SUNDAY
Sunday started with a group of us heading to church (St. Alphonsus), and it was a little slice of home in India. The Mass was surprisingly close to the pattern of Mass in the US (i <3 standardization), but with a few splashes of Indian culture here and there.... like this:
I need to get a clearer shot, but that's right, that's neon lighting around the cross. That's so.... I dunno! But it's neat. There is also a statue of Mary dressed in a sari that I have to snap for my mom, but there were tons of people around it, and I didn't want to seem tooooo touristy.
After churching, we chilled at Jill's house again for breakfast, and had some tasty iddly (rice flour cakes, really doughy and savory and super delish) and dosa (India's answer to a crepe), with some coconut chutney and tomato based soupy sauce type dish. And fresh squeezed juice, which was also tasty. We chatted a bit, and then Jill drove us back to the hotel.
Now, if you don't know, driving in India is, well, let's just say, a tad bit scary. For one, they drive on the opposite side of the road from the US, and I am still getting used to that. Two, it is very aggressive - there are markers on the road, but they are more suggestions than rules. Three, you are sharing the road with people walking, little motorbikes and electric rickshaws, and near accidents are a constant occurrence. Four, almost all the cars are manual, and at least I know that I would totally burn the motor or gears or whatever you burn when you can't shift correctly.
That being said, Jill gathered enough courage to take out her Scorpio (SUV type vehicle) and brave the road. And can I say, she did an EXCELLENT job. All along the way, people stopped and gawked when they saw a white woman behind the wheel, cranking it down the road, whipping past their rickshaws. It was freaking amazing.
So after the joy ride home, I did a good job of not napping - did some reading, worked out, toyed with the idea of chilling by the pool (but was deterred by the inflatable mini-bouncy house the hotel put up for the kids) and then headed down to dinner.
As I stepped out of the elevator, I was met by 8 woman dressed in uberfancy, sparkly saris. I looked down to my DePaul shirt and jeans and thought "ah, fuck, dresscode?!" Evidently, a Tollywood actor (like Bollywood, but in the local language of Telugu) was having his engagement ceremony at the hotel. Word on the streets is that our hotel is a local favorite for these types of shindigs since we are just outside the city, surrounded by security and not many local people stay here. The lobby was packed with fancy looking people, lots of flashy photography, and me, scuttling away, trying to not be noticed.
After that hoopla, a group of us met at the hotel bar, said our goodbyes to Elena who was leaving, and chilled the rest of the night.
MONDAY
*note - lots of names here, so I won't explain. Deloitter's know, the rest, well.. play along. :)
So Monday was Day 1 at work, and it went by pretty quickly. It was a blur of chocolate, names and faces. I sit by Rebecca, who is actually doing a rotation in Chicago next year, Naresh who works mainly for the Milwaukee office, and Murtuza who works mainly for Minneapolis. Everyone is super nice and I got invited to Rakesh's house next Tuesday for Diwali, a local festival, so I'm super excited.
I'm also found out that I am going to Kerela this weekend - nothing like trips on the fly! Evidently we are going to chill on a houseboat, so I am down for that!
I made it to 11pm, and we left right when everyone else was, so that was good. Thankfully, I can follow my nightly routine of watching 'Sex and the City' before going to bed (last night's episode was Charlotte's engagement party to Trey, so still have a couple seasons to go through), so I should be good until December. All right!
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