A Day in Chennai

On a February visit to Bangalore, I had the opportunity to attend a wedding in Chennai, and I was very excited to do so. A friend and I boarded a sleeper bus late in the evening, that would take us the 7 hours to Chennai. The sleeper bus was amazing! We totally need those in the U.S. It was super comfy (each spot is a bed - mostly flat with one end a bit higher to serve as a pillow), and I slept for the whole journey. Upon arrival in Chennai we checked into a hotel, where we took showers and changed our clothes, and then it was on to the wedding.

We arrived at the wedding at about 7:30 a.m., just in time for breakfast. The wedding ceremony is quite long, and there are only certain parts that the audience partakes in, so while the ceremony was going on, the audience went and had breakfast in another room. We made it back in time to see the end of the ceremony and to throw rice at the newly married couple. This was a southern Indian wedding so it wasn't as grand as the northern weddings we see in the movies.

Following the wedding it was back to the hotel to change into more casual clothes, and then off for some sightseeing before it got too hot. First stop was Marina Beach. This is a large, famous beach, often seen in movies. This beach is very deep, meaning there is tons of sand, and a long walk down to the water. It was fun to play and cool off in the water along side the locals.

Next we visited the Guindy Children's Park. It is a zoo, with lots of animals in cages.

It was fun to see the animals, including some I had never seen before. The plan was to attend the Snake Park, which is right next to the Children's Park next, but it was about 1:00 when we finished our tour of the Children's Park, and very hot outside. Thus, we decided a little time in some air conditioning would be better and went back to the hotel. This was February and it was in the 90s. If you visit Chennai, be prepared for heat!

In the evening we walked around the hotel, did a little bit of shopping, and got dinner (dosa - yumm!). After dinner it was a quick trip back to the hotel to grab our stuff, and then to the bus stop we went. We took a sleeper bus back to Bangalore, and once again I slept the whole way! 

9 Days left...

We are down to the final days of this trip, and while the students are busy finishing up all the last minute assignments, I have been busy coordinating to see the last of the tourist sites for the trip. Last weekend we headed to the east coast of India to Mahabalipuram, which is outside of Chennai. We stayed at the Chariot Beach Resort, which is on the Bay of Bengal, and has the largest pool I have ever seen. Many of us chose to just spend the weekend relaxing. It was hot and humid, so when we were outside, we were usually found in the pool! On Sunday, it was back to Bangalore, and time to prepare for the upcoming week.

For me, the weekend has been about setting up site seeing trips for the 2 faculty members that are teaching this session. Yesterday, I accompanied them to Shiva Temple:

It was a great experience, and we were all glad we took the time to visit. Today they headed to Lal Bagh, the botanical gardens. However, since I have already been, I stayed back to work on some other things. This weekend we are planning on going to Cubbon Park, as well as getting in some shopping for the remaining souvenirs we have yet to buy. Our time in India ia quickly coming to an end, but for most, the excitement to get back to friends and family in the states is growing exponentially with each day.

An Indian 4th

The past week has been pretty boring - just really filled with homework, quizzes and tests. But all of that changed today. It started like any other day, up at 7:15, breakfast at 7:45, class at 8:30 - which today included a finance test. After class I got to grade part of the finance test, so that kept me busy for a bit. But this evening, we were all off to Manipal County Resort to celebrate the 4th of July. We started the evening with chicken and lamb kebabs, then the open bar opened (this wasn't really necessary, as the students had been pre-gaming since noon, and it was 7:30), and then the 25 minutes of fire works began. Everyone got sparklers so that we could all personally take part in the evening's light show. This year we were standing a little farther away from where the fireworks were being set off, so I felt much safer. However, there was no fire truck standing my this time, so perhaps that was a false sense of safety! Following fireworks we had dinner, dessert, and then dancing. A good time was had by all! Hope you all enjoyed/are enjoying your 4th.

Golden Triangle

Yesterday we got back from seeing the sights of the Delhi, Agra and Jaipur, commonly referred to as the Golden Triangle. We had a good time, but I am very happy to be back, and even happier that we had 2 days to recover before starting classes again. Here are some of the highlights from the trip:

Delhi:
In Delhi we stayed at the very nice Park Hotel. On our second day there was full of site seeing. We went to Jama Masjid, which is a Mosque, then took a bicycle rickshaw ride through Old Delhi.

 

From there we finished up our morning with a trip to Qutub Minar.

We had the afternoon free, which was mainly spent getting some lunch, and cooling off (there was a high of 112 degrees that day!). In the evening, we headed off to Swaminarayan Akshardam. That place was incredible. It was like an amusement park complete with boat ride (similar to Pirates of the Caribbean), and an amazingly gorgeous temple. This wasn't in our original agenda, but those of us who went were very happy that we did. There were no cameras or other electronic devices allowed in the complex, so the website pictures are the best way to get an idea of what it is.

The following day we were free to do what we pleased, and so some of the girls and I spent the morning checking out a local market. In the afternoon, several of us ventured off to see the Lotus Temple. The temple was interesting to see, but to me more interesting were the number of people lining up to get into it. After getting back from the Lotus Temple, it was again time to cool off, before heading to dinner at a hookah bar.

The following morning, we loaded into a bus for the 6 hour bus ride to Agra.

Agra:
Agra is home to the Taj Mahal. At 5:30am we jumped on board carriage type things, which were pulled by horses to take us to the Taj (vehicles aren't allowed very close). We were then walking into the Taj complex as the sun rose at 6am.

At 7:30 is was back to the hotel to cool off and eat breakfast. At 9:00am we were on the bus, headed to the Agra Fort.

Following the Fort stop, we headed to a marble factory, where they explained the process of making tables and other sorts of marble items that have gems inlaid in them. That part was interesting, but then came the sales pitch, trying to get us to buy countless marble items. Not really my cup of tea. Following that it was back to the hotel to rest up. In the afternoon, some of us went to the showroom of Kohinoor Jewelers, in which we were shown a families private art collection. The work was incredible, but again no photos were allowed. We then went upstairs to look at their jewelry collection, where there was a sales person following each of us around. The jewlery was beautiful, and not too expensive for what it was, but still well out of my price range.

The next morning we loaded back into the bus to head to Jaipur.

Jaipur:
After our afternoon arrival in Jaipur, we headed out to see the Birla Temple, and enjoy the aarti ceremony. The next morning we left the hotel at 7:30 to head to Amer Fort, where we rode elephants to get up to the Palace entrance of the fort.

Following the Fort Palace, we then headed off to City Palace. I saw City Palace last year and was not so intrigued by it, so I opted to ride the bus back to the hotel, while the majority of the group looked at the palace and then shopped in the surrounding market.

After a week of traveling, we headed to the Jaipur airport to fly back to Bangalore. We arrived back at Woodstock about 9:00pm on Friday night, completely exhausted. Thus, most of us have spent the weekend relaxing, and getting ready for the new set of classes that start tomorrow morning. Back to the grind, but back to a routine!

A Free Weekend

Last week finished off with a trip to the local vegetable market where the students tried their hand at negotiating the price of mangoes, and then a business visit to Biocon and Radel. Everyone was ready for a little down time come Friday night, so several of us headed off to Hard Rock happy hour. My friend Karthik was in Bangalore for the weekend, so he met us there. After some good food and a couple of drinks, we headed back home - some of us very excited by the opportunity to sleep!

On Saturday, one of the students, Crystal, and I decided that we wanted to see some of the sites in Bangalore. So, we grabbed an auto rickshaw and headed to Bull Temple. The temple itself wasn't that impressive as we have seen statues of Nandi Bull before and been to other temples, but the grounds outside of the temple were gorgeous. It was so green and lush, a vast difference from most of Bangalore.

Following that stop we proceeded to Tipu's Palace, which is small, but has beautiful  architecture. We then headed over to Church Street, which is in the central part of the city, where we walked around, looked in some shops, and then had dinner.

This next week is the last week in the first session of classes, which makes this the equivalent of finals week. Thus, the students are very busy with projects and tests, and therefore Sunday was a pretty quiet day. One of the other residents here asked me where the students had gone for the day, seeing as how he hadn't heard or seen any of them (a real rarity!). I told him that they all were indeed here, but were in their rooms studying. He seemed pleased with the quiet day this presented him with.

At the end of this week we will be traveling again. This time it is the Golden Triangle trip - Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur. Everyone is looking forward to the trip, and even more to a week without homework, or in my case papers to grade. All in all, we are enjoying ourselves here in Incredible India!

Kabini!

After 2 good days in Mysore, we packed up our stuff and got back on the bus. We were off to Kabini! This year we stayed at the same amazing resort that we stayed at last year, but the roll-away twin bed I slept on this year wasn't quite as nice as the king I had all to myself last year. But, my stay at the resort started off nicely with a safari, in which we saw elephants, a leopard, Indian bison, deer, monkeys, and a few wild pigs. This year I brought my nicer camera along with me on the trip, and was very happy I did! Here are some of my favorite shots from the safari:

After the safari, the rest of the time in Kabini was all about relaxing. There was a lot of time spent reading poolside! It was nice while it lasted, but Sunday morning at 9am we were back on the road to Bangalore.

Mysore, part 2

Following the stop at Chamundi Hill, we were given the option of stopping at the Mysore Zoo. 12 of us decided to check it out, and were thoroughly impressed. It was much bigger than we ever imagined it would be - we had to call and ask for the bus to pick us up 2 hours after our drop off time instead of the 1.5 hours originally given, and still had to rush to see all the animals. There were a ton of larger animals including giraffes, elephants, lions, hippos, leopards and tigers. The zoo is privately funded, and has provided most of the animals with a good amount of space, given the zoo environment.

Following the zoo visit, it was back to the hotel for a nap. That evening, one of the students and I walked around the center of town, where we walked through a market. The colors were so rich and the people so kind. It was a great experience.

 After visiting the market, we walked around town a little more, and then headed back to the hotel, where we ran into a group of students getting into rickshaws to head to Planet X to go go-carting. So, we opted to join in on the fun. While at Planet X, some went on the go-carts, some played mini-golf, some bowled and some hit the arcade. We had a lot of fun hanging out, and were the last ones to leave the park that night. As we were heading to bed, we were not very excited about the 9am leave time that we had the next morning. But, Kabini was in our future, and we were all excited!

Mysore, part 1

Last Wednesday morning we all loaded into a bus and made the 4 hour journey to Mysore. Mysore was the original capital of Karnataka (the state we are staying in). Upon arrival in Mysore, we had lunch at a hotel, and then headed over to the Mysore Palace. The palace is amazing. A lot of attention to detail in the woodwork and paintings that adorn the entire thing. Cameras are not allowed inside the palace, but here is what the outside looks like:

After checking out the palace, we headed to our hotel to check in, Hotel Regaalis. At that point we were all pretty tired, so opted for dinner in the hotel, drinks in the hotel bar, and turned in pretty early!

The next morning, it was a 9:00am leave to head to Chamundi Hill, where we went into a temple, and saw several statues. Here are some pictures from the stop:

Our day wasn't over yet, but the internet has just become incredibly slow. So, stay tuned for part 2 of the trip to Mysore!

Out and About

The first test and projects were submitted at the end of last week, so the weekend has been full of grading and time out and about in Bangalore. On Friday night, I went with the professors to do a little shopping, well really browsing, to figure out what souvenirs are available locally, so we can be prepared when looking for souvenirs while traveling. After that we had dinner at Hard Rock Cafe, and then hurried home to watch the semi-final playoff match for the IPL cricket league. Saturday morning was filled with grading of marketing projects. But come evening, some of the students and I headed to The Biere Club for some micro-brews.

Sunday was a day of more exploring. One of the professors, a student and I headed to the botanical gardens. They are very green and clean, is great contrast to the city which surrounds it.  Here are some pictures from our trip:

All-in-all it was a great weekend! Up next are two days of class followed by four days of travel.

The work has arrived!

Classes have started and we are all settling into the daily routine. For me it looks like this:
7am - Wake up, shower, get ready
7:45 - breakfast
8:15 - Set up the classroom technology for lecture
8:30 - Marketing Class
10:30 - Head to the gym (students are in Organizational Behaviors class during this time, but I don't have to attend)
12:30 - put away all the equipment used for lectures
12:45 - lunch
Afternoon - prep for the next day, grade, help students, and if there is time left - nap!

The pace of the classes is now starting to catch up with the students, and so their afternoons and evenings are filled with individual homework assignments, test prep, and group projects. For some reason they have become a lot quieter than when we first arrived!

In addition to the class assignments, students have also been participating in dance and yoga classes. They are all very excited to attend yoga class, but getting the guys to the dance classes isn't as easy. Once they are there, they have fun though! We will all be performing the dances that we are learning at a celebration dinner when the first session of classes end (June 14th).

Tomorrow is the first test, so students are busy studying. On Friday they have their first group assignment due, so they have been taking breaks from studying to work on that. They are looking forward to getting both of these out of the way, and having some fun this weekend!

J-105 - a room with a view

Thought I would share some pictures of my room and surroundings here at Woodstock Express.

My closet and bathroom. Not quite enough storage space, but making it work!

The view from my door:

 The pool and basketball court - in the pouring rain!

Back in Bangalore!

Here we are, already at day 3 in India. So far, we are off to a fabulous start. After more than 40 hours of total travel time, on Monday we arrived at our home for the summer - Woodstock Express. We were given a tour of the facilities, which includes a cafeteria, restaurant, small gym, game room, swimming pool, and a room newly created for us to use as a classroom. That evening we all ate dinner together in the on-campus restaurant, and we were all excited to taste the delights of Indian cuisine. The food served here is very good, and is a combination of Indian food and international fare. With full stomachs, and a severe lack of sleep, it was straight to bed after dinner!

Day 2 started off nice and early for me, with a 3am trip to the airport to pick up a student. Up next was breakfast, and then loading onto a bus for a short tour of the city. No city tour would be complete without a stop at the local mall, right?!? So we stopped at 2 of them. It was a great way for the students to start orienting themselves with the city, and the services and restaurants that are close by. The final stop of our city tour was in the evening, at Purple Haze, a Jimi Hendrix inspired pub. The students had a great time getting to know each other a little better and loved interacting with the locals. This was also a great way to get over the jet lag, as we didn't return from the pub until 11:30.

Today we started off the day with dance lessons. A classical trained dancer came to Woodstock to show us some moves from 2 different styles of Indian dance, one traditional and one folk. This was just a general introduction, but the students will continue to meet with her in small groups to learn a 2-3 minute dance which they will perform in a couple of weeks. It was a lot of fun to try out the dance moves, and a great team building activity, since most people were not in their comfort zone during this activity.

Tonight we are all having dinner at Manipal County, which is just down the street from us. This is another opportunity to show students the options available to them in our neighborhood. Tomorrow classes start, and it will be back to the books for all of us!

Made it back to the States!

We arrived at LAX on Tuesday, and the plane was not so quiet upon our touchdown! We were all happy to be back in the states, but I personally could have spent more time in India. The last couple of days of our trip were very busy with traveling, but full of fun as well. Here goes the quick recap of our final days in India:

We visited the Taj Mahal, which is quiet an amazing site, but at 6:00am with about 97% humidity, most of us did not need the hour and a half we were given to take it in. After the Taj it was back to the hotel for breakfast, a quick shower, and then it was back on the road again to see Agra Fort. I actually liked the fort more than the Taj, as there was more to see there. It also provided a nice view of the city, including the Taj, as well as more shade than the Taj! That afternoon it was back to the hotel for napping and packing.

We left the next morning to make the 6 hour bus ride to Jaipur, known as the Pink City. Upon arrival to Jaipur, we stopped at a temple, and then headed to our hotel to check in. The hotel provided us with evening entertainment, including two ladies dancing with fire and pots on their heads, as well as a puppet show. Several students also got their palms read, and others had bracelets made to their specifications. The next morning, it was on to Amber Fort, where we road elephants up to the fort, walked around the fort, and then went to City Palace. Jaipur was also hot and very humid, so after the palace, several of us elected to go back to the hotel pool, while others decided to take in the local markets.

The next morning brought a 6:30 leave time, when we piled back on to the buses to drive the 5 hours to the Delhi airport, and then flew to Goa. This was not our original plan, but given all that was going on in Mumbai (where we had our original connecting flight to Goa) it was decided that this was the better travel route. This route however meant we spent the entire day traveling. My flight reached Goa at 5:15, and we arrived at the hotel at 6:45. Some students were on a later flight, and didn't reach the hotel until 8:45 (their flight was delayed). It was a bit of a bummer to the beginning of our stay in Goa, but things certainly picked up the next day!

Our full day in Goa brought time in the pool and in the ocean. The ocean water was nice and warm, but the rip tide was pretty strong, so we couldn't go in very deep. The drinks at the hotel were pretty cheap, so most of the students spent the day visiting the pool side bar! That evening, we all had dinner together at a restaurant called Fisherman's Wharf, which was a 4 minute walk from our hotel. Following dinner, it was back to hanging out at the hotel bar, chatting the night away. The next day, we had a 3:30am leave time, so most students didn't go to bed that night. At 3:30, it was back on the buses, heading for the airport, to fly back to Bangalore.

We were all exhausted on arrival in Bangalore. We ate breakfast at our hotel, which thankfully let us check in early (we arrived there at 9:15am), and then most of us went up to our rooms to sleep. Other than sleeping, the day was also filled with repacking of suitcases, as the next day we were headed back to the states.

Delhi Delights!

We just arrived at our hotel in Agra, having spent the last 2 days in Delhi. Delhi was amazing, but with only one full day to explore, we were all very sad to be leaving so fast. Delhi is a much more mature city, with much better infrastructure than Bangalore. While the temperature was warmer than Bangalore, and the humidity a lot worse, the group consensus is that 8 weeks in Delhi would have been much preferred to 8 weeks in Bangalore.

The first night, we went out to a club that was open until 2am, which quickly had the students loving the city, and the late night scene it presented. On day 2 we took a city tour, seeing some of the tourist sites, including a Mosque, a temple, and a market. I was unable to see all of the sites with the students, as I had to return to the hotel to retrieve the passports of 2 participants that were departing from the trip, but what I did see I thoroughly enjoyed! The evening brought a trip to the mall where we walked around and had dinner. After dinner, it was back to the hotel via rickshaw, and then going back to the club we had visited the night before. Since it was Sunday night, it was only open until 1am, but we managed not to get back to the hotel until around 2.

This morning we departed for Agra, and the students were thrilled to get up by 8:00 to make this trip! The bus trip meant a lot of sleeping for most, and a 3:45 arrival at the hotel to check in. Tomorrow morning we leave the hotel at 5:30am to go see the Taj Mahal. We are all excited to see the Taj, but not so excited about the leave time! Seems tomorrow afternoon will be filled with naps for most of us.

Mumbai Terrorist Attacks

News of the Mumbai terrorist attacks made its way through our group yesterday evening, and for some, the proximity to such attacks is a little too close for comfort. A couple of students have changed their travel plans, and will now be flying home earlier, but for the majority of us, it comes as a reminder to be aware of our surroundings, and to take caution as we venture onto the streets of India. We are still in Bangalore, but will be heading to the airport on Saturday begin our travels throughout India. I am interested to see what sort of measures will be in place at the airport, but am not expecting too much out of the ordinary.

Should questions about our whereabouts come up over the next week and a half, here is my itinerary:

July 16 - Fly to Delhi
Stay at the Crown Plaza Okhla - Delhi

July 18 - Drive to Agra
Stay at Trident Hotel

July 19 - visit Taj Mahal

July 20 - Drive to Jaipur
Stay at Trident Hotel

July 22 - Fly to Goa via Mumbai
Stay at the Holiday Inn

July 24 - Fly to Bangalore
Stay at Chancery Pavilion

July 25 - Fly to LAX via Singapore and Tokyo
July 26 - Fly to Sacramento

Hope you all are doing well. We are very excited to leave Bangalore, and check out other parts of India!

Last Weekend in Bangalore

The final week of our stay in Bangalore has arrived. We were all excited to head out for our final weekend in Bangalore, which began with Hard Rock happy hour on Thursday night. Following happy hour, we headed over to UB City to check out Skyye Bar, a rooftop bar that has great views of the entire city. It is a cool place, but was pretty dead, so we headed to a club around the corner called Bacchus. Turns out Bacchus was pretty dead too, but it is a smaller club, and when 25 of us entered, we pretty much started our party. We didn't leave until after the cops arrived at 11, to inform the club that it was time to send people home.

Friday a group of students and I joined the professors to go look at an alternative location to house students in India next year. Turns out that housing American students that attend a university known for its partying at an ultraconservative Indian graduate school wasn't the best idea - and so using the some location to house next years students is no longer an option. The new location is much nicer than where we are currently, and most of the issues that the students are currently facing, most importantly the not so quality food, would not be a concern at the new location. Some of the students walked away from the viewing a bit bitter!

That evening a couple of the girls and I went to a restaurant called Little Italy, where we had some delicious pasta. We got there a bit before it opened (well, an hour) and therefore got to walk around the mall that was conveniently located across the street from the restaurant. After dinner, we went to Manchester United, a bar that was right around the corner from the restaurant. Many others from our group joined us at the bar, which had unlimited drinks for women for $10 and $20 for men. I have been asked more than once how they can make money off of this, and when the Americans are around, they don't. However, the Indians don't drink nearly as much as Americans, so they can make money off of the locals.

After 2 nights of going out, and with a big week ahead, Saturday and Sunday were spent on homework and relaxing. We leave Bangalore nice and early next Saturday morning - at 5:00am. Before then though, the students have a quiz, 2 tests, and a presentation to give, along with packing up all of our stuff. The week will be a busy one, but the count down to leave time will keep us all motivated!

4th of July Weekend

The weekend officially started on Friday this past week, due to Friday classes. However, since Thursday was such a fun night, we decided to take it easy, and only went out to dinner. The girls headed over to Crowne Plaza for dinner, taking in some wondeful non-Xime food. After that it was a night of watching movies and relaxing. Saturday morning, we headed out at 10:00 to do some shopping. We got dropped off at KFC (it took over an hour to get there), where we ate lunch, and then were offered a tour of the facilities. We gladly accepted, and were delighted to see how clean everything in the kitchen was and learn about their food storage policies (upon arrival back at Xime, we had a few pointers for the cafeteria staff). As we walked out of KFC we spotted a grocery market, and walked in, in search of peanut butter. We were excited to see that they had many American foods stocked, including Skippy peanut butter and goldfish. So, this was an excellent start to our day of shopping!

After the grocery market, we headed out to find Commercial Street, a street lined with small vendors as well as larger stores. The Indians only like to give you directions for as far as they can see, so it took us a while to find it. However, eventually we got there, and were excited to look at all that they had to offer. After about 2 hours of shopping, we took a rickshaw back home, where we quickly changed our clothes, and headed back to town to the Hard Rock. Rumor was that the professors were going to be eating dinner there, so several of us headed over. Turns out the professors changed their plans at the last minute, but we still had a good time there, and enjoyed their food yet again!

After dinner, we were ready to do some dancing, and headed over to the Ice Bar at the Taj Hotel. We were there until they closed at 11:30. Our rickshaw on the way home was stopped at a police checkpoint, and it turned out his license was not up to date. So, after some talking and a 100 rupee fine (the equivalent of $2) we were on our way. We were all ready for bed when we got home! Sunday was a day of relaxing for me, and a day of homework for the students.

Since we are not in the U.S., we had class on Monday, but we still celebrated in style. The boys played a game of basketball against the Indian students, and despite having been partying for several hours, still managed to easily win. The girls and the professors watched and cheered on the guys. After the game, it was off to the showers, as we headed out in buses to Crowne Plaza for dinner and fireworks. While we didn't have bbq, dinner was still amazing! It was a buffet, complete with a burrito station, pasta and fried chicken, and ice cream and donuts for dessert. After dinner, it was out to the patio where fireworks (large ones with big explosions) were set off less than 5 feet in front of us. As the embers were falling on people you heard quite a few murmurings of "only in India!"We had a good time that night, but 9:00 class the following morning wasn't as crowded as usual!

With only 2 weeks left at Xime, we are all getting really anxious to head out on our travels in northern India. This certainly has been an amazing experience, and an opportunity for tremendous learning, however, if you ask any person in our group how many days we have left, they will be able to tell you, and will probably mention that we are now into single digits (9 days!).

Fabulous Thursday

On Thursday, one of the students, Tara, and I walked over to a local salon (about a 30 minute walk). While there, we got pedicures for $6, Tara got her eyebrows threaded for less than a dollar, and then got a free ride home from the salon owners. When we got back, we quickly changed our clothes, and then headed over to Hard Rock for happy hour. Us girls are big fans of their raspberry lemonade, which are available in pitchers during happy hour! After a couple of hours at Hard Rock, we went to a local mall - UB City - which is a very upscale mall, on the opposite side of Bangalore from where we are staying. Several of the others in our group, as well as the professors, were eating dinner at the mall. We met up with them, and moved on to a different bar, called City Bar. Pawan joined us, and so did a few of his childhood friends. It was nice to meet them, seeing as how we have spent so much time with him. One of his friends had to head to work at the end of the night, and works right around the corner from where we are staying, so we got a free ride back home at the end of the night as well. Only paying for one rickshaw ride in a day is pretty unheard of, so that along with our cheap pedicures and happy hour drinks, made for one of the best days in Bangalore yet!

First Week of New Classes

When we got back from our weekend out of town, reality set in with the start of new classes on Monday morning. This section of classes includes finance and business communication. During the first week, the students had 2 quizzes and a test - when classes are only 4 weeks long, there is a lot to fit in! On Thursday night, the classes were completed, and all that stood in the way between the students and the weekend was a business visit on Friday morning. Well, they didn't let that stand in the way of having a good time. We all loaded into auto rickshaws and headed to Hard Rock to celebrate making it through a week of the new classes with happy hour! We had a good time at Hard Rock, but some/most of the students found getting up the next day for the 8:30 leave for the business visit a bit difficult.

Friday's business visit was to Infosys in Bangalore. The visit to Infosys in Mysore was a lot more interesting, so that made the students despise the 8:30 leave time even more. But, we were done there by 10:30, and had the rest of the day free. That evening, some of the girls and I went to the Taj Hotel for ladies night. After that we met up with some of the guys in our group at a club that was open till 3am. We didn't stay that late (got home about 1:45), but in Bangalore most places close by 11:30, so this was a real novelty.

Saturday was a day of getting some stuff done, and lounging around. The electricity kept going out, so getting things done (which for me was mainly on the internet) proved very difficult. That evening some of us headed over to the Crowne Plaze Hotel (one of the few things relatively close to where we are staying) for dinner. We had heard that their burgers were delicious, so most of us opted to try that. The burger didn't disappoint! During our dinner, the manager came over to ask if we were with some of the others in our group who had previously eaten there and recommended the burger to us - we are really making an impression around here!

Sunday was a lazy, hazy day, with little electricity yet again. The list of things we now realize we take for granted in the states gets longer everyday! The students seem to be getting home sick, and are counting down the days till we are done at Xime and get to travel again. With 5 weeks already gone by, I know we will be leaving here in no time. Man, how time flies!

The Fun Continues

On day 2 in Kabini, we woke up to heavy rain. By 11:00 it had died down and the sun broke through for a bit. Which worked out well, as we were then able to see the elephant that the resort has as a pet. We got to pet the elephant and then the elephant headed down to the river, where students were able to sit on the elephants back and have the elephant give them a shower. I had already showered, so I opted out of that experience.

Later in the afternoon, it was my groups turn to go on the safari. The rain had started to fall again, but  they provided us all with ponchos and away we went! We had to take a boat across the river, where we loaded into a jeep, drove through a small village, and into the national forest. Our group got very lucky on the safari, and saw more animals than any other group including monkeys, deer, elephants, wild pigs, wild dogs, and a leopard. Leopard's are very difficult to see, and we were lucky enough to see one climbing out of a tree.

After the safari, we were all cold and a bit wet, so it was back to our huts to shower and warm up before heading to dinner. After dinner, most of us hung out in the bar, waiting to head over to the designated party huts. 3 of the students had birthdays the next day, so we were celebrating that night! Pawan and I arranged to have a cake delivered to my hut a bit before midnight, and then moved the party on over, as a surprise for the birthday boy and girls. The party continued till 3:30, and then it was off to bed.

The next morning I was up at 5, as I had the privilege of going on a second safari - this one leaving at 5:30am (we wanted a teacher or t.a. on each safari and so, I sucked it up and went again). There were suppose to be 16 of us on the safari, but for some reason, only 5 of us made it. We got to take a smaller jeep and check out different areas of the forest, but didn't see as many animals as I had seen the day before. This second safari was a bit more difficult to stay awake for.

When we arrived back at the resort, it was time to quickly eat breakfast, and then shower and pack up all our stuff. At 11:00am, we sadly loaded on the buses, and headed back to Bangalore. The bus ride back was pretty quiet, as most of us were catching up on the sleep we had failed to get during the trip. The weekend was amazing, and really brought the group closer together.