I ate way too much food

This past week has been rough on me.

I haven’t written in quite some time.  I rationalized it as, I had nothing to write about.  I’ve been bored at work, feeling like I’m doing the same thing every day.  It was my birthday on the 24^th.  It was a lonely birthday, I received plenty of nice messages, but that’s not the same as being with friends and family.

Today was as singular of a day as any since my arrival in India.  It started boring enough.  Slept in, watched season 3 of Entourage, and ate food.  This evening however, I went in to the city to me a friend of mine from work.  We walked around the main area of the city.  We walked through a giant mall, which was taller than it was wide.  After walking for a long while, and insisting that I be starving before going to dinner, we finally made our way to a restaurant in the heart of the city.  The restaurant seemed spacious and neat, though it was by no means pristine.  Once seated, we received our menus, which had about 40 different kinds of chicken, including full birds for less than 3 dollars.  In addition to chicken were prawns, fish, mutton, bread, veggies and more. 

We ordered a full chicken, bread, prawns, chicken tikka, and peppered mutton.

No one may think that to be a quite normal dinner…let me explain what peppered mutton is exactly.  Peppered mutton is sheep brains.  The consistency…weird, the taste…what taste?

                             

So, I tried a piece for the first and last time.  It wasn’t that it was bad…it just wasn’t very good.   After dinner, we walked a bit more, until getting an auto and heading back to his home.  He showed me pictures of his 7-month-old son, a very cute baby boy.  While at his home we hung out and chatted.  He is a rather talkative guy, but then again, so is anyone who has a lot to say.  He told me about his family, his life growing up.  He told me about how he always wanted to learn English, and that he really valued having an American as a friend.  He told me about his contributions to his communities.  I most enjoyed though, the conversation we had about religion.  My friend is a Muslim Indian.  He talked about how he doesn’t understand how radicals rationalize their position and what values he takes out of the Koran.  He also asked me what, in my opinion, is the root of America’s power. 

It was one of the most interesting conversations that I’ve ever had, and it really opened my eyes to how ignorant some Americans really are about Muslims.

I wish I could detail more on the subject, but I don’t think I would do it justice

Today’s lesson, ignorance is not bliss…it’s ignorant.

You’re welcome,

x

This post was meant for Thursday

Let me just start by saying, Oh My God do I hate American prices.

Last Tuesday was probably the most impactful day of work I have had yet.  I am a member of the communications team at work, in addition to my position in business operations.  For the Communications team I assist with the Newsletter.  I contribute to a monthly portion of it, as well as assist with the editing.  Now, when I say assist I, more accurately mean, completely overhaul.  It may be the culture, or the unfamiliarity with the language but the grammatical structure of English writing in my office is, to put it gently…terrible.  I read one paragraph that was literally a single sentence.  I kid you not when I say that I broke that sentence/paragraph up into eight different sentences.  What’s more is that I read another paragraph in which nearly every sentence started with, “And”.  I don’t think an English teacher on a bad acid trip would be more horrified than if they read what passed for writing in my office.  I spent the entire day, overhauling and fine-tuning the newsletter.  It was agonizing, and, after a while, down right comical.  In the end though I was proud.  I was able to see the results of my work.  What’s more is that my hard work will be distributed to thousands in my division across the globe.  Making an impact is really the most important part of being happy with a job.

I had planned for sometime to fly out last Thursday back to Boston to visit my friends and family.  It is my birthday on the 24^th and my mother was only going to be in town during this past week, so it seemed the right time to go.  On Tuesday, the 1^st, I was very excited, having only one more day of work before I was to leave.  At lunch however one of my co-workers asked me what my plans were for the holiday the next day.  “Eh hem, what?”  I had no clue that we had a holiday; which meant I could’ve set off for Boston a day earlier and spend more time with my girlfriend and friends.  I looked into getting out later that day, but it just wasn’t in the cards.  When I asked my boss about the holiday his words were, “I completely forgot, I don’t even know what this one is for we have so many holidays.”   Stupendous.  On the bright side though, the extra day off gave me some more time to shop, and I ended up finding my girlfriend a beautiful scarf that was exactly what I was looking for.  

Early Thursday morning, 2am early, I boarded my plane and set off for Boston, via Paris.  I flew Air France, which I would highly recommend to anyone.  The food is great, and if there are open exit, or economy plus seats, they will not hesitate to bump you up if you ask.  You can also get all the free red wine you want, and who doesn’t love that.  After a days worth of traveling I arrived in Boston the afternoon of the day I left, thanks to time zones.  I got off the plan to the sweet sounds of clear spoken English, freezing cold weather, and agonizingly high prices.

I would like to interrupt myself here just to say that the drug-sniffing dogs in Boston are so freakin cute.  They are well-mannered beagles that would make you want to play with them even while your being dragged off to jail.

A cute dog aside, the weather in Boston was utterly depressing.  I went from probably the most beautiful weather in the world at the present, to windy and bitter cold.  I must say it was refreshing…for the first five seconds.  It was nice to be able to see my best friend once I arrived in the city, and meet him for a burger.  If you are ever in Kenmore Square in Boston, MA, go to UBurger.  It is amazing, and if you go and think differently don’t ever tell me because I don’t want to know.  The rest of the day I got to spend with my lovely girlfriend.  On Friday I had dinner with friends and family.  We were celebrating my birthday, so the dinner was all about me; as such I was in my element, as one may predict.  It was a great time and I only regret we could only do it once.  The week as a whole was endless fun, my only complaint is that Boston and America are so damn expensive that the money I spent in my time here could’ve lasted me a month in India, but it was all worth it. 

As I write this post, I am on the upper deck of a 747 on my way back to India. 

As a note, if you ever have the choice, ride on the upper deck of a 747 there are storage bins next to the window seat, giving you more room for your feet, and a shelf to put stuff on. 

I have just been served my meal, so I will conclude my update for the day.  

Today’s lesson, America’s expensive and AirFrance is awesome,

Your Welcome,

x