I'm going home!

It's 1:30am here in Delhi. The taxi's here, so I'm shutting down. My plane leaves at 4:45am. I'll arrive in Atlanta after 28 hours of traveling (Delhi, India to Doha, Qatar to JFK, NYC to Atlanta - 22 hours of flight time plus 6 hours of layovers). Whoever said business travel was fun!

Looking forward to seeing my hubby, spending the holidays with family and being back in the US!

More Humayun Tomb

Finally made it to Humayun Tomb

This is like Delhi's Taj Mahal. Very beautiful buildings and gardens. I've been trying to get here for the longest time and finally did it on my way home from work today. It's so amazing to find these things right in the heart of the city. I love history and old buildings. You just can't get this old in California! The details on these buildings are amazing, especially when you consider when they were built, during the Mughal time.

Food Redux Part 3

Well, this story is getting old! I ate some restaurant leftovers on Wed night and everything tasted great. Started to feel "queasy" on my way to lunch, but had a soda with lunch and everything seemed to settle down. Lunch was fabulous, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. However, once we started walking back to the office I started feeling queasy again. Barely got back to the office when I "lost" everything, so I went home a couple of hours early. I am rethinking my entire food strategy...or lack thereof.

Christmas Program on Sunday

We had a wonderful Christmas program at church this week. It's so nice to know that no matter where I travel around the world I'll be singing the same hymns!

Eco-friendly manpower on with job site

It's the job of one of our team to visit the venues to see how they're progressing. He came across this new "eco-friendly" workforce at one of them:

Our Christmas Party

We had a fabulous Christmas Party with our team last week. We all went to a wonderful restaurant, The Smokehouse Grill. I had beef (a perfectly cooked tenderloin steak) for the first time in over 7 weeks. Not that I eat a lot of beef, but you just don't see that much of it here (cows are considered "holy" animals here). We were all given fun little gifts - most were wind up toys that we proceeded to send all around the table. Another fun item was a rolled up streamer that we used to whack each other with - amazing how these things entertained a group of adults for hours! I was the best shot - of course! We also passed around a glowing ball and a "russian hat." Sadly, I broke the "whoopee cushion."


All our toys - a fly, ladybug, car, girl in bumper car, and crab were the wind-up toys. There was also the "glows when you bounce it" ball, whoopee cushion and "pop-up" doll.

Me in the hat holding the glowing ball!

Food Redux Part II

Okay, this officially stinks now. I ordered a Papa John's cheese pizza today for lunch, something I've ordered several times before during this trip with no negative issues. Not so much today! I am to the point where I am going to bring almost all my own food on my next trip and only purchase very few items, like milk, bread, cheese and yogurt, made by well established international companies like Nestle. I am tired of feeling like crap after I eat. Sheesh. I'm starting to wonder when my body will feel "normal" again! I'm sure I'll be better tomorrow; probably shouldn't be venting in my blog. Grateful I'll be going home soon. Everybody please pray for me that my flights don't get delayed in Doha, Qatar or JFK on the way home Christmas Eve. It would totally 'bite the big one' if I had to spend Christmas in an airport.

Cheryl at Church

Just in case you had any doubts, here's me on the street in front of the house where I go to church. Good signage, eh? The other picture is of the really pretty former main entrance to the house that is used as our chapel. Sadly, we don't go in that way, but in the very utilitarian side entrance that is not pretty at all, which is why there is no picture of it. The talks today at church were very good. Two were given by newer members who had never spoken in church before. One gave a very excellent talk; the other one, a middle age woman, just couldn't handle the stress, so one of the missionaries read her talk for her. Even though she didn't verbalize it herself, it was still a good talk. The concluding speaker was one of the full-time elders, Elder Puri. He based his talk on an address given by President Uchtdorf on staying hopeful and faithful during hard times. And, I loved singing the Christmas hymns!

Merry Christmas!

Here's my Christmas tree! It's one foot tall, and I decorated it all by myself at one of the Christmas bazaars I attended. I'm also very happy to have Christmas music in my iTunes library to help keep me in the spirit of the holidays. I am getting excited about going home. I only have to wake up 10 more days before I get on the plane. I am now to the point in my wardrobe where I pack my clothes in the suitcase each night when I get home from work and change into my "relaxing clothes." Takes all the stress out of packing on my last day!

We worked until 9:30pm on Friday, and I had to work again on Saturday, but thankfully for only 5 hours. I was very tired when I came home and took a lovely 3 hours nap. Bliss.

The Weekend

I had to work part of Saturday. Bummer. But, it was good I did, because we were checking the layout and process for one of the most important parts of the project I'm working on and it was done all wrong, in my humble opinion...but backed up by the other two consultants.

I went to another Christmas bazaar and found the perfect gift for my husband. No pressure, babe!

I had arranged for an in-home massage by someone who was recommended to me. The woman shows up - no table, no "cover up" and no massage oil/lotion. What's up with that?!? I just did not see how this was going to work out, so I said, thanks, but no thanks and showed her out the door.

Fast Sunday in my branch I attend here was really good. A cute little 8 year old girl from Afghanistan bore her testimony. A very pure, sweet and simple testimony. I can't even imagine what her family might have suffered to get from her home country to India. The members here are up against huge odds. Did you know that 1/6 of the world's population lives in India? And more than 1/6 of the world's population lives in China? Combined, India and China account for more than 1/3 of the world's population!! We should all learn Hindi and/or Mandarin/Catonese Chinese. Learn Spanish and along with our native English and we've probably got it all covered!

Fast Food in Delhi

My two favorite fast food places! You probably can't see the "Non-Veg Pizzas" or the "Tandoor Delights" headings on the Papa John's menu. McDonald's has the McVeggie, the Chicken Maharaja Mac, and the Paneer Salsa Wrap that are unique to India. Needless to say, no beef is on the menu!! Chicken or pork is used to simulate meat products, like pepperoni or salami.




Thank goodness for cheese and margherita pizzas and McChickens and Filet-O-Fish!! Probably not the healthiest meals, but at least I know what I'm getting....I think!

The Delhi Way

Took both of these pictures on my way to work on Friday. This was taken on what is basically a large street in the city, considered a major thoroughfare. They are ripping out all the old sidewalks and putting in new ones, so they were moving some equipment around.

The workers actually live on-site (on the sidewalks) with their families while this work is being done. This is a very typical example of what they live in. They cook their meals over an open fire. The whole family will help with the work, including little kids who help move dirt or bricks.

What's Wrong With These Pictures?

You are looking at the cabinet under my bathroom sink. Can you tell what's missing? That's right, the bottom of the cabinet!! No shelf on which to put my stuff.

This is the other side of my bathroom cabinet. Can you see the problem? That's right, the counter extends past the maximum pull out of the drawer! Again, no place to put my stuff. I have just enough room in the small cupboard under the drawer to keep two 4 packs of TP...and I count my blessings for that. TP is sometimes a rare item in this country!!

More of What I See When I Look Out My Bedroom Window

This is a very typical sight to see, all around the city. The house servants (literally called "peons") live all crammed together in a little one room apartment on the roof. It is usually a family, or extended family. They do their wash, typically in a bucket, and then hang their clothes all over the place to dry. No exactly a pretty sight but it works out fairly well, except during the rainy season! I must say I am getting a bit spoiled by having someone make my bed, wash my dishes, and clean the apartment every day. Oh, and I get a fresh towel every day and they change my sheets each week. Too bad with all that cleaning the soles of my white socks are still black if I wear them around the apartment. Dirty Delhi!

On Monday morning I was woken up by a flock of birds. I opened my curtain and saw over 10 lime/green parrots sitting on my balcony railing chirping loudly. They all just looked at me as if to say, "finally." I closed the curtain to get my camera for a picture and they all flew away before I could get back to the window. It was almost like they knew I was supposed to get up, so it was their job to wake me up and once the job was done it was time to go.