The Gospel is true even in the 4th Ward

We survived our first week in the 4th ward! It may be awhile before we enjoy it though. Most of the members were very welcoming, but there are huge differences that are going to take some getting used to.

Lucas is the only boy his age and seems to be the only active teacher age boy. He boycotted the Sunday School class he should have been in and instead went with Landon. There was a combined young men/ young women meeting and since he really likes girls he had no complaints about sitting between two girls instead of the guys.

Landon is also the only boy his age, but there are 3 priests who are seniors. Also Landon has never had a boy his age in our ward so that's not an adjustment for him. He was very excited that of the two callings extended one was to Trent Whipple as  the Young Men's President. The former president was called as the  2nd counselor in the Bishopric when the boundaries were changed. Both boys are happy that Trent will be with them, they know and respect him.

Logan went with us and spent most of Sunday School wishing he could be back with his boys in Primary. I know that feeling, it took months for me to remember not to go there automatically when sacrament released. He still has not decided between the 4th ward and the YSA ward.

Todd seems to be handling the change in stride. There are definitely differences between the way Bishop Hathaway does things and the previous bishops he has served with but he is adjusting. It is a little different trying to get to know a bishop you didn't know as a regular person also, he didn't even know at first if he had a sense of humor....thankfully he does. Todd is so used to knowing everyone in the ward that I think it is bothering him a little that he doesn't know the majority of the ward members. He is already hard at work to put names with faces and make the family connections. There are a alot of them. There are several families where Mom&Dad and their married kids have seperate houses within the same ward boundaries. Considering the small area the boundaries cover it is a little unusual to us. We have never been in the same ward as our family members if we weren't temporarily in the same house.

As for me. I worried in sacrament meeting that I might have taken someone's spot, but found out for sure that I had in Relief Society. The people I already knew were very welcoming, and I was surprised that there were more people I knew there than I originally thought. I felt like a visitor though especially after I heard someone in front of me tell another transplant that it was a bigger change for them (the original 4th Ward members) than for us(the transplants). I spent a long time biting my tongue to keep from yelling at her. I just wanted to say "Really, were you ripped away from your friends and ward family, are you going to a new building at a new time, are you the one who knows none of your leaders or teachers, were you all released suddenly from your callings without even being able to say goodbye? Because from where I sit the only thing that changed for you is that there are more people in the room and more children in the ward." Everything was just a little off and a little weird.. I am sure that once I have a job to do and get to know more people it will get better. But mostly I just cried all day. From his vantage point on the stand Todd told me I was not the only one either. I don't know how long it will take, but I am sure eventually it will be a good thing. I have known all along it is a good change for the stake to stengthen the wards, I just wish I knew it was a good thing for the Gifford's as well. I am trying to be positive, I really am. And as I said at the beginning the church is still true and the Spirit is still there so that's what matters most.

I am a Mom

Sure I am also a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a worker, a teacher, a chauffer, a chef, a maid, a laundress, a crafter, a seamstress, a movie fan, a reader, a daughter of God, and more. But the way I actually define myself is by my role as a mother. I have gotten into the habit of thinking of myself as a mother of teenagers with all the relate craziness. We spend alot of time getting kids to activities, making sure homework is done, enforcing curfews, doing tons of laundry, and trying to keep bottomless pits full.

A couple of days ago at work someone was asking me about my kids in a "how big are they now" conversation. The result was a bit of an identity crisis for me. I don't know how it snuck up on me so quickly, but I actually have only two kids in school and two almost "working adult" children. I am not quite sure I am ready to be a Mom to adults. It's definitely time to figure out how to do that though because they aren't going back.

I call them almost working adult children because neither of them are quite all the way to that title. They are in limbo yeasr. Raylee is technically still a full-time student as she completes her internship and doesn't get a full time paycheck but she spends all of her time working. She spends so much time working that she realized it didn't make sense to live in Provo after all, and was not sure that half of the pittance we pay teachers would actually cover rent, ALL the gas required to drive back and forth and still allow her the luxury of food, so she is living back at home instead. It is going to take some adjusting because she is a student and she isn't, she hasn't lived at home for more than the summer since she started college four years ago and wont have the same  freedoms or as much fun as she is used to.

Logan is almost a working adult because he is working full-time but isn't really thinking much beyond the end of the year and doesn't have any bills. He seems to find enough fun activities for 2 or 3 people, so he is seldom home to do more than sleep. He is in play rehearsals for "Hello Dolly" at the Empress, he will share the role of Cornelius, so be sure to check his schedule before buying tickets. He has had a pretty hard year since high school graduation and is also in a state of limbo as he works towards being ready financially, emotionally, spiritually, and in all other ways for a mission. 

Thank goodness Landon and Lucas are actually still filling their assigned role as teenagers. They are both involved in early morning swim team practices and after school play rehearsals. Landon is playing a princely chef named Philipe Alfredo Mignon in a musical adaptation of the Grimm Brothers fairy tale "Twelve Dancing Princesses" and Lucas has just been cast as Troy Bolton in "High School Musical" at Brockbank.  They are both doing their best to stay on top of their school work and get enough sleep. They are always eating, calling for rides and are rarely without their ipods in hand. They are typical teenagers and I am grateful--mostly.

My Comfort Zone Explodes

Earlier this year I had some adventures that really stretched my comfort zone. I went to India to do training for work. I had never been to India, never away from my family for so long, hadn't done any training in over 15 years, never even eaten Indian food, and the list goes on and on. Since then I have had more stretching opportunities in the training arena at work. All my new adventures were just a little bit scary but also exciting and turned out great.

Now my family and I are about to embark on another stretching exercise and it has me more than a little scared and not even a little bit excited. Saturday September 8th at the evening session of Stake Conference it was announced that four of the wards in our Stake would have boundary changes made a week from Sunday and that three of those four wards would have leadership changes as well. Ours was one of the wards that would have both type of change. So I spent the next several days making myself crazy (I do not do well with anticipation) with every possible scenario my brain could think up along with any that my friends and neighbors thought up as well. Tears were never far from the surface. Finally last Sunday night we went to a special meeting where all the changes were officially announced and we were asked to vote to sustain the changes. As I looked around that room I saw many people raising their hands to sustain the changes with tears in their eyes. The changes were necessary but painful for many.

So after 16 years in the same ward in two different houses we are no longer in the Spencer 5th ward. Our entire subdivision has been reassigned to the 4th ward. The Bishop of the 4th ward was and will continue to be Chase Hathaway, the leadership change was that he called new counselors and a new Elders Quorum President. Todd will be making a lateral move to be the 1st counselor in the 4th ward instead of the 5th. The new EQ President is David Ward from our neighborhood, and Josh George will be the Executive Secretary. So the integration has begun. I am sure that there are many wonderful people in the 4th ward that I do not yet know. In the interest of full disclosure I do know several families there already and I really like all of them. I just did not want the change. I don't want to go to another ward right now. Mostly though I am concerned for my sons, the teenage years are not the best time to move and from what we can tell there are not any boys my sons ages in the new ward. All of the teachers and priests in the old ward, except Lucas and Landon, are south of the canal that forms the new boundary. There are apparently several boys a year older than Landon but that's it. Logan is sad to be leaving "his boys", he has enjoyed teaching the 10 and 11 year old boys class in Primary. He also has to start the whole "getting ready to serve a mission" thing with a new Bishop. He is still trying to decide whether that will be in the 4th ward or if this is the right time to switch to the Young Single Adult ward, people his own age might be nice since he hasn't had that in years.

There are so many people in the 5th Ward that I will miss. I have served beside them, lived beside them, they have helped me raise my children, I have become accustomed to seeing them every week and watched their children grow. Yes, I know they are not going anywhere, but it will not be the same. We won't even be in the same building so that we could catch up in passing. My family and Todd's both were a bit nomadic growing up, so we never really lived anywhere very long and Todd and I have lived in three different states ourselves during our marriage. Neither of us has lived anywhere else as long as we have lived in this ward. I  will miss my ward family. I am also a little worried what the original members of the 4th ward will think of me. Anyone who knows me at all knows I cry over everything. What will they think when I sit in Sacrament meeting and cry before things even really get going because I am sitting alone in the wrong chapel missing my ward?

At the beginning of the year I knew that this would be a year that stretched my comfort zones and forced me to move outside it a little but I never imagined this. It feels like my comfort zone has exploded into little pieces. It remains to be seen whether I will be able to gather enough of the little pieces together to feel that the 4th ward is eventually comfortable. I guess that is up to me- I need to find some way to twist this around in my brain so it becomes an adventure. Any ideas??

Last Days in Delhi

Here are just a few of the many wonderful people I worked with in Delhi. Sherry Holden, Maria Pensabene, Suzi Persing, Marsha, and Mary Sarsi. Sorry Marsha I never did hear your last name. Can you even tell who was s-UA and who was s-CO? Not likely. We all got along really well and had a ton of fun together.

Friends old and new. Donna Wilson from Honolulu was my training partner for the Service Director classes. John Sandefur was my travel partner on the incredibly long trip from Salt Lake City to Delhi, and was roped into more than one adventure in Delhi by both myself and my Mom. And of course Elsa Pinillos came to visit John and so Donna and I also roped herinto a few adventures.

Her is Donna with our last class at IGT Delhi. My camera battery died right after this picture so although there are copies out there with me in them I don't have one.

We did a last trip to one of the local markets for scarfs and more scarfs. I couldn't resist taking a shot of this saree stall even if I can totally resist the idea of buying or wearing a saree.

I think these guys are supposed to guard the unsuspecting tourists from the vendors trying to take advantage of them. Somehow on this trip I ended up being pressed into service by a couple of others as the designated bargainer. How does that happen exactly to a woman who doesn;t even like to shop? Maybe that's why...I truly don't really care whether I end up with the item or not so I really can walk away if it's not the right price.

Chhattarpur Temple

It was a big deal when the Prophet announced that a second LDS temple would be built in South Jordan Utah. However in Delhi they are hundreds of Hindu temple large and small. The Chhattanpur complex has several all in one area, each with a slightly different look to it. The complex had lots if signs in Hindi and only two in English so I still don't know why they had a gigantic red monkey statue. You can see it from far away, so it is easy to find your way from the nearest metro stop. Maybe that is its purpose?

Look at the detailing on this building, even the fence and gateway.

Another completely different look.

Inside one of the buildings there was a little wax museum featuring stories from the life of the founder of this particular temple complex. Including his bed. All the pictures and the wax replicas of him show him as a simply groomed and dressed man yet he slept in this overly opulant bed. I thought it was a striking example of the contrasts always present in India. There are people living in tents less than a block from major modern shopping malls in the shadows of the modern and efficient metro system.

I thought this one was interesting. It was inspired by Southern Indian architecture but it made me think of Latin America. Inside it looked completely different from the outside. but there was not enough light for good pictures.

It is customary to remove your shoes before entering a Hindu temple. This was the first one we went to that required us to remove our shoes and then walk barefoot across the city street to the security screening entrance. I wonder what the point of barefeet is when they make you get them dirty before you can possibly get inside.

This adventure left a lot of questions unanswered.

Kingdom of Dreams

One of the last things I did before leaving Delhi was to go to the Kingdom of Dreams. It is a mini Disneyesque entertainment park there is a huge theater, a little area with shopping and food designed to reflect the different states of India, and live entertainers.

There are shops, restaurants, and bars on the first and second floors. They have everything set up to use a prepaid card at each seperate business or a credit card. Very differnt from most places we went to that only deal with cash.

All around the entrance area and outside the theater they had musicians in traditional garb and a few other performers dressed up to represent animals and mythical creatures.

This monkey was as mischevious as a real monkey. She enjoyed sneaking around and startling people, myself included.

Alot of detail went into decorating every area of the park. Each of the little niches had a light in it that reflected of the mirror mosaic inside. It was a very cool detail.

Cameras were not allowed in the theatre, so no pictures of the Bollywood spectacular we saw. Let me tell you though they danced and danced and sang and danced like crazy the whole time. There was one particular actor that reminded me of Justin Turpin, same stature and build and wow could that guy move. I have no idea if Justin can move that way, but I bet he wishes he could. It had amazing staging and costumes, it really was a spectacle, and of course all in Hindi.

Red Fort

Today's adventure was a visit to another World Heritage Site of India. There are 15 total spread around the country and this was number 4 for my trip. Every one I have seen is older than our country, it's bizarre to contemplate. Red Fort was built in the 1630s when the capital was moved to Delhi. I have no idea how tall the walls are, but they are immense expanses of red sandstone. The thing I enjoy most seeing is what the craftsmen here can do with stone. Look at the details that they put into everything, with hand tools, even the ceiling is ornately carved stone. I like seeing all the carved stone but my very favorite is what they did with gemstones inlaid into marble. The detail astounds me. There were dozens of panels just like this, each with hundreds of tiny pieces of various stones hand ground into the exact shape needed for every individual petal or leaf. It made me very sad to later see a similar panel that had been emptied of all the gemstones.

Inside the walls of the Red Fort there is alot of lawn that attracted families and couples on this beatiful day. I couldn't resist snapping a picture of this little guy turning somersaults. I didn't quite catch the fact that he was following in the path of his older brother. It made me laugh and remember days of Landon and Lucas trying to do everything their older siblings did. Most families in India don't have a lot of family time because the work day and work week is longer here than in the US, so it was good to see some quality family time.

It both encouraged me to see these workers restoring parts of this heritage site and scared me to death when I saw the nature of their scaffolding and lack of safety measures. I have discovered through my time over here that I am braver than I thought in alot of ways, but I am quite sure there is still no way I would ever be brave enough to get up there. Adventure has its limits!!

This week's class

IGT Delhi SD Class 1I forgot to take my camera for pictures on the last day of my first class at IGT. The good news is that several of the same people were in this weeks class. The first week I did Phase 2, but this week was Specialty desk training for the Service Directors. You can see that it ended up being an all male class with two female instructors, I hope there are some female students in the next SD class. The guys were all great, but I get enough of being surrounded by guys at home.

All the people I am working with are so nice. They really go the extra mile. Either Charu or Adi has come to get us and escort us to and from work everyday. It adds atleast an hour everyday to their work day, but they do it because they consider us to be their guests. We only had a half day of class on Friday, so Donna (my s-UA co trainer), Charu, and Adi went out to breakfast. It was a very funky and cool restaurant and it had the most unusual omelettes I have ever seen. I think I am going to challenge our family omelette expert Lucas to try to recreate it. It was a good week.

I actually did it !!

Before Mom left India she and I and three other ladies went shopping at an open air market. Everyone has been telling me that you have to negotiate prices and I really did not think I could do it, but I surprised myself. There was an item that shall not be named which was the right color I was looking for but similar items were 100 rupees less at all the other stalls. I used the advice the experts gave me and started walking away, before I got 10 feet away he had me back at his table paying what the other stalls were charging. The 100 rupees were not the issue, because it amounts to $2, it was more if I could do it. I have to admit it ended up being kind of fun. It was also just one more thing this month that was outside my comfort zone.

Making a list

I thought it would be fun to make a list of all the unique things I saw Monday on our trip to Agra

• Monkeys close up, real close up, no zoom involved in the above picture
• Someone carrying a washing machine while riding on the back of a motorcycle.
• Fields and fields of potatoes being harvested by hand
• A wild parrot
• How to make persian rugs by hand
• An elephant on the street
• 9 people stuffed into an auto-rickshaw
• Baby goats
• A political rally Indian style
• An Indian woman driving a motorcycle
• Someone talking on his cell phone while driving a motorcycle with both hands
• The process of marble inlay patterns by hand and without electricity
• Sheets of plywood being transported by bike
• Carts being drawn by camels

• A rickshaw with a Christmas tree on the handlebars.
• A parade down the streets of Agra.
• A woman carrying a bundle of dried cowpies on her head.
• Someone using a turn signal in India
• Oh, and the Taj Mahal
It was a great day!

9 People and 8 Prayers

Today I had a new experience. I have attended church meetings in various chapels in the US and Mexico. Some were old and others newer, in Cleveland we met in a converted office building, while at Ricks and BYU we used ordinary college classrooms as meetinghouses, I even went to church in a recreation room while working at Yellowstone National Park, but today was the first time I ever attended church in someones home.

It was an actual sanctioned meeting. There are so few members in India that the branches are very spread out. Because of the distances and costs involved in getting to the meeting house the mission presidency recently started a program of home groups based on area that meet together in a member home three weeks a month and the whole branch gathers for Fast Sunday. So this morning Mom and I took a taxi over to an apartment building about 15 minutes away and attended service with 7 other people. We met in the living room and dining room of the hosts. There was only one sacrament tray for bread and one for water. We had hymn books but no music and I'm not really sure we were a group at their best in acapella form. It was an ultra casual setting but the youngest person there was the hosts sixteen year old son so it was also very quiet. When you are passing the sacrament to such a small group it only takes a minute and doesn't really give you much reverent time to ponder, so when they are done they continue to stand by the table for a couple of minutes quietly. I'm not sure it's exactly standard but it did cause me to really think hard and wonder if I was taking that sacred ordinance for granted.

So how do 9 people cover opening and closing prayers on three meetings plus the sacrament prayers? The same person says both sacrament prayers and the closing prayer, you skip one of the prayers and just about everyone else says one of the remaining prayers. The same u brother conducts all three meetings and the same sister conducts all the music. They are good people and you could definitely feel the spirit there. The brother who was presiding, conducting and teaching sunday school is from Orem and here on a one year assignment. His wife visits ocassionally and he returns for short visits ocassionally as well, but most of the time he is here alone. He was nice enough to give us a ride back to the hotel since I hadn't properly anticipated not being close enough to a main road to get a taxi back. It was very nice of him to share his car and driver with us.

It was nice to be there after the misadventures of the last two weeks, but it definitely makes me miss the conveniences and comforts of my home ward. It's weird to think that my sixteen year old has been to hundreds of youth activites, release time seminary, youth conference, temple trips, boy scout camps, and some things he did not want to go to. Meanwhile Rashad has had hardly any of those opportunities simply because of where he was born. I bet he would jump at the chance to attend some of the things my boys had to be pushed to attend. Life is weird.

How they party at IGT Delhi

Decorations, food, music, the whole nine yards

They were having so much fun it was crazy!!

Can you tell how loud the music is?

What this week has been like

It has been a really long time since I worked a shift like this and now I remember why I didn't like it. My average day goes somethng like this: get up around 8am, read scriptures, throw on clothes and go to breakfast. After breakfast I come back to my room for a few minutes, check emails, look over training materials for the day and then go work out. After working out I come back to the room, watch a little tv or surf the net while I cool down enough to shower. Then I shower and dress and gather stuff for work. I leave for work at 1:45 for a 2:30 start. I try to take something with me to eat at work since our breaks are at 4:15 and 7:00 with dinner break at 9:30.More on that later. We finish up at 1030 and have to wait for all the trainers to be ready and Charu, who is the local training specialist, before we can start the 20-30 minute return trip. When I get home it's really too late to do anything so I will watch some tv or read until I am wond down enough to sleep. Boring huh. There are usually several CO/UA people in the restaurant for breakfast so we talk and have fun and it probably takes alot longer than necessary to have breakfast, but it's good.

Yes dinner is at 930 and we are off at 1030. The thing is most of the students are used to working more of an overnight shift and the cafeteria is set up around that schedule. So, if we take dinner at 6:30 or 7:00 there is no food there for them to eat. They do have microwaves, but no fridge and more agents at this office buy dinner than brown bag it. Dinner in the's cafeteria starts at 930 when he food arrive so that is when we take dinner. I don't like to eat that late though so I usually just bring fruit or crackers or a sandwich from the hotel that I can have on the 7:00 break. Most days this week I have had breakfast around 9am and a very light meal at 7pm.

Friday night at work was interesting. They don't celebrate profit sharing here because they are not actually UA badged employees and don't get a share. But once a quarter they have a Rewards and Recognition night and let me tell you it is a PARTY. All of the IGT people regardless of which contractor they work for attend, they have lots of music and after the awards ceremony they have dancing. The music is loud and they really get into the dancing. The interesting part was that all of this was happening on the other side of the wall to the classroom I was teaching in...the very non soundproof wall. It felt like we were trying to teach in a nightclub, I think the walls were vibrating and I know my head was pounding. They had the music going for quite a while early in the day and then they stopped for a while. Charu warned us that they had stopped for a while but it was only a postponement and they would be starting up again for the dancing at 9:00p. When they started it again it was twice as loud and was impossible to teach over. So when they went to dinner I just told them I would see them tomorrow because I couldn't keep up the competition. Yes, I did have Charu's permission, she had told me it may be necessary and boy was she right.

Saturday was much better, no music and we were able to get through everything we needed to cover and had few technical issues for once. I enjoyed this class but they are so much quieter than the classes I worked with at the other office. The DEH kids had lots of questions and the DXR people who are older and more experieced had hardly any. I really don't know how much of it is because of age, company culture, personalities, and how much is because they don't feel that they actually need to know what we are there to teach. The class last week at DEH- the IBM office was made up of International sales agents and this weeks class at DXR- the IGT office had a mix of Queues, Rates,and Ticketing agents. No one at DXR takes inbound phone calls, so they can't see any purpose in learning to build reservations, and it is a struggle to come up with any possible way to make the training applicable. I found myself saying several times, "I'm not sure that you will use this, but you never really know what else a customer will ask you about when you call them for a schedule change." There is a special module for them on working queues, but just the basics, no specifics.

All in all it has been an interesting week even if each day felt a little boring in and of itself. I am looking forward to the weekend, even if it will be a busy one showing my Mom the sites.

One week down

The office I worked in the first week was full of very nice people, they were kind, generous and very welcoming. However the management there is very disorganized. We found out the night before we started work that due to transportation issues the times of our classes might have been changed, they simply hadn't bothered to tell me. All the students are picked up by buses or taxis each day on a set schedule and they could not adapt it enough to make class start at 7am. So I found out literally hours before that I would not start until 9:30. They had no way of dealing with the fact that the classes had been expanded from 3 1/2 days to 4 other than have two classes share the same room one day a week. That was crazy. It was made crazier by a decision made before I arrived to have two people who used to be core trainers teach a couple of the units. They apparently felt that the newer trainers such as myself could not teach it without seeing it taught once again by them. (Keep in mind that this is training we are required to attend every year and we all attended train the trainer certification with the top guy for that subject 3 weeks ago. Anyway they decided amongst themselves to have all four classes in session Wednesday morning meet in one room so the "experts" could teach it. I have nothing against the teachers but having 60 students in a room meant for 20 was beyond ridiculous. It was super hot and stuffy in there and the guys took turns standing up since there wasn't room for 6o chairs in there. I am sure glad I don't have to work in that chaotic of a place all the time, it would make me crazy.

Tuesday I start in the other Delhi office and the reports are that it is night and day difference between the two. I know I received a welcome e-mail with all types of details including a transportation schedule before I ever left home. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone. The people in the United/IGT office are all special functions rather than sales so that right away will make it a very different experience.

Most days after work it takes about 45 minutes to an hour to get back to the hotel. I usually drop my stuff and then head down for some dinner. The trouble is they serve meals at a snails pace, I'm not sure why exactly, I guess it's so you have time to visit or something. While it has been nice to get to know the other trainers better I am just not used to eating so late. By the time I get done with dinner and back to the room it's all I can do to get myself prepped for class the next day and check my emails before I am falling asleep at my computer. For some crazy reason I am only sleeping between 4 and 5 hours a night and then waking up in the middle of the night unable to get back to sleep. I just about got my body adjusted to that and now I switch to a 2:30-10:20 pm shift for a week. I hope I am not falling asleep in class. I guess we will wait and see.

Yesterday was a little weird. I spent the whole morning trying to find a church meeting to go to and had the path all planned out. But was very concerned that when I got off the metro I would not be able to find it or that nothing would really be at that mysterious unmarked location on the church website. The weird part was that the week before I wasn't really worried, I felt that I would find it and although it took too long to do any good I did find the place. I didn't want to go back there because it took too long and I was pretty sure the meeting would not be in English. So I decided to go to the branch this area is assigned to. But it turns out that had I gone to either meetinghouse I would have been alone, they only meet there on fast sunday. I am thankful that I got the message, strange as it seemed, not to go to church. So instead I studied some on my own and then headed out to play tourist for a while. We went to the India Gate and the Akshardham Temple. They make you check your bags for the Akshardham Temple so no pictures, but I did buy a book about it with pictures to show when I get home. We walked a ton and maybe that helped becasue last night for the first time I actually slept well. I even slept in this morning before having a late breakfast and starting my laundry.

Okay I think I finally have some dry underclothes so I am going to try to get cleaned up and out of my room for a while today. It obvious today that waiting until I am out of socks and underwear to handwash them in my room is not a good idea. They just don't dry fast enough. Oh well is just another part of the adventure I guess.

The Students

The students I had this week were an interesting mix. They are all quite young, the average age is around 22 and are well educated. All of them speak English, some have stronger accents that others but all know English well. They are so smart, they are not allowed to take paper and pen onto the floor with them so they have to rememember everything the customer tells them. Even if they have a complicated itinerary or a major issue they cannot write down any notes. Oh yeah and in a foreign language as well of course.

There is alot of variety in the way they dress, in their religious background and even in their appearance. There was a guy in the first class I was with from the far north east part of the country who looked more Asian than Indian. There is more ethnic diversity here than I expected. One of the guys in my class spoke with the most beautiful accent, oddly he sounded like he was from New Zealand more than India, I couldn't figure out a way to find out why without coming across as a Nosy Nellie. Most dress in a very western style. Except they seem to think it's cold enough for sweaters in this weather, it is afterall still winter but the temperature has been in the 60's most of the week. There was one girl in class who dressed in a more traditional way and one guy who wore the full beard and head wrap of the Sikh sect. Historically the had the warrior role as defenders of the faith. Sikh men do not cut their hair or shave. They wrap their hair up and wear a kind of knot in the front. There was also a guy in class who fasts for his faith every Thursday, he does drink but just doesn't eat. Part of me thinks it would be easier to fast if I was still drinking water, but I am still glad that I am not asked to fast once a week, I think once a month food and beverage is better. There are some in the office who were not in my class who wore saris, more of the United/IBM people wore Shalwar Kameez or western clothing. I didn't see any men in the office in traditional garb.

It seems that just like any major city in the US there is lots of variety in Delhi, our employees come from all over the country. They come here to study at the universities, to get jobs, gain experience and make their way in the big city just as they might go to New York, LA or another major city in the US. Those from outside of the Delhi area tend to live in apartments with several friends all trying to get by and send money home to help their families. At work they must place their cell phones etc..in lockers before they go to the floor, but everytime I am on the metro I see young people here glued to their phones and I-pods.

Another Adventure

There are right now about 12 trainers here in Delhi mostly 2/3 CO and the others are UA, all of us will soon be UA of course. Tuesday night 4 of us from the day shift were going out to dinner together, away from the hotel. It was some place that the people from the other Delhi office, where I will be next week, introduced Vidia to last time she was here. She knew the name and approximately where it was but not the exact address, so she had the concierge give directions to the taxi driver. The problem is he didn't bother to admit he didn't know where the restaurant was, the directions he gave sent our taxi to the complete wrong part of the city to Vatika Business Park instead of Vatika Grand Restaurant. Our driver didn't speak English and of course none of us speak Hindi so it was crazy trying to get him to understand it was the wrong place and just to take us back to the hotel. He was so persistent. He called several people, drove to several locations and even got out to ask street vendors for help, he just would not give up. Finally he called someone who knew and was able to get him to the right spot. What should have been a 15 minute taxi ride took us about an hour and a half. When we finally got there the food was really good and the restaurant was really unique inside, set up to look like you were in a cave. I'm still not sure it was worth a 90 minute cab ride, especially when I was hungry when we left the hotel, but it was good and even with the cab ride about half the price of the dinner buffet here in the hotel. I tried more new foods including Chicken Masala and Aloo Paratha. Everything was good. I still am not really sure the poor cabbie knew where we were because he took a crazy path, but it only took less than 20 minutes to get back to the hotel.

Tuesday

I started to work today. I was not the lead instructor but just the back up today. The students are really sweet and solicitous. In their culture it is very important to please others. They seemed to enjoy explaining what differnt things in the cafeteria were and making recommendations. Most of them usually eat food from home, but because they were on a different schedule for training many were eating from the cafeteria also. They serve everything on metal cafeteria trays with the little sections like we used to have in elementary school and give you a spoon as your only utensil. The biggest section is always with rice of some sort, with the side parts containing one or two other items. There are always vegetarian and non-vegetarian main dish choices. Then one section will have sliced cucumbers and red carrot or radish slices, these help with the heat. Of course if you are brave enough they will also give you peppers if you want to increase the heat. The food is good, it is filling and it costs between 30 and 40 rupees for the whole tray. In case you are wondering one US dollar is about 45 rupees. So, yes you can eat a filling lunch without beverage for less than 1 dollar and if you need a beverage they sell soda or a 1 liter bottle of water for 20 rupees or less than 50 cents. Yet for most of the people we are teaching eating in the cafeteria is still a bit of a luxury and the better choice is to brown bag. They have so little yet are happy and grateful for what they do have. They are glad to have jobs that allow them to help support their families, never mind that we get paid way more than they do for doing the same job.

pictures

Sorry I just can't figure out how to get the pictures in the right spot.

Reach out and touch someone

Yesterday's adventure was to visit one of India's Heritage sites, Qutab Minar. It's a mosque complex built by several different rulers over several generations and includes a tall tower which is actually the Qutab Minar. It has some amazing architecture that had me wondering how anyone could carve that kind of detail in stone now with power tools let alone in 1192 using hand tools only. I enjoyed the visit even if I did go a little late in the afternoon to see everything before sunset, that wasn't the real adventure though.

Getting there and back was the adventure. I walked the half mile to the metro station and went to the nearest station to the Minar all without incident. When I left the metro station it was apparent that I could not possibly walk there, major roads to cross, no clear path and all that. So I grabbed a rickshaw and took the ride of my life. Traffic here is insane, no one stays in lanes, people drive the wrong way on one-way streets. There is no such thing as a safe stopping distance and at one point my driver actually reached out and touched the rickshaw next to us as a warning when were going around a corner. I don't know if you can really get a sense of how crazy the ride is frm the pictures but I hope so. When I got there I felt lucky to be alive and disturbed that I would have to return by the same method. On the advice of those who have been here before I refrained from being a back seat driver, held my tongue and hoped for the best. Obviously I survived, but I was sure glad to get back to the metro even if I did have to stand up the whole way back in rush hour.

The Food

I decided I better start taking a notebook with me to meals so I can write down the names of what I'm eating because I can't remember what most of them are called. I have made a point of trying atleast 2 or 3 new things.

So far I have eaten a lamb dish and an eggplant dish that were okay. A polenta dish and a fish dish that were very yummy. Garbanzo beans and lentils in several different forms as well as salad, fruits, naan bread and lots of basmati rice preparations. The buffet is set up with Indian food on one side and international food on the other side, with half of each side being vegetarian dishes. In the middle is a salad station, a pasta/pizza station and a couple of made to order Indian dishes. I'm trying anything that doesn't look like it has cheese or yogurt involved and some of the Indian dishes have been kinda spicy. Strangely the dish that had me choking, stuffing naan bread into my mouth and begging for more water was from the international side. It was a seemingly innocent vegetable dish in basil sauce and I took a large portion of it because it was so healthy and yummy looking. Unfortunately they slipped a lethal, head-exploding, breath-taking, tear-causing pepper in with the other innocent vegetables. I have never had anything that hot in my life. The whole thing is kind of unfortunate because it was yummy until I found the pernicious pepper.
So far I haven't had anything that I would cross the planet again to have but I would like to have more of some of one or two of the dishes. One thing I will probably have to cross the planet for is to get anything with beef again. They definitely do not cook with beef. It is not unusual to see cows roaming in the street even here in this major city. The cars just go around the cow, it's normal for them but still bizarre to me.

February 5th: Can we find it? Not exactly

Before I ever left home I did a little research and found out exactly where and when the closest LDS Branch met. I knew it should be possible to reach it by public transport and should take between 75 and 90 minutes to do so. I was however a little unsure about making my way there on my own my first real day in the city. So John was nice enough to offer to go with me. I took him up on the offer and we got directions from the hotel to the nearest Metro station and set off to have an adventure. (You DO know that is the theme for the month right?!) We made it to the metro, figured out how to by tickets and made it onto the right train. We even got off on the right stop, but that is where the trouble began.

We couldn't find anything telling us where to get which bus. We found a taxi drive but when we showed him the address where we wanted to go, he did not know where it was so we couldn't take the easy way out. We finally found a bus stop, but still couldn't find the right bus. I swallowed hard and asked a perfect stranger for help. Can you believe it Todd? He couldn't really help, but he asked someone else whose English was better and he told us exactly which bus to take then pointed us to the right stop. Then we asked the fare collector for help knowing which stop to get off at. He took the time to point us in the right direction once we were off the bus and was super nice. With very little difficulty we found the right street and started walking and looking for #40. Since we started at one it seemed easy enough. After we had been walking for at least 20 minutes and still hadn't reached 40 John suggested I try Catholicism for the day since we had seen that church at the very beginning of the street. We started following a cow up the street and contemplating trying to ride her to our destination. When we got to the top of the street and there was no #40 we decided we must be in the entirely wrong place so we gave up and started going back to where we had seen the last bus stop. Shortly after that we had our first experience with begging children, not cute. At the bus stop we had our second experience with mothers using their babies to beg. When it seemed that the bus wasn't coming we gave up and started walking back to the other bus line. Guess what we finally found about an hour after Sacrament meeting started...the church. It turns out that they number one side of the street and then when they reach the end they go back to the other side of the street and continue from where they left off so on one side it's 1 and the other house directly across from it is number 37. So where exactly was the LDS church that of course occupies part of a school building and only has the adress written small enough that you couldn't possibly see it from across the street? Directly across the street from the Catholic Church.

Because we were so late we decided that we would not go in for the closing prayer and would just head back towards the hotel. On the way back to the Metro station we saw a gorgeous building and decided we may as well explore it while we were there. It tured out to be the Parliament building and at the end of that road was the Presidential estate, which makes the White House look tiny and boring. We took some pictures and really enjoyed some of the unfamiliar flowers and creative wasy to use the familiar marigold. The very best part of the trip and the day was finding monkeys living outside the gates to the Presidential estate. We saw some from the bus earlier in the day but couldn't get pictures in time. This time we weren't moving though so we got several shots like the one at the top. After we saw the monkeys we slowly made our way back to the train and then to the hotel. I hope that by next week I can figure out a more direct route to church and actually make it there before the meeting is over. But I do have to say we had a good day anyway and saw things we would not have if we had made it straight there and back.

Once we were safely back at the hotel and thru the security screening I got my feet and legs cleaned up and had some dinner. I will tell you a little about the food tomorrow

The best part of the hotel room

The Adventure of a Lifetime

I had some internet issues, but am now all hooked up and ready to go so you get to hear about a couple of days at once.


February 3-4


Because of the length of the flight to India and the 12.5 hour time difference I lost most of a day. I left Salt Lake City at 7:45a on Friday flew to Houston, TX then to Newark, NJ then onto Delhi, India. When I got here it was Saturday at 8:30a in SLC and 9:00p here. So it was a day and a night and a day without a day I guess.


The flight here was long but relatively uneventful. To Houston I sat next to a man who could sleep sitting up better than most, and there was no movie so it was a very quiet flight. To Newark the flight wasn't very full so I had an open seat next to me and the movie wasn't worth watching, so it was another quiet flight. When we got to Newark John and I went to the United Club (A private lounge) and hung out there. The club has cushy seats, snacks, wireless internet, restrooms, everything you need to pass time in an airport. It was great.


On the flight to Delhi I watched movie after movie. I was trying not to sleep very much so that I could sleep when I got here and get onto the right schedule as quickly as possible. So I watched One Day, How does she do it?, Moneyball, Just Wright, Courageous, and part of The Glee Movie . Yes in case you are wondering it is a stinking long way to India. I also got my first taste of Indian food. Since it was the airplane version it wasn't super spicy, but some I liked and some I didn't. I saved part of the Indian version of after dinner mints to bring home and have the boys try. I can't wait to see what you guys think of it.


When we got here I was expecting customs to be lengthy and security high, but it turns out we had more to go through to get into our hotel than into the country. The customs official did not ask a single question or in fact even say a word to me, just examined my passport and stamped it. We then went to claim our bags and simply walked out the door. Our driver was there just as promised and I forgot to take a picture, it may be the only time in my life there is a driver in a uniform with my name on a sign meeting me at the airport, and I didn't capture proof of it. The hotel is about 30 minutes from the airport and when we got here we had the car searched by armed guards and a bomb sniffing dog before we could get throught the gates. We then had to go through a metal detector and have our luggage x-rayed before we could walk into the hotel. We do that everytime we come in. The hotel is just as nice as it looks online. The room is great but the very best part is the shower. The shower head is gigantic and there is even a seat so if I want to be super lazy and soak forever in there I could, seriously it is 8 inches in diameter--huge shower head. I will post some pictures of the room and the bathroom as soon as I can figure out how. It doesn't seem to be working correctly right now.
So far the adventure has been good. I will keep you posted.

My favorite pointdexter

Mostly this is a test to see if I can actually post a picture. But he is a very cute 50's nerd.