Riah's Ramblings

Option B

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 05:27:00 +0000

I guess if things don't work out with Andrew, I might have another option in India. Remember "The Boy"?
I got this email from him a few days ago...

Dear madam,

I am shashi shekhar speaking you know.

How are you mam and what are you doing now your all famely is fine mam when are you comeing my country so please tell me.

mam plz send me.reply now you know me or not and how is the mr.carl he is fine. I am Very...Very miss you mam.

Best wishes

Shashi

Day at Sea 2

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 01:08:00 +0000

We mostly just relaxed and did a few random things on our last day at sea - it was really fun.

We spent a lot of time here, watching Andrew.

The piano bar

The teen lounge

Andrew played on the championship dodgeball team. I'm so proud!

Not sure why I ever thought ordering frog legs was a good idea.

Just to recap, the food we had throughout the week was fun (shark, alligator, frog, etc) and delicious (lobster, prime rib, fresh fruit, chocolate melting cake, pasta, and more)! Here is what it looked like when we got it. (Thanks to Amanda for taking all the pictures!)

Yes, they sliced our bananas for us.

And of course, the meals were made even more enjoyable because of our staff:

Each night we also got the famous "towel animals" in our room. Amanda faithfully photographed ours, despite our inability to determine what some of them were. The boys' animals were definitely more identifiable.

All in all, it was a great trip. One of my favorite vacations, because of the awesome places and awesome people. We want to start planning a Mediterranean cruise next!

Grand Cayman

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 02:19:00 +0000

Andrew and I read online that the Cayman Islands are famous for snorkeling and shopping. We also had advice from a friend to do Sting Ray City so we chose a tour that had a stop at Sting Ray City and another snorkeling place, leaving us enough time to walk around downtown and shop.

Cayman is neat - it seems pretty Americanized (probably so all the rich Americans with houses there don't have to do without Subway and The Gap). The beaches, however, are beautiful, with soft white sand and gorgeous blue water.

Sting Ray City was awesome! I just kept wishing Pete could be there, since rays are his favorite animals. It's basically a cove where sting rays started appearing and living because fisherman would dump their old fish there. Now, the rays are very tamed and just swim around all the time because the tourists feed them. We got to get in the waist-deep water with tons of rays that swam around and rubbed our legs and feet. Our tour guides caught several and let us hold them, kiss them, and get back massages. We also got to feed them tiny little squids, which they sucked out of our hands with massive force. The rays are amazing! The females are HUGE. All the rays have kind of a slippery velvety feel - their bottoms are kind of squishy and the tops are soft skin of bony backs. We also got to see their barbs. The water was really clear so we could see them all moving around. At first it was terrifying - I didn't want to move because I was afraid I'd step on a ray (they swim at the bottom) and right onto a barb, but it never happened :-)

After Sting Ray City we went to another snorkeling place which sadly didn't even compare to Roatan, where we were spoiled. It was still fun, though. The guides were a blast and at the last minute also decided to take us to a really neat starfish haven so we got to see some cool starfish. Andrew and I picked one up then dropped it back down and it landed on it's back. We then got to watch as it flipped itself over slowly - so cool!

We were all looking forward to the shopping but after a few minutes of wandering around realized that it was mostly Americanized stuff at higher-than-American prices. Not that exciting. But the walk around was definitely worth it when we ended with fresh coconuts!

Roatan - Snorkling Paradise!

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 05:05:00 +0000

We were so lucky in Roatan. My cousin, Devon, has lived in Roatan for the last 8 years or so. When he was 19, he decided to go on an extended trip. While in South America, many people told him to try Roatan and he did....and never left. He makes a living doing beautiful photography (Check this out), and we were lucky enough to have him send us a few shots!

We arrived at 6am local time, but Devon and his girlfriend Diana (who is just lovely!!) were troopers and woke up early to come pick all of us up. We stopped at West Beach and played around in the water and then Devon's friend, Artly, came and took us out in his boat. We spent most of the rest of the day snorkling in an awesome reef and around a sunken submarine. Then on our boatride home, Artly took us to a dolphin show his friend runs. It was an AMAZING day - I think my favorite spot, because it was so beautiful, our "excursion" was so fun, and we spent the day with great people! Thanks, Devon!!

Snorkeling pictures. (Note, there are tons of pictures below. It was so hard to decide which ones to put in because they're all amazing!)

A Taste of Belize

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 17:49:00 +0000

Belize was amazing. We signed up to do a Tree Top Canopy Adventure and Cave Tubing excursion at the recommendation of a friend. (Note: while it make look like we were zip-lining, we were in reality doing a Tree Top Canopy Adventure, which is waaaay better ;-D). Big thanks to Andrew who encouraged me to do it even though I'm terrified of heights. After the first couple I really loved it! We were sooo high up and had some really long lines to do. It was beautiful, hot, and humid.

Belize

Cute girl in her school uniform

Tree Top Canopy Adventure

Ready to go!

This accurately depicts how I was feeling.

Can you believe that's me?! Proof below.

Andrew!

Going down.

Jarren

Cave Tubing

We had a nice 30 min hike through the jungle to get
to the start of the cave tubing.

Yes, we did see tarantulas.

Cooling off and getting ready to go!

So excited!

Didn't get any great photos, but this shows kind of what it was like at parts.

Andrew jumping off a rock at the end.

The tour ended with an authentic local buffet. Fried plantains..mmmm

MEXICO!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 17:55:00 +0000

Cozumel was great!! We didn't have an excursion planned but we got off the boat and decided to rent scooters and drive all the way around the island on a little scooter path. We stopped at some ruins (not that they were very noteworthy, the iguana was the best part there!) and several beaches along the way. It was a blast!

(And a brief stop at a Mexican "Smith's")

Day at Sea

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 18:22:00 +0000

Our first day at sea was a blast. We played mini-golf (amazing when you're looking over the ocean), played volleyball, made friends with some kids from Switzerland who let us join their soccer game, relaxed at the pool and in the hot tub, and then got all gussied up for formal night!

A monitor on the ship shows where the ship is.

What a view!

The slide!

This was our favorite hot tub - it was on the top level (level 12) and at the
front of the boat with a gorgeous view

I'm pretty sure that at this point Jarren was still scared of us.

Every night at dinner the waiters do a dance. This time our waiter grabbed Andrew (literally) and danced with him.

Jarren was not making this face when our waiter was dancing around the pole next to him.
Jarren never sat next to the pole again.

Poor Jarren thought this was all he got.

Formal night = lobster tail or prime rib. mmmmmm

Welcome to the Carnival Liberty

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Thu, 31 May 2012 04:13:00 +0000

BOARDING

Waiting to get on the ship was kind of like waiting to get on an airplane. You get a boarding pass, you get a boarding zone, you sit and wait in airport-like chairs, and then you get on the ship when they call your number.

Poor Anni had to take a final during our cruise so here she is diligently studying as we wait to board.

Lots of people waiting to get on the ship. I think the ship had 3000 people on board!

Walking across the water to the ship

Picture of the photo they took of us before we got on. We learned quickly that the staff love to take your picture in front of any (and every) possible background. We didn't buy any, but took this picture as a momento :)

THE SHIP
Once we got on the ship, Jarren gave us a tour. It was HUGE! I was in awe!

Food 24 hours a day!

Basketball, volleyball, mini gofl

Super-size chess game

Looking over from the top

Venetian Palace (a show every night!)

Awesome waterslide.
(Note: Experiments proved that speedos provide the least resistance and thus fastest ride)

Our cabin with a pull down bunk bed

LEAVING PORT

View of Miami Beach

Here we go!

Pre-Cruise Excursion: Fort Lauderdale

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Wed, 30 May 2012 00:34:00 +0000

Since we didn't want to risk delayed flights causing us to miss our ship, we didn't want to fly red-eye, and we wanted to earn Southwest credit, we flew to Fort Lauderdale on Friday with plans to take a taxi to Miami (~30 min away) in the morning.

We didn't have a red-eye but we did have to wake up at 4am!

We ventured into the city on a bus on Friday night and walked along the riverfront, ate at an Italian deli with an Israeli band, and enjoyed the weather. We returned on the last bus out of downtown (9pm) and got a real taste of the nightlife on the bus, including a guy who left his pants on the bus when he got off (I know! I mean he left the pants he was wearing when he got on the bus ON THE BUS when he walked off), a girl who tried to borrow people's phones to call her ex, a guy rolling a joint with such care you'd think his life depended on it (it very well could have), and a guy who looked us up and down and said, "You're not from here, are you? Welcome to Broward..."

Along the River Front. (That's a shark. And me. And Andrew.)

Our hotel gave us a great opportunity to view the wildlife of the city: cats, duckens*, and cockroaches. Much to Jarren's chagrin we didn't see any alligators, although it wasn't due to a lack of effort. The hotel was also an excellent venue for teaching Jarren how to play Dutch Blitz. Which Andrew promptly smoked us in.

Jarren and Andrew chilling at the hotel

*Ducks that look a lot like chickens.

Celebrate good times, come on! Duh-duh-duh-duh duh duh duh-duh!

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Sat, 19 May 2012 03:02:00 +0000

Happy Graduation to me!

Ideally I would have pictures of my graduation to post, but since they are on Andrew's camera, this blog will be out of chronological order and I will post pictures from my graduation celebration before the pictures from my actual graduation. (Which will be mostly for my dear mom, who is such a good daughter and went with Gma to a writer's conference rather than sit through HOURS of a Marriott School graduation. Definitely know where I get my smarts from!)

To celebrate graduation, I went on a cruise to the Caribbean (Cozumel, Belize, Roatan, and Grand Cayman) with some friends.

It was an ABSOLUTE blast and I'll be posting about all of our adventures, but first I wanted to introduce you to my fellow travelers:

ANDREW - the greatest, handsomest, funnest guy ever.

JARREN - Andrew's friend from Saint George

ANNIKA - One of my best friends and roommate from BYU

AMANDA - Annika's good friend from grad school

Arman - our head waiter at dinner

Portland in a nutshell

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 05:15:00 +0000

(For those who don't know, the title of this blog post is actually quite appropriate as Portland is very "earthy" and natural and quite vegan, as well.)

Here's what I've learned so far:

1. Always check the Portland events calendar or you may run into things you don't want to see. This was a few weekends ago: news
(By the way, if you actually read the article, can you tell me how going completely nude and painting yourself gray is "all about saving the environment?")

2. How hipsters think.

Yes. That's my roommate.

3. When people say "It's been sunny today" they mean they saw the sun for at least 5 minutes. Total.
4. When people say "It's going to be sunny soon" they're lying. (Turns out the people that say "June, July, and August are sunny" and the people who say "It's always sunny after mid-June" and the people who say "It's beautiful after the 4th of July" and the people who say "Mid-July on is always sunny" ARE ALL WRONG.)
5. You get glares when you forget your reusable grocery bag.
6. People in Portland never speed and are incredibly cautious drivers. A far cry from Utah.
7. Apparently when people go to the beach here they don't go to swim. It's FREEZING. And is always raining.
8. Keeping Portland weird is not hard for most people....

Hard to see, but she (he?) has a bag of empty soda bottles. A common collector's item here.

9. Not having to calculate sales tax in your head is awesome. You pay exactly the price you see. Brilliant.
10. The dream of the 90's is definitely alive in Portland.

Back by Popular Demand

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 04:38:00 +0000

After I returned to America, I abruptly stopped blogging because I used my blog solely to document my international travels. I received several requests to continue the blog throughout the summer. At first I just couldn't bring myself to do it. After several weeks in Portland, I've realized it's about as foreign as India and Israel, so I will continue my blog. I am, however, worried that I set the bar a little bit high with my blog posts in India. I'm going to re-set some low expectations so no one gets disappointed. I probably won't blog as much (I don't spend my evenings alone in a hotel room anymore) and the content may not be quite as funny, although I will do my best.

Ok, now that that's taken care of, I'll give you some pictures of the Pacific Northwest, which is as beautiful as they say.

P.S. For those of you who grew to love our Indian friends through our blog posts, I have an update on "The Boy" (picture here). I got the following email last week. Carl didn't get one. Ha. (I would be flattered except that the last day in Delhi the three of us had a long, detailed conversation about how Indians can get US visas by marrying Americans....)

Dear,Moriah

how are you
where are you now please you send me news.

best wishes

Administration Unit, ekgaon technologies

Hi from Paris

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Fri, 20 May 2011 07:13:00 +0000

After a 10 hour flight, we're ALMOST halfway home. I'm pretty sure this is how we both feel.

More reasons to love Mumbai

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Thu, 19 May 2011 04:42:00 +0000

Debby took us to her country club two days ago.

And last night we attended a world premier of a Bollywood movie. I met Stephanie (from Provo) at Church on Sunday. She's attending a film school here and invited us to go with her.

I LOVE Mumbai

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Mon, 16 May 2011 16:43:00 +0000

Apparently living in a house that feels like a resort, eating healthy food, and having a driver makes all the difference! Plus Mumbai seems to be much cleaner and more well-kept downtown. There are still lots of fun things to do. Today involved:

French toast for breakfast

Taj Mahal Hotel

The Gateway to India (and a SUPER CUTE little Indian boy)

Cheese fondue at The Indigo Cafe, to-die-for mangos, and some great shopping. All in all, a successful day.

Gratitude

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Sun, 15 May 2011 12:14:00 +0000

Humayan's Tomb

So Carl and I have been here for awhile. Each day I love India more and miss home more. It's an interesting experience. I was really excited to get to Mumbai and experience a different city and see how life in a more "Westernized" city is. Once we got to the airport and saw Mumbai I was excited. The city seemed cleaner and the two people we talked to spoke English pretty well. Plus it's the home of Bollywood. It was going to be great.

We showed up at our hostel which was very different from what it looked like online, but it was manageable. However, it didn't look like it was in a very good part of the city. I blamed it on the fact that it was 1:00am and decided it would be better the next day. The next morning, Carl and I found out that the hostel didn't have breakfast and it really wasn't in a great part of town. And, in the day you can tell that Mumbai is still a pretty dirty city, too. We spent awhile trying to get a taxi to church but no one would take us (it was kind of far). After a bit we trekked across the street to McDonalds for breakfast. (Side note, I've had more McDonald's in the past two weeks than I have in the past 5 years put together, probably. And it's nasty.) As we were eating, I started feeling like, "Can I really handle 5 more days of this?" I'm so tired of not eating well and the communication barriers. We left and kept looking for a taxi (I was praying with all my heart we would find a way to get to church). And we did. As we were driving through the city, which is crowded and polluted, I missed home really badly. Then we had trouble finding the church. We walked in really late, just as they announced the closing hymn, but it didn't matter - it felt SO good. And we got to go to Sunday School and Relief Society. During church we met a wonderful lady from Alpine, Debby Dickens, who offered us a ride home, saving us $15 and a harrowing experience.

When we pulled up the hostel she said, "This is where you're staying?! No, you're coming home with me. Go get your stuff and check out. I don't want you staying here." So, we did. Now Carl and I are situated VERY comfortably in a beautiful apartment with Debby. (Her husband is in Germany and will be home Thursday before we leave). She gave us tuna fish sandwiches, apples, and juice for lunch. I almost cried. It feels so good here. She's wonderful.

I'm grateful to the Lord for answering prayers about getting to church.
I'm grateful to the Lord for the good feeling at church.
I'm grateful to the Lord for comforting in response to unspoken prayers.
I'm grateful to the Lord for prompting people to touch my life.
I'm grateful to righteous people who answer those promptings and sacrifice for others.
I'm grateful for experiences like this that remind me that He's watching out.
I'm grateful for international experiences that help me grow and love life.
I'm grateful for tuna fish sandwiches, apples, and juice.

Thank you, Debby, for sharing your home and your love.

Jobs to which we should all aspire.....

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Sat, 14 May 2011 03:41:00 +0000

So as part of the research we do on all these companies, we have to search through their websites looking for people we can contact. Usually, the companies only have really high level management (like the Board of Directors and Senior Executives) listed on their site. So I got a kick out of the list I found on the the National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management website.

Plumber. Really?! In case someone from another company needs to call YOUR plumber. At first I was appalled. But then I remembered Carl's experience two days ago (read it here) and I realized maybe it was a good idea. If only GIZ (the company we visited that day) had their plumber listed online, Carl could call and give him a tip or two. Or a warning.

Then I kept scrolling down the page and found this:

Yeah. PEONS. That's right. That's what I want to be when I grow up. A peon. So I got curious. What exactly does a peon do? Check out THESE credentials:

Needless to say, I'm learning A LOT about India doing this research.

Some things are the same.

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Thu, 12 May 2011 04:57:00 +0000

Who needs a/c?

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Thu, 12 May 2011 04:52:00 +0000

Note that the current temperature was taken at midnight.

Mr. Carl misses out

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Mon, 09 May 2011 13:55:00 +0000

So a few days ago I posted about how much India loves Mr. Carl. (You can read it here.) I have an update. India is definitely a very patriarchal society, but they got one thing right. Something that I get to enjoy that Mr. Carl doesn't.

Women Only cars on the Metro. :-)

Mr. Carl in the regular car.

Me enjoying my space in the Women Only car.

It's awesome. And they strictly enforce it. The great thing about these photos is that Carl and I were standing less than 10 feet apart, but there is a VERY definite boundary where men are not allowed to go. They cram all together right up to the imaginary line. And they don't cross it. Ever. I'm a fan.

The Crown Palace

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Sat, 07 May 2011 15:50:00 +0000

The Taj Mahal (which means the Crown Palace) is beautiful and amazing. An Indian emperor made it as the tomb for his wife. It took 22,000 workers 22 years to complete. We spent the day making the 4 hour trip to Agra, touring the Taj Mahal with a great local tour guide, eating lunch at a 5 star hotel, touring the Agra Fort, and coming back home. It made for a long but memorable and fantastic day.

The gemstones are set into the marble in a beautiful and precise way. It's so smooth you can hardly even tell the gemstones aren't part of the marble.

Beautifully intricate marble carvings. Wow. We learned a lot about the differences between Italian marble and Indian marble.

In 1968 Andy Warhol said, "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." Today was my time. I had probably over 25 people come up to me and ask to have their picture taken with me. Apparently many of the people that visit the Taj Mahal have never seen an American and people in their villages never have either. So they like to take pictures so they can take them home and show people that yes, we really do exist. Carl and I laughed every time someone asked to take a picture with us. It was hilariously fun. I really did feel like a celebrity.

Sweet Skunk

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Fri, 06 May 2011 04:14:00 +0000

To me, weed smells like sweet skunk. I don't particularly like the smell of skunk, even if its sweetened. Well this morning as I was sitting in my room writing some emails, I sniffed once, twice, and yep....I smelled a sweet skunk. I walked in the bathroom and walked out. Yep, a really close sweet skunk. So I went over to Carl's room down the hall and walked past my new neighbors' door. Holy cow. Now I know who has the pet skunk. I pulled Carl into the hall and sniffed and said, 'Do you smell that?' He said "No..." and I said, "It's pot." And he laughed and said, "Oh my gosh, you're right. That's really strong." I said, "My room reeks of it." And he said, "You're going to be so easy to get along with now."

After relaying this story to my friend, Lewis, he said, "Oh yeah. You're normally high-strung. Now you'll just be high."

The good news is that I felt really sick after I ate breakfast but now my stomach is calm. Could be the pepto. Or the pot. Or both.

Just getting the full Indian experience, people. That's all.

ekgaon, Part II

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Thu, 05 May 2011 14:12:00 +0000

Lest you think that we spend all our time adjusting to the culture, I'm going to fill you in on what we spend our 8+ hours a day at work doing. (For a picture of life in the office, see Carl's blog - there's a link up at the upper right of this page.)

The Company: ekgaon technologies (for more about their vision) works with rural farmers by providing them with solutions on mobile devices to help them become more efficient and productive. To explain (simply) the process: The farmers get loans (if needed) to buy a mobile device and then buy a card that gives them access to ekgaon services. They are asked 3 questions: what size land they have (usually less than 4 acres, often less than 2), what their yield has been, and what their crop variety is. Based on this data, ekgaon uses SMS to communicate with them directly about specific steps for their land. It tells them exactly what to do (how much and what kind of fertilizer to use, how to plant, etc.) They also get market updates on suppliers, buyers, costs, and prices, and weather updates for their area. Currently, because of ekgaon's services farmers' income increases, on average, by 15% (and that includes the farmers that don't follow all the steps).

The Project: ekgaon currently helps 11,000 farmers. There are 300 million rural farmers in India not to mention millions more in surrounding areas in South Asia and Northern Africa. Ekgaon wants to expand into these areas but there is still a lot to learn. Carl and I have basically been given the assignment to perform market research about how ekgaon can expand. We are hoping to meet with potential financial investors, possible franchisees, companies that affect the expansion (mobile phone companies) and organizations that we could partner with because they have similar goals.

The Process: Carl and I only had a few hours with the CEO, Vijay (see pic at right) to understand the company and the project. For the last few days, our goal has been to identify as many companies as possible that it would be valuable to meet with. Once we identified them (through online research), we notified Vijay and got any contact information he had with them (that took awhile and was kind of sparse.) Since then, we have been researching each company online, finding someone to contact, and setting up meetings with them (next week in Delhi, the week after, Bombay). We have set up two meetings for next week (we're ecstatic about this because it's way harder than we thought to meet with these people). This first week is pretty much research online all day which gets very tedious, but we're starting to see the payoff and are very hopeful for our meetings next week. I think we're both nervous that we won't be able to add much value to ekgaon because so much of what we need depends on other people (an absent CEO, non-English speaking employees, and contacts with companies that are busy and don't care) BUT we're remaining positive that it will work out and we figure that anything we can get is more than Vijay would have been able to do himself. I'll keep you posted on our successes. :-)

Here are some of the organizations we're getting to know:

Agricultural Insurance Company of India

NABARD

India Department of Agriculture

Indian Farmers' Fertilizer Co-op

Indian Council of Agricultural Research

Yes Bank

World Bank (this may be my personal favorite)

Union Bank of India

MS Swaminathan Research Foundation

Tata AIG Insurance

Bharti AZA

IFFCO-Tokio

Royal Sundaram

ICICI Lombard

Hindustan Unilever

ITC (they have the best supply chain in rural India - we did a case on them first semester)

Jain Irrigation

Airtel

Aircel

BSNL (check out their website design.... and this is the #1 mobile company in India....)

Vodaphone

Idea

AGRA

Kickstart International

African Economic Outlook

Food & Agriculture Organization

International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics

HDFC

Mr. Carl

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Wed, 04 May 2011 07:42:00 +0000

This blog post is dedicated to Mr. Carl. Why? Because as it turns out, from what I've seen, India is dedicated to Mr. Carl. When we first got here, people would always address Mr. Carl and whatever he said went for both of us.

"Mr. Carl, do you want some water?"

"Yes"

Out come two water glasses, one for me, one for Mr. Carl.

"Mr. Carl, do you want some tea?"

"No, thanks."
No tea for either of us.

At the restaurant, Mr. Carl orders. Then they walk away. The first day we ended up having to share our meal, because although I had ordered my food, apparently they didn't believe I really wanted it?!

Anytime there is an update at the office, they tell Mr. Carl. He gets the skype messages, the emails, etc. One time, they even called my hotel room and asked for Mr. Carl. Don't worry, I went and found him.

When people talk to "us" they look at Mr. Carl and ask him questions. Occasionally I get in the way and they glance at me, then back to Mr. Carl.

People feel compelled to personally congratulate Mr. Carl on the death of Bin Laden. (Because Mr. Carl had a lot more to do with it than I did.)

So anyway, since India is dedicated to Mr. Carl, I will dedicate this blog post to him.

Carl is great.

This is him watching an Indian music video during work. (It was a long day.)

Mr. Carl trying some Indian food.

Glad you're here, Mr. Carl.

Ekgaon

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Tue, 03 May 2011 02:42:00 +0000

So here's where I work everyday. It's a tiny little basement. There are usually 4 people in the office - Carl, Me, Ranganathan (a software engineer who has been given the assignment to make sure we're ok), and "The Boy". Vijay, the CEO, would normally be there but he's gone....for the rest of the time we'll be here, which makes things very difficult. "The Boy" is basically like an admin/janitor. He's probably 18. He doesn't speak any English and everyone calls him "The Boy" like he's an indentured servant or something. He's really nice to us and is my favorite person here, I think. I don't have a picture of "The Boy" yet but I'm hoping to get one today.

After we got here we realized our project is completely different than we originally anticipated. In a way, this is good because we thought we were supposed to be meeting with potential partners to "sell" the business and we were kind of nervous that we'd screw it up since we don't know a ton about ekgaon. As it turns out we're mostly meeting with these people to do some market research for ekgaon's expansion. We think one of the main reasons Vijay is having us do this is because people will respond better to Americans. I guess we'll find out.

***Update!! So this morning Ranga left to go to a meeting and "The Boy" came and talked to us for a LONG time. Apparently he speaks better English than we thought. We found out he's 25, has an arranged marriage that will happen next year, and he's worried about his finances. He was a wealth of information about everything from Indian clothes to sightseeing in Delhi. He's from Panta area.

I also forgot to mention another interesting fact: the Indian workday. It starts around 9:30am and goes until 6:30pm. We found this out the first day when Ranga said he usually gets to work around 8:45. Luckily we didn't show up until 9:15 because then we only had to wait 15 minutes for him to come unlock the door. He then explained that he's always here by 9:30 but sometimes comes in earlier.