Hello world! I'm back from a fantastic weekend, and it really couldn't have been much more relaxing overall. I've gotten the chance to go to some nice beaches on band trips and the like, but never with as little planned to do as this time, and it was great to just lay out and enjoy it. And when we were done enjoying the beach (as if it's even possible to be done) there was a heck of a lot to see around Goa as well. It was a beautiful place, and it was too bad we had to leave after just two short days.

I'll let you all read about the trip to the airport in Joel's blog, because he's already detailed it out, but that was quite interesting! We ended up not getting our originally scheduled taxi and arriving at the airport a mere 15 minutes before the flight was to depart, yet we actually ended up boarding the plane and taking off ON TIME. Whew! After originally being told "No" at the check-in counter, we were able to convince her, then run through the airport and make the flight. If that doesn't qualify as being incredibly lucky, I don't know what does.

Really then, the theme of the weekend ended up being that we were consistently getting pretty lucky. Given that it's monsoon season, there was really no way to know if it would just rain the entire weekend or not, but we got lucky as it only rained off and on a few times, and certainly not enough to put a damper on the weekend as a whole. The fact that the weather is so unpredictable also meant that it's off-season for these places, and we practically had the entire hotel to ourselves. There were maybe two or three other parties there that we saw, and the peace was nice. The beaches were also absolutely gorgeous, as advertised. We didn't exactly see a crystal clear, sunny beach, but what we saw was still very nice and very relaxing.

During this season it's illegal to go in the water but not illegal to stroll down the coast and enjoy it, so we took advantage of being able to walk up and down the shore. It was almost surreal when I stopped to think about exactly where I was. A year ago I wouldn't have imagined that I'd be spending a lazy Saturday on a beach town of the Arabian Sea. Picturing where I was geographically in my head was equally astounding, as I knew that when I looked due west, eventually the water would lead to Oman and Saudi Arabia, while looking southwest would eventually be the beaches of Africa! We're about as far away from home as it gets!

As the day started to fade into twilight, we decided to stop at a small restaurant on the beach front where we could still see the waves crashing against the shore and watch what sunset we could see through the clouds. Goa is also known for its seafood, and we were excited to try that as well. We didn't even let the server bring us a menu before we asked him if we could just have the catch of the day. We asked him to make whatever fresh seafood he likes and asked him to prepare it the traditional way. This was a fantastic decision. He brought us some wonderful tiger prawns, king fish, and some other fish that I don't remember the name dressed in masala sauces and also some butter garlic sauces. I'm pretty sure we even watched the guy who had been fishing come in with his haul for the day and we ended up having some of that. Even as a kid in New England I don't remember having seafood this fresh, and it was an experience we won't soon forget.

After having such a good day Saturday, it was hard to not just go back to the beach on Sunday, but I really wanted to see some of the historic sights of Old Goa, and I'm glad we did. Our first stop was to see some old Christian churches, and the architecture was just awesome. These had been built by the Portuguese years and years ago, and were a much different style than Christian churches I've seen in the US. We didn't get the chance to go inside, but I'd be willing to bet the interiors were just as remarkable. They were just so old and also MASSIVE that it was cool to see.

Our other two stops in Old Goa were probably my favorite two places so far that I've seen in India. They'll probably be trounced next week by my impending visit to the Taj Mahal, but for now at least they can sit at the top. The first of these two stops was at Fort Aguada. The place looks much cooler than those pictures on Wikipedia, so I'll make sure I get pictures of that uploaded too. As a disclaimer, I'm a man who really likes forts so maybe I'm coming in with bias, but I thought this place was just awesome. I loved looking where the moat used to be and looking up the big stone walls, trying to comprehend its significance as a stronghold way back when for the Portuguese. I thought to myself that it was a pretty good location too as it's not that easily reachable or penetrable by a naval force, and would be a good location to mobilize ground forces. Anyway, the fort also had spectacular views of the ocean, and that's the main reason people like it anyway. We had some prettttty great views from up there. The other place that I thoroughly enjoyed was a lookout point further down the coast of Old Goa where we could see waves crashing against the rocky cliffs hundreds of feet down below and around us. I had been expecting to see sights similar to this in Ireland but didn't, and was surprised and excited to be seeing something like this in Goa! I'll have some nice pictures to share from this later, too, as it was a breathtaking sight.

Going from the hustle and bustle and congestion and pollution of Bangalore to the relaxing solitude of Goa didn't seem like we were only an hour flight away, and was quite literally a breath of fresh air. Just one of the many nicknames of Goa, we were certainly impressed by the "Pearl of the Orient."

Hard to believe it, but it's officially time to say, "Halfway!"

We've been here for five weeks now, and have five weeks left to go. It's certainly gone fast, so here's to hoping the last five weeks don't go too fast, because although I'm very excited for the fall, it doesn't need to get here quite yet.

I wish a very happy Independence Day to everyone at home! This is my favorite holiday of the year (followed closely by Thanksgiving) so I am extraordinarily jealous of everyone who will be enjoying a cookout and wiffleball and fireworks and the whole shebang today while I have a work day, so please enjoy! Aah, I'll be looking forward to a Spikes game with fireworks upon my arrival in late August.

We did make an attempt to have our 4th of July celebration last night at a restaurant called Barbeque Nation. It's not quite a BBQ like many of you will be having, but it was still a good time. We had prawns (shrimp) and chicken and lamb and mutton, although I stuck mostly to the prawns and chicken, and they brought out a number of different Indian sauces and curries to marinate them in and grill them right at your table. It was good, and we also had ice cream afterwards which is always a plus. That was our little taste of 4th of July.

Not too much has happened since my last post other than working everyday, but I did start on a couple new projects surrounding RFID and asset management and also a project surrounding making supply chains greener. We'll see how those go.

One thing that has happened is that the monsoon arrived this week. For the next two months, it's going to be consistently raining at night. I learned, too, (from Dean DeVore) that the monsoon really isn't the rain, it's the wind, but since it's coming from off the coast, it brings the water with it. I thought that was something interesting most of you probably don't know. We won't really get the brunt of the weather here in the higher elevation, so I'm not worried about it, but we just need to get used to it raining at night and plan accordingly.

Another thing that happened this week was that we met Dr. Petrick for another fun dinner. We went to a restaurant called Blue Ginger that allegedly has the best Vietnamese food in India. Having been there, I can now certainly attest to that. The place was awesome. I can't tell you what a lot of the food was, but I know it consisted of some duck and some great noodles and some prawn soup and some other various traditional Vietnamese dishes. The restaurant was set outside with running water in the background, and it was just another home run dinner considering the ambiance and a great conversation to catch up on what someone else is experiencing here. I definitely don't know of anywhere in the U.S. where we could get great Vietnamese food like that - certainly a great time.

We'll leave for Goa later today, so I'm excited for that and to have some fun. It won't be a half-bad 4th of July after all considering we had some BBQ, will end up at a beach, and also Lester shut out the Yankees last night, so this has the makings of a nice holiday. Any time the Red Sox beat up on the Yankees is a good day. :)

Again, Happy 4th of July to all, and I hope to be posting some nice stories about my experiences in Goa early next week. There is a lot of great Indian and Portuguese history in Goa, and also supposedly some wonderful Indian seafood, so I'm looking forward to it! Chalo!

Big Ten Paraphernalia Count (hats, shirts, etc. we've seen so far on random people in India):

Michigan: 2
Penn State: 1
Ohio State: 1
Illinois: 1
Wisconsin: 1

 

... I think it was the Fourth of July.

Mysore on Saturday was outstanding. I could have done without the peddlers, but overall, it was a really neat trip. We met Eric at about 5:30AM and got on the bus for an 80km trip. The bus was much nicer than I expected! It obviously wasn't a Fullington with TV's and a bathroom in the back, but it was a bit more spacious than a Fullington and I could actually sit in it straight and there was room for my legs to be in front of me. I had been worried about what type of bus it would be, but I was very pleasantly surprised. For less than $10 US, the bus would take us to Mysore, herd us like sheep to the most important places, then take us home - no complaints there. The only complaint really I could have would be that it took nearly 4 hours to go 80km when a ride like that in the US would be much shorter, but that's mostly just due to the driving conditions, and it's something that will only improve with time as the infrastructure here gets better and better.

The first stop was a small palace outside the city, and really it was nothing that special. I know you get what you sign up for, so again it was kind of like a tourist trap, but it was still neat to see the architecture. This is something that I recall remarking in Budapest and certainly in Rome as well, but I'll never get over the feeling of looking at these structures and just how OLD they are. I love the US, and I love the structures we have in the US, but we just don't and can't possibly have anything that old at home, so I love seeing these things here. To see these structures that are just centuries if not thousands of years old is breathtaking. I really enjoy just taking a step back and thinking about how many people have seen this and the kind of times these types of things have remained intact through. Before this summer, I'd definitely like to say I had a good sense of international appreciation, but this summer has really served to enhance that appreciation by allowing me to see some of these things first hand and getting to just soak it all in. Working everyday is just like it is in the US, but the things I get to see on the weekend are hard to beat.

Our next stop was at a temple closer to the city, and walking into the entranceway was almost like walking into a new world. The hand-carved archway with all the Indian symbols was beautiful and frankly just astounding. We took our shoes off out of respect to enter and then got a chance to see some of the shrines and symbols inside. It was a very moving place regardless of my personal beliefs because of the way some people were so overcome and so inspired by the temple. They took such great pride in entering and seeing these things, and it was an awesome experience to watch the emotions of these other native people as they walked around the temple.

After the temple, the bus took us to the grand-daddy of all Mysore temples, the aptly named "Mysore Temple." It was a bit annoying to have to pay more than everyone else to get in, but we gladly paid the entrance fees to get a closer look at this marvel. (Entrance for Indians was 5 rupees, while entrance for foreigners was 100 rupees. This is commonplace, too, as we found that type of price jack-up at all the places we visited. Can you imagine the outrage and the lawsuits if such a double standard was placed on admittance prices such as the ferry to see the Statue of Liberty or the cost to see another US tourist attraction?) Anyway, upon entering, it was pretty darn cool. Again I felt the overwhelming sense of history inside the compound. Since we had just a limited amount of time at each of these destinations because of our bus tour timelines, we headed right for the palace, and just stood in awe. We didn't really have the time to go inside, although plenty of peddlers offered us the opportunity to follow them around for some set price of rupees. "No thank you" was the customary response at the beginning until we started getting mad at all these people trying to take advantage and make a buck off us and eventually just ignored them like everyone else was.

Overall, that was probably the most difficult part of the day - all the people (including children!) that were just following us around trying to sell us things. They could tell that we weren't from around here (obviously) so we were easy targets. "Mister, mister" or "Sir, sir" or even "Uncle, uncle" (I'll never get that one) they would plead with us and tug on our clothes to buy some of their wooden trinkets or jewelery or postcards or pictures or baskets or whatever it was that they had. "It's real! Best quality!" Of course it was impossible for us to judge what was real or wasn't real, and so really we just didn't want to buy anything. I did buy one thing, though, after someone came up to us wanting to sell some wooden musical instruments. One looked to be just some type of bamboo flute, and the other was made from a gourd and bamboo (think a small version of this). After originally asking for 350 rupees for each instrument, we were able to haggle and get three of them for 50 rupees total. I figured what the heck, if I can learn to play "Victory" on one of these things, it will be a source of amusement for a day when I get back in August and all it cost was just over a dollar.

Another thing we got a chance to see briefly at Mysore Palace was the makings of a parade! We saw a marching band and also some camels and other animals coming up the pathway towards the palace. We had to leave before we heard the marching band play, but it was still fun to see. And yes, even here, there was one trombone player, "that guy", who managed to be about three or four minutes late to the party and was straggling behind before joining up with the band. Glad to see some things transcend borders. ;)

Our final destination for the evening in Mysore included a big park by the dam with some fountains and a large musical fountain. The musical fountain was pretty cool, and similar to ones I've seen before in Las Vegas and on Margaret Island in Budapest, but it was really neat to see at night, and neat to see and hear with the Indian music playing. And of course, like most things here, there were a ton of people there to see it and watch it and enjoy it. The amounts of people seen all the time is really just astounding. Everywhere you look, there are people, and it's neat when you're at something like this attraction and all of them are just sitting and watching in enjoyment.

After a long bus ride home Saturday night that got us back in the wee hours of Sunday morning, Sunday wasn't that eventful after sleeping in, but we did check out Commercial Street by MG road. We went out with Tanu to get something to eat, and also saw the shops and everything else lit up at night (pictured later in this entry). It was not quite Times Square, but almost, and you could easily forget that unfortunately less than 500 meters away in any direction there is probably a tin shack with families living in it.

Commercial Street has some neat shops that I'm looking forward to returning to which have just stacks and stacks of fabric on shelves, and you go in and pick what fabric and what pattern and design you like, and they'll take your measurements and make you a shirt for less than $10 US. I'm looking forward to having a number of custom-made shirts to bring back home. Also, I'd like to get some of the traditional cotton shirts and pants that many of the locals wear that look very comfortable and breathable, and will be very nice in the hot weather.



Tonight we will be joining Dr. Petrick for dinner at another nice restaurant, and we're excited for that. Additionally, we've solidified our plans for Goa this weekend. That's right, click on that link and be jealous. We'll be leaving Friday night and we'll have a very nice relaxing weekend at a great beach. It'll be sad that I'll be going to work on Independence Day on Friday, and I sure will miss having hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, and fireworks, but going to Goa will at least help to make up for it somewhat. :)

I should make one more post on Friday before we leave, until then hope all is well with everyone, and have a wonderful upcoming holiday weekend.

 

Don't eat it.

That is all.

EDIT: No, it didn't make me sick or anything (thankfully), it just wasn't what I expected for something described as an Indian "pancake." ;) I'm sure it's very good for people that like this type of thing, it's just one variety of Indian cuisine I will not be trying again. Overall, however, I have been finding a lot of the Indian foods to be a treat, especially this restaurant called "Mushroom" that isn't too far from our apartment, and has some great authentic South Indian chicken meals with a variety of curries. I like the stuff that's really spicy, but I haven't gotten used to the idea of cooling off my mouth with "curds" quite yet so a bottle of water is a good idea when enjoying these meals.

I think next week we may be going out with Dr. Petrick again to either get some Vietnamese, Thai, or some North Indian food at a restaurant called "The 13th Floor" that allegedly has stunning views of Bangalore from its rooftop terrace. We got our bus tickets yesterday for Mysore so that trip is definitely on for this weekend! I'll be sure to update after that.

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.

Wow. Last night, we went out with Dr. Petrick to see Leela Palace and enjoyed a phenomenal buffet dinner. The palace is absolutely spectacular, and as you can imagine, so was the food. We took a number of pictures of the palace as well, and I'll be sure to get them posted at some point over the weekend or early next week. The palace is enormous, and features real marble floors and an extravagant courtyard with beautiful palm trees and scenery. No expense has been spared in the construction and upkeep of this place. The fact that it was such a nice night and we sat outside certainly helped the experience as well. And really, the conversation was just as good as the food and the ambiance - it was a nice change of pace to discuss our experiences out loud with someone else who is in a similar (but not quite the same) situation, and we could compare stories and thoughts. This was probably my favorite night so far in Bangalore – what a great place. Thank you, Dr. Petrick!

Also last night was my first REAL Indian mango that I enjoyed at Leela Palace. All I can say is wow. I'm definitely planning to get some more of these. The taste is so strong; it's nice biting into something so pure and so good. We had tried buying mangoes before, but definitely didn't pick the right ones and refrigerating them was a bad choice. I still haven't gotten a coconut yet, which they just chop off the top and give you a straw, but I'll be getting that ASAP. I'm very jealous Matt and Joel already got to enjoy this without me, and of course came back to the apartment with rave reviews.

Work this week has been pretty standard. I’ve delved a little deeper into my project, and at this point I’m spending a lot of time meeting a bunch of people who are in charge of different KM tools within Honeywell and I’m trying to get a feel for the capabilities of each of these tools. There is a LOT of neat stuff going on in this spectrum, but it seems like some groups really don’t know what other groups are doing, and while they have a community of practice and other “global” resources, there is still a bit of a disconnect where I think I can definitely add some value. As I continue to evaluate all the pros and cons of these different tools, eventually I should be able to make recommendations for which to use or what to make, and be able to add some statistics from my outside research and some surveys I plan to conduct.

Yesterday afternoon, though, was a break from the norm of work. We had part of our “Induction” which involved traveling to Radiant Resorts & Spa to complete a "Behavior and Values Session." I was expecting it to be pretty Office Spacetacular, but it didn't reach that level, and I definitely understood its benefits and took some things out of it. First off, the place was really nice (yes, I'll have pictures of that too... eventually). There was a very nice outdoor area where we did some "trust"-type games like all being blindfolded and having to make a rope into a square shape with a team of 12 people, and also having to cross about 20 yards with 6 people standing only on 5 bricks. At the conclusion of these activities, we were able to discuss how communication, integrity, teamwork, leadership, and other types of values fit in and relate them to working for Honeywell. We then watched a video from Dave Cote talking about the behaviors necessary to be an effective Honeywell employee, and I left having met some new friends working here in Bangalore and also with more of a sense of being part of the Honeywell community.

So that brings us to today, which is our first payday! :) Always a good day. Matt actually isn't feeling so hot today, though. He'll be fine, but maybe it was some water or maybe he just ate too much last night. That just means 2 of us down, 2 to go. Tomorrow we're planning to again meet up with Eric, and we'll also meet up with Tanu to travel to Mysore. Dr. Petrick already beat us there, and she told us how nice it was, so we're excited as long as the rains hold off. We'll finally have some good pictures of all of us with some more authentic Indian backgrounds. It's been more difficult than expected trying to accomplish that in Bangalore given how built up it really is, and given that we're not here on vacation, we actually are working a normal 40/hr/week job, so this traveling will be exciting.

We will be taking a bus (about 4 hrs) to Mysore early Saturday morning, then taking the bus back late Saturday night, so we'll still have Sunday here in Bangalore. We're planning to try to go back to MG Road, preferably at night even to see what it looks like dark. We'll plan to be approached by more street vendors with "authentic" merchandise, and we may actually venture into some of the shops where I'm excited to see what the possibilities are for having some custom-tailored clothes at a very reasonable price.

That about sums it up for now. Depending on who you believe, the rain either is on its way very soon, or will be here at some point in the future, but either way, the city seems to be ready for it, and we'll see what it's like. Given the elevation of Bangalore, we don't plan on being hit hard, but we'll see. The biggest worries for us are really what it's going to be like in the places we travel, as we'd like to see as much sun as possible. I guess we'll see!

Keep checking back, and I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Before I get started: Happy Flag Day and Happy Father's Day to the US! I know my dad is reading this from somewhere.

OK, so on Friday, Eric was going to be visiting the Intel office near my Honeywell campus, so we decided to meet up for lunch and then watch a portion of his company Cricket match before I had to go back to work for the afternoon. As much as I've read about the sport, there are still a number of parts I don't understand, but boy was it relaxing. A beautiful day, the sun shining, the cheering and booing and excitement of fans watching a game, it was all very familiar and quite enjoyable. The team he was rooting for didn't pull it out in the end, but I'm starting to get my first taste of this different sport. I've probably only flipped on the TV here 2 or 3 times, but each time I've passed Cricket matches and soccer matches. Soccer I'd already started to gain an appreciation for culminating with the fact the ManU-Chelsea game was going on while I was in Dublin so the whole city was buzzing about it, but Cricket is also immensely popular in this part of the world, so I'm trying to keep up.

We did pass M. Chinnaswamy Stadium (which holds a puny 55K compared to my desktop background at work) the one day when we were exploring the city, so maybe in the next few weeks we'll get a chance to actually see a professional match. We are starting to solidify our plans for future weekends, though, starting with Mysore likely next week, then Goa, then perhaps Kerala and Delhi, so that we're starting small and continuing to travel further and further from Bangalore. Who knows if these other places of India have more "Culture Shock" in store. From what I've been reading, they are certainly different from here, so we'll see.

Yesterday was a fun time at Bannerghatta National Park, which is about 20km outside the heart of the city. We got a chance to see lions, tigers, bears, elephants, zebras, peacocks, you name it. They even had an exhibit for pigeons, but I figured that part to be unnecessary. It was a little more touristy than I expected in that it was set up like a safari with a bus ride through some of the areas and gates and things almost like Jurassic Park, but I still enjoyed it. Some parts of it were a little sad in that I don't think they fed the animals that well and some were actually in small cages, but I'm still glad we went. A little bit of rain derailed plans for an elephant ride for now, but we did spend a little bit of time with the elephants, and the ride will certainly happen at a future time.

In terms of work, things are going well. We got a chance to meet the head of Global Security at Honeywell Bangalore, and he re-iterated some precautionary things we've been told and let us know he's always available. Again, just another instance of someone here reaching out to us to offer their assistance if we need it and to give us some guidance. People here have been great about that.

One other thing about work that I've started to really enjoy as well is the shuttle to work. The first few times we took it, I was of course admiring the rickshaws and the honking and the traffic patterns, and the fact they would stop for a cow crossing the road before they'd stop for a human, but now that the initial awe of that has worn off to an extent, I enjoy reading the newspaper and/or talking to some of the other people on the shuttle around me. Their politics here are quite different, but they also have their pulse on American politics.

For example, there are riots going on now in parts of India and people have actually died over fertilizer. The government has proclaimed there is enough, and the distributors have proclaimed there is enough, but there's some huge disconnect in the people's understanding of this fact which has led to big problems. It's actually really sad. This mostly seems to stem from the fact that no matter what, the people here dislike and distrust their government. According to the people I've talked to, no matter who you are, if you're in government, you probably have some kind of bad intentions. There are fairly ridiculous news items each day, and I'm not 100% sure if it's because the events are ridiculous or just the reporting is ridiculous, but it's some odd combo of the two.

They also do have one eye on the US at all times. Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or George Bush or even someone like Sylvester Stallone will appear on the front page daily. In talking to some native people here about what's going on in the US, and some of the similarities, we can usually get on the topic of the oil crunch. In the US, I know gas prices have really skyrocketed due to the increased demand worldwide, and they're certainly feeling that here as well. Except here, it results in more than a strain on the pocketbook and less driving, it results in death and for some a real inability to carry out common functions. Partly due to this and partly due to just normal logic, they can't for a second understand why we wouldn't tap into a supply of oil that we have in the US in ANWR. When the world demand is so high and it's affecting everyone, they don't see why people would be against trying to help this situation even if it only alleviates it slightly for a short term. I tell them I am definitely on their side of the argument for that and that it's a lot of the far left Democrats who are prohibiting this, but it's one thing that they just see and don't understand.

I've also enjoyed reading their newspaper to see the updates from Bollywood (their version of Hollywood that they take very seriously - they make more movies than the US does) and also other general events and happenings. It turns out we missed out on a traditional walk across hot coals in Bangalore by just a couple days, but there's always stuff going on here. Seeing as it's monsoon season, people have an eye on that, but Bangalore isn't really affected. Mumbai is being affected the most right now with flooding and the US consulate actually issued a warning to US citizens not to visit Mumbai because the manholes being opened could be dangerous. This angered some officials in Mumbai, which has led to a little bit of controversy and a US apology but not a rescindment of the warning.

Anyway, as we go forward, I'm going to make an attempt to continue to include some of these interesting types of tidbits about how perspectives differ on things and how the people here are reacting to things. I've gotten to know some of the people here fairly well, but am looking forward to getting to know them better so as to get more information and more honest perceptions about events and happenings.

So I've been going back and forth reading a number of different sources trying to determine exactly what "Culture Shock" is and if I've truly experienced it. I think I've determined that I experienced some aspects of this "Culture Shock" phenomenon, but certainly not all. The fact that I spend most of my time in a work environment that is very similar to the US, live in an apartment that is generally similar to an apartment I would inhabit in the US, and am here with a number of other students in my same age and demographic, all contribute to this. Also the fact that one can get by speaking English is another big plus for me or someone in my shoes to adjust. I remember in Hungary, if I was by myself at a store or on public transportation or walking around, I wouldn't even open my mouth because I knew no one would be able to understand me. That's one thing I really don't have to worry about here.

However, there are a number of aspects I've definitely experienced. Some of these things I've already talked about: the traffic, the smells, the way people dress, the way people talk, the newspaper, being a minority, etc. These are all things that are different. I've talked about the food a lot in my past entries as well, I think that may have just been the most different aspect, which is why it was so "shocking" to me. I think this shock really comes in stages. The very beginning is total open-mindedness and excitement: explore everywhere, soak everything up, eat as much of different stuff as you want, etc. Then, when you realize there are just certain things that are different and that you can't have, there's an initial fear of that, rejection of what's available, and longing for what you're used to. That's basically what the entries up until this point chronicle, those two phases. After the end of these stages, though, which I believe was this week, there's a more general acceptance of the culture and reality around you and an excitement about it. I no longer really crave any aspects of American culture that I miss here because I know they'll all be waiting for me in eight weeks, and I'm now more excited than anything that I get to immerse myself in these differences over the rest of the summer.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to miss my corn on the cob et al on the 4th of July, but when am I going to have the opportunity to be here again? That's why I've started to really branch out and try to let my "inner-Indian" so to speak let loose. I think my entries from now on will focus more on being adjusted to what it's like here and the differences, instead of that shocking period of differences.

Hello to everyone! I've been informed that some of my content is going to be picked up in a dispatch series on PSU Live starting with the first entry that was posted today: http://live.psu.edu/story/31281. Welcome to anyone who doesn't know me and who is interested in following along to read about my encounters this summer. As summarized in that article, I am one of four interns taking advantage of an awesome opportunity to work in India this summer as part of a pilot program with Honeywell. We hope that this will lead to more international internships for students in the future.

Anyway, lots to talk about since my last update. We had a good finish to the weekend, but are really looking forward to the weekends upcoming. On Sunday, we went grocery shopping and I splurged on a small jar of peanut butter for $6 but also bought a big bag of mosambi for less than a dollar. Mosambi is a citrus fruit similar to an orange, but also kind of like a lime that I tasted at work and like quite a bit. They're good for a snack and really cheap. Also on Sunday was a chance to hear even more 90's music at this cool place called Mocha. It's almost as if time is standing still in the U.S. and we've gotten an opportunity to travel back to the past and watch this nation develop into the 1990's. Another funny thing I noticed on Sunday was the show MXC on television in Hindi. It was still funny to watch, perhaps even more funny than watching in the English version.

Monday brought about the start of another work week, and I started to delve deeper into my project work. I think we saw our first cow in the middle of the road on Monday as well. It was funny to watch the stop-and-go-traffic just totally maneuver its way around the cow so as not to hit it. I've been told that if you hit a cow with your car, you better just run as far away from the car as quickly as you possibly can because an angry mob will form and they'll beat you up and torch the car. Fun. And sorry to keep talking about music, but I also heard some interesting ring tones at work on Monday as someone had the ring tone "Smack That" as the first song I've heard here from the current decade, but someone else restored my faith in ridiculousness when I heard "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" as a midi ring tone.

Tuesday was a great day which involved seeing a familiar face in an unfamiliar place. In something that we'd been trying to plan the past week or so, we ended up meeting up with Eric and went to a steak restaurant. Yes, I was quite skeptical at first as well (THERE'S STEAK HERE?!), but the place turned out to be pretty darn good. It was called the Juke Box and was not far from our apartments, and boy was it good to taste some beef. I even cued up Aaron Copland's Rodeo before heading off to the restaurant to get me in the mood. It's not the best I've ever had, but it was nice to taste, and was also a lot of fun to see Eric and meet some of his friends from Intel. I hope to be meeting up with them again soon - we may be getting lunch at the Intel office on Friday (it's not very far from our office).

Then today served as a nice day to break up the week a little bit. Matt, Larissa, and I work at the Orion campus normally, but today we headed to the main campus so that we could meet up with Joel and take care of registering at the consulate so that we're free and clear for the duration of our visa. This entailed running around the city quite a bit to get passport photographs and copies and things, but we got to meet Prince from Fragomen (the law firm we've been working with that helped me immensely to get my visa in NYC on very short notice and then helped us immensely today by babysitting us throughout the city - Prince was also an awesome guy) and had a cool day. We saw MG (Mahatma Ghandi) Road and a lot of cool places in the city. Some parts of this city are still certainly underdeveloped, but this part of the city could have just as easily been New York. They're working on the metro system and all the street signs and shops and things were just like New York (pictures forthcoming). I think a lot of people have misperceptions about Bangalore in thinking that it's underdeveloped: it really isn't. It's a different place for sure, but it's really one of the exceptions in India in that it's become so industrialized and so big and so well developed so quickly. I can only imagine in five years what the city will be like.

Other than that, I'm trying to think of a couple other general observations of the city while I try to soak this place in. First off, there are dogs everywhere. I can almost liken the wild dogs to wild squirrels in State College - they just roam around. Sometimes it's sad, but really they find a way and they're just part of what it's like here. Another general observation is how energy efficient they really strive to be. Like the rest of the world that I've seen outside the US, the vehicles in general are much smaller and they're all manual transmissions, but it extends beyond that. Even in our apartment, there is a little fob attached to our key that we use to turn on the power in the apartment. When we leave, nothing is left running, no lights, no power. They do a pretty good job conserving.

I think Dr. Petrick is set to arrive in Bangalore shortly if she didn't already today, so I wish her the best of luck as she's getting started here. I hope that thus far anyone who's reading has enjoyed reading my blog. Please do let me know if there are any other types of comments or questions you have or anything you'd like to know about the city or you'd like me to blog about. It's the first time for all of us, and since I'm the one who's here, I have the opportunity to give first-hand feedback if you want it. I'm doing this partly for me for sure, but it's mostly to keep all my family and friends updated, and to provide interesting information to anyone else that wants to read it. So don't hesitate to leave a comment or a question or let me know if there's anything you'd like to know.

Up until today, I had been mooching off someone else's unprotected wireless network to bring you these updates and to check my email, etc., but as of today that SSID is nowhere in sight and the era of free access may be over. The apartment wants about $6 per day for Internet which is ridiculous, so my updates may have to be a little bit more stretched out, we'll see. Where there's a will, there's a way so I know I'll still be blogging, I'm just disappointed I won't be able to keep as close of a tabs on email or chatting on AIM with friends. So to my friends: I'm not ignoring you, I just have limited access for now.

As I look toward the rest of the week, we're starting to really plan our travel destinations for our final eight weekends here. This weekend will be spent checking out the nearby National Park where we can see wild animals (like Tigers, Lions, Elephants) running around, not like a zoo in the US. We also may be checking out an amusement part and go-karts nearby with our new best friends/co-workers Sandesh and Tanu. In terms of future weekends, we're working with Honeywell travel agents (who are helping with logistics) to try to make some plans to hit all the hot spots within India, including most importantly Delhi/Agra to see the Taj Mahal. Other places on our long list include Goa, Mysore, Kerala, and Mumbai. Seeing as we're starting to get into monsoon season, though, some of these places may be better destinations than others depending on the weather so we'll see. A trip to Mt. Everest would sure be something as well, but we're going to need to really look into the cost for airfare and such for all these trips because it's going to get expensive and we don't have that much to spend. I just want to see as much as I can while I'm in this part of the world this summer.

It's been really great having all these experiences thus far and forging new friendships with the other interns and the other people we meet here, so I'm looking forward to the road ahead. As always, I hope everyone else is enjoying their summer as well. I know a lot of the US has been experiencing unseasonably high temperatures while this week it's been relatively cool in Bangalore with the cloud cover, so we're in the 70's while many of you are feeling the heat in the 90's. Regardless though, I wish everyone the best for the rest of this week, and I'll be updating soon. Please let me know if there's anything you'd like to know at any point or you have any feedback about my blogging, this is my first time. Stay cool, talk to you soon!

A couple good days have passed since my last post. Starting on Friday, I actually got some work to do! I got started on my first project which is basically dealing with providing some recommendations about Knowledge Management for HTS (Honeywell Technology Solutions) and specifically for Aerospace within Honeywell. I won't bore with too much detail, but basically HTS is set up almost like an external consulting company to Honeywell that has to place bids along with firms like IBM, Accenture, etc. in order to keep them competitive and top-of-the-line to do the big-time tech projects within the company. In terms of making recommendations for KM, I'm actually pretty excited about this. I've been excited about KM for awhile now, and I have a gold mine of resources to start with from some of Dr. Clark's classes along with my Gartner access from PSU.

But that's enough about work. First, on the food front, since my last post and my craving for American food, that's pretty much all I've had. We ordered Pizza Hut on Thursday night, and it was the EXACT same as American Pizza Hut. Normally I wouldn't be excited about that, but boy did it hit the spot. Then Friday (after having Indian breakfast and Indian lunch at work) we went out and had Chinese (OK, not American, but pretty much). After that was the best part of all of this, there is a "Fudge and Cream Shop" in the mall that, as it turns out, is basically COLD STONE CREAMERY! It's the same style with the ice cream and the mix-ins and the mashers and the stone and all that jazz - it was such a welcomed sight and treat. Then, today also consisted of a non-Veg lunch for a change and a stop at McDonalds for dinner (the fries are the same!). We're finding that if you look hard enough, it's really not very difficult to find different types of food around. Tomorrow I hope to go grocery shopping, and I should be able to pick up some familiar things (Ramen Noodles!) that I can have and also some things to bring to mix up the lunch palette.

So that brings us to today, we wanted to explore Bangalore for our first real chance to do so since we've been here. Last weekend is when we arrived and all we did was sleep and settle in, and we haven't had a chance at night after work, so this was it. We went out and walked around a little while, and then checked out a couple malls. Sandesh and Tanu were nice enough to take us out (again, these are two of the University Relations people from Honeywell Bangalore who have been nothing but awesome in helping us out since we've been here) and they were a lot of fun. We also met one of Tanu's friends. It was a very nice, relaxing day. I got to take a rickshaw for the first time in my ride to the mall, and then another on the ride back. I have pictures and video that I will post at some point. It was much fun. When we were leaving the mall, we spied a McDonalds and were lured in by the smell of American McDonalds fries, so I got some. First off, no, there are no hamburgers at this McDonalds, but they do have McCurry. That's right: McCurry. Anyway, I got the fries to go and was eating them in the rickshaw on the way back home - a pretty fun and interesting way to cap off the day.

I've thought of a few more general observations that I'd like to share as well concerning Bangalore overall thus far. All are either differences between India and the US or are just weird things that are of note and worth sharing. The first is addresses here. In the US, it's pretty standard practice to have a number on a street, then the city, state, and zip code. Maybe an apartment number or a road box or some other such thing here or there, but it's all pretty standard and normally is a simple three-line address that one would be able to find directions to using a map. Throw all that logic out the window here. For reference, here is my address for the summer (I feel comfortable sharing it on the web because you probably wouldn't be able to find it anyway, and you also wouldn't be able to mail me something that would actually get here in the ten weeks I'll be here):

THE ORCHARD SUITES 101
No. 25 Intermediate Ring Road
Near Ejipura Signal
Opposite Barath Petrolem
Next to LG Spopee
Koramangala
Bangalore - 560047

It is very common practice to just have this "Next to," "Near," "Opposite," or other directions as part of an address. It's not even that common to have names for all the streets. And in some places, it's not even that common to have streets. We were in major traffic after work on Friday and the shuttle driver tried to take a shortcut, until we turned onto a road, went about 0.25km, and all of a sudden over half the road was just gone. It was quite the maneuvering to back up and get out of there with all the cars behind us and in front of us and wedged around, and really not even the width of the shuttle to turn around in, but we managed. Also, with the new airport outside of town, it opened before roads were really even built to it, so the infrastructure for getting there now is very poor, and people are complaining big time because it takes so long to get there. The traffic is always ridiculous as it is, but it's just interesting to note that the addresses in general and the logic are just very different. The simplicity that we sometimes take for granted.

Another observation I've made is the differences surrounding a head nod. In the US, it's pretty clear that a nod up and down means "Yes," while a nod side-to-side means "No." Here, it's common to be all over the place and I'm sometimes really confused if someone is telling me "Yes" or "No" (especially since I can't always understand their accents so I rely heavily on interpreting body language). I don't really know how to describe it, but it's basically a head bobble in all directions that is an acknowledgment or "I understand" or could also mean agreement or "Yes" in any given situation. I have noticed this before from Indian people in the US, and just thought it was an odd quirk in a person's motions, but it's actually just part of the culture as everyone does it here. I probably did a very poor job in explaining this as you'd really just have to see it, but it basically amounts to an ambiguous head bobble being pretty pervasive during most communication, and it's very difficult to understand if the person you're talking to is saying "Yes" or "No" or just nodding to follow along.

One last observation for now before I bore you all to death too much with this long post concerns the music. This is similar to something I noticed in Europe (which is that it seemed like I was in the US in the 1990's in that I heard so much popular 90's music in public places like Chumbawamba, Seal, and other ridiculous stuff pretty much exclusively), but the selection of American music that is played here is quite peculiar. Unlike Europe, there is actually quite a bit of native music mixed in as well, as I have heard quite a selection (a number of which I actually like quite a bit) of Hindi songs played (in Europe, I really only heard 90's American pop music), but also unlike Europe, the American music is really all over the map, including but not just 90's. Starting with breakfast the first morning here, we've heard an array of US country music, classic rock like one of my personal favorites: "The Final Countdown", and a lot of soft rock like Celine Dion, "Cats in the Cradle" and oddly enough " Circle of Life" from the Lion King Soundtrack. I just think it's humorous the selection of American music that seems to be popular here. It's a lot of songs that just make us laugh when we'll randomly catch part of it in the background and it's like, "Wait, did you hear that?"

I apologize for all my ridiculously unorganized parenthetical passages throughout, but it's easier to write that way for the purposes of this blog to write fast, and I hope it's not too difficult to read. Two more blogs I wanted to point out: IST Professor of Practice Irene Petrick (who actually is good friends with Heather Bean apparently) will be traveling to Bangalore in the coming week and blogging at http://eii.ist.psu.edu/blog/ while recent PSU Alum, current CMU grad student, and former Blue Band President Eric Menendez is interning at Intel this summer in Bangalore and is blogging at http://ericinindia.wordpress.com/. Once I figure it out, I'd like to add links to all four of these related blogs on the side navigation, but I'm still fighting with this MT4 platform right now concerning issues such as the layout, comments, buttons, etc, but hope to have that all resolved soon. I'm excited to do a little more exploring within the city tomorrow, get back to work on Monday, and then start planning more trips for the upcoming weekends. Flights to Delhi, Mumbai, and Calcutta should only run about 1500rps (about $30) apiece, and we can make some pretty awesome weekend (wish it could be more!) trips out of those. Our HR people have also graciously offered to help organize these and some during-the-week field trips to other companies in Bangalore like Infosys and other firms since who knows when we'll be back here. I'm really glad Honeywell is open to these types of things, and it's going to help make this summer more enjoyable and more memorable. Hope everyone is doing well wherever you are - I'll be posting again soon. Stay classy.