First Day in India

I woke around 5:45 local time after being asleep for meerly and hour.  I tossed and turned for the next couple of hours until I finally fell soundly asleep and awoke with a start at 8:00 AM.  My coworkers here don't start until 10:00, so this was perfectly acceptable.  I made my way downstairs and had breakfast in the hotel restaurant.  Aside from "eggs to order" the breakfast options were different than what we typically have -- lots of rice, peas, pita bread kind of stuff.  I asked the person at the egg station if they could make an omlet, to which she replied "Oh, yes... scrambled, fried, over easy?"  So I went we three eggs over easy, some rice with green pea sauce, and a croissant.

Novotel Lobby

The main manager in India, Sukumar, came to pick us (my Boss Dave and I) up at 10 and brought us to the office.  It wasn't far, but took quite a while due to all the traffic.  I quickly became convinced that all of Hyderabad's 8 million residents are aspiring Nascar drivers.  About half the vehicles on the road are little motorcycles.  Another 10% are these little 3 wheeler golf cart cabs (literally, they are the size of a golf cart), another 30% small cars, and the remainder are pedestrians or stray dogs walking around.  You end up with this complete stew of vehicular chaos where everyone is cutting someone off all the time, and in extremely close quarters.  Insanity.

Even I was a little stressed by this

Work today was good.  We had some meetings to discuss what we're going to talk about for the next two weeks.  I got to meet just about everyone and am doing my best to remember all their faces.  They are super friendly and so accomodating.  I can't get over how welcome they have made me feel.

I tried my first real Indian samosa today, which is basically a large wanton stuffed with potatos and curry of course.  Very spicy.  For lunch we went to the food court, very similar to what we have back home, just different restaurants.  I asked Sukumar what would be safe for me to eat, and he advised me to stick with Domino's and forgo the rest.  So, pepperoni pizza for lunch!  It was pretty much the same was what we have in the U.S. only it came with little packets of extra spices that we could add to our pizza for extra kick.

Samosa

Since I am still recovering a little bit from jet lag and my boss leaves town very early in the morning, we opted to eat at the hotel "Mexican" restaurant.  It was about what I expected -- Mexican names, but with a serious Indian influence.  Even the mexican rice was spicy!  I sure am glad I brought my tums!

After a nice dinner with Kelmer, Sukumar, Pranay, and Sreekanth, I retired to my room and video chatted with Flip and Beth for a little bit.  It is 11:42 now (1:12 Central), and I am beat.  Fortunately, everyone here goes to work at 10 so I still have a full night's sleep within grasp.