I'm here! I'm here! I made it! It's the same as I remembered—colorful, hot, crazy drivers, hot, ice cream stands on the side of the road, stray dogs and cows… I'm so excited!
The flight was uneventful. I got there 14 billion hours early, per usual. I was crammed onto one of those teeny tiny planes from DC to Newark. My flight from Newark to Delhi was quite nice—I mean, as nice as a 14-hour flight can be. There was an empty seat between me and another passenger, which meant I got to spread out, so that was awesome. I got up and walked around frequently because I felt like my ankles were getting swollen from lack of movement. A few years back, my sister and I were flying home from Hawaii and when I woke up, my legs were completely swollen. I looked like a hobbit and had to lay in bed for quite a long time with my legs propped up to get the swelling down. I really didn't want that to happen again, so i looked like a fool jogging around the plane every so often.
The Delhi airport has been updated since I last came and was so nice! Adi picked me up and the first thing he told me once we got in the cab was that I didn't have to wear my seat belt. My mother just got through jokingly telling me that I should listen to everything Adi tells me because he once talked me out of buying a pocket-sized sugar bear. I wonder if my Mom still thinks I should be listening to him.
My hotel is awesome! It's very fancy shmancy and definitely unlike my apartment from three years ago. I doubt I'll find Bob or any of his relatives roaming about.
Down in the courtyard there was a party going on. Obviously for me. I was very exhausted, so I didn't go downstairs. I hope the partygoers were not too disappointed.
Once I got my bearings, I called home. FaceTime with my sister and niece was interesting. This was the view from my end.
It only got better when Alice decided to eat the phone. The close-up view of her tonsils was just what i needed to really make me feel at home. That, and my sister's hysterical laughter at the entire incident.
I managed to get a little sleep before waking up at 6 a.m. I looked outside and there were no pigs roaming about, so that was a little sad. However, the shower was pretty awesome—it completely made up for the lack of pigs. My poor little apartment shower from 2010 does not hold a candle to this monster. I was so deceived by it's awesomeness that I almost opened my mouth to swallow the water. Thankfully, I remembered at the last second how much of an issue that might be. I refuse to get sick from something as silly as swallowing shower water!
Breakfast was fantastic. Just the idea of having breakfast in India that didn't come from a packet (e.g., oatmeal) was terrific. I got confused trying to find the breakfast area and first ended up at the gym. The world is clearly trying to tell me something. After I located the cafe, the gentleman at the front led me to my seat and took my order. I don't think I was technically supposed to give him my order and he seemed very amused by me. I'm not entirely sure what I did that was so amusing, but i definitely did something. I ordered a cappuccino and aloo parathas, so maybe my pronunciation was funny. After he left me alone, my waiter came over and asked if I needed anything. At first I said no because I thought I ordered from the other dude, but my waiter looked so sad when I said that, so I changed my mind and ordered orange juice. He lit up like a Christmas tree. Very easy to please, I guess. The food was delicious and my waiter seemed happy that I had ordered an Indian breakfast. I told him that I had been to India before and that I loved it, which made him even more happy. I really liked this guy.
My cab ride to work was normal. Last night my driver went down a one-way road the wrong way and I didn't flinch. I guess I've become desensitized to the horrible traffic and driving around here. Going to work, i barely paid attention to the 10 cars/vans that almost ran into us. This cab driver was very friendly and asked quite a few questions. I replied in kind. Not sure if that was smart considering what happened last time, but whatever. Seems less likely I'll have issues in a hotel versus when I was all alone in my apartment. I don't even think someone could make me tomato soup here—unless they worked in the restaurant, that is. I should probably be careful with that waiter.
The office was exactly the same. The staff member who led me to my desk was practically running, so I literally sprinted past my team while trying to keep up. Finally I was able to put my stuff down and say hello. I met all the new staff and stood around awkwardly while I recounted my travel experiences and told them over and over how excited I was to be there. After that, I finally got to work, but not before I got some much-needed coffee from Costa with Aasthaa. Lunch was shish taouk from Brix. After that, I was pretty much just sitting at my desk, attempting to keep my eyes open.
I left promptly at 5 p.m. so I could get home and get some rest. Of course, workaholic that I am, I ended up on e-mail and on the phone with colleagues in the US. So now I will finally order some butter chicken from room service (room service! So totally opposite of my days in the apartment!) and then get some sleep. Blah jet lag.
The flight was uneventful. I got there 14 billion hours early, per usual. I was crammed onto one of those teeny tiny planes from DC to Newark. My flight from Newark to Delhi was quite nice—I mean, as nice as a 14-hour flight can be. There was an empty seat between me and another passenger, which meant I got to spread out, so that was awesome. I got up and walked around frequently because I felt like my ankles were getting swollen from lack of movement. A few years back, my sister and I were flying home from Hawaii and when I woke up, my legs were completely swollen. I looked like a hobbit and had to lay in bed for quite a long time with my legs propped up to get the swelling down. I really didn't want that to happen again, so i looked like a fool jogging around the plane every so often.
The Delhi airport has been updated since I last came and was so nice! Adi picked me up and the first thing he told me once we got in the cab was that I didn't have to wear my seat belt. My mother just got through jokingly telling me that I should listen to everything Adi tells me because he once talked me out of buying a pocket-sized sugar bear. I wonder if my Mom still thinks I should be listening to him.
My hotel is awesome! It's very fancy shmancy and definitely unlike my apartment from three years ago. I doubt I'll find Bob or any of his relatives roaming about.
Down in the courtyard there was a party going on. Obviously for me. I was very exhausted, so I didn't go downstairs. I hope the partygoers were not too disappointed.
Once I got my bearings, I called home. FaceTime with my sister and niece was interesting. This was the view from my end.
It only got better when Alice decided to eat the phone. The close-up view of her tonsils was just what i needed to really make me feel at home. That, and my sister's hysterical laughter at the entire incident.
I managed to get a little sleep before waking up at 6 a.m. I looked outside and there were no pigs roaming about, so that was a little sad. However, the shower was pretty awesome—it completely made up for the lack of pigs. My poor little apartment shower from 2010 does not hold a candle to this monster. I was so deceived by it's awesomeness that I almost opened my mouth to swallow the water. Thankfully, I remembered at the last second how much of an issue that might be. I refuse to get sick from something as silly as swallowing shower water!
Breakfast was fantastic. Just the idea of having breakfast in India that didn't come from a packet (e.g., oatmeal) was terrific. I got confused trying to find the breakfast area and first ended up at the gym. The world is clearly trying to tell me something. After I located the cafe, the gentleman at the front led me to my seat and took my order. I don't think I was technically supposed to give him my order and he seemed very amused by me. I'm not entirely sure what I did that was so amusing, but i definitely did something. I ordered a cappuccino and aloo parathas, so maybe my pronunciation was funny. After he left me alone, my waiter came over and asked if I needed anything. At first I said no because I thought I ordered from the other dude, but my waiter looked so sad when I said that, so I changed my mind and ordered orange juice. He lit up like a Christmas tree. Very easy to please, I guess. The food was delicious and my waiter seemed happy that I had ordered an Indian breakfast. I told him that I had been to India before and that I loved it, which made him even more happy. I really liked this guy.
The office was exactly the same. The staff member who led me to my desk was practically running, so I literally sprinted past my team while trying to keep up. Finally I was able to put my stuff down and say hello. I met all the new staff and stood around awkwardly while I recounted my travel experiences and told them over and over how excited I was to be there. After that, I finally got to work, but not before I got some much-needed coffee from Costa with Aasthaa. Lunch was shish taouk from Brix. After that, I was pretty much just sitting at my desk, attempting to keep my eyes open.
I left promptly at 5 p.m. so I could get home and get some rest. Of course, workaholic that I am, I ended up on e-mail and on the phone with colleagues in the US. So now I will finally order some butter chicken from room service (room service! So totally opposite of my days in the apartment!) and then get some sleep. Blah jet lag.
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