One more weekend down: it's hard to believe we're at Day 23 already out of our 70 days here. That's 1/3 done already, and really we've just gotten started. It definitely means we have a heck of a lot left to do in our final seven weeks.

Unfortunately, our travel plans were thwarted this weekend due to the fact the bus tickets sold out much quicker than we'd anticipated. We were told that if we went Friday night, we should be able to get them for Saturday, but that didn't end up working out, as by Friday night, tickets to go to Mysore for Saturday and Sunday were all already sold out. We will plan to make it to Mysore next weekend, though. This time, we'll buy our tickets earlier - probably tomorrow - so we have plenty of time. That means our next weekends are pretty much all booked with Mysore, then Goa, then Kerala, then Delhi, then Everest/Kathmandu. That would leave one more weekend to be in Bangalore over the rest of the summer. I realize I talk a lot about future travel, but it's going to start happening soon for sure. We're getting the plans in place with our travel team.

Given that we didn't have the bus ride on Saturday morning, it gave us a chance to sleep in, and then we went out to explore. We walked a good 3-4KM in the city and stopped at some various places on the street. I finally got my first coconut and it was good! You really just walk up and they take a machete to the top and stick in a straw, and there you have it. We also bought some mangoes (I think/hope the good kind) and Matt and Joel got some fresh Mosambi juice. We also passed some really amazing buildings in the city. The architecture of some of these buildings and all the hand-crafted work and the time and precision that went into these places is just remarkable. There are a few in particular that are just amazingly sculpted and I can't imagine being able to pull off something like that. (I'd love to post pictures of some of these places, but with limited Internet access, I just haven't been able to upload pictures yet, hopefully that will eventually come.) It was a nice walk overall for sure, and was a pretty nice day. The rains have continued to hold off here for now. According to estimates, we should expect it maybe next week. I guess we'll keep playing it by ear.

Saturday night, then, we went out to what is apparently the nicest club in Bangalore with Bangalore's second richest man. Tanu is friends with him, and he was able to take us in so we didn't have to pay a cover charge or anything, and we got to see what the Bangalore night life is like. It's a bit different. The club was open from about 9PM-11:30PM. At exactly 11:30, all the lights go on, the music stops, and everyone has to leave, they take it very seriously. We actually heard some more recent music at this club, though! They played Flo Rida! I also got a chance Saturday night to negotiate with the rickshaw drivers both ways, and have started to hone in on those skills. They start out ridiculously high with what's known as the "white tax" (figure it out) but given that we know about how much things are supposed to cost, I've been able to bargain them down to a reasonable amount each time, and really even the places furthest away are only like 100 rupees, which is about $2.50.

Sunday, I awoke to a very familiar, yet oddly placed noise. It was a trumpet playing outside. Outside our apartment, there is always a group of kids playing and screaming and making noise, and really that doesn't bother me and I don't even hear it with my door shut, but that morning for some unknown reason one had a trumpet and was playing the same note over and over again. It was just funny/weird to hear that here. Anyway, Sunday turned into a pretty relaxing day as well. Matt, Joel, and I went out to this Chinese restaurant nearby called Fire Wok and we had them make us their spiciest garlic dish. It was really good, but realllly spicy. There are a lot of really good different Asian restaurants around that we want to make sure we find. I've gotten better accustomed to the Indian food at lunch, but seeing as we're so close to other parts of Asia, I want to make sure we try some good Japanese, Thai, etc. foods while we're here.

This Fire Wok place didn't disappoint, though, as it reverted back to more 90's music, putting our world back in place that had been shaken the night before hearing more "modern" pop. This series of music was highlighted of course by hearing "Who Let the Dogs Out?" twice, and also the Theme from Titanic again. I know the Titanic was big in the US, but apparently it was HUGE here. It's the ONLY song that plays in the one elevator at the main campus building (seriously!) and we hear it on the radio a good bit. We all shared some good stories over the meal, too, as Joel told us about his lone venture to Altoona when he and some friends wanted to go to Don Pablos but drove here where Google Maps for some reason said Don Pablos was. Really, though, that spot is in the middle of nowhere. Apparently he ended up driving up to the top of a one-way dirt road on the mountain, and a guy came out of his house who saw them coming and said, "You fellas lookin' for Don Pablos?" and gave them directions (about 20 minutes away from where Google Maps said). Hahaha - it must happen a lot. It was fun to share stories. I've also found out that Joel shares my love of Margarita's Pizza on Beaver Ave., and we'll definitely be planning on hitting that up as a group in the fall.

More general observations that I've made lately include just the sheer amount of human labor utilized for things considering how many people there are here. It's not that they don't have the technology or the ability to automate some of these things or do away with some of these things, but they want to have as many people employed as possible, so there are a lot of people who do things we wouldn't normally see in the US. For example, we've seen people cutting the grass on their hands and knees with little sheers/scissors. It must take hours and hours to do it that way, but it gives someone a job. We see people everyday who sit next to the tea machines at work and when you walk up, they'll serve the tea. Realistically, I could press the button to dispense the tea, but it gives someone a job. Additionally, when making outside calls for like a conference call or something, most people dial to the operator and have her put in the numbers and place the call. It's just more common here to give more people things to do. I believe the government encourages this by giving some type of tax breaks/incentives to employing people because it helps with unemployment rates, keeping people off the streets, etc. It's pretty interesting. Another one of these roles is the role of "conductor" on our shuttles and on buses and things. This person sits in the passenger's seat (where the driver's seat would be in the US) and most of the time doesn't have too much to do but look behind the vehicle and on the side and make sure it's clear. Given the traffic and craziness here, this is probably one of the more necessary positions, but again, just something different than the US. This position actually came in handy big time last week when a bus driver in the city had a heart attack behind the wheel but the conductor was able to apply the brake and stop the bus before an accident or any other injuries could have been sustained.

On a similar note to talking about some of the lower-level jobs here, I found out today that Honeywell actually gives some special privileges to the people in these positions. If I understand this correctly, Honeywell will pay for the education of the children of these janitors, helpers, and other "low" level staff people. This will help them to have an opportunity they might not have had otherwise, and will help these kids to end up with better jobs and brighter futures. I found that pretty interesting as well.

The people here are always certainly aware of their economic status and always trying to improve as they are still classified as a developing nation. The biggest thing in the newspaper lately has been the inflation crisis here. There have been pages and pages explaining inflation, what causes it, what it affects, etc. Additionally, it tries to give citizens tips to combat it and live with it. I suppose they don't seem very confident the government will do much, so they try to self-regulate better and have more fiscal responsibility. I think in the US far too often people expect the government to just do, do, do for them and not as many people have the kind of responsibility people demonstrate here because in the US we can afford to take more things for granted. We certainly have it good in the US, and it's amazing how many people buy into this "CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE" mantra these days without putting it into perspective. Anyway, just my thoughts, I'll try not to get too political.

One last small observation I've made that I wanted to remember to share: when cars are put in reverse, they all have some kind of little song that they play. I know at home usually big vehicles will have some kind of beeping noise, but here any car would have a little song play whether it's "The Entertainer" or "Do Your Ears Hang Low?" or some other short little ditty just to alert the other nearby drivers. These have been funny to hear as you hear these catchy little tunes that almost sound like cellphone ring tones coming from cars as they back up.

That's about it for the weekend, and this week of work should be another typical week. I'll do my best to keep this updated given the Internet situation, but things overall continue to go well and I'm excited for the week ahead.

Oh, I found out recently that my mom's cousin, Brigadier General Robin Swan (yes, apparently he took a lot of flack for that name as a kid), is the commander of the Coalition Army Advisory Training Team! This is pretty remarkable, and I'm amazed and so very proud to find out that someone I'm related to is in such a high position of importance and doing such a good job at training the Iraqi troops to take over. I just wanted to put a small "shout out" in here considering that came as such a cool surprise.

Hope everyone has a good week.