Early to bed, late to rise, makes me a bit healthier, wealthier, and wise.

Again not much to report, the only good thing about being sick is that I hardly eat anything for dinner and by the time I get back to the hotel I'm starving.  Josie and I went for breakfast when we got back from work and they didn't charge us for it.  YEAH!!  I've gotten some medication from her too and it put me out from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm.  I'm feeling a bit better, except for that running nose, I wish someone would turn it off already.  I got to talk to some of my family this morning and it was nice to hear every one's voice.  I haven't gotten homesick very much yet, but today Josie changed her flight and she's leaving tonight.  I don't think it was her going home so much, just that she gets to go home a little earlier that hit me.  Plus I miss Roscoe....Mom, tell him I love him.  Ginger too!  I've better hit the pillow or I'll fall asleep at the desk.  Our hopes is to get out for the festival tomorrow!!!  Good night, or is that day, whatever!

KB

Mom taught me if I have nothing nice to say, then say nothing at all...

This will be short and not sweet.  I have a sinus infection and it stinks.  My whole face is leaking; nose running, eyes watering, and sneezing oh the sneezing.  Of course what is the one ailment I didn't pack for?  Allergies.  Work was exhausting and my brain is cloudy like the skies above.  Sorry I don't have better tidings. That's all folks.

KB

Monsoon season is dampering our plans.

Tammy and I were supposed to go to the fort yesterday but the rain caused us to postpone our trip.  They say that the rain should stop soon so we are keeping our fingers crossed.  The driver took us around the Beverly Hills of Hyderabad, the homes are huge.  The class separation is very apparent, and so sad.  Well to buy some of our time we went jewelry shopping.  Wow I can see why this is called the city of Pearls.  I think that my height intimidates some of the sales people, when we were shopping Tammy was being pushed into buying things while I said I'd be back and they would go "OK".  It's pretty sad when I'm just as tall or taller than most people here.  We did get to see buffalo running in the middle of the streets yesterday.  I have still to meet a monkey though.  It's Monday here and I haven't gotten much sleep this weekend trying to be up during the day and my body is used to being up through the night.  I've broken into a full blown cold though and thank goodness for Josie that's been providing me with some meds.  I've taken a sleeping pill to put myself out.  Later...

KB

Sights and smells of old Hyderabad....

Spent yesterday in old Hyderabad, the sights and smells were an adventure.  I thought there was traffic in L.A. there is nothing like the traffic in old Hyderabad on a festival weekend.  No stop lights, no stop signs, no use of lanes, but even with every car, rickshaw and motorcycle fighting to move their way forward inch by inch we only saw one accident.  AMAZING!!!  Charminar is a bazaar in old Hyderabad and since it was festival weekend in was jammed packed with people of all ages and sizes.  Mind you that no one is really that tall here.  I'm probably the height of most tall men here so every store was yelling out I got big sizes... Boy did they make a girl feel special. Ha ha.  They did have the coolest sandals with bling galore but none of the stores had any shoe size bigger than an 8 1/2.  I've attached some pictures of Charminar and we climbed to the top and took pictures of the bazaar below.  I bought two sarree draping, bangles and some other treasures while we were there.  Thank goodness for our driver who spent the day with us directing us to stores and helping us communicate with them. On our drive over to new Hyderabad the side of the road was covered with trash that all the wild dogs were eating from, it wasn't a pleasant sight but wasn't a pleasant smell either. PU!  New Hyderabad is near the Mind Space compound where we are staying.  There are big shopping malls and a Hard Rock Cafe that we went for dinner.  We all needed a reminder of home.  Wasn't able to sleep much over the night 'cause I'm so used to being up for work so I'm hoping I can just take a nap and get by today.  My throat has been bothering last night and this morning & I think it's from all the pollution in the air I'm hoping it will go away soon.  Officially one week down and 5 more to go.  Will write some more tomorrow.

KB

Culinary delights....

Well yesterday was a good sleeping day, in other words I didn't sleep the day away.  Josie (trainer from TX) and I went to the Italian restaurant downstairs for some pizza.  It was just like pizza from Naples fire brick oven and thin crusts Yummy.  We went for lunch since both of our classes were getting us dinner.  Her's got KFC (YUCK!).  Mine bought me biryani a Hyderabad delicacy.  See the pics.  I even ate with my fingers 'cause they told me that's how it should be enjoyed.   Actually it was better than the biryani I have had at my hotel.Later today after I get some sleep Josie and I are heading into old Hyderabad to the shopping in Charminar (the picture I have at night below).  So those that I'm shopping for I'm finally getting out there.  One of my participants is going to meet us there when he wakes up.  Well I've better get some shut eye if I'm going to be up for some retail therapy.  Ba-bye.

KB

Take the good you take the bad and there you have the facts of life!

The driving here is crazy.....  The office is about a half a mile from the office and I thought we were going to kill 5 motorcyclist & 20 pedestrians.  I can't even look anymore.  So today I got sick.  Not because of the driving either.  The food either finally caught up with me or I ate something today that did not agree with me.  The conference room that we are in also had air conditioning problems, so we had 12 bodies, 12 computers, tiny room and I wanted to puke.  Hey it's the good and the bad with this blog, get over it.  They got the air conditioning running about 1am this morning and I'm feeling a little bit better so hopefully everything will be fine tonight.  My class wanted me to go to dinner with them, they were going to order me some haleem.  I felt bad that I couldn't but promised them I would tonight.  Oh I hope my stomach will be better.  I hope I have better news for you tomorrow.  Ta ta...

KB

YEP! is the word of the day...

Ok 3 days down this week and my class is opening up to me more.  In fact they asked me what yep meant.  Strange that they have to pay close attention to me to pick up words that they know in order to interpret what I'm saying.  I told them I do the same thing.  Cool beans will spread like wild fire in India have I'm through with them.  Of course when I gave them the definition of cool beans (great, good for you, awesome, etc.)  they kind of laughed saying those 2 words mean all that.  One of my students even googled the words to see what they meant.  I thought it was my original saying, I guess not.  Well some have asked how the food has been and it's pretty good it's a lot spicier then in the states but still yummy.  The class has been telling me all about the different foods and specialties I should try while I'm here.  I need to try haleem on Wed. next week 'cause that is only seasonal after Ramadan has come to an end.  Well I'm too pooped to pop. Later gator.

KB

I'm only half Saree...

Second day of class the manager took my class aside and had a 10 min. meeting with them to open up to me.  I think it worked 'cause they were cracking me up.  I asked them to make a list of sights I should see while I'm in town and where all the good shopping is.  I also told them that I wanted to get a picture of the class and the two women in my class said wait till I buy a Saree where it to work then we can take the picture.  Then they were all talkative about what type of Sarees I should buy and the one they told me that's specific to this region is a half Saree.  It's 3 pieces a skirt, top and a long wrap, instead of the traditional 2 piece Saree.  I think training is going pretty well, the normal stumble of access but that's usual and they seem to roll with the punches.  If I could only figure out the time, I waste all day in bed.  The only things I've seen in Hyderabad have been the office, the dining room in my hotel and my bed.  Today I guess I won't mind but yesterday it was sunny for the first time.  Oh well we'll wait to see what tomorrow brings.  Hasta Pasta!

KB

First night of class & I survived.

Well it's Tues. morning here in Hyderabad.  I've survived my first night of class.  They are extremely nice and seem to laugh at my humor, now if they actually understand it or not your guess is as good as mine.  The head shaking is very confusing and I know that the side to side shaking means "YES"  but it's still will take me some time to get used to.  The 2lbs of See's candies are gone after one night I'm going to have to slow down the class with their chocolate habit.  Their chocolate here is not very good and I see why they like American chocolate so much.  Plus See's is the best!  Participation was not easy to get at first but after a manager pretty much yelled at them, they started to be more active in the class.  The time is something that we all need to get used to.  Today was really slow making all of us pooped when it got to be about 1am.  Well I should probably try to get some shut eye so I don't sleep through my day like I did yesterday.  Yes Dad you were right I should have taken the sleeping pills you offered me before I left.  Till tomorrow, or is it yesterday..I can't keep up.
KB

Give me a break!

This is to all of you (& you know who I'm talking about) give me a break I just flew on a plane for 24 hours.  So the flights were good couldn't think about going there any other way but business class.  I sat by a nice couple taking a river cruise.  Then on the way to Hyderabad I had the pilots sit by me and take a nap while the plane was in flight.  One from England told me that Hyderabad is like India light.  Well once I arrived in Hyderabad airport I had a porter help me with my bags and he kind of laughed how many there were.  Then I met up with my driver who pulls a car up that we were all unsure if all my bags were going to fit.  There was a smell of burning incense outside of the airport.  The women were dressed to the nines in beautiful, colorful, & sparkly Sarees.  Even the Muslim women with only their eyes showing in black had big sparkly bangles and shoes.  Driving in India was very interesting, now mind you this was 6 a.m. on Sunday morning and hardly anyone was on the road.  My driver had no concern for lanes in fact he like to use the the dotted line to center his car.  Also my dad would be an excellent driver here, 'cause no one uses their blinker just like him.  Horn though are used a lot.  It's very poor here and I'm continually being told that this isn't bad compared to other parts of India.  Driving to the hotel it was like driving through Joshua tree.  There are little dilapidated homesteads the difference here is people live in them.  I did see a cute older couple riding on a motorcycle, her riding side saddle on the back in a binged out blue Saree.  The hotel is very nice I'll take a pic and scan it later.  I met up for dinner with Josie another trainer here from Texas.  Well I think I'm going to crash out again didn't get much sleep on the plane.  Till later....

KB

It's nice to be upper class!

So I'll tell you I've checked in at LAX Bradley terminal on British Airlines, boy I can't believe how well I've been treated.  Me, who scrapes by.  I got to be in the fast lanes for both check-in and TSA, mind that the regular check-in wasn't so bad.  Three bags I checked in for FREE! Of course my mom and dad brought me to the airport to help with all my baggage, good thing 'cause 5 bags by myself I would look like a pack mule. Now I'm sitting up at the business class lounge listening to Champagne bottles pop, again for FREE!  You've got to be kidding me how will I ever go back to coach after this?  So I've taken a pic of the Heineken I'm sipping on while I'm sitting here typing.  Everyone in here is probably starring at the girl who's taking pics of herself and her drink.  Oh wait that's me.  When I get to Hyderabad I'll write more.

Bye for now!