Victory for India!

India came out on top in today's cricket match. They beat England by 39 runs. The score, 203-164. I watched most of the match and am now hooked on cricket. Once you understand the rules it is quite fun to watch! :) There are different types of matches, some last multiple days, but today's match was a one day event. It started this morning at 9 and ended at around 4:30. Can you imagine playing a 7 1/2 hour game in 90 degree weather!!! And they wear pants, not shorts! They have to be in peak physical condition, and from the looks of things they are! I was lucky enough to share the work out facility in the hotel with both teams this evening. I just happened to mozy on down to work out just as they were all getting back from the match and doing their after match cool down/ lift :) Needless to say it was a good work out!
-Courtney

Us in the paper and some Cricket

With all of the press at the Polo match, we managed to sneak into one of the pictures posted in the paper today (top left, click on the pic for the full view).

On a more practical note, work has been going well for me. I've gotten a better feel for the circumstances and the people here. There is a lot of room for improvement and my ideas are being well received. Its neat to be able to effect things on a macro scale, a fresh change of pace.

We might be going to Jaipur on Saturday, as we might get a free voucher for a driver. But we'll see, as it would be nice to have a relaxing weekend before heading to Rajasthan (Jaisalmer and Jodhpur). We've become Cricket followers, to some extent, since both the Indian and the British National teams are staying at our hotel and have been hanging around here and there. The wives' club got some waves from the Indian players at the pool yesterday. We're starting to understand it better, and I'd really like to play sometime. I'll let you know if that happens. India and England are playing each other in Delhi today... at the moment (1:50 pm my time) the score is India 203, England 23/2 with 43.5 overs remaining. This means nothing to you I'm sure if you don't know about Cricket rules, which I didn't either until yesterday. Check the link for a more-or-less brief overview.

Our Trip to Agra

As was said in the brief posting by Dan last night, we ventured out on Sunday to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. The Taj itself was exquisite! There were two things that stood out most to me and they were its size and its intricacy. Having seen so many pictures of the Taj and then actually being there is quite amazing because no picture can really capture for you its size and grandeur. The intricacy of the Taj is amazing too. It underwent construction in 1631 and it took 20,000 workers 22 years to accomplish. It is all made of white marble except for beautiful flower designs that were created using semi-precious stones. It gives the effect of paint because designs were chiseled out of the marble, semi precious stones were cut and inlaid within the marble, and then the whole thing was sanded to give the effect of one big piece of painted marble. It is amazing. Carvings in the walls were created by chiselling down whole slabs of marble to leave beautiful images of flowers. Check out the picture if you have not already by clicking on the link in Dan's previous post.
We also visited the Red Fort. We did not hire a guide for this, so we are not exactly sure what we were seeing, but it was still really neat. It was constructed of red sandstone and there were a lot of really intricate carvings there too.
With the experience of visiting these places came other experiences that weren't as fantastic. As Dan quickly referenced also, there were probably 8 or 9 groups of Indian people who wanted to have pictures taken with us. One family had me hold their baby girl in the "family photo." It was very strange. I guess it is because we are white, but it is still rather confusing. Other Hewitt people have had similar experiences, so I guess it is pretty normal.
The scenes on the ride to and from Agra were very interesting also. We have officially seen rural India and it is severely poverty stricken. We knew it would be, but nothing can really prepare you for what you see. Huts for shelter made of sticks and cloth. Some made of what looked like mud and grass. Tiny living spaces and so dirty. But still the markets and villages are so beautifully colored because the women's sarees are hand made and hand dyed and absolutely brilliant. It is so hard to describe, but look at the pictures we have of some of the tiny villages. This is where people live, and work. But it is also what they know. It is hard to make it ok in your own head, but it is their way of life. There is something beautiful about living so simply, it is just a shame it has to be so dirty and unhealthy.
On a brighter note we saw camels!! They are so huge! I had no idea they were so big. We also saw our first peacock and snake charmer. Both only in passing, so there are no pictures, sorry! Alright, I will wrap this up for now, stay tuned for more from India! :)
Love, Courtney
P.S. Post comments and e-mail us!! We love hearing from you all!

Agra... the Taj Mahal, Fort, and people who want to take pictures with us...

Take a look at the pictures of the Taj and the Fort in Agra. We spend the entire day there (it's a 3-4 hour ride to Agra from Delhi) and saw some amazing things. The intricacies of the Taj were amazing, definitely met and exceeded expectations.

(Updated with Snapfish link) Red carbet baby...

So the polo match was awesome. We got out of the car onto a red carpet with Indian guard on horses as well as Taj representatives greeting us as if we were important business people... not what we are used to, though we rolled with it. The match was really cool, fast horses and quality play. It was the Taj against the Silver Seas (a cruise line)... the Taj won 5-4.

After the match was an amazing dancer as well as traditional Indian music, followed by cocktails and plenty of delicious snacks. We have to go to be soon as we are travelling to Agra in the morning (6:00) but we will be sure to publish more picures. Get on Google Talk!

Pictures of Polo and following events.

If you are reading this...

Pleaaaaase get on Google Talk. We would love to hear all of your voices and its a little costly to use my cell. If you need a Gmail account, post a comment and I can send you an invite. It's pretty easy to set up too.

Polo anyone?

It looks like the Taj has invited us (and all the other Hewies, however almost all of them are going to Mumbai (Bombay) this weekend) to a polo match. The match starts at 5:00 on Saturday and is near the Prime Minister's palace. We don't really know what exactly to expect, so we'll be sure to fill you in when we get back.

We plan on making our first trip to the tailor's tomorrow as well, we're (me especially in terms of work clothes) tired of having such heavy clothing. It's starting to get hotter, 91 today. Time to break out the linen pants.

On the way to work, I see this...

Here are some of the sights on the daily morning commute to work. We are picked up at 11:45 everyday and leave the office around 8:45. It takes between 25 - 45 minutes to get to work, it's an interesting trip. Notice the cows... they are all over, as are sheep, goats and pigs. Follow this link to get to the ongoing Commuting Album on snapfish, where there are more pictures. I am also working on another solution to the picture problem (google web page, in beta testing), more to come on that.

Some pictures... hopefully...

Try following this link to my snapfish photos. Post a comment if it is not working for you though. You have to create a Snapfish account to view them. I might try posting them on Yahoo instead, I think that might be easier for everyone. It seems that the larger format pictures I was taking aren't loading to Blogger, so we'll take some at a lower resolution in the future. I'll figure it out soon enough.

We were out at a club in Gurgaon last night, part of a going away party for one of the SMEs here. Our work friend Ben and his wife got back from a trip last night, so now Court has someone else to hang out with during the day. They may go out today, she will be taking some pictures that hopefully we can post later.

We've planned our first day trip for Saturday. We're going to head to Agra, which is about 3 hours away and where the Taj Mahal is located (I know, I thought it was in Delhi too). There is also a fort there that we will check out. I will play with the picture thing tonight and get some more posted. We've got two extended weekends coming up, we'll probably go to the state of Rajasthan, the town of Jaisalmer for one of them. There is the second oldest fort in India there and that state is basically desert, so that should be really cool. Another SME here has some pictures from her trip and it looks amazing.

Day 3 in Delhi!

Hello everyone! So here we are, day 3 in India. So far things are amazing. We are truly living the high life here at the Taj Palace. It is great, but it has proven very difficult to adjust to such conditions! We have anything we need, plus more such as fresh flowers and fruit left in our room on a daily basis. The treatment we recieve is more than comfortable, yet Dan and I have mixed feelings about it. It is hard not to feel a little bit guilty about our accomodations especially when we compare it to life outside of "the bubble." Don't get me wrong though, it is fantastic and I am sure we will have no problem getting used to it! By the way, the food is delicious!!!!
We had our first taste of life in New Delhi yesterday. We hired a driver and ventured off to do some shopping. We went to an open market called Dilli Haat. It was an amazing aray of clothing and crafts. There were tons of little booths set up where people from around the country came to sell their creations. It was a vibrant and most enjoyable environment. We were also driven by the Indian Parliament. As we were leaving, the street was temporarily blocked and we watched while Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was driven by. That was really neat.
Our excursion also included some insights into poverty. Housing that is not comprable to anything in the states. Buildings with lots of open space and open staircases where tapestries and cloth are hung to cover windows and doors. Run down buildings everywhere. Lots of construction being done by manual labor. There are stray dogs and cats everywhere, most of them just lounging in the streets trying to stay cool. It is such a different perspective on life and it is really amazing to see first hand. It is also quite strange to see cows roaming the streets and monkeys just hanging out by the side of the road!
Well I should be wrapping this up! We have pictures of most of the things I have mentioned, but we are having trouble posting them. I will have Dan try to work on it some more when he comes home from his first day at the office!
Much more to come later!!!
Bye for now
- Courtney

we're here!

Well we've finally arrived! We've been time travelling a little, it's now 3/18 where we are but only Friday afternoon in the States. We landed in Frankfurt around 10:00 am local time, had ourselves a decilious hefiweisen, and jumped on the plane to Delhi. We arrived at 2:00 am local time, it is now 4:51 am as I type this. We got a good amount of sleep on the planes, which was definitely needed.

Our first impressions of India will be forthcoming. But I will say that being driven around here is a lot like being the back seat of a go-kart. And there are Cocacola signs eveywhere... about which I have mixed feelings. Our hotel is fantastic, we feel very lucky to have such a nice home base (see pictures). Everyone has been so nice so far and we will have a lot more to tell in the coming days.

packin' and preparing'... three more days

With the departure date coming up on us real soon, we are culminating our preparation efforts and working on getting everything packed. We got out visas on Friday and gave away all of our fish (sad, I know... but they found good homes) over the weekend. The next steps are to get our clothes together and throw everything into bags. Courtney isn't working this week, so she is able to run errands during the day, which is real convenient compared to our previous schedule. I am still at work until Thursday, I'm leading a training course on Tuesday with Dan V (the guy who will be working with me over in Gurgaon). It'll be good to get some experience working together before we make the trip. Today we got to meet with three BTAs (Programmers in India) who are visiting the Lincolnshire offices for three months. They were all real friendly and outgoing, and we found out that we will be attending, via general invitation to the BTA associates in Gurgaon, a Hindi wedding on May 9th as well as going on a whitewater rafting trip on March 27th... we are enthused about both. Also, they let us know about the ping pong table in the office on which are monthly tournaments.

We are very excited about leaving and are counting the hours until departure (6:00 pm CST, 3/16). We have new shoes and travel gear, so we'll be prepared for the unknown. It was brought to my attention recently that we potentially have the opportunity to visit some of the exiled Tibetan people, including the government, while in India. It does not look like that region, Dharamsala, is too far from Delhi. The Tomb of Humayuns, in Delhi, is pictured above.

Since we will not have our cell phones active out there, you can send us e-mails and letters (yes letters, Hewitt will forward them on to us in India if you send them to our Lake Bluff address) because we would love to hear from you!

reservations are set, tickets have been purchased

We will be flying O'Hare to Frankfurt on 3/16 and Frankfurt to Delhi on 3/17, arriving in India at 10:00 am. Pictured is India Gate at the heart of New Delhi. Our hotel, the Taj Palace, is located in Delhi (I'll be commuting to the office in nearby in Gurgaon). We're back to full steam, following our individual bouts with the flu last week. My company did an excellent job of making sure I felt as prepared as I could be for this venture, including a day-long trip to Devon Street Chicago.

Courtney is very excited about the accomidations, as am I. It feels good to know that we will be well cared for while staying in Delhi. We will be bringing short-term travel supplies, including snacks, day-packs, and other gear. Traveling together (and sometimes with other work friends) , we'll be embarking on numerous weekend excusions. Everyone has given us so many interesting ideas for places to visit and things to see (and feel free to keep them comin'), and we'll be sure to document our experiences.

Still more preparations to go, this week we hope to obtain our visas, provided the Passport agency gets Court's to her by Friday. I'll be updating the site with travel details soon.