L-T-D at the T-A-J ! Weekend Relaxation

Hammock in front of our villa

Look closely .. those are crabs!

What I eat for breakfast every

On our way to the beac

Ruks had to ride on Ravi's lap the whole way. (Hour drive)

Another weekend ... another fabulous (much needed) beach getaway! We are staying at a different resort this weekend. Amy and I opted to share a room so we could get a room upgrade :) We have our own individual villa right on the water. The view is ahhhmazing! We have spent a lot of time in that hammock.. reflecting back on our experience so far.

We tried to take a picture of us standing in the Bay of Bengal .. that didnt go so well - A LOT different than the Pacific Ocean. The water is rough, knocked us over and before we knew it we were drenched from head to toe (fully clothed). It makes me laugh to think how ridiculous we must have looked. We are lucky we didnt get swept away.

We also went to the spa today and booked some appointments for tomorrow. I am going to get my first facial and a pedicure :) It will feel good to have some pampering.

Class 1 was a success - Their goal was to be at 97% quality and the trainees are already processing at 97.76% after the first week. Hopefully Class 2 goes as well...

36 more days. I miss everyone. Lots of Love!

I will try to post more pictures tomorrow. My camera battery died and Im recharging.

Slipping......

With each day comes more challenges. I have done my best to stay strong, positive and attempt to hold it all together. I'm slipping...

Starting to feel like no one on this project is working together as a team .. there is division and we are working against each other rather than towards the common goal. I hold myself to a high standard and want to deliver the best. I am the face of this training- and I feel that the total success is on Amy and I's shoulders. I cant help but notice there seems to be a different set of rules and expectations for the trainers then anyone else on this project.


I feel misunderstood. I know, without a doubt, that nobody can understand the full capacity of the struggles on this project without actually experiencing it.  I think about all that I given up to be here and how much easier it would have been to just say I couldnt do it. I need to find my strength... I need to remember the good in this opportunity.

Today I feel sad.  

“Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength.”

Challenges of Week 2

As you can see from the pictures posted earlier.. the Radisson Beach Resort was amazing! Our driver took us to the resort which was about an hour away from the main city of Chennai. The grounds were lush and the hotel was situated along the coast of the Bay of Bengal. We enjoyed a swim in the infinity pool -  in fact it felt so refreshing we stayed in there for 2 hours :) The view was breathtaking and the swim up bar was a bonus. We have a new appreciation for King Fisher beer.. lol. We chatted with a few guys from Holland that were at the pool and are in India on work project as well. Overall, it was nice escape and very relaxing. We will return  to the same resort in a couple weeks and will venture off the property to visit the Shore Temple and to do some shopping.  

The weekend flew by way too fast and now it is back to work. Amy and I completed the first phase of our training which focused on simple process changes. Ten people out of our original 32 trainees have moved to the production floor and will be completing live work on the processes they have learned.  Amy and I have moved on to training the remaining 22 trainees on the second phase- complex processes.


We also moved training rooms so that all of the trainees can have their own individual computers. We thought this room would be better and more spacious.. but no such luck. The room is very crowded.. trainees have limited space, and once again Amy and I's desk consists of a cart and a couple lawn chairs in the center of the room. The internet cable to my laptop stretches across the room and if the trainee sitting closest to it moves too much to the left it disconnects. In addition .. there are trainees sitting in front of the door to leave the classroom.. which gives me an awkward trapped feeling.


Yesterday was the most challenging day of training yet. Amy and I both worked from 430pm -545am at the office (that doesnt include all the prep time before we got to the office). I am exhausted. Our sleep has been minimal since we have been here and we are struggling to find foods we like to eat. So needless to say 12 hr+ days with no energy is difficult. Last night I returned back to the training room at the end of the shift.. and just sat in there alone, collecting my thoughts ..on the verge of tears. Two small mice crawled out from the one of the desks to greet me. I couldnt help but wish for some Disney music to start playing.. the mice to start dancing and somehow carry me off to some fantasy world. Unfortunately, they just scampered off in search for cookies left behind.


Today is a new day... I know I will look back on this whole experience (even the difficult times) and appreciate all that I have learned. I am grateful.


India has humbled me a bit.. the streets are lined with poverty.. yet the people know no different. It has renewed my appreciation for the country I live in. Makes me want to simplify my own life, let go of material possessions and focus on what really matters.


Cheers!  40 more days... PS.. I have fed my dog everynight :)  Leave a comment... missin everyone!

Sunrise over the Bay of Bengal - Sunday May 22

Lots of these guys roaming around.. Im pretty sure we have these as pets back home

Can you see me?

Coconut !

Infinity pool .. beautiful!

Sunrise

Radisson Temple Bay - Beach Resort

Gopi and Ruks - Thumbs up!

Amy and I will be in the pool tomorrow.. its beautiful.. overlooking the Bay of Bengal

Chess anyone? The pieces really move ..

Good Eats :)

Cows on the way to the hotel .. several  of them just wandering the streets

mmmm... Lobster!

What it is like to work in India!

Friday May 20th 10:06am

I have almost completed my first week of training in India..

The Indian people are my favorite part of this whole experience. I have a classroom full of young (21-25yrs old) college graduates.(Mostly male - only 3 women in my class) They are all so eager and happy to be working and for most of them this is their first job out of college. They are extremely smart and learn quickly. They are also very patient.. we have had a lot of IT issues with the systems we are using - but they never display frustration or complain. They also love to play training games- We played a BINGO review game on Wednesday that they really enjoyed.  We also brought them chocolate from the US (snickers, reeses, etc) THEY LOVE IT!

The trainees are very curious about America and they like to ask me a lot of questions about our country. One of them asked me if I was excited Osama is dead. (They saw all the Americans celebrating on the news). I just smiled.. I wasnt sure what to say.. and they quickly said "Thats okay.. we are happy he is dead too!"  Lol..

One thing that is unique is when they nod yes instead of nodding front to back .. they nod side to side. It can get confusing.. because they are trying to indicate yes.. but it looks more like no to us. So we converted to the "Thumbs up!" system to indicate yes!

The facility we are training in is very different then what we are used to .. It is a tall building and we work on the 9th floor. The building leans a bit .. and is slanted.. which has been making me really dizzy and sick to my stomach (causes some kind of weird equilibrium imbalance). I am pretty sure the construction is not up to code. In addition, there are small little mice that scatter about in the training room and break room. The bathrooms have cockroaches and other various bugs. We just work around them and have a new appreciation for the office back home.

I need to take a picture of our training room - because you will be amazed. The perfect tag line would be.. Got Obstacles?  We have 33 trainees in a room that should hold about 20.. the rows are so crowded we can barely walk through. There is about a 3 foot space in front of the room with a huge stand up projector screen set up for the LCD .. I have tripped on it about fifty times.. and I am sure I will eventually face plant before the end of training.  There is no desk for Amy and I .. one of us usually sits in the middle of the room with a little cart for our laptop and lcd machine. We sit on a plastic lawn chair. (see below)

We are treated like royalty though.. they have servers that constantly check on us and bring us water, coke and little plates of cookies. They also bring us menus every evening and take our orders for dinner. They pick the dinners up and serve us. They are extremely accommodating and concerned about our comfort.

I normally venture outside the office on our breaks - to get fresh air. I have seen so much during my short breaks to the street. I witnessed a man fly off his motorcycle (he was ok) , watched a "cop" beat a bum with a stick .. and there are people scattered all over the sidewalk sleeping...and a lot of stray dogs everywhere. There is one stray dog that always returns to the front of the building at night.. he is very non aggressive - he just curls up and lays there. Last night some men were kicking him and hitting him with a stick... they thought it was funny. It was unbearable to watch.. and made me angry. The dog ran away. After my dinner break, I went back downstairs and tossed the dog some scraps from my meal :)  It made me feel better.

The whole experience has been very surreal so far..

A couple pictures/videos

Video of our drive to the mall.. you can hear the panic in my voice in the background!

Rickshaws are popular modes of transportation. The normal cost to get to the mall for locals about 50 INR .. for Americans 200 INR. Lesson Learned.

I left Travis special cards with surprise treats inside (gift cards... scratchers.. etc) for the first month I am gone :)

Inside the hotel

I promise to take more pictures ... but during the week it is work .. work .. work! I should have some fun pictures this weekend from the beach resort. 

Arrival - First 24 hours!

I have officially arrived!


I've got two words to say about the flight... Business Class!! What a difference that makes on a long flight (a little over 20hrs). We had lay down seats equiped with massagers and our own personal screens with movies,tv and video games. And..if you got tired of looking at your neighbor.. push a button .. and a privacy wall would go up :) Perhaps I could suggest these at work - I think they would be ideal in a cubicle setting as well.. ha! It was easy for me to sleep because the seats were actually comfortable and the cabin was darkened and had little twinkle stars on the ceiling. The plane/flight was impressive- Kudo Emirates!


We had a short layover in Dubai - only enough time to visit a few gift shops and enjoy a Stella at the bar. The airport itself was beautiful and had all the top end stores for shopping... I would have loved to venture outside just to catch a glimpse of one of those fabulous hotels!


Soo.. the India airport was not quite as impressive as Dubai. The second I stepped off the plane.. the heat hit me.. sweltering, sticky, stinky. But a lot like Missouri ;) We made it through customs and baggage claim... no problems. We stepped outside and there was people everywhere! It was an intimidating feeling... it was also 3am in the morning. There was well over a thousand people waiting outside the airport.. standing..sleeping on the cement.. they looked like they had been there for days. Apparently they were waiting for their international outbound flights - which only leave during the night hours and there is no indoor terminal waiting area. So in about 8 weeks - I will be one of those people.


Holy HELLo..Nobody quite prepared me for the driving. I mean I heard it was bad - But fearing for my life ??  Apparently lanes and blinkers are optional in India. it is more of a weaving system with heavy usage of horns. There were men on mopeds with their wives hanging off the back (no helmets)  and bicycles that appear out of nowhere and are suddenly part of the traffic. Little kids were riding in the back of truck beds... it was heartbreaking. I had to shut my eyes.


The hotel was about 20 heartstopping minutes away from the airport. The hotel we are staying at is 5 star.. very nice and caters to western visitors. As you pull into the hotel there are guards that stop you- check ids and your car. To go inside the hotel you must go through a metal detector and your bags are scanned. All this additional security actually made me more nervous. This is a known "western" hotel ... is our safety such a concern that all these additional measures are necessary? hummm...


I have not ventured outside the hotel yet.. I have mostly just been getting settled and recovering from the jet lag. So far the Indian people seem very polite and respectful. In the hotel they treat us like royalty. :) I can get used to this.....


My first work day begins in less than 12 hrs !