. But it is hard to realize we have just been here for 3 days. I'm sure I'll get the hang of this sleeping and waking stuff.
COMPUTING: By the miracle of Gtalk, I've been able to talk with Adrian and Karen. This is an amazing thing. We are half a world away and we can talk through the computer. I'm reading "Passage to India." I think the British would have gotten less freaky if they could have talked to family periodically.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)