Day 1: I'm Here!

So, I made it! 2 flights, each about 8 hours long. Sounds horrible, doesn't it? Surprising, it really wasn't bad at all. Business class is great and in my opinion Luftansa is better than United. I didn't sleep too much, maybe 2 hours on each flight.

Alright, so I'm going to give this blog thing a shot. (Mom, no comments on punctuation or writing.) Everyone has asked me to take lots of pictures and keep in touch, so maybe this will work. When work starts I'll be really busy. Just sayin'.

I arrived at the airport around 130am India time (2pm CST). It was easy to get around because all of the signs are written in both English and Hindu (I mean Hindi. I forgot to include Rachel when I warned my mom above...). After standing in line for about 45 minutes (passport/visa check) I was off to claim my luggage. Even tho there were 2 places where my luggage could have been I found my 2 bags right away and noticed an elderly Caucasian woman confused and looking for her belongings. I asked her if she spoke English and she responded, "No, Francais." So, I dug into the archives, "Le baggage es ici ou la bas. Les Deux." She said something and I answered 'Si, I mean oui.' My first global reality check and feeble attempt at Spengrench.

Bags in hand, I venture to go find my driver. The scene was ridiculous. Picture Red Carpet chaos: few people walking down an aisle with a billion people on each side shouting and wanting your autograph. Not kidding- about 400 guys all holding signs with names of people they are driving. We walk out overwhelmed and they could see it on our faces- all you could do was laugh.

No worries tho, I found my driver within minutes and he quickly took my bags. I flew around the globe with another Hewitt Associate. Someone here for a completely separate purpose and she is only here for a week. She also found her driver (different hotels) and after making sure we were both Ok, I was off.

The drive from the airport to the hotel was uneventful. They drive on the opposite side of the road and the driver sits on the left instead of the right. I arrived at the hotel and was greeted with prayer hands, head bows and 'namestes' by about 10 people, and by name when I approached the counter.

Since I arrived, I allowed myself 10 hours to sleep- and I used all of it. It's now 6pm, what will be the start of my work day, so I'm going to try to stay up until 3am so I can get on what will be my 'regular schedule.' I'm exhausted tho. And I have this eye twitch thing going on in my right eye which normally happens when I'm tired and stressed. I'm adapting to using bottled water while brushing my teeth and I've done everything I can to create make shift blocks to prevent me from accidently using the tap.

Keeping In Touch
-Via IM, you can create a gmail account. (Which is the coolest email account anyway.) We can g-chat!
-I downloaded skype. Any users out there? I think my user name is erinmurphy2005.
-You can still txt or call my cel phone. I most likely will not answer the phone, but I will respond via email or I'll call you while I'm at the Hewitt India office.

Pics
Hotel Website: http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/cp/1/en/hotel/NDEGG

Kodak Gallery (personal photos): http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=ahmukup.a6mmezz5&x=0&y=4loldr


A few questions I've had so far:

Q: How many bags did you pack?
A: I checked 2 and carried on 1. One of the 2 was a big mama-jama. (Thanks Dad!) Total weight was around 95 pounds, not including the bag I carried with me. I'm still going to run out of clothes.

Q: Have you seen anything different so far?
A: Not really but sort of.
-Devon St. in Chicago is a pretty good replica of one of the streets I was on from the airport to the hotel. And on the side of the road, I saw a huge clay pot factory or store or something. Nothing I haven't seen before but not something that we see all the time. When we drive down to Panama City Beach we'll see places like this in Alabama or Northern Florida. (For Ali- Floribama. No mullets allowed.)
-Security is prevalent. Men in gear with Guns. And it feels surreal- Not like I'm in India, but more like I'm at MGM Studios.
-I just checked out the gym and the spa. The gym looks better than I expected and the spa prices seem CHEAP! And they're eager to service. I was just checking it out and they asked me to make an appointement about 4 times.

And now, I'll try to find something for dinner- which should really be breakfast given my schedule.

Until later, Nameste.