Bangalore

Liz has been pestering me to visit Bangalore with her for quite some time now, so last weekend we made what I'm sure will be our first of many trips there. :) Bangalore is in the next state over, Karnatika, about a 7 hour drive from Chennai (I think). We ended up taking the bus both there and back. On the trip up, we took a bus run by a private company and on the way back we took one run by the state government of Karnatika. We left at 1:30 in the afternoon on Friday and arrived in Bangalore around 9:30. On the way up, we were treated to a Tamil movie for entertainment. Even though there were no subtitles, I had little trouble following the plot since it was almost an exact copy of the English movie "What about Bob?"

After getting there, we took an auto to Liz' friend's flat, where we were staying. It was quite a treat to find that the auto drivers actually use the meter if you ask them to. We ended up staying up for a while even though we didn't go out because the people on her street were still celebrating Ganesh's birthday by blaring loud music.

Even though they were up late the night before, her neighbors still managed to get up early and again start blasting loud music Saturday morning. We got up too and headed out to Martahalle (I have no idea how to spell that) where all of the outlet stores are. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time to spend there as we had dinner plans with Liz' friends from Microsoft. We hoped to go out afterwards (all I've heard is how Bangalore has so much better night life than Chennai) but apparently there is a new police commissioner who has restricted dancing as well as the closing time for the clubs, so we were unable to go anywhere. We ended up hanging out in the room they had booked in the Leela Palace (a luxury hotel there.)

The next morning, we got up and had a fantastic brunch at the Leela Palace. Then, we were off to shop til we dropped in The Forum-the American-style mall there. I loved shopping there! But, after a while, the sheer number of people there got to us a bit. We stopped off to eat and have a drink at the 13th Floor. We stopped and visited another of Liz' friends who recently had a baby and then headed back.

The next morning we woke up and headed back to Chennai. The government-run bus was much nicer than the privately-owned one and a much better value. Unfortunately, they played two Hindi movies that I was not able to follow-one with Salman Khan (not that I minded missing THAT one) and one with a young Amitabh Bachan.

All in all I had a blast! Bangalore is such a nice city to visit-the climate is much more temperate than Chennai; the shopping was great (tho I've heard that I still need to go to Commercial Street!); and it was so relaxing to get away from the stress at work! I wasn't ready to come back!

Trainees

Somewhere along the way (last week) I finished up my second batch of induction trainees and started batch #3. Batch #2 was pretty fun and I liked the fact that there were only 12 of them instead of the usual 20. They all passed and were sent off to Microsoft & Dell. On the last day of class they surprised me by bringing in a cake and a gift-a model of the Taj Mahal. I was so touched!

My new batch runs again from midnight until 8:00 AM. I've decided that I actually like this shift better than the 4:00 PM-midnight shift I was just on. For me, it just interchanges my sleep time with my working times and still leaves me my evenings free to do things. Besides, I enjoy that fact that there are less people around the building and the temperature is usually cooler.

The weird part is that, on this least desirable of shifts, I have representatives from both of my previous batches. The ones I sent to HP from batch #1 are finishing their technical training; the Microsoft contingent from batch #2 are starting their product training and I have batch #3 for communications training. Kind of weird to see them all in juxtaposition.

Anyway, I am looking forward to the trip back home as a break from the teaching schedule. Hopefully my voice will recover during that time-I'm sounding pretty hoarse these days. Any seasoned teachers out there have ideas for recovering that?

I'm coming home!!!!

OK I knew that I got to come home after 6 months, but at first October seemed very far away. Now that I have my return tickets to the US booked it seems much more real! I'll be back in the US on October 2nd (and I have to overnight in NYC!) and then on to Pittsburgh the next morning. I'll head up to Rochester probably on the 6th and stay there for about a week. I then depart again to Chennai on the 17th.

I'm so excited!!! Much more than I thought that I would be! It will be wonderful to sink my teeth into a nice juicy hamburger (yes, Pete, I have tried them here-they're just not the same) covered in ketchup that is vinagary and not sweet! To travel in traffic that is neat and orderly. To have breakfast foods that I'm used to! Aaah, I can't wait... :)

Kanyakumari-Day 2

We actually were able to get ourselves out of bed early enough to see the sunrise this morning (I don't know when the last time I saw 6 AM was!) and boy was it worth it-especially after not being able to see the sunset the night before. Watching the colors change as the sun rose was indescribable.










After heading back to bed for a few more hours of sleep, we headed off for more sightseeing before catching the train back to Chennai. First, we stopped at the Sucheendram temple, dedicated to the blended form of Shiva, Brahma & Vishnu, but unfortunately that part of the temple was closed when we arrived. There is also a huge statue of Hanuman (the monkey god) in the temple as well. This is the first time that I've been to a temple with a statue of Hanuman; I found it interesting that they put a mixture of butter and paneer on the statue's tail because in the Ramayana the demon god Ravana sets Hanuman's tail on fire. The other interesting part was that we arrived at 'bath time' for the statue. There were 5 or 6 priests all involved in the task of washing the statue (which was probably 12 feet tall!)

After the temple, we headed off to Padmanabhapuram Palace, a tribute to the days when this area was part of Kerela. Unfortunately, we arrived during the time it was closed for lunch. Due to time constraints (of our train back to Chennai) and the onset of rain, we had to abandon the plan of seeing inside the palace.






Our last stop was Tripparappu Water falls. Here we found people bathing under the falls, while kids played in a very dirty looking pool nearby. Bathing under the falls would have been a fun experience, but we didn't bring enough clothes to change into. Instead, we visited a rather run-down aquarium that advertised with a huge garish fish outside of it. Inside we were treated to a personalized tour of the aquarium's various inhabitants. Not only did they have fish from all over the world, but they also had quite a few snakes. The 'tour guide', for some reason decided to only pull the poisonous ones out of their cages for closer inspection. Then he offered them to us to hold as well. Somehow I ended up holding a pittu viper (?). Ok, probably not the smartest move to make...but it ended up ok. (I only ended up breaking out in a cold sweat when the snake turned around to get a better look at me!)









Then we hurried back to pick up food and catch the train back to Chennai. As always, the vacation was much too short!!!

Kanyakumari-Day 1

But seriously, all toilet stories aside, the trip to Kanyakumari was WONDERFUL!!! It was so good to get out of Chennai and see a different part of India. (Yes, I know it's still Tamil Nadu, but the landscape was so different!) Seeing the greenery all around made me remember why I told everyone that I wanted to retire to Kerela when I came back from my vacation in December. It's so beautiful!!! (Pictures to follow soon, I promise...)

Upon arrival in Kanyakumari, we hiked to the station (traveling 3rd class does have it's disadvantages-we were in the almost last car!), and headed to check in at our hotel. We had our pick of rooms and after choosing one, we settled in, showered and headed off for a full day of sightseeing. First, we took the ferry to the island temple and statue. I hate to admit, but I was comparing the safety standards of the ferry with those in the US the whole time. The sea was a bit rough that day and they never firmly tied the boat to the dock, hence it tended to drift away from the dock a bit. That didn't seem to bother the staff, they just pulled or pushed you off as quickly as if it had been right up against it. :)









Not only is it the meeting point of the three bodies of water (Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal & Indian Ocean) at the southern tip of India, Kanyakumari apparantly is also quite the pilgramage spot, so we there are a lot of temples and shrines to visit. On the first island there are two-a temple devoted to Lady Kanyakumari, an incarnation of the goddess Parvathi (with what looks like a footprint in the stone) and a shrine dedicated to Swami Vivekananda. On the second island there is a 133-foot-tall statue dedicated to the poet-saint Thiruvalluvar.

We came back to shore, not much more safely, and decided to eat and rest for a bit. Unfortunately, when we set out to see the sunset, we realized that it was too cloudy to see much. However, on the way to sunset point, we passed by the Gandhi Mandapam, where the Mahatma's ashes were kept until they were submerged in the sea.








We also stopped by to visit the shore temple, dedicated to the goddess Parvathi. There is a story that two Americans were saved by rowing to shore by the light shining off of the diamond stud in the statue's nose, however the doors directly to the seashore are now closed. The "vendors" selling oil and other religous items in the temple gave me an interesting perspective on the story of Jesus and the moneychangers in the Bible.

Marking my territory in India

Well, I've successfully made my first railway journey in India. The trip to Kanyakumari was lovely...I will write more about it in an upcoming post...but I figured the train voyage deserved it's own separate posting. :) The trip to Kanyakumari from Chennai is approximately 15 hours. We traveled third class A/C, which means that there were three berths on each side of the compartment and no curtains separating the compartment from the aisle. The trip down wasn't too much of a problem. The train left Chennai at 5:30 PM. The people in our compartment were fine-nothing to complain about. We ordered dinner on the train (tho we had brought plenty of snacks), although train food is not really any better than airplane food...and the coffee is generally pretty bad. :) The amazing part was waking up the next morning seeing a completely different landscape. The scenery was much more lush and tropical. It was beautiful!!!! (Especially when opening the side doors of the train and leaning out...) :)









The trip back was also relatively uneventful. There were two young girls traveling with their father in our compartment. The 9-year-old enjoyed practicing her English (with a few translations by her father) with me; however, when it came time for us to go to bed the younger one, the 4-year-old, did NOT want to sleep at all. For us, it was entertaining...for her father, not so much! :)

The part of both trips that deserves mentioning, however, is the bathrooms. :) You might be thinking that the best thing to do would be to avoid them...but that is virtually impossible on a 15-hour trek. I should insert here the fact that there is no repository for train toilets-you just do your business and it ends up right on the tracks. (As you might imagine, there are many warnings NOT to use the toilets when you are at a station!) On the way down, we were lucky enough to have two 'western' style toilets (bring your own toilet paper). Unfortunately, though, one was dark and Liz realized too late that the drain in the floor was not working properly. EWW! Her pant leg was all wet and we had to devise many creative ways to alleviate the odor that lingered after washing them off... On the way back to Chennai, there was only one 'western' toilet at our end of the car. Once, when it was occupied, I considered using the Indian-style ones, but, as the train began rocking more vigorously, I wasn't sure about maintaining my balance while squatting (and I didn't want a repeat performance of attempting to wash out a my pant leg!). :)

Singleness

So this past weekend my church had a seminar for singles focusing on the topic (you guessed it) "Preparing for Marriage". No, I didn't go. :) But it did get me thinking....

Now, albeit, it was geared more towards the part of the congregation in their early 20s. And here in India, there is still a lot of pressure to be married young (culturally-I know there are exceptions). But still, is it any different in churches in America? Sometimes I feel like churches in American generally don't know what to do with their singles, especially their single females. Especially those of us in our late 20s or older. From my perspective, single males have it easier-they can usually fit in with the men's groups with no problem. But it's difficult for single females to fit in with the normal women's groups-because the topics are often catered to home, marriages or families. And if the church does have a singles program, too often the topics are focused only on preparing for marriage. Even though these programs are usually supposed to encourage the single during this period, it often has the opposite effect making you question yourself more.

What do I think should be done? I don't mind having separate singles events and married couples events within a church, but I don't always want to focus on that status. Can't we focus on being content with our status as it is without having to look at it as preparation for the "next stage" (which may or may not be marriage)? Can't we just work on following God regardless of our marital status?

OK. I'll get off my soapbox now! :)

Updating...

I keep forgetting to write about work on here. (Hmm...maybe that's not a bad thing...) :) Anyway, I have been moved back from the Dell floor to the COL (Center of Learning) where I am now training induction batches full-time. My first batch went from midnight to 8:00 AM. (Can you imagine?) , but that's over now. My trainees all passed their final assessments and I've sent them off to both Dell & HP. Now, I'm with my second batch which is in its second week (out of three). We meet from 4:00 PM to midnight and afterward they will be off to Microsoft and Dell. Training here is (mostly) fun...except when the technology and management doesn't cooperate. :)

Also, I've updated some of my April & May posts with pictures-now that I have regular access to a computer with a CD drive and a connection to the internet. :) Enjoy!

This weekend I'm off to Kanyakumari-this time with CONFIRMED train tickets!!! :)