Some of My Work Friends

Somya is in traditional dress. Vivek, Uma and Majushree are in western wear. It's always a mix of styles at the office . I keep trying to find some traditional Indian clothing to bring home, but no luck yet. I will probably have to have something custom made, which is what most people do for the traditional styles - it's usually less expensive than "off the rack" clothes.

A Visitor in a Small Branch

They had a regional Young Adult Conference this past weekend which extended into Sunday afternoon. Therefore, hardly anyone was at church. I was the first person to arrive (my husband would be so proud - 10 minutes early because I took a taxi instead of a tuk-tuk). As soon as I arrived the Branch President came out of his office, greeted me, and asked me to say the opening prayer. I passed the time until church started chatting with the full time elders. I even commented to one of them that I had thought the Branch President was going to ask me to speak instead of asking me to say the prayer. Less than 2 minutes after I said that he came and asked me if I had my scriptures with me (which I did) and then asked me to speak for 5 minutes. I had to smile!

But no worries; I talked about the sons of Helaman and what kind of mothers/parents/example they must have had to raise such great sons; and compared the sons of Helaman to Laman and Lemuel, who saw angels on numerous occasions and still managed to make all the wrong choices for them and their families, even though they had a prophet for a father. I added that not all of us have great parents/families, which is why it's so important to come to church each week to feel the love and support of the other members.

One of the full time elders also spoke, along with one of the local sisters. It was a pretty good meeting considering all the talks were extemporaneous.

Is this why the power keeps going out?!?

This is a picture of the power pole outside my family room window. Living here is so interesting. If you want a very realistic viewpoint of what it's like to come here for the first time, watch the movie "Outsourced." I saw it here on TV a few nights ago and laughed almost the whole way through it; even my Indian friends think it's a really funny movie!

Thanksgiving Dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe

Everyone was too busy at work to celebrate Thanksgiving with me on Thursday, so we all met up at the Hard Rock Cafe on Saturday night - me, the lone American; one Greek and three Aussies. I brought along a pumpkin pie I ordered from a Canadian bakery - go figure! It was pretty good; actually much better than I expected to get here. It was really nice to go out with the team and have a group meal. I was able to chat with my extended family over the holiday, except for a few I had to just leave messages for. I am very grateful for Skype and a husband who has an international blackberry!!

A Wedding

One of the top guys at work had a daughter getting married and we all got invitations - well, actually, I didn't but I got to tag along with the rest of the group. Unfortunately, things were so busy at work we didn't leave until late, so we missed all the fun stuff, and barely got there in time for food. Still, it was interesting to go and see how it was all set up. This gate was decorated with flowers (the orange part) and greenery. Lots of times you'll see cars and trucks decorated like this as well - it's "good luck" decor.

This is a picture of less than half the food tables they had set up!

Goat in a Tuk Tuk

Too funny!

No Wonder I Can't Get the Internet at the Office

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Did Somebody Say Monkeys?

Does anybody else work in an office building where occasionally a troop of monkeys comes to visit? There were over a dozen of them, including a little baby hanging onto its mama. That's the good side - watching them cavorting around the balcony. The bad side is sometimes they get inside the building (not while I've been there, thank goodness). However, I did discover a little blessing they left behind: their poop in the stairwell! The other thing I found out about the stairwells is that the red stain in the corners is where the men spit out their tobacco juice. All together - GROSS!

What I Am Thankful For

Yesterday I thought I'd had a pretty lousy Thanksgiving here in Delhi, for reasons which I won't go into since they are pretty trivial. Today I am counting my blessings after hearing about the death of a young father who leaves behind a young wife who is just 4 weeks pregnant and a 13 month old.

I am thankful for:

My God and My Religion - I am so grateful for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the fullness of his Gospel on the earth today and all that it means to me.

My Family - I'm so lucky to have such a supportive husband and such a great extended family, and I'm really excited to welcome grandchild #6.

My Friends - I have a stellar set of friends.

My Country - I've been fortunate to travel to many places, and as much as I love visiting them all I love my country and am proud to be an American.

Chocolate - 'nuff said!

I could go on and on, but those are the highlights. I hope to continue focusing more on my blessings and less on my "growth opportunities."

Alone Again

Bummer. Jamie has to go back to the US three weeks earlier than I expected. SIGH. I will really miss her. Now I don't have anyone to hang out with on the weekends. I shall have to cultivate 'local' friends.

More Shopping

Jamie and I went to Khan market on Saturday. The weather was perfect and I finally felt like eating again. Didn't buy much, but it was fun to be feeling 100% again and get outside.

On Sunday we went to church at the local branch. I've gone enough in the past two years that most of the members remember me, and whether they know me or not, I must have at least 10 people each week say hi to me and shake my hand, and tell me how happy they are to have me there. Definitely a great example, and something I wish we did more of in my home ward.

Visit from a fellow SLOCer

Due to the delicate state of my digestive system, I stayed home from work today. However, I was feeling slightly better by Wed night, which is a good thing because one of my former co-workers from SLOC (Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games) was in town. We never hook up when I visit Utah, but he was in Delhi for about 9 hours, so Jamie and I went out to dinner with him - well, he and Jamie ate dinner; I slowly sipped on a virgin Mojito. I wanted nothing to do with food still!! It was great to see him and catch up on all that's happened in our lives.

Food Redux

The translation of that title would be Food Again, as in food I thought I ate but it decided to revisit me, in a rather violent manner. Yes, I spent all night last Tue, 11/17 getting well acquainted with the porcelain throne. I believe the "fresh baked" chicken quiche I purchased on Saturday and ate on Monday night was the culprit. I think it's fair to say I will NEVER think of quiche in quite the same way again, nor will I ever order butter chicken and nan from Swagarth's again (which is what I had for dinner on Tuesday night, just before Monday night's dinner decided to visit me again). Enough said about that.

What Did I Buy?

Anyone who knows me well also knows that I'm not much of a shopper, but I did find some cool stuff, the most important item of which was a new pair of pants shoes. I brought over a pair of Doc Martens I've had for over 7 years. Do you KNOW how heavy those shoes are? I'm not joking that each shoe weighs at least 3-4 pounds. When you can only have 50lbs in your suitcase, that's a lot of weight for just one pair of shows. My new pair fits PERFECTLY, has just the right height heel, is all leather, and only cost $15. I am going to leave my Doc Martens here as a donation. I'm sure there is at least one person in Delhi who needs them.

Shop 'Til You Drop and More Random Thoughts

This has been a great weekend. My team member, Jamie, who worked with me during the Winter Olympics in SLC, and I went shopping. While on our way to a local mall, which is pretty much like any indoor mall in the U.S., we saw a wedding party with an elephant leading the way, then a couple of bands, then the bride being carried in a "litter." Very cool. Next we went to a "Holiday Mela" put on by the American Women's Association, which was also a fund raiser for various charities. We had breakfast at a little cafe, and then lunch at another place. Very nice, very relaxing. We took taxis instead of auto tuk-tuks. Much nicer! And it was a lot of fun to hang out with Jamie.

We went to the Embassy church branch today. The District President was there and did most of the speaking. He (and his family) have lived in 7 countries over the past 20 years. (Can you imagine all the packing and unpacking?!?) We figured he was either military, or the military that protects the embassy, or working for the State Department. He spoke of when they were in the Phillipines, there was a guy who had stopped going to church. He was a butcher and only made about $70/week working 7 days per week (an average working wage). Then he decided to stop working on Sunday, go back to church and pay his tithing, and he found he was making almost $150/week. Faith PRECEDES the miracle, but Heavenly Father will ALWAYS bless us if we keep his commandments.

More Random Thoughts

14. Having to soak all your fruits and vegetables (the ones that aren't peeled before you eat them) for 20 minutes in a special solution to kill the parasites - yuck!

15. The tailor with his sewing machine on the sidewalk.

16. The clothes presser with his fire to heat his irons, also on the sidewalk.

17. The barber with his chair open for business, also on the sidewalk!

"Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore!" Top Ten+ List

Every day I'm confronted by things that are just not the same as back home and thought I'd share some of my observations with you:

1. Getting woken up early in the morning by the fruit vendor pushing his cart along the street and shouting out what he has for sale that day. I have no idea what he has for sell because it's all in Hindi, which I don't speak (of course!).

2. Spraying my sheets with mosquito repellent each night before I go to bed so the "mosies" don't get me during the night - back, back you dreaded Dengue fever and malaria!!

3. Wearing black footies so my feet don't turn black by walking around barefoot, a lesson I didn't learn until after the first couple of days during my first trip.

4. Having a houseboy who makes my bed and does the dishes for me every day!! He's also supposed to clean the floors, but that consists of getting on his hands and knees and using a nasty dirty rag every day to move the dust around. Hence the need for the black footies noted in item 3.

5. The ability to have ANYTHING delivered from ANY of the restaurants or stores, including fast food for about $1.

6. What the Indian's call a McDonald's burger is what we call a McChicken sandwich. After all, cows are sacred in India - you don't eat them here!

7. Delhi Belly - maybe I have it (again, 3rd times a charm!), maybe I don't. Who knows? I will, in about a week. This time I brought antibiotics with me.

8. Doctor's make house calls! The last time I got Delhi Belly really bad the doctor came to the apartment, did the exam while I was on my own bed, and gave me the medicine. Total cost USD: $25

9. Milk in asceptic packaging - think a quart size juice box. It doesn't need to be refrigerated until you open it and has about a six month shelf life.

10. Almost everything you get in a restaurant is flavored by India. For example, I ordered Chinese (lemon chicken and veggie spring rolls to be exact) yesterday for lunch. I got the Chindian version. It's not McDonald's, it's McIndian; KFC has an Indian flavor to it, as do Subway sandwiches, Domino's, Papa John's and Pizza Hut pizzas. So far the only thing I've ordered that doesn't have an Indian flavor to it is Robbins ice cream.

11. Road lanes have no meaning here, and sometimes neither does "directionality!"

12. Not a day goes by that I don't see a man taking a leak against a wall somewhere. "What's that smell?"

13. How beautiful the majority of the women are here! They truly are gorgeous. I especially like it when they are dressed in the more formal "saris." Stunning, really. I'd be totally intimidated if I didn't have such a healthy sense of self-worth not dependent upon my looks!!

Catching you up

It's been two weeks since I arrived and it feels like I never left. Hmmm, don't know if that's good or bad. I'll have to think on that. I'm very lucky to work with such a great group of people. You really have to maintain your sense of humor here. There's one other U.S., one Greek and four Aussies. You meet lots of Aussies in this business because they did such a fantastic job with the Sydney Olympics and the Melbourne Commonwealth Games that everyone tries to hit that standard.

About the most exciting thing I've done since I got here was go to church. I attended the small Delhi branch near my apartment. It was their Primary program! How sweet this small little group of children (not more than a dozen) were as they sang familiar Primary songs and gave their talks. It was a blessing for me to experience that and know how lucky I am that the gospel of Jesus Christ is taught the same throughout the world in my church.

We were supposed to go to a party tonight with local entertainment, but the traffic was so horrible that by the time we made it home, due in part to a light rain that was unexpected, that we said forget it - we're too tired now. Bummer, since I was looking forward to seeing some local culture.

This weekend they are having the semi-annual Holiday Mela (think big shopping bazaar) at the American Embassy School put on by the American Worker's Abroad (AWA). Who know's what I'll come home with? If you want to put in an order, send me a quick e-mail and I'll keep a lookout for whatever!

The office moved location since my last trip, so we take a very different route to work. I hardly ever see any cows or other livestock, but one day I saw an elephant being ridden by his owner. Can you imagine driving in any city in the U.S. and seeing an elephant walking along the road? That's what it's like. One day we took a different way home and saw over a dozen cows; no pigs, sheep or goats yet this trip.

They are "beautifying" the city in preparation for the games, so they are doing all kinds of work on the roadside, putting in new curbing, sidewalks, etc. If you can imagine, the workers live right there with their families while they are doing this work. So for those of you in Oceanside, image people living on the sidewalks of College or Oceanside Boulevards? Sleeping, cooking and even washing up right there on the side of the road. You just can't grasp it unless you see it with your own eyes. I'll try to capture some pictures for posting.

My Typical Day

Ah, the life of a big-time, big games events consultant:

7:45am Get up, take shower, get ready for work
8:15am Fix breakfast - 1 packet of instant oatmeal brought here from the U.S. and two slices of toast (don't think about our big slices of bread; think 1/4 inch wide, 3 x 3.
8:30am Call my husband and find out how his day was and what mail we got - highlight of the day!
9:00am Load into the car for "Mr Toad's Wild Ride" to work and hope we don't get into an accident.
9:35am Arrive at office, unload my computer, et al and cross my fingers that I will have internet service for the day. Then work, work, work; if I'm lucky we'll go somewhere for lunch; if not, I always bring nuts, yogurt and muesli to get me through the day. Yum.
6:00pm If I'm lucky we're ready to go by now. If not, it could be hours more.
7:00pm Traffic is always worse going home, so we're lucky to get home in an hour. Grab a bowl of muesli for dinner, or if I'm lucky someone cooks a meal (we all know what a rare occurrence that is for me!). Sometimes we order a meal delivered. They deliver EVERYTHING here, even ice cream! Set my computer back up to do some more work, read my eVersion of the San Diego Union Tribune (you gotta love being able to keep up on all the local news!), read books, watch a little TV.
10:30pm Call my husband again to find out how his evening went (I use skype to do this; if you don't know about it, check it out! Only 2 cents per minute using VOIP. I have good speakers on my laptop; don't even have to use a headphone).
11:00pm An end to another exciting day; time for bed!

Comment on last year's trip

Before I talk more about this year's experience, I have to write a bit about my second trip last year. I had been here one week when the bombings in Mumbai occurred. It was the day before Thanksgiving (Delhi time). To say I was scared is an understatement. I was working for the Salt Lake Olympics in 2001 when 9/11 happened (which most of you know is my birthday). It was so surreal to be watching these TV images all day, just like then. It really took the "fun" out of the trip.

But, I work with a great bunch of people here, and they wanted to cheer me up, so one of them got everyone together and we celebrated Thanksgiving - one American, one Brit, and six Aussies eating delivered Italian food! It was so great of them to do that for me as I was feeling VERY down. This group has literally worked all around the world putting on large "games events," so the night was spent listening to everyone's stories, which I found fascinating. I'm truly very lucky to have this experience.

Back in Delhi - 3rd times a charm

Fri, Oct 30 PST - I got up at 4am so we could leave for the airport by 4:30pm. Got there in PLENTY of time. The flight from San Diego to JFK was very interesting. Since I was taking medication for my severe bronchitis, I had used frequent flier miles to upgrade to first class. A very interesting woman was in the seat next to me. She engaged me in conversation and told me all about her head injury from a horseriding accident and warned me she might have "issues" during the flight. She sure did! About half-way through the flight she had an "attack." I had to quickly get her food tray out of the way and call for the flight attendants. Very interesting experience.

Fri, Oct 30 EST - After arriving at JFK I was able to use the Oasis lounge. The nice thing about traveling First/Business Class is all these amenities that make the journey more comfortable. Like the showers in the lounge. Makes a huge difference if you can shower in between your flights when it's a really long journey like from San Diego to Delhi. My medication was making me a bit ill on it's own (gotta love what a strong antibiotic does for your GI tract), so I wasn't really that interested in the free food, but sure glad I was really close to a nice, semi private bathroom during my 7 hour layover.

Sat, Oct 31 Qatar - Can I just tell you how much I loved flying on Qatar Airways? Oh my goodness! First, the food was fabulous! How often can you say that about airline food? Second, the seats had a MASSAGER in them - no "numb bum" on this flight AND they lay completely flat. Third, they gave me jammies! That's right - a pullover and bottoms that I got to take home with me. So cozy! After dinner I slept almost the entire remaining 9 hours of the flight. Then, during our layover in Doha, Qatar, I got to take another shower and relax until the final leg of my trip.

Sun, Nov 1 Delhi - Arrived in Delhi about 4am after more fabulous food and some good movies on the final leg of my flight. My luggage was practically first off; I breezed through immigration; and my driver was right there waiting for me. Bliss. Get to the apartment and find out I'm the only one here until tomorrow, and that's a holiday so I won't be going into work until Tuesday. Sheesh. Information that would have been nice to know when I was booking my flights. Oh well, I will be very rested for work on Tuesday. Of course, I immediately unpacked everything and made it feel like "home," then finally went to sleep about 7am. I will be glad when someone else is here tomorrow to tell me how to work the TV!!