[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.