So it goes

screenshot of how I watched the game

Well, that wasn't the game I was hoping to see when I woke up at six in the morning after partying until two am the night before.  To not score until the last half of the last period? At home?  What a sad, disappointing game to watch.  I did get to watch it though, just like Game 6, thanks to the wonderful amazing technological innovation that is Skype (and thanks to Matt for setting up his computer by a tv, and to Apple for making computers with built-in cameras).  It was really cool to watch the games and to be able to talk to my friends at the same time as if I was actually there with them.  Unfortunately, neither game ended with the proper result.  

There was one strange occurance while I was watching Game 7.  As I sat, poised on the edge of my seat, trying to follow the puck (which is hard to do on tv, let alone on a tv watched through a computer screen), I heard a loud bird chirping.  I didn't think anything of it because I had been hearing birds all morning.  But this bird was persistent and extremely loud, as if it was coming from inside my apartment.  Finally, I remembered that our doorbell makes a chirping noise, which is not something you get used to easily.  I took off my headphones and ran to the door.  When I opened it, a man who I intuited to be our landlord was standing there, pointing down at the steps outside our flat.  At first, it looked like someone had spilled some chips and snacks on the ground, which I guess is true.  Upon further inspection I realized that the snacks were spilled by mouth, probably unpleasantly.  As I mentioned earlier, we had a raging party the previous night.  I didn't know what to do because time was ticking away in the third period and this guy was looking at me with a "you better clean this up you damn spoiled foreigner" look on his face.  Of course, I could not easily explain to him that my home town team was playing in the most intense of all possible game scenarios, so I just said "OK, I'll clean it up" and then closed the door and rushed back to my computer.  I sat down, put on my headphones, and realized that the internet had gone out.  After trying for a minute to fix it, I decided that I might as well clean up the "mouth-spill".  

Once that task was done, surprisingly easily and without much of a gross factor, I washed my hands and returned to the computer.  Luckily, the internet had returned and I was able to reconnect with Matt.  And of course, while I was out was when we scored our lone goal.  It's hard not to be superstitious when as soon as I started watching the game, Talbot scored...and then scored again, and the first time I stopped watching, the Wings scored.  Maybe if I had just turned it off then Detroit would be celebrating right now and that whiny punk Crosby would never have gotten to put his cry-baby hands on the Cup.  But as every Red Wings player and fan is going to have to come to terms with over the next few days, there is no way to change what happened.  Brad Stuart screwed up twice, Talbot scored twice, and our high octane offense that was so beautiful to watch all season couldn't make anything happen.  Now we're left with the same feeling we had in 2005 when the Pistons lost Game 7 of the NBA Finals to San Antonio.  So close to glory, minutes away from a repeat, and then, after weeks of intense games and thrilling victories...nothing.  Season over with nothing to show for all of the battles and all the success.

I know you're all thinking the same things anyway, so I'll stop talking about it.  I'll go eat a mango in the sun and look out at India.  What will you do to distract yourself?

In non-hockey related news, our party last night was awesome.  It was Alain's (one of my flatmates) birthday so we had friends over.  I made a party playlist and set up the stereo and people started filing in at around nine.  There were a lot of exchange participants like me as well as AIESEC guys from here in India.  At one point when we were out on the terrace having a conversation, I looked around and realized that I was standing in a group of eight people and not one of them was from the same country.  That was a very cool moment.  It really made me realize how similar we all are.  Sure, each person has his or her own culture and beliefs and has many different experiences from the rest of us, but overall we are more alike than we are different.  Some of us can dance (latinos are born with it), some of us can't.  Some of us can hold our alcohol, some of us (like the mysterious hallway puker) can't.  But it was a great time, sharing our differences and coming closer together because of that exchange.

OK, mango time.  Bye for now.

Tra la life

Well, hello there faithful readers.  It's been a while (a week to be exact).  How are you?  How's the family?  Everything is going well here for the most part.  At the end of our last episode I was in Bangalore, preparing to wake up and play ultimate frisbee the next day.  I did this, with my AIESEC friend, Alex.  We woke up at 6 a.m. and made our way to the field, which was actually more of a dust bowl with no grass to be found.  It was fun to experience frisbee in a new environment.  I can now say that I've played ultimate in three countries (U.S., Israel, and India), although this was the first time I played with locals.  They have the same rules as we do and they've actually formed a league tournament with other cities around India.  Unfortunately Hyderabad is not one of them, but maybe I can change that... Then I went to the Bangalore Palace, which is massive.  It was built to look like the Windsor Castle in England.  I was able to get a private tour with my own guide, which is good because they charged me 500 rupees just for permission to take pictures (which you can see on Facebook).  My trip back from Bangalore was bumpy and uncomfortable, with little to no sleep.  I look forward to the rest of my journeys being by train.  

This past week, I had a list of things that I wanted to accomplish.  However, as I have come to find out, things do not always happen right when you want them to in India.  Being used to seamless customer service and instant gratification left me in a state of frustration as I saw day after day go by without any of the objectives on my list being checked off.  First of all, it should be noted that my phone service was barred all week because my application was not complete.  In India the application for a cell phone for a foreigner is more extensive than the process by which I acquired my visa to come to this country in the first place.  You need proof of residence, a copy of your passport, a copy of your visa, a copy of your driver'slicense, a copy of your work permit, a passport-size photo of yourself, the right to your first-born son, the deed to your house, etc. etc.  Not having a phone made it a lot harder to get things done.  I needed to buy train tickets, figure out a new place to live, and do my laundry.  (Refer to blog #3 for an explanation of why I couldn't use the laundry machine in my flat).  

Last night, after wearing the same boxers for 2.5 days, I was finally able to wash my clothes.  I hauled my big wicker basket (that I inherited from Anne) over to one of the other trainee flats.  It's kind of a cumbersome way to carry clothes, but it was full to the brim so there wasn't really another option.  After some awkwardmaneuvers I was able to get the basket into a rickshaw and make my way to the flat.  The washing machine they have is very small and weak, so in order to wash all of my clothes in one load I had to employ the cyborg technique (half man, half machine) and spin the clothes by hand as they soaked in the soapy water.  It took a long time, but I had company from a couple of the guys living in the flat.  One is from Minnesota and it was nice to talk to an American for a while.  I don't mean to come off as ethnocentric, it's just that I don't see many Americans here so it was a nice change of pace.  In talking to the guys it became clear that they had some extra beds in their flat and that they were all fine with me moving in.  The reason that I need to change apartments is that AIESEC is closing my flat in order to open a new one.  Since I don't want to move to the new place (because it is still under construction) I have to find alternate accommodations.  Luckily, this other flat is awesome.  It takes up the whole top (4th) floor of a building and has a huge terrace that overlooks the city.

After I left my new flat I was pretty hungry from all the manual labor I did washing my clothes.  I found a nice looking restaurant down the street and walked in, hauling my laundry basket along with me.  I had a tasty meal of grilled chicken and roti (bread) with garlic sauce and onions, plus two Sprites (which tastewaaaay better here for some reason) all for $4 U.S.  Cheap delicious food is probably my favorite part about India.  As I was sitting at the table enjoying my feast I noticed that people from all over the restaurant kept stealing glances at my laundry basket.  I was worried that I had violated some traditional Indian rule about bringing laundry into a restaurant, but no one looked angry and the waiter didn't say anything about it so I figured I was alright.  A few minutes later, as one guy was passing my table he nodded at me and said "It's a dog, yeah?"  I laughed and shook my head no.  Then I lifted the lid so he could see my clothes and he got a good laugh as well.  As soon as he passed my table a man on the other side of me said "Psst...Puppy" with this sly, knowing smile on his face.  Unlike the first guy, who thought it was funny, this second fellow actually looked depressed when I showed him the contents of the basket.  I think he really wanted to play with a puppy (and who could blame him?)

In less exciting news, my job has been a big disappointment.  After waiting three weeks for the kids to return from break, I have come to realize that there is not much more for me to do now that they are back.  There are already too many teachers at the school and also none of the kids speak english (most don't speak at all).  And it's no bed of roses like working at the JCC camp in West Bloomfield.  They still use corporal punishment and yell at the kids a lot, which is hard for me to watch.  Also, their supplies are much more limited and outdated.  Over the past three days I have done a lot of sitting around watching the teachers interact with the students.  I try to interject and work with the kids, but the language barrier is insurmountable.  There is no set curriculum, so it ends up being the same basic tasks (write your name, color inside this circle, etc.) every day and when the kids are done with that there is nothing else to occupy them.  Also, no one has given me any guidance or suggested ways in which I could help out around the school.  I've spent more time playing snake on my phone than doing anything meaningful.  And that's not what I came to India for.  Obviously, the biggest reason for my trip was to see and experience this amazing country, but I also want to do something worthwhile with my time.  Hopefully I can find a new job where I will actually be able to make a difference, or at least be in a place where people are glad to have me there.  

Today I finished booking train tickets for John's and my epic journey.  We'll be traveling to Mumbai, Agra, Jaipur, and Delhi, spending a few days in each city.  Also, one of the people that I met in Bangalore is looking to travel North at the same time so she might join us.  I'm really excited for this trip.  I'm already counting down the days (19/20 days to go).  It will definitely be a great time. 

BANG!alore

Bangalore, as it turns out, is awesome.  I don't want to make any enemies, but I think I might like it more than Hyderabad.  It's a lot more picturesque, with tree-lined streets and parks, and the temperature is much more tolerable (due, not in small part, to the trees).  It has been quite a whirlwind of a week.  After three days of little sleep at the AIESEC conference, I spent one night at home before leaving for Bangalore.  On Monday I simply mentioned to Sana that I was thinking of traveling and a few hours later he had my bus ticket ready and I was set to leave that night.  The bus drove through the night, leaving around 10 and getting to Bangalore at 7am the next day.  It was kind of hard to sleep on the bus.  It was comfortable enough, but they were blasting Hindi movies and the driver got a big kick out of tooting his own horn...literally.  When I got to the city I made my way to the trainee flat here, which is beautiful.  It is in a modern high rise apartment complex with a pool.  There are seven people living in the flat from Poland, Peru, Russia, Canada, Korea, and Japan and they are all very nice.  The Russian guy is actually an ultimate frisbee player and he's going to take me with him to play tomorrow morning.

Once I got to the flat everyone left for work.  I was relaxing and recuperating, watching the news, when I heard the faucet running in the kitchen.  I knew that I was home alone so I was very confused.  I got up and looked in the kitchen and there was a monkey staring back at me!  After the initial shock wore off I realized that he had a mango in his clutches and there were accomplices too.  After two weeks of not seeing one monkey in India, I bumped into three in the kitchen after two hours in Bangalore!  Once the thieves ran off with their prize I left the apartment too.  I had a nice walk and some lunch and then made my way to the bus depot to buy a ticket for a city tour the next day.  That night a couple of my new friends and I went out for dinner.  To my surprise there was a burger on the menu.  I had been craving a big juicy burger since I got here so I jumped at the chance.  Even though they said it was beef, I'm pretty sure it was lamb, but it tasted good and there were fries too, so I was still happy.

Today I woke up early and got back on the bus to the station.  It was rush hour so the journey was slow and I began to get nervous that I would miss the tour.  When I finally got to my stop (15 minutes late) I rushed off the bus and ran over to the meeting spot.  I was the first one there.  Gotta love IST, which really means Indian Standard Time, but according to my foreigner friends actually stands for Indian Stretched out Time.  As it turned out, only nine people showed up for the tour.  That was fine with me, but it meant less opportunity to meet people that I could spend the day with.  I ended up doing most of my touring alone, but there was one kid that I talked to a little bit.  He helped translate for me since the tour guide didn't speak English.  We started our day at the Hare Krishna temple, which was nice looking, but a bit boring.  The chants were cool though.  Next was Gavigangadhareshwara, a temple built down into the ground in such a way that the light comes in and hits the main deity on only one day a year.  I was happy to find out that this special day happens to be January 14th, my half-birthday.  The temple gets really small in the back and I had to crouch down until I was basically crab walking to get through it.

After that, we went to Basavangudi, the Bull Temple.  Inside is a 6-meter-long, 5-meter-tall bull that was carved out of one boulder in the 1500's.  It was pretty cool and they actually allowed pictures, so expect one in my next Facebook update.  Next, we went to a palace that I expected to be the famous Bangalore Palace, but it was some other, less beautiful palace.  It was still interesting though.  I asked a guy standing by himself to take a picture of me and he ended up getting really into it, moving around, directing me to pose in different ways.  After the photo session, I took a relaxing walk around the grounds, trying to imagine that I was the owner, surveying my property.  Then we went to Lal Bagh, which is a huge botanical garden.  I had another tranquil stroll there, exploring lotus ponds, bonsai gardens and a huge greenhouse that was housing a mango conference.  There were displays of mangoes all over the place, but alas, no free samples.

The last stop on the tour was an art museum.  The building itself was cooler than the art, but the saving grace was the fact that there was a vast park right behind the gallery.  Known as Cubbon Park, it is 300 acres full of awesome trees, bamboo forests, and a river.  I wanted to sit by the river, but it was blocked by a fence and I couldn't find the entrance, so I climbed some trees instead.  Then I wandered around in the bamboo forest, listening to the creaking of the stalks as they bent in the wind.  It was a great way to end the day.  Now I am sitting in the apartment, having a drink with my temporary housemates, playing music from my computer for them (Slightly Stoopid is a big hit).  I could get used to life in Bangalore... 

My weekend

This weekend I went to AIESEC's conference, called LCong (Local Congress).  Here, everyone from AIESEC Hyderabad gets together to discuss business and plan for the future.  They also party hard.  As the party delegate, and since I have no background in AIESEC, I was not required to attend the sessions.  My business was all pleasure.  On Friday I went to the office in Hyderabad to wait for a ride to the resort where the conference was held.  While I was sitting around with a couple of the guys I decided to show them what my home town looks like.  I went to Google Maps and used the satellite function to display an image of West Bloomfield.  They were amazed by how green it is, how many lakes there are, and how well-planned all of the subdivisions are.  I zoomed in on my house and when they commented that it was pretty big I dragged the map over to Long Lake Rd. and showed them some of those mansions.  They were shocked at the size of the houses compared to the amount of people that live in them.  With the population being so high here it would be unheard of to have so much space for only three or four or five or six people.

When we got to the resort on Friday, we had lunch and then opening ceremonies.  This involves every division parading into the conference room screaming their heads off with different chants.  Then they have cheer battles back and forth for about 15 minutes.  After that, each group performs a choreographed dance.  This was all very entertaining, especially since I wasn't expecting anything of the sort.  Once everyone settled down and they got into their sessions I started to get bored.  They were discussing things that I didn't know anything about so I decided to retire to my room (which had air conditioning, praised be jesus).  I never imagined that it would feel luxurious to simply sit in an air-conditioned room, but honestly, I felt like a king.  I kicked back and relaxed and watched a couple of hours of tv.  Other than a couple of sessions here and there that I attended, that was pretty much my routine for the next two days.  I also took a few walks, finished one book, and started another.

Friday night was party time.  The night started around 10 or 11 with Sculling, which is an Indian drinking game.  It's configured a lot like Flip Cup with two teams positioned along opposite sides of a table.  In this game though, there are only four members per team and you have to kneel down in front of the table to play.  And you can't be wearing pants.  It's a pretty intense scene because only one game goes on at a time and everyone else stands on their chairs in a circle surrounding the match.  A judge/ref prompts the players to put their thumbs on the table, then their chins on the table and then starts the round.  One player at a time chugs his or her beer, taps the glass on his or her head and then puts it down on the table.  Then the next person goes and so on until one team has won.  The game is played bracket-style so eventually there is a final showdown.  Unfortunately, my team didn't make it anywhere near this ultimate competition, as we had one girl on our team who was somewhat beeraphobic.  

After the game, everyone got dressed up and ready for the "prom" party.  I thought I should give my date, Vega, a flower, in keeping with prom tradition.  I had trouble finding one in the arid, dry climate but I finally spotted a cactus with some tiny brownish petals on top.  I picked one and gave it to her, but I also had to explain why because apparently this is not an Indian custom.  She was very happy with the flower though, so it all worked out.  We had a lot of fun dancing with everybody.  They play a lot of trance and house music here, not like the rap music filled party scene back home.  There were also some people from AIESEC wandering around pouring whiskey down people's throats, which caught me off guard the first time and left me in a state of slight debilitation for a minute.  I was fine after that and drunk enough to dance with reckless abandon.  Before it felt like an hour had gone by, it was five a.m. and I was swimming in sweat.  I pushed my hair up out of my face and went to sleep.  

When I woke up three or four hours later to the call for breakfast my hair was standing straight up.  Since the room was air-conditioned I didn't sweat at all throughout the night so my hair set how I had left it.  Honestly, I looked like I was hanging upside-down and it did not cooperate with my attempts to re-style it.  When I showed up at the pavilion for breakfast I saw people nodding in my direction and some people came up to me and said "nice hair".  It was probably the best bed head that I've ever had.  I felt truly accomplished and proud.  The rest of the weekend was fun and relaxing.  I learned how to bat in Cricket (I'm a lefty for some reason) and took a swim in a moldy pool.  The water looked fine from the surface but I must have stirred up some of the dregs from the bottom because after I jumped in there were strange green clumps floating all around me.  I got out as quickly as I had gotten in, but it was still refreshing for a second or two.

Today Anne moved out of my apartment to go home to Kenya.  I'm pretty bummed because she was my best friend here and such a nice, fun person.  She really helped me out in terms of getting to know how to do things in India.  She will be missed.  Tonight I'm going to take a bus to Bangalore.  I will arrive there sometime tomorrow and stay until Friday.  Luckily, AIESEC is a pretty vast network of people and there is someone there who is willing to put me up at his place for two nights.  I'm really excited to explore a new city.  On a last note, I'm so stoked about the Red Wings.  2-0 baby!  I found out today that I can listen to the games through nhl.com.  I'm looking forward to hearing the next game if it's at a time that works with my schedule.  Happy June, everybody!

Long tour, big update

I usually end my posts with a shout out to the Red Wings, but after that game...wow.  This team is resourceful.  Missing one of the best defensemen in the history of the game?  Datsyuk scoring fewer goals than the amount of times he's scored with the ladies thanks to his Rahmani Eye Institute commercial?  No problem.  Turns out Dan Cleary is a beast.  And Darren Helm...wow.  First finals rematch in 25 years and I'm stuck in India without a way to watch.  I don't miss tv too much here, but this is a different story.

Now, on to India.  Yesterday Anne and I went on an adventure to Hyderabad Central, which is a huge mall.  It's not like a mall at home with different stores though.  It's more like Macy's on steroids.  Just one five story department store with a whole conglomeration of different things (including traditional Indian garb, which I tried on...stay tuned for a Facebook picture).  After Macy's McGuire we traveled across the city to this open-air bazaar with lots of cool statues and merchants.  And a giant!  (Again, expect a picture on Facebook).  There were so many awesome crafts that I realized that I am not prepared to think about shopping for gifts for people back home.  I got a few ideas, but I think I'll wait until later in my stay to start making purchases.  

Today I went on an all-day city tour of Hyderabad.  And when I say all day I mean all day.  I'm quite exhausted now, but it was definitely worth it.  I woke up at 6am and ventured out for my first auto ride and bus ride by myself.  I was a bit nervous about whether or not I was making the right maneuvers, but it turned out fine and I got where I needed to be with time to spare.  I was also somewhat anxious about doing the tour con solo, but I figured I could always ask some trustworthy looking stranger with steady hands to take my picture.  As it turned out, I got something much better.  As I was trying to figure out which tour bus to get on, a woman asked if I needed help.  She was with her 13 year-old son and we ended up spending the day together.  She was the sweetest lady, always explaining things to me and making sure I was ok.  She even bought me breakfast and wouldn't hear one word about me paying her back.  Yet another in a long line of brushes with Indian hospitality and generosity. 

The tour started at 7:30 with a trip to the Birla Temple, which is made completely out of marble, with some gold accents.  Unfortunately they don't allow cameras inside so I only have a few paltry shots of it.  I was actually stunned by the intricacy of the work and the pure devotion that it must take to construct such a magnificent building.  After that it was on to the Salar Jung museum, which includes a collection of art and artifacts dating back to the first century.  One of my favorite things in the museum was the ivory section, which contained carved tusks.  Again, the ornate, detailed work was astounding to me.  

One thing that I didn't quite understand (chalk it up to cultural differences, I guess) was the "great" musical clock.  This is a six-foot-tall clock with a two-inch-tall man inside who comes out every hour and dings a bell x amount of times, corresponding with what time it is.  Now this is a fine thing to keep in a museum.  Don't get me wrong; I'm as big of a cuckoo clock fan as the next guy.  The thing that I had a hard time with was the pomp and circumstance of the clock.  It's set up in a huge room with maybe thirty rows of seats, which people start filling up to a half hour before the "show".  When those chairs are full people sit on the ground.  It gets to be a packed house pretty quickly.  For those who can't see from way back in the cheap seats, monitors are set up to broadcast the little man doing his thing.  Starting one minute before his appearance, two guards stationed on either side of the clock demand silence from the crowd.  With all this build-up I was expecting a spectacular display but it was actually quite anti-climactic.

Next was the Nizam palace, which was hot and had more carved tusks.  That's all there is to say about that.  After that we went to another palace, which looked beautiful from the outside.  I decided not to go in because they charge an extra 150 rupees for foreigners.  They charge 25 rupees for locals, but our tour covered this cost.  Somehow, non-Indians were forgotten in the deal.  A couple of places had already charged extra and I paid the fee, but add in sore feet, dehydration and the overall injustice of it all, and I decided to sit that one out.  It was a good thing I did too because I ended up meeting a pretty cool person.  The only other foreigner in our group decided to hang back as well and we got to talking.  She is from South Africa and now lives in New York.  She is a very worldly person with a laid back attitude and was easy to have a conversation with.  Hooray for new friends!  We ended up spending the rest of the day together, along with my Indian family.

After that we went to the local zoo park (which turned out to be more park than zoo).  We did see a white tiger though, so that was pretty cool.  My first tiger in India; I hope there are many more sightings in the coming weeks.  Finally, after a long day of walking and seeing and picture taking, we ended our tour with the most physically exhaustive segment of the day, the Golconda Fort.  The fort is a vast ruin made entirely by hand with stones.  It was quite a hike to the top, but we did it, pausing several times for pictures along the way.  This was my favorite part of the day, without a doubt.  Just thinking about the history of the place and marveling at the architecture could have taken up all of my day.  Unfortunately our tour director was a bit of a stickler for time, with a bad attitude besides, and we only had an hour and a half to explore.  At the very top of the  fort I was taking pictures when I was approached by a large group of Indian teens who all wanted their picture taken with me.  That was a surreal moment.  Another surreal moment was when I realized that a guy on my bus was wearing a U of M hat.  He lives here in India and it turns out he just bought the hat because his name start with M, but it was still pretty cool to see.

Finally done with the tour, I squeezed my tired legs onto a bus and made my way home.  According to Anne, I am now officially an Indian.  Tomorrow is the debut of Brad Dembs: Party Liaison, so wish me luck.  Hopefully my lessons will lead to a whole generation of Indians playing beer pong and flip cup.  Now I'm off to get a mango juice and a chicken roll from my local market and then take a shower before going to bed.  I'm going to take such a long shower, you might as well call me Andy Perault.  Namaste, America.  Talk to you soon. 

We are the champions!

The Deccan Chargers won the Indian Premier League Cricket Championship!  I was watching the match at T.G.I.F., which here I think stands for Thank Ganesh It's Friday.  People went crazy, pouring out into the streets, screaming chants and jumping around.  I fell asleep that night to the sound of fireworks all across the city.  I took a video of the fracas, but it's too big a file to post here and it didn't work on facebook either.  Any ideas on how I can share it?...Matt?

Other than that it has been a fairly calm couple of days.  I finally figured out the bus system, with the help of a friend.  We traveled to Secunderabad, the sister city of Hyderabad.  That is where PAMENCAP is.  I went to the school and spoke with a teacher for a while about their curriculum and schedule.  I also read a few case files on the students.  Other than that, there wasn't much to do there and I don't anticipate going back until closer to June 8th, when the kids return from break.  That leaves me with two weeks to get to know my surroundings.  For starters, I think I'll do some tourist activities around the city.  I may even take a few days to travel to Bangalore, which is almost 600km south from where I am.  From what I've heard it is a beautiful place with a lot of awesome sights.  Hopefully I can see this waterfall.

I've gotten into the habit of walking to the AIESEC office to use the internet, since we still don't have it back up at my flat.  It's probably a mile walk, but both places are on the same street so there's not much chance of getting lost.  As I travel down the road I get a good glimpse of daily life in India.  There are a lot of street merchants selling fruit piled so high on carts that it seems inevitable that it will all fall down and cause a crazy traffic jam.  I've also seen donkeys and oxen being herded around.  Some of the weirder things that I have come across are a street barber and a street tattoo artist.  There was a guy just squatting on the sidewalk getting inked up as cars and bikes surged past, maybe three inches from clipping his heels.  I could only imagine what would happen if he got hit.  That would be an interesting tattoo to explain to people.  Also, I stick out very plainly here.  I am the only non-Indian person that I have seen while walking.  People are not used to seeing someone like me so they frequently wave or yell out "Where from?".  Last night our power went out as I was reading so I decided to take a walk to the neighborhood market to get a snack.  On the way, I saw a guy riding his bike, struggling with a huge block of ice.  Seconds later the block fell and shattered into six or seven pieces all over the street.  He was in a bad spot and traffic started piling up and honking around him.  I felt bad so I ran out and helped him gather his ice so he could be on his way faster.  Hopefully that will bode well for me.  I am in the country of Karma, after all. 

Also, check Facebook for pictures of my time here so far.  And cheers to the Red Wings for a sweet blowout game.  I wish I could have watched it.

Hooray for the internet!

Hello world, it's been a while. The day I made my last post also happened to be the last day I had access to the internet at my apartment. Unfortunately, problems like this aren't as easy to fix as they are in the good ol' U.S. of A. When the internet goes out at home I usually unplug the router and the modem and then plug them back in and voila, problem solved. Here, on the other hand, there is a lack of a modem. Instead, the router is plugged into a cable that runs through the apartment and out the balcony, where it disappears, never to be seen or heard from again. It is weird and convoluted, but oh well, enough venting. I only have this computer for one hour if I don't want to pay over 20 rupees (although double that charge would still be less than one dollar u.s.)

A couple of nights ago I went to an office party where my flatmates work. It's in Hi-Tech City, which is where all the big IT companies have headquarters. There is some really cool architecture out there. The party was to say farewell to a colleague who is leaving for the U.S. and it turns out that he is American and his wife is from Ann Arbor. After a week of only meeting two other compatriots it was quite an exciting shock to run into someone from the same state, let alone the same city! We talked for a while about the maize and blue which made me properly homesick. Luckily I was distracted by an intense dance circle that started up in front of me. I thought it was probably rare to see such extreme moves at an office party, but apparently that is the norm in India. People here are much less abashed about dancing than they are in the states. It helps that all the songs come from Indian movies that everyone watches. (Look for a video of part of this melee soon...if I can ever get internet on my own computer again.)

After the office "show" the party continued at one of Hyderbad's cooledt clubs, called Excess. This is a popular place because of the decor and the lighting, but also because it stays open until 4 and most, if not all, other clubs close by midnight. When we got there everyone was caught up in a cricket match that was about halfway over. As it turned out, the local team, the Deccan Chargers, were facing off in a sudden death semifinal round against the heavily favored Delhi Daredevils. I quickly received a crash course in cricket and watched with everyone else as the Chargers pulled off the upset. Everybody was super stoked and it has been the talk of the town ever since. Tonight, for the championship, Deccan will play the Bangalore Royal Challengers who also won in unexpected fashion. I'm looking forward to a good match. If the Chargers win maybe I can get a champions t-shirt.

Yesterday was Saturday, which meant it was time for AIESEC's weekly meeting. Everyone gathered at a local school to discuss business and socialize. I have quickly come to realize that AIESEC is a very close-knit group. It could be equated with some of the youth group meetings of my past, except much more professional. In one rather unanticipated turn of events I was called up to the front of the room. After talking the other day with Akhil, the president, it was decided that I will be the Party Delegate for AIESEC's upcoming weekend conference. Apparently I am tasked with bringing the American college party "scene" to Hyderabad. I plan on teaching everyone how to play beer pong, kings, quarters, etc. I will do my best to channel the spirit of Van Wilder. As a part of my Party Planner status I was also given the privilege of choosing my date to the "prom night". Five or six of the AIESEC girls were chosen to come to the front of the room and convince me why I should pick them. This turned into a talent contest of sorts in which I was danced with and sang to. It was a lot of fun, but now I have a very hard decision to make. I don't know how I will pick one girl since they were all so great. I hope I don't end up hurting anyone's feelings.

Well, that's all for now. I hope everyone is doing well and missing me terribly :) Good luck in Game 4 to the Wings (who got hosed by the refs with that call on Kronwall, but still almost pulled off the game). I hope they set things right this time so we can come back to the Joe to put it away. Peace from the far east!