You can take the girl out of Manhattan...

So, I guess the saying is true. You can take the girl out of Manhattan, but you can't take the Manhattan out of the girl. And apparently you can't take the Manhattan out of my hand, either.

One too many cocktails last night...Manhattans, of course! Some of you might think that a Manhattan is a dirty old man's drink...well, you're right. But I was missing NYC, and the crew there, so a Manhattan it was...then another and another, until I woke up to the sound of my alarm at 6:30am, cursing the drink. The city never treated me this way! Damn it!

Christmas in India

Christmas was great this year. No muss, no fuss. Just my style. No family, no gifts, no hundred million relatives to see that I only see once a year, that are most of the time like strangers to me.

My roomies and I threw a PARTAAAY! We made eggnog (which suprisingly turned out great), had snacks, ordered food, decorated our broke ass christmas tree, and listened to some x-mas tunes. All around nice.

In the photo below, the girl in front of me is my roommate Ann (Belguim), then me, then Aki (Japan) and then Patricia (Nigeria). The other two were traveling for Chrismas.


Then we went and crashed an @ conference. We got there at 1am, thinking that they would be well into the party part...but no, we happened to walk in during their awards ceremony. OOPS! The best part was that they asked us all to introduce ourselves. Fine enough...only problem: I was a bit in the bag, along with the rest of the roomies. And the Japaneese roomie (Aki) couldn't stop laughing. Hilarious.

After all of the fuss, we were handed a couple bottles of wine, and danced the night away! Loads of fun...and like I said...just my style!

Hope you all had a great Christmas, too!

Rhetorical Question

Are there any gentlemen left in this world? Grrrr!

Thankful

Hey everyone-just wanted to say this holiday season that I'm really thankful for each and every one of you being in my life. Your support, love, and even challenges have helped me to have so many rewarding experiences. Below is a quick vid that I put together of some of those experiences. Thanks and have a great holiday, wherever in the world you are!

All the best!

Peanutbutter jelly time

Jacqueline, you know the song...for those of you that don't, find it. Absolutely hilarious!

In any case, I really want one right now...I'm scheming the raid of my roommate's peanutbutter & honey when I get home tonight...mmm...mouth...watering...right...now...

Snake Charmers! Without the Snake

At a market called Delhi Heart, with the girl who's house I stayed at for the first couple days I was here, along with some of her friends.

What kind of person am I?

Today was a frusturating day. After giving the cab driver the wrong address (he didn't speak english), and going 2 hours out of our way, I reached what's called the Mini Secretariat, to register with the Indian government. That didn't put me in the best of moods, but overall, I was fine. No big deal...things always take 10x longer than they think they will when first getting to a new country.

When waiting outside the Mini Secretariat (not a small building, by the way) for my cab driver to pick me up, a little girl, probably about 4 or 5, with scragely hair, really dirty clothes, and no shoes, shuffles over to me with her hand out. She was mumbling something in hindi (or some Indian language), and just stood straight in front of me, hand out in front of her, cupped, waiting for some change from me.

But what did I do? I looked at her and said firmly "no." And that's all I did. But she stayed on, mumbling with her hand out.

Now, for those of you in the states, take this into consideration. One Indian Rupee (their currency) is equal to about 2.5 cents. That means one US dollar equals roughly 43 Indian Rupees.

So, that said, with this girl standing in front of me, all I could do was say "no." I've never been stingy before. Sometimes I'd make an extra bagel in the morning to give to one of the homeless people on State Street in Madison on my way to class. Sometimes I'd give them my change coming out of wallgreens. I stopped this practice when I moved to NYC...but there are no homeless children running around without shoes there!

Getting in the cab without giving her even one rupee, I almost started to cry. 'What kind of person am I?' was all I could think. Who would ever deny a child even 2.5 cents? Come on Betsy!

I am the type of person that believes in progress, that believes that I was not given such a great family and such challenging and engaging experiences throughout my life to waste it. But why wasn't she, this little girl, given that? Why did she have to beg me for a sum of money that won't ever make a difference in my life, but could for her?

Of course, these questions led to much larger ones on the car ride back to the office. Why me? Why now? What the hell am I doing? Is it making a difference? Trickle down economics didn't work for Regan, so how can me being here, being a part of this new initiative really be helping to change the world?

Volunteering and working for @ for the past 4 years, I've wholeheartedly believed that "Whatever I do, however I can contribute to this organization, it will make a difference in some small way." Seeing this girl today really challenged that sense that I was making a difference in the world in some small way. Its a feeling that I know won't be leaving soon.

5 girls...and me makes 6, roommates that is!

I live in a true Ihop: International House of PMS. All of the culprits, in no particular order are:

Ann, from Belguim
Tanja, from Latvia
Patricia, from Nigeria
Lynn from Thailand
Aki from Japan
Me, from the US

Man, where are the guys when all you want to do is chill on the roof with a beer?

Yea, that's right, we have a roofdeck (actually, what I thought was another apartment above us turns out to be the roof, with a railing around it...perfect for social gatherings, and drunk person proof!) and plans to make good use of it on Christmas Eve! Have fun in the snow, bitches!!

Crazier than New York

One of the things I keep telling people as I meet them and they ask of my impression of India, is that its crazier than New York. And I totally believe its true! In a city of 16 million people, things are bound to get a little insane. Add on top of that, the driving (a sample was in my last post, and that was not even a scary drive), and a culture that is relaxed enough to change things last minute (Franky, my event planning patience was tested to the max yesterday...I'll have to tell you about it sometime) but organized enough to pull it off, you've got my first impressions of India.

From the problems with the water, to communication problems, to cab drivers not knowing where I live, to me not knowing how to get to where I live, to not sticking to the structured agenda, to dinner guests showing up 2 hours late and being considered early, to work conferences on saturday and sunday...

From beautiful markets with amazing hand crafts, to fun roommates, to amazing monuments, to late night crazy driving, to impromptu presentations, to meeting so many new, interesting people with so many different perspectives, to the awesome sense of humor all Indians seem to have...

I'm having a blast and learning so much here! Initially, I was kind of turned off by the whole thing...it almost seemed like a wierd dream, like I almost couldn't believe that people actually lived this way. Other times that I've been to developing countries, I've only stayed for one or two weeks. I kept having to tell myself that I am moved into an apartment, and this is a new home. Very surreal. But the more I let it in, the more I become adventurous, the more I learn to be demanding of those around me, the more I am learning about India, and the more I am liking it here.

Taking the Autorickshaw in India..total madness!

Q: How do you know when you're eating spicy food?

A: When you eat a raddish to cool your mouth down.

Man lunch was good!

First of many...Embarassing moments, that is

As all things go in a new place with new people and new ideas, places, faces, events, etc. Emberassing things just happen...I was just a waitin for mine, and here it is.

Sarita, here's your first (of probably many) akward stories...

Lunch, yesterday afternoon. I sat down with one of the managers here (an @ alum) and a Calibrated group employee (also an @ alum) for some Indian pizza. It was good, spicy (kind of tasted like tobasco sauce) and I ate up. They went back for seconds, and in the mean time, I was sitting, kind of leaning forward, having a convo with the manager of the two.

Here's where I must step back a bit and tell you what i was wearing: a button down collared shirt, black pants, and a suit coat. Professional. It was a professional lunch. Ok, back to the story.

So, I'm chattin' away, and all of a sudden, the manager type starts to look away, gets uncomfortable, kind of red in the face. When the other employee comes back, they immediatly start talking in Hindi, and neither of them look at me.

With this immediate shift in body language, I thought the worst: I said something wrong, I did something wrong...then, feeling a slight breeze, I look down...

...my top button of my nice, professional, collared, button-down shirt, had come undone, exposing *gasp* the middle part of my bra. I looked down, laughed, and buttoned back up. I wouldn't have been embarassed, until I saw their faces. They were beet red, and really uncomfortable.

Needless to say, the lunch went from professional to quiet, really fast.

Here's where I'd love to conduct a survey, though, so please leave your comment: Do you think that every time they see me, they'll think immediatly of my bra?

I'm thinking yes...crap...great way to start off a professional relationship...way to go buttons!

The funny part is that I know this'll be just one of many embarassing moments along the line here. Gee, can't wait to get to make fun of myself more (hopefully not with bras anymore, though!)

Already???

So I thought I was stronger. I thought I was tougher. I thought it would take a while for me to utter these words: its cold man...and I'm wearing a sweater today.

My sincerest apologies to those of you in the frigid weather of the midwest right now (according to google, its -13 (c). I'm sorry I couldn't have held out longer...but hey, this is a sign of acclamation, right???

Getting to India by the numbers

6. Cows spotted going from the airport to my home stay
5. New AIESEC friends whos name I remember
4. Traditional Indian meals...mmm mmm good!
3. Car rides in INSANE traffic...its offically true, if you can drive in India, you can drive ANYWHERE!!! (probably even space)
2. Eight hour flights (inturrupted by a 12 hour layover)
1. extraordinary @ party last night (and one broken curfew...man, how long has it been since I've had a curfew??? But it was not all in vain, I have a new drinking game for everyone!!!

And around it spins

Finished up today by sending out the DHL packages (it took a freaking hour...me=not impressed by office max customer service b.s.), finished filling out my final AUS reimbursement form, put stamps on all of my letters to send out, sent the OC their final gifts (which took a long ass time to make), and burned all of the info that I had about the 50th on to 2 disks that are on their way to NYC.

Started today, with a phone call from Juggie looking for an @er to hire in his management consulting business...18 month traineeship...someone who wants to live in India and turn it into a career potentially...anyone interested? Check out this website: www.37degrees.com, and get back to me. What he wants: a jack of all trades.

Work never ends, and I kind of like it that way. When I'm still, I'm dead. Keep on spinnin, big wheel!