It's Been Real, India....

So today is the day.

I have finished up my last day at work, packed my bags, and now waiting to head to the airport.

Not looking forward to the 22 hours it is going to take to arrive home, but happy to be heading in that direction shortly.

I have learned so much on this trip, and have a new respect for my country. While I think that the whole "bribing police officers to get out of stuff'' here is kind of cool, That doesn't outweigh a cheeseburger...

This country has so much to develop still, but it houses some of the most passionate, caring, and happy people I have ever met in my life. The simplistic style of the way they live their life is very comforting. They aren't worried about the little things, and live in the moment.

That's something that I know I can learn a lot about. I always focus on "What's next? When do I get to try that? Now that I am here, how do I get there?"

I have learned that  I need to cherish the things that I have, the family I was blessed with, the friends that love me, and my boyfriend, who is VERY patient with me.

I know that one thing that I will really miss here is the people. When I was leaving the office today, several people became very emotional over my leaving. It's nice to know how much you are appreciated, and how someone can really look up to another human being.


You have probably seen these pictures on Facebbok, however, I wanted to close out my last post in India with some pictures of things that I have seen and experienced. Enjoy.

Yes, that's a cow in the middle of the road.

I will never forget this experience. It has been life changing, and I hope that you have all enjoyed reading about my travel. Until next time...

Cheers.

[What Seems Like] An Eternity Down, One Week to Go!

HOWDY!

Miss me yet?

I miss you.

Only 1 more week from Tuesday! I can't believe it! I am super excited to see what and how many welcome home parties the boys are putting on for me. :P

I keep forgetting that it's Alyssa's week, too, figuring how she's getting married and all…

I did happen to get a fantastic suit made while I have been here in a dark grey color with very subtle pin strips on it. Final fitting tomorrow, and if all goes well, I will get to take it home.

This last weekend, I went to the Qutub Minar, which is a fort/tomb that has a very tall monument made out of red sandstone.  It was incredible.  I didn't have a guide to tell me what it is  about, so that's all you get on that.

I have taken advantage of every aspect of this trip… The following is a list of different sites I have seen:

Humayun's Tomb

India Gate

Rasthrapati Bhavan

Holy Sacred Catholic Church

Hare Krishna Temple

Qutub Minar

Red Fort

Taj Mahal

Dilli Haat (Twice. :))

Kingdom of Dreams

Lotus Temple

There's also a museum completely dedicated to dolls. I, however will pass on that one.

Two of the mentors went back to the States this week. While I miss them,  it makes me realize that my time here is limited. I have tried yoga for the first time, got to watch some guys bowl in sandals, seen some amazing places, and made some great friends along the way.

I guess the best way to describe this trip, is that India and I have a love/hate relationship.

Iza and I were talking the other night, and she asked me what I felt India was like, if I thought it was expensive or inexpensive.

I told her, ''Both''. Someone here told me that India is what you make of it, and the people make the culture. I thought that was a great way to put it. You can have as much fun as you want here, and you can hate it here just the same.

I'd like to think that I have made the best of my trip here, and I have had some great experiences with the people that tagged along. They kept up with my quirkiness, and encouraged my creativity and thirst to be different, and try different things.  I have tried things here that I would have never thought I would. And don't worry, it's all good things. Besides the diarrhea water balls. Don't try those.

BUT. I STILL HAVE NOT SMOKED OUT OF A HOOKAH.

Apparently, in Gurgaon it is illegal now to smoke out of a hookah because too many people were smoking marijuana out of it. Strawberry Marijuana. All of you stoners are probably drooling right now, however I just want to smoke out of one. Tobacco. Strawberry mariju...I mean, Tobacco. 

Seriously, I mean tobacco. I am not smoking pot in a country I have never been in. I will NOT be on "Locked up Abroad."

Seriously.

That show freaks me out.

Teammates are starting to request me to be their friend on Facebook. I think its weird, and incredibly inappropriate, so I have decided to let their requests sit until I return,  at which time, I will most likely decline the request, and send an email explaining my actions.

I feel  that if you are going to accept those type of things, you have to be consistent, so if you accept one, you have to accept all. I am not in a place where I want all 35 people I just got done training to look into my life as closely as they possibly could via Facebook.  They would look at all you Drag Queens on my friends list, and probably have a heart attack.

And now that I am writing it out, I also link my blog to facebook, and I don't think that they would appreciate my rants of how I am tired of having to sit in traffic for 35 minutes because a cow thinks he's grand and is deciding to stand in the middle of the street, blocking traffic.

STEAK.

Boom. Done, the American way. :)

Looking forward to seeing all of your faces. I hope to be announcing some big news in the next post, but will be sure to post before I leave India.

P.S. If I have to buy another suitcase to bring all the crap you all asked me to bring you home, you are paying for it.

Cheers.

Movie Stars Don't Know Anything...

Hey Hey Hey!

Only a few more weeks, and then I am back home! I am suuuper excited to see Colton, my baby nephew. That's one challenging thing about being away from home.

Anyhow, I think that everyone needs to add "See an Indian bowl for their first time" to their bucket list, because it is HILARIOUS.

I went bowling the other night with Iza and Tano and next to us, there were two guys who have never bowled before in their life. I think they got their American sports mixed up, because one of them were throwing the ball like a baseball… In sandals.

Yes, sandals. It was awesome. 

This weekend we are off to go see the Taj Mahal. Mohan will be driving us, and if you saw the video on Facebook of me dancing to the "Happy Birthday" Song while Mohan was driving us to the Kingdom of Dreams, the tune is quite catchy. Iza, one of the Team Leaders from PayPal Malaysia, said that because we told him that we liked that song, he played it the whole way to Agra (which is where the Taj Mahal is located). That's 4 1/2 hours of one song.

ONE song. 4 1/2 hours.

Mohan told me that he will be bringing another song to listen to on the way. That’s comforting. We will be listening to two songs. For 4 1/2 hours.

I asked him if he could burn me the CD that had this Happy Birthday song on it, and he said, "Sure! No problem! For 50 rupees."  C-O-N Artist!

Iza has a friend that she met in Amsterdam that is living here in India on an internship for work, and we had the opportunity to go hang out with her and her friends last weekend. It was amazing. I met several Europeans from all over, including Germany, Italy, the UK, Spain, etc. They were very nice, and super accommodating, seeing as how we showed up to a party with NO beer…

After we left the party, we found a club that had a rooftop bar in a village, and of course, I made friends with the owner who proceeded to buy is rounds throughout the night. We made it home around 330AM, and poor Iza had to get up at 530 to go to Agra and see the Taj Mahal. Listening to the Birthday Song. For 4 1/2 hours. She wasn't too pleased with me. :) 

So I also went and got my hair cut, by this stylist name Habib, who apparently is the best in Delhi. We got my hair cut, and I have been doing it slightly different, and one of the guys that work at the hotel bar said to me,

"Mr. Hall, I love your new hair cut, it's very suave, very movie star, very 'I don't know anything'."

I said, "Oh, thank you Sumhir, that's very… wait, what??!"

Pretty sure he told me that I looked good, but also looked like a giant dumbass who doesn't know anything. Thanks Sumhir.

A picture has been attached with the new hair sytle for your perusal. Feedback is welcomed, not sure how I feel about it. :)

Talk soon.

Cheers.

Have a Waterball! Just don't have 5.

I have been very busy over the last week! Sorry for the delay in writing.

We have two mentors in from Arizona and a CS Manager and Team Leader in from Kuala Lumpur, so it's been quite busy ensuring that they all get settled!

I did a bit more site-seeing over the last couple of days. Saturday, we went out to the Dilli Haat, which in Hindi means "Heart of Delhi" and did some shopping. I tried my very first, and most likely, last, "waterball".

A Waterball consists of hollowed out fried dough in which the person making them for you puts in a mixture of lentils and potatoes. At that point, they dip it into a watery broth that contains different spices, but mostly mint takes priority. One would then stick the entire "ball" into their mouths to avoid spilling on themselves, as once you take a bite of it, the different flavors flood your mouth.

It is indeed quite delicious, don't get me wrong, but the understanding is that you have to find a place that does this a bit more sanitary. The stand that I got these from stated that they used mineral water for the broth. Needless to say, The last two days have been spent in my bathroom, vomiting, or...otherwise.

A little bit of water here will not necessarily effect you in a way that you become violently ill, for example, I sometimes have the hotel use a few ice cubes in my cocktails at night, but I have been drinking whiskey, and I assume that any bacteria or the same would be killed off by what I choose to drink prior to affecting me. :)

The hotel water is fine, I still don't drink it straight from the faucet, but it's fine. It's a 5-star hotel, for crying out loud.

I guess what I am trying to say is, I don't think the 76 year old man on the corner of a crowded hot street was using mineral water in his mint broth...

Needless to say, I recommend trying one if you ever enter India, but I would say ONLY one, don't go overboard. They are delicious. I also found out that several people use the fried hollow dough at parties and fill them with tequila.

That might be a waterball I am willing to try. Not today, of course. I gag when I even type the word...

Besides that, there was some exceptional items at Dilli Haat, like the 29 different handmade and stoned bags that I purchased for about the equivalent to 30 cents each. I was told to bargain in the markets, so anytime a price was provided, you counter with half. Believe it or not, it really works. :)

I witnessed this myself, as well as ants with wings. Yes, ants with wings. In order to avoid monsoon season here and not get killed, Ants actually develop wings during monsoon season so they can avoid being flooded by the heavy rain that takes place in July and August. From what I understand, after the season is over, the wings fall off, and continue to live their lives. CRAZY. Let me tell you, these things were HUGE. So you can imagine how I looked when I would bat around my face every five minutes in Dilli Haat afraid of some ants (That don't bite) but nonetheless scare the crap out of me.  I tried my hardest to maintain any masculine sensibility that I had in my body at the time these things were flying into my face, but as most of you know, I failed. Miserably.

More later, I think I have to visit the restroom.

Cheers.

Culture Shock.

Greetings,

Today, I woke up feeling a bit overwhelmed and homesick. I usually feel this way on the weekends based off of the fact that my weekends are pretty much spent by myself. In my hotel room.

I am trying different ways to to try and calm my anxiety, because as most of you know, Daniel doesn't do so well in a 48sq ft hotel room for too long by himself. Jon can attest that after spending too much time in an enclosed space, I become annoying, antsy and need to get out. Well, I have certainly found out how annoying I can become.

When there isn't someone else here to annoy, one begins to annoy themself. :)

A lot of you are probably saying to yourself, "Daniel, you are in India! Get out and explore!"

Well it's not that easy. I can have my driver come and pick me up and take me to different locations, but when you come from a city like omaha of 1 million people (including surrounding areas) and travel 7k miles to a city of 17 million people (including surrounding areas), you tend to undergo what is known as Culture Shock.

*And what I like to call tourist wallet, which means that everyone knows you are a tourist, and want to empty your wallet.

I am not saying that I am not taknig advantage of my time here, because I am, it's just taking a bit longer to get used to than I thought it would. Some days, I just want a cheeseburger and the Kardashians on E!. Is that so bad?

I think a lot of us take advantage of what we have in the States. finding a drag queen here is looking for a needle in a haystack. The freedom that we have in America is unlike anything that I have here. The ability to step outside of a hotel for a smoke is completely different here. Before I go outside, I think about what I have in my pockets, and what I can leave in the hotel room so I don't have to take it out when going through the metal detector to get back in. This is certainly NOT  a bad thing, but you think of the cultural differences from America to a foreign country.

Some of you have traveled internationally and can relate, and I certainly have it a lot easier than most, but that doesn't change the detatchement that one experiences from home. By the way, did you know that TomKat are getting a divorce? Oh, and Sharen, in case you didn't know (which I highly doubt you didn't hear already), Adele is pregnant.

Thank Buddha for Facebook.

More Americans are coming out on Wednesday this week. Looking forward to being able to carry on a conversation with someone who understands my studder and convoluted way of speaking. :)

Sense of Humor. This is not an Indian characterisitc. Don't think it is, because it isn't. My trainees laugh at my jokes as a sign of respect, not as a genuine characteristic of my hilariousness.  I think I am funny. Them, not so much. It makes for a tough crowd, and a long day.

I went and bought several pairs of shoes today, as a token of respect for gays across the world (HAPPY PRIDE), and felt much better after a quick Skype with my mommy.

I also found some very encouraging FB messages from a few friends, and a great article about culture shock. Thanks, Ashley and Josh.

I guess I never understood that culture shock goes beyond the initial thought of Sh*t it's hot here, and the traffic is awful!

I didn't realize that it comes in stages, and that I should take for granted what I have, and what I will be going home to.  I have to really thank Ashley and Josh for the words and the encouragement, and my fantastic boyfriend for being so patient with me while I continue to better myself and my career. Jon, you have been so supportive of my endeavors, and I know that sometimes my decisions are made without the thoughts of others, but you understand that these are things I need to experience, and have no problem going along with my shenanigans when it comes to continue to excel at my career. I know it can't always be easy for you, but you put on a brave face for me, and I love you for it.

My parents have been great, and so has my family. It's tough missing holidays and births of my first nephew, but I am pretty sure he will forgive me for it when he gets hold of all the fabulous clothes I am goint to buy him.  I am truly blessed to have this experience.

The rewards will ALWAYS outweigh the challenges.

Cheers.

Elevate THIS.

Hi.

So, I suppose I should start today's blog with the most interesting thing that happened today.

I was in class training some teammates, and there is this very shy girl in the class named Zuma. I always try and have fun with the shy ones because sometimes you can see their personality shine through if you pay enough attention to them.

We were working emails, and she called me over to check the email she was currently working on, and I said, as a joke, for her to get up and go help the rest of the class because  I was tired, and wanted to sit down for awhile.

She did.

When I explained to her that I was just kidding, I asked, " Are you mad at me?"

Apparently, she thought I said, "Will you marry me?" To which she replied, "No, sorry Mr. Hall, I am already married."

WHAT?

She said it so nonchalantly, that I wasn't sure if she was kidding or not! When I informed her that I asked if she was mad at me, she said that she didn't know what I was saying because my accent was so bad.

Not as shy as I thought....

I also got stuck in an elevator for 15 minutes in my hotel. Yes, 15 minutes. That also might be the most interesting thing that happened to me today. :)

I couldn't believe how long 15 minutes can be when you are stuck in such a small space. I have never been one to be claustrophobic, but let me tell you, I was S-C-A-R-E-D. I got into the elevator on the first floor, and as you may remember, my hotel has frequent temporary power outages. As I got into the elevator, I pressed my floor number and the doors closed. I could begin to feel the elevator moved, when it came to a sudden halt, and while I was pounding away at my Blackberry, I made a loud, high-pitched, yip ( to those of you who have heard it, yeah, your right. It was REALLY girly). 

I proceeded to cover my mouth, and embarrassed, looked around the 2x3 meter (yes, I said meter, I am in India, after all), enclosed box to see if anyone heard me, but alas, I was alone, surrounded by mirrors. Normally, I would be in heaven, due to the amount of walls I could look at that contained a reflection that I could look into, however, my attention went straight to the lift display (yes, lift, I said it. Remember? INDIA?). 

Nothing. No floor number, no power.

I looked down at my blackberry, and didn't have any bars. It was like a really corny scary movie. Remember Redeye, with Rachel McAdams, and she was driving, and her phone happened to die at the exact moment she needed to call someone? Not only was it an awful movie, but totally predictable. That's kind of how I felt.

I felt as if I was going to have to be rescued by the Indian Rescue team, and all I could think of was how pissed at myself I was for not waking up the extra 15 minutes early so I could polish my shoes.

I am totally vain, you all knew that about me, don't act surprised.

Anyhow, the elevator started moving again, and it took me to the second floor. I stepped off, and there was a couple that stepped off the elevator to my right, with a look of death on their faces. We both looked at each other, and looked at the elevators. The lights were not lighting up again, however, the couple felt it was okay to go into my elevator and try and continue their ride. I advised against it.

We waited a few minutes and then the lights came back on on the elevator, so I took it to my floor. That sounds like that advice was given to me from the girl who decides to run upstairs instead of outside when the killer is chasing her in horror movies...

I digress-

Overall, it was an exciting day. I got turned down on a marriage proposal by a woman whom I have only known for 10 days, and made life choices only a big-chested blonde bimbo from Halloween would make. Happy Tuesday.

Cheers.

Humayun who???!!

What an exciting weekend!! Saturday I went out site seeing and went to several marvelous different places. The first stop was Humayuns Tomb. He was the first emperor of India, and apparently a pretty big deal. The site is huge, and what I found kind of funny was that in order to get in, you have to pay for a ticket. They charge the equivalent to $5 for locals, and $10 for tourists. They have no way of telling whether you or a tourist or not other than the color of your skin. Everything involved with building this tomb is so eccentric. Indians are a big believer of ensuring that when designing these tombs, everything is symmetric. So you'll find that the tomb itself is very large, and not only hold Humayun's body, but also bodies of his relatives, the royals. His wife had it built for him after he died in the 1560s.the way that they construct these tombs is amazing. So much thought and time goes into building these. They even make sure that while it is built out of marble and known to get very hot, the architect,Mirak Mirza Ghiyath, built it just right so that the breeze from the wind would keep the inside cool. It's amazing. Once you walk in, you can see in the ceiling where the design used house jewels and gems, but over time have been removed and stolen. It's been told that the queen of England's crown actually has some of the jewels from this tomb. We also visited the India Gate, which is beautiful! It's located near the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Indian president's home. There's a long road that connects the presidents house to the India gate, which on republic day in January is filled with the army, navy, marines, etc. For a march and celebration. If you get some time, I highly recommend you google pictures of it. It's very extravagant. You can drive up right to the gate of the presidents home, but you cannot park for long. The army will ask you to move on. The Rashthrapati Bhavan was actually built by the British, so you can see some european architecture, but overtime Indians have renovated it, so it's kind of like an Indian-British mutt. It's beautiful though. At the Indian gate, there is always several guards guarding the center of it. There is an eternal flame lit in honor to the several hundred thousand Indian troops that lost their lives in the first world war and afghan wars. All the name of the fallen soldiers are inscribed in the side of the monument. They do changing of the guards, etc. It's very neat. I actually got my picture taken with one of the soldiers. :) So, we have discussed two different places that I visited Saturday. Tired? I sweated out about 15 pounds between the two places. Don't complain. Did I mention it was 114 degrees yesterday? I also visited The Holy Sacre Catholic Church, and lit candles that I bought from the cutest 4 year old Indian girl. I lit them at the st. Mary monument in front of the church. I also popped into the church to see it's beauty, but there was prayer going on, so I didn't stay long. However, I did buy 5 rosaries for a total of $15 dollars that I was told were made in Jerusalem. Don't worry, I got pictures. The last place visited yesterday was a Sikh temple. This is a very strict religion that we often see wearing turbans. In order to enter the temple, you must be wearing a turban and submit your shoes and socks. You then have to walk over and wash your feet in a fountain, as you cannot carry any dust into the temple.the top of it is lined with actual gold, and is amazing to see, however, being that the religion is so strict, I didn't get too many smiles for being there. We left rather quickly. Today (Sunday), I went to the Ambience mall to check it out, and it's six floors of fabulousness...lol, they actually have an ice skating rink on the sixth floor, which is a bit ironic seeing as how that's the hottest floor... The mall also contains a bowling alley, 10 different restaurants, a night club, movietheatre, three beer gardens, amusement rides, and a huge food court. I had an Indian BLT which consists of butter chicken, cabbage, stewed tomatoes, and a lamb and asparagus blend on naan (Indian bread). AMAZEBALLS. It's hard to eat at the food court because everything smells awful, but tastes good. Your senses pretty much kick you in your nether regions. You need to go through security checks in order to get into the building, which includes a metal detector. I don't think that there are s A lot of places where young here without security checks... Is that good or bad? There are a lot of pros and co s with each, I suppose.