The Shallahamers

An amazing time

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 09:50:38 -0800

I just arrived in Chennai (which is also called Madras), and am waiting for my friends while sitting in the Ramada. Why the Ramada? Well, let me tell you about the past few days first…

I arrived in Bangalore on Feb 13th. I was teaching the second and last of my seminars. The hotel I was staying at was amazing. One of the waiters came up to me the second evening and called me by name. Shocked, I asked him how he knew my name. He said he looked at the previous night’s bill! That was what the service was like the entire time. If you look at the pictures of the hotel, its beauty matches the service of its employees.

The first two mornings in Bangalore I awoke at 5:40am to the “call for prayer.” It sounded different than in Egypt, but there was no mistaking it. In fact, this afternoon while having my lunch at the hotel, I could once again hear the call.

When I arrived in Bangalore, I was amazed at the number of motorcycles riding around. The men driving their wives (riding side saddle), holding a small child many times, weaving through traffic with ease. After awhile I got the crazy idea of figuring out where I could rent a bike and go riding around! But, I got a hold of my senses and decided not to.

I had 97 students attending the Bangalore seminar. It was about three times what I expected. So many in fact, I had to take two class pictures. We just couldn’t get everyone into a single class picture! I have never, ever been so mobbed by questions, requests to sign the course materials, and have my pictures taken with people like this. I did a lot of that in Delhi too, but the sheer numbers created a kind of paparazzi feeling. I couldn’t go anywhere during the seminar without being stopped and asked questions, asked for a photo, or something like that. However, the students were very respectful. If I told them I needed to prepare for the next session, they would give me some time alone. I never felt “used.” It would have made an interesting picture though… twenty people all around me with course materials and pens in hand and a camera!

The Indian students are very different from any I’ve had in the past. They are very lively and ask lots of questions. And, really good ones, too. If I asked them to talk to me about it during a break, they seemed OK with that also. I thoroughly enjoyed teaching them and am looking forward to doing it again.

Interestingly, there were definitely a few Muslim guys in the seminar in Bangalore. I don’t exactly know why, but I can spot them. At first they are very stand-offish around me, but when I look them in the eye and give them a big smile, they relax. I think because I’m an American, they think I will not care to be around them. Nothing like a big smile to ease the tensions.

Bangalore is definitely a high-tech area. There were a lot of bored, lonely, scrawny looking 30/40 year old techie guys in the hotel. I sure hope I don’t look like that! Makes me want to get on my motorcycle and do some wheelies (or at least give it good try) just to make sure!

One of the highlights of Bangalore was meeting, in person for the first time, a guy who I have been corresponding with for at least two years now. He is a young guy about 25 years old, but his work focuses on one of my areas of expertise. His name is Neeraj. We went out to dinner last night and had a wonderful time. He is a very soft spoken man and was very respectful of my need for “clean” food (although I never would use a word like that). The Indians know that the bacteria, or should I say, the lack of bacteria, in my stomach is not sufficient to process whatever is in the food and water. We had a wonderful Indian cuisine dinner, and I was able to find out a little bit more about him.

He is married and has one daughter, who is a month old. After probing a bit, I discovered he put an ad in the newspaper when he decided to get married. He told me how it worked. His father died about three years ago (which I could tell he was still very tender about) and he was basically the sole supporter for his mother. (He has an older sister and a younger brother.) After he got a good job and his mother taken care of, she told him it was time he thought about getting married. So they put an ad in the local community paper. All the replies went directly to his mother. He said he received about five replies. The parents talked and sometimes met and then if that was OK, Nerraj would meet the young lady. He met a couple ladies, but only a couple. Once the final selection was made, the wedding occurred in about six months (I think). He was very happy how everything went. While I wouldn’t have agreed with him twenty years ago, looking back I think it’s a pretty good way to go.

Before dinner we walked around the town including a shopping mall. Oh yeah, on the way there a rat raced across the sidewalk in front of me. Scared me at first and then I thought, well… it’s India and there is plenty of stuff for the rat to eat laying around!

At the stores, many of the brands and styles where similar. But there were some really cool shoes that I’ve never seen before. I would have bought a pair but I have absolutely no room in my suitcases currently. That will change over the next couple of weeks as I eat the food I brought! We went into a music store, and I asked him to pick out a good upbeat Indian CD for me. He really liked this idea and picked out two. I haven’t listened to them yet.

We also walked around on the streets a bit (it was Friday night) and it was really busy. But we were able to get away from the main street and onto some other streets, which were calmer with lots of trees and plants.

While I like the side streets, I also love the busy streets and the challenge of crossing the streets. Neeraj was really concerned about me, but I quickly grabbed ahold of his arm and he led me across. Actually, compared to Cairo it was nothing. These were only two lanes and 6 or 8 like in Cairo (if there were lanes!). But for some reason, I really get a rush walking around at night with lots of people and cars, bike, and motorcycles buzzing all around. Can’t explain it, just love it.

I’m fighting a little cold at the moment. I had a little sore throught a couple of days after I arrived in Delhi but that went away fast. But on the way to Bangalore, the businessman sitting close to me (nice guy) was hacking, sneezing, and coughing all the time. Sure enough, I think I got something from him. I’m concerned mostly for my voice, since I want to be able to speak strongly over the next week. I will have a PA system while speaking at the conferences and the church gatherings are usually just 10 to 20 people, so that shouldn’t be a problem. But I need my head to be clear.

So this afternoon, I checked out of the swanky Bangalore hotel and made my way to airport without a hitch. No lines anywhere which still amazes me. The flight to Chennai was a quick 45 minutes. My luggage was there nice and fast and I was feeling pretty good.

Now the trick here is that the rest of the team will arrive about midnight tonight and I arrived at 5pm. I know they made it to Frankfurt this afternoon, because we sms’d each other. Strangely, once I walked out of the arrival area, I was outside the terminal. There are no chair or waiting areas. So I walked around while looking for a place to relax for six hours! I didn’t find anyplace, so I sat next to a wall thinking about what to do. The weather is nice, so that wasn’t a problem, but there were lots of flies and really no place to sit. So after about 15 minutes of this, I went back into the arrival area (after I asked the guards with big guns) and talked to the hotel reservation desk. I figured I could go to a nice hotel and just hang around for a few hours. So I got a taxi and went to the Ramada. And it worked, I asked the Ramada staff if they would hold my bags while I ate their food for about five hours and they said no problem. So I’m typing away with about 30 minutes left on my laptop battery with about five hours left before I head back to the airport! I sure hope their flight is on time!!

On my way to Bangalore...

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 09:37:53 -0800

I flew from Delhi to Bangalore today. Everything about the experience was calm… not at all what I expected. I was very happy about that since I have a slight sore throat. It came on yesterday evening. Now I’m a little tired, but I’m can tell I’m getting better all ready.

I flew pretty much straight south to Bangalore. I thought I would be flying over jungle, but it looked pretty dry and flat to me. There were some big hills and small rounded peaks, but not mountain ranges of any kind at all. There was a lot of uninhabited space.

The morning in Delhi was very cool, but it is hot in Bangalore. Probably in the 80’s today. Actually, it was very refreshing.

Bangalore feels a lot different. First, there are other white people around. It’s tropical, and there is definitely a high-tech buzz around here. There are many computer-related companies around. It feels like there is more money around also. There are lots of new buildings. Traffic-wise it’s about the same, but I saw even more motorcycles. But still, the traffic is not as crazy as in Cairo. People do obey the red/green lights. But of course, there are no real traffic lanes.

The hotel is amazing. It’s probably the nicest place I’ve ever stayed. The room is very nice, but the grounds are incredible. You’ll have to go their web-site to get a good feel for it:

http://www.oberoibangalore.com/index.asp?leftinfo=1&leftitem=1

There are mosquitoes around as I saw workers spraying big clouds of smoke this evening. I asked the man about it, who was cleaning my room for the evening. I think I’ll put some repellent on as I’d like to eat outside this evening.

I got a lot of pre-work done for teaching next week and finished up two technical papers that I’ve been working on for April conferences. I’ll be posting them on my web site tonight.

And I have good internet here! That’s about it for now. I’m looking forward to my seminar tomorrow. Plus I get to meet and have a meal with a man with whom I have been emailing back and forth for over a year now. I’m really looking forward to that! Perhaps I can convince him to take me to a real Indian place full of locals!

Two days of teaching

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 15:20:30 -0800

I taught the first seminar ever in India. I was very excited and not nervous at all. The class was being held in a different hotel from where I was staying. The hotel where I taught was amazing. Too bad I’m staying there, but there were no rooms available. I verified that as I thought Oracle didn’t want to spend the money. But other students who flew in for the seminar (a bunch of them), couldn’t get a room in the hotel either.
There were 47 students, so it was a phenomenal turnout. Oracle’s test market (I’m the lab rat) went very well and the students are very excited about other seminars.

India Indians look, talk, and behave just like American Indians. That may seem strange to you, but for some reason I thought they would be different. They are full of energy, love to talk and interact, and are just very lively in general. A breath of fresh air compared to my German and Swiss students!

Get this - it is actually easier for me to understand their English than listening to American Indians. I told them this, as I thought they should know how good their English is. They obviously were very happy to hear that! I suspect American Indians get lazy.

Technically, their knowledge is OK, but they asked really, really good questions and I can tell they are very quick. I thought I would meet a bunch of book memorizing robot-like people, without a lot of creativity. I was totally wrong. These folks want to learn, are excited to learn, and are very respectful of those who possess knowledge. They are not prideful, conceited or anything like that. They realize their country is third world, but they also realize there is a future in front of them and they are the first ones to taste that. I can’t say enough how much I enjoyed being with them.

I love the way the ladies dress. The “saris” are so beautiful. What is amazing is they are beautiful without being “slutty.”

I met a few guys who worked with American computer guys. They have replaced their American counterparts. But I detected no pridefulness in this. Interestingly, some of them heard about me through their American counterparts. In fact, most of the companies represented in the class are US based.

I never had so many pictures taken of me. At every break, someone asked to have their picture taken with me. I also signed many, many course material copies (which has never happened before). I felt very honored.

Something that happened Sunday evening - outside my hotel window I heard what sounded like a marching band. It was loud and getting closer (and I’m on the 7th floor). I looked outside and I saw a horse pulling a carriage with a guy in it wearing a royal hat! People were dancing as the cart slowly went through the streets. It reminded me of Pete (my brother-in-law) and Rashmi’s wedding!!!!!! It was the same thing they did!

I’m very confident I’ll be asked back to India. I think I could start a consulting company here. The market is booming, and they don’t have the consulting and technical skills either. I could do well here. But it’s a long way from home…

Usually I like staying in the same hotel where I teach. But I really enjoyed the taxi rides through town. It reminds me of Cairo, but not as crazy. Although I’ve never seen bicycles, tri-cars, taxies, and people walking all mixed together on the streets before! So that was new. But you know, it works for them. I saw a lot of women riding side-saddle on the backs of motorcycles. I don’t know how they do that. And of course, a few families on the back as well. On the streets there is a mixture of rich, middle class, and extremely poor - all moving through life together.

It feels like a very safe society. Usually when I see poverty, when I look at the people, I sense danger. But I don’t feel that with these people.

You know, what’s holding them back is not the government (as with most countries). They have a thriving democracy that includes the rule of law. What is truly hindering is their religion. It shackles them. In other parts of the world it’s their government that dominates them and holds the people back. In India, it’s their religion that holds them back. They live in submission to evil spirits. The spirits dominate their life. If there is a Christian revival that touches all segments (all society levels), India will be amazing! I’m sure I’ll learn more about this next week as I meet with pastors and people in villages. I’m fully expecting to come face-to-face with evil spirits, not the made-up ones I’ve sometimes encountered at home.

In the mornings, I’ve been able to go over my materials for the pastors’ conference. I’m really getting excited about it. I think it is because all my talks are story-based (personal and Bible), and so it’s very easy to grasp what I’m talking about. Today I was preparing to talk about spiritual authority, but I won’t be using those words. I am just amazed at the truths I’m remembering. It is already impacting my daily life and the things I am experiencing by preparing to talk about these things. I know the pastors will be able to use what I will be teaching, and I’m so excited about that.

That’s all for now. Tomorrow I get to experience domestic India air travel. Can’t say I have heard a good thing about it, so I’m expecting crazy delays and long lines.

Two days in one: Feb 8 - 10, 2008

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 11:45:00 -0800

Good flights. PDX->Frankfurt (10hrs) + 4 hour layover + Frankfurt->Delhi (6.5hrs). God has gifted me with the ability to “zone out” during long travel. Plus I don’t punish my body with insane connections.

I arrived in Delhi and walked to the immigration hall. There was a haze in the air from all the people. It took 1.5 hours of waiting and only a few people working the crowds. They had the audacity to have a “suggestion box.”

Took me a few minutes to find my luggage… was getting a little worried.

Found my driver. He had my name written on a piece of paper. He was in his early 20s perhaps and full of energy. I think he enjoyed waiting for me so he could talk with his friends.

Once outside the terminal, flashbacks of Cairo ensued; air smelled of smoke and burning trash. But it was also foggy and cool. Taxis and cars everywhere with no respect for road signs. I’m still amazed at scenes like this and thoroughly love being in them.

Arrived at the hotel in about 20 minutes. It’s a nice place, but not as nice as I expected. Nothing amazingly wonderful, but it is clean with great service. Plus they have a fitness center and internet (but you pay by the time). Thankfully I have my BlackBerry.

I took a melatonin, got to sleep by 3:30am, and didn’t wake until 9am. Went back to sleep till almost 10am, got up, showered, felt great, and went down to breakfast. Pretty good breakfast buffet. Better than a Courtyard Marriott.

I explored the hotel for a bit. I also prepared and practiced for preaching next week. Had lunch and sat out by the pool and read a newspaper for awhile.

It was time to venture outside the hotel…

Street vendors all over in certain areas. It was Sunday, so it was pretty calm and quiet. I love walking around with crazy traffic and people. Don’t know why, but I do. Had many “helpers” who wanted to show me where to really shop. I just wanted to check out what people were hawking on the street. Walked by a massive temple of some kind. People were taking off their shoes to go inside, but I didn’t do it.

I really felt stared at today. I saw only one other white guy. Usually I don’t feel stared at, but I was dressed very western (jeans, white t-shirt, black leather jacket). I did have a beanie on and wore sandals like many of the locals.

I snapped a few quick pictures because I’m told people don’t really like their pictures taken. Plus everyone was already staring at me. (Take your time and look very closely at all the pictures and you’ll notice some really interesting things.)

Everything was extremely dirty and the air smelled of smoke. I got lots of whiffs and views of fresh human... Never witnessed that before. I felt safe all the time, even though I was stared at constantly. It’s a very poor area, but I suspect it was considered more middle-class. Motorcycles all over, three-wheeled bicycle carts would take you anywhere (I didn’t do that today). Felt good to get back. I was on sensory overload.

I studied Oracle patents for a couple of hours and worked on my courseware. Worked out at the fitness center. Had Japanese at the hotel - sushi... was thinking as I was eating, “What kind of water do they wash the fish in?” Uh, oh... taking a charcoal tablet tonight for sure!

I feel really good. Arriving very late is the way to go. Take a melatonin, just crash for 7 hours, and you’re on schedule. Works for me every time.

So I’m ready to teach tomorrow! But not looking forward to the flight to Bangalore on Wednesday. I really don’t enjoy the airports.

Craig.

Heading home...

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0800

Monday was the day of ending our trip officially - Craig and I wouldn't see each other all day as his flights and mine were totally different.

Craig's alarm went off at 4:30am so he could get a taxi to the airport. The hotel shuttle didn't start operating until 6am so he had to pay for taxi service for the 5 min ride to the airport. Bummer! His flight left at 7am on Lufthansa. He flew from Milan to Frankfurt with a 1 1/2 hour layover before flying direct to Portland. With the time change he would land in Portland at 12 noon the same day. A very sweet flight plan! (I wouldn't be landing until 12 midnight - 12 hours later!) His travel day was pretty uneventful. He did sit next to someone from Iran on his way to Portland but I don't think he talked with the man. He did mention it to our towncar driver, Piere, since he is Iranian but Piere couldn't think of who it could be.

Meanwhile, I was eating breakfast around the time Craig flew out of Milan. My flight left at 10am so I had time to shower, eat some breakfast and get down to the shuttle. It was still a rushed morning for me though. There was a lot of activity in the hotel lobby and it took me some time to check out. The front desk did go and hold the shuttle for me though, which was nice. It was just me and few other Americans going to the airport. From their conversation it sounded like they were all up pretty late... working. Because of the time difference they were trying to do some stuff to get it to the US during the US business day.

There was some confusion about whether I was at the international terminal or not, but when I asked the shuttle driver, he said "internationale" so I figured I was OK. I talked with the other Americans a little bit but they were flying on Continental and I was on US Air so we parted ways. I did see them again in the security line, but they got to go to the head of the line since one of them worked for Continental.

Once through the line, I found the lounge for US Air. Lounges are a great perk for business class. They didn't have much food though and I was more thirsty for water than anything else. I couldn't do email at all since the internet wasn't free and I really didn't have anything I needed to do so I read a magazine in a comfy chair.

My flight from Milan to Philadelphia went like clockwork. I had a nice meal and watched some movies. I was sitting next to an Italian man but we didn't talk much. He did mention once that he likes wine with every meal because he's Italian, and I seem to like sparkling water instead. :o) US Air needs to work on getting some new planes though. Business class seats were pretty bad and grungy. I can't imagine what the economy cabin was like. It was very dumpy - worse than the plane I flew in coming over and that wasn't too hot either.

Once I landed in Philadelphia, the hard part began. I had a 7-hour layover! Ugghh! Well, that's the price I paid for getting business class seats. Since Philadelphia is one of US Air's main hubs, I figured the lounge would be great and I would just hang out there the whole time and work on the trip logs... and try and stay awake! I was not disappointed. It was a great lounge and I drank juice and water. I wasn't really hungry though and didn't eat much except my own snacks. I did have to pay for internet, but I knew I'd have email to work on and also wanted to get at least some of the trip logs downloaded. It was then I realized that the blog was not going to work well. It kept crashing while I downloaded.

Another geek moment here - we upgraded to Leopard on our macs and it now wasn't working with iLife '06. Great! Funny how that is! They do a major update to their operating system so now you HAVE to upgrade all your software too. Oh well. I called Craig, who was already home, and told him we would need to upgrade so I could post the blog and the pictures. I think I was able to get at least one page loaded up, maybe two, I don't remember now. But it took a VERY long time to do it. Of course, I had time to kill...

I was totally tired by now. It was 5pm EST (11pm Milan time!) and I was fading fast. I really couldn't work on the blog anymore because I was just too tired. So I worked on organizing all the receipts for Craig's trip. I was too tired to enter them into our financial software because we have a new system now and I have to have full brain power for that. But at least I got them in date order and was able to figure out what they were. I had one guy sit across from me who saw me working and said he had probably six months of receipts to go through. I'm glad I'm not that bad!

I still had a couple hours to go before heading to my gate so tried to just catch up on reading email and typing blogs to enter later. Man, I was trying to keep my eyes open!

It was finally time to go to the gate. There was a bit of confusion with lots of people waiting around but I was able to get on the plane with no problems. I just wanted to get on and sleep! At first I was concerned because this whole family was in first class - the parents, grandparents and 3 kids all under 5 or 6. I thought for sure it would be noisy. But they were a very nice family and the kids were well behaved. I sat next to the dad and he was very nice. His parents were in their 80's.

I did sleep - though fitfully. The seat wouldn't go back very far. But I did alright. And the plane was late in arriving. Poor Craig. Our driver, Piere called him around midnight wondering where I was! Piere got my cell number from Craig and called me just as I was getting my luggage. I explained to him the plane was a 1/2 hour late. He was surprised because the automated system for US Air told him the flight was on time. And he checked multiple times. Oh well. He was there waiting for me anyway and we headed home. I crawled into bed around 1:30am.

But what a fabulous trip! I hope you enjoyed reading our tales of travel. Not sure when the next one will be... But we will notify you when something is in the works. Also, thanks for your patience in waiting for all the entries. It has been quite the ordeal but the next ones should go much smoother!

Love to all - Katrina & Craig