A Birthday Present from Me to You :)

I know, I know... it has been a week since I updated. Let me tell you, this week has been crazy!

Last Friday we went out with some friends to an Iranian restaurant and ate delish beef kabobs. The rice at the place was killer too. Every day we eat rice, so it is something special when rice is better than normal.

Saturday J and I went shopping with two of our coworkers to find suitable attire for another coworkers wedding tomorrow. We went to a place called Honeybees which sells women's wear first. I purchased the most beautiful sari to wear. It is orange and purple handwoven silk. The design is traditional for the state that we are living in, Maharashtra. The girls that we went shopping with had a lot of fun making me try on different styles and colors of saris. I purchased matching bangles and earrings. It is very improper to not have either of them during a wedding. The bangles are SO SMALL, they barely fit over my hands. In the US everyone tells me I have super small hands. Let me tell you, Indian women have extremely tiny hands. I'm going to have to put soap all over my hands in order to get the 18 bangles over each hand. Yup, thats right. 18 on each side! I'm going to be clinking all over the place on Friday.

We got lost trying to find the tailor, but eventually we found the place. Under the sari girls wear a half shirt. The fabric to make the shirt comes with the sari, all you have to do is take it to a tailor. The tailor took my measurements and a few hours later my shirt was created. The sleeves are hand embroidered and match the orange part of my sari. I can't wait to wear it!

After all of my extensive shopping it was John's turn. We went to a place across from Honeybees which sold only menswear. He purchased a kurta, which is a long traditional Indian shirt. Underneath you wear pants called pajamas. John said the pants are the most comfortable pants he's ever worn. His kurta is also silk and hand embroidered. His is darker green with gold stitching. He had to purchase some shoes as well so we went to a cobbler down the street and he got matching open toed leather shoes.

It took us a longgg while to finish shopping and we were hungry and exhausted by the time we were done. We stopped by Pizza Hut on the way home, then took a nap until our friends called us.

We met Daniel and Jonas (the Germans) and one of Jonas' friends at a place called CO2 later and hung out with them for a few hours before the soccer match started. It was a really lazy hang out session, we sat on the bench style seating and just lounged around. It was nice ending to a busy day. John watched the whole match, but I fell asleep at half time. Oops.

It rained again Sunday. Everyone was excited thinking that the monsoons had finally started. By the afternoon all of the rain had stopped and the monsoons had stalled again. This rain keeps pulling on my heartstrings! We were lazy most of the day Sunday. I took a couple of naps throughout the day, I still blame it on the rain.

Sunday night we went out to dinner with quite a large group of friends; Daniel & Jonas (Germans), Michelle & Pauline (John's classmates), and Prathiush & Arup (Indians). We ate at a place called Nebula which is across the street from the place J and I work. They serve Indian and Chinese food. The food was delicious, I ordered Chinese food and J ordered Indian food. After dinner we went upstairs to a lounge called Buzzzzzz. Yes, there are six z's in Buzzzzzz. The music was a bit too loud for a lounge but we all gathered around a table and chatted for a few hours. Everyone kept playing musical chairs so everyone got to speak to everyone for a while. It was a perfect Sunday night.

For my birthday eve we went to a lounge called Apache with three of our coworkers to celebrate one of the Interns last week. Jonas and Daniel came and eventually one of Daniels coworkers Ashish stopped by. Jonas, Daniel, Ashish, and Michelle all came to dinner with J and I at a place called D Palace. We walk past it every day on our way to work and have wanted to try it but never got the chance. We stayed out until after midnight. Daniel kept checking his phone and yelled out "Happy Birthday" at midnight. It was a great start to my birthday.

On my birthday J and I had lunch at a place close to the office. We had Indian style burritos (yes, you read that correctly) and they were actually quite good. In India people shake your hand and wish you "Many, Many Returns" instead of "Happy Birthday." It took me a couple of times to understand that people were wishing me Happy Birthday. I had dinner at the Hard Rock and ordered a juicy steak! Yum! J had a burger and we split an order of cheddar mashed potatoes. Let me tell you, the mashed potatoes at the Pune Hard Rock are the best I've ever had. Not just at Hard Rock but anywhere. They are cheesy and creamy and perfect.

We met up with another huge group of people at High Spirits which is down the road. The same people from Sunday came along with a guy named Rudi who is a director at the German language school that Daniel and Jonas volunteer at, a friend named Paritosh who works with Daniel and Prathiush but has never met Prathiush, and a bunch of Indians who are Rudi's German students. We had a huge table. They music was ironically a lot of Southern Rock. The band even played Sweet Home Alabama at one point.

J finished a project at work this week and won't get another project until Monday. I have a deadline tomorrow at noon. I will be done with my first batch of videos tomorrow so I'll upload the YouTube links soon after. Tonight a bunch of friends are coming over to our place to exchange pictures.

Tomorrow is a happy and sad day. J and I are very excited to attend Apurva's wedding ceremony at noon. Tomorrow night is our last night with Daniel. He leaves early early earlyyy (2 AM) Saturday morning to move back to Germany. His internship is finally finished! We're going to go eat dinner somewhere close to the airport and send him off. We're going to miss you Daniel! :( :( :(

I promise I'll update this weekend after the wedding with pictures and the long awaited list of things we've encountered :)

PS- My finalized thesis was sent to the Graduate Division yesterday! I am finally 100% finished with Grad School!! It was a wonderful birthday present!

I batted at 4!

Since the last update a few things have happened. J and I enjoyed some delicious KFC. The chicken was spicy and yummy. It was served with salsa, which is a little out of place for India but it tasted great as well. We did find it odd that two meals cost more than a family sized meal. Oh well, good food is worth it?

We also went on a quest for lunch meat. We found lamb brain instead. Ew. Needless to say, we still are searching for sandwiches. Maybe we will finally look up the closest Subway. Our lunch food is still spicy, although we eat out on Wednesday when they serve chicken. Although it sounds counterintuitive, the chicken dishes that they serve here are some of the spiciest. Some Indians don't even eat at work on Wednesdays. Yesterday we had more pizza..this time with actual pepperoni! The comforts of home are very nice sometimes.

Today at work I played my final cricket game. We lost, therefore we are in 4th place. I did get the chance to bat today and I batted a 4! That means in one hit (like baseball) I scored 4 points. They are trying to get two teams together of coworkers who did not get the chance to play and let them play each other. Hopefully J will get a chance to show everyone his skills then ;)

We are starting to plan a trip to NID (National Institute of Design) in July so we can meet up with J's professor and see one of the top design schools in the world. I think we are going near the middle of July so that is something to look forward too.

Besides that nothing new is on the home front. We are both pretty exhausted when we get off work. I don't think we can handle 9 1/2 hour days much longer. I'm not a morning person (neither is J) and it takes a lot for me to move when my alarm goes off at 7:40 AM. It takes even more to walk to work so early. 

Some people keep asking about the YouTube videos that I am working on. The company hasn't uploaded them yet and I am not allowed to show anyone without their consent. Maybe they will be available before I leave so I can share the link. J is working on a new package, he finds out soon if his creative director likes his ideas. Cross your fingers!

I know I promised a list of odd things we've seen, but the list isn't complete yet. Maybe next post!

It's been a while...

I promise I haven't been avoiding writing or anything, the Internet at our flat is spotty and it never connects when I want to upload a post. Work has been crazy busy the past few days as well.

Sorry for the delay!

Anyways,
This past weekend was nice. On Friday we went back to High Spirits (we went there for the Bob Dylan cover band) and watched another cover band. The band members were 19-21 years old BUT much much much better than the older Bob Dylan wannabe. The food was delicious, like before.

On Saturday we all slept in, then Daniel, J and I went into the city. Everyone else had to work. If I haven't mentioned it before most companies here work 6 days a week. Our company only works 5 but we have to work 9.5 hours each day. When we got in the city we went to a store called FabIndia. You can get a ton of really nice hand woven Indian things from there. I got my Mom a present but I'm not going to say what. The three of us then went to Pizza Hut, which was delicious. It really is an upscale restaurant unlike the ones in America. Daniel wanted to spend some money so we went to MG Road where there is a ton of smaller shops spread out kind of like a maze. We bought J's niece a sari and saw a random pet store with huge fish.

Later Saturday night we met up with Michelle (from J's school), Jonas (the other German) and Prathiush (Daniels Indian Colleague) and went to Area 51. It looks like it sounds. It's a huge lit up flying saucer with three floors. The bottom floor is a dance floor, the middle floor has tables and revolves around the dance floor, and the top floor is for private parties. We got there a little early to get a table (the place fills up quickly) and ate some food. We then proceeded to dance the night away to American/Hindi electro and Bollywood. It was quite entertaining.

Sunday was a very lazy day. Nobody felt like waking up. I don't think I woke up fully until a little before 2. We thought the monsoons started yesterday because it rained all day. J and I stayed inside all day. We washed clothes, cooked some food, and watched a lot of TV. It was nice to take a day off to rest. We both got the chance to Skype our families and say Happy Fathers Day to our Dads. That was a treat.

Next post J and I will share some of the oddities we've experienced in India, maybe I can even get him to guest blog! Stay tuned to find out about the length of a piece of toilet paper...dun dun dunnnnnn

McDonalds and other American foods

Yesterday was a glorious day! J and I had a good day at work. Nothing special. J's team played their first game but lost by two. His team plays again today and he will most likely get to play in this game. The monsoons haven't started yet...maybe tomorrow.

After work yesterday we headed out to a place called Camp in search of Dorabjees, a mecca of all things imported! Before we arrived at the grocery we stopped for dinner at MCDONALDS! Oh how wonderful and beautiful and delicious it was! Of course they did not have beef burgers but their McChicken tastes the same. They have mustard sauce here which blows American Honey Mustard sauce out.of.the.park!

We crossed the street and entered Dorabjees and immediately began filling our cart. We purchased REAL cheese, REAL chicken, and all sort of snacks. I think we purchased enough to hold us over for a few weeks. If I haven't mentioned here before India has a sorry excuse for cheese. No matter where we looked we ended up with odd tasting cheese. It didn't even melt correctly for our grilled cheese sandwiches. No worries, we have Kraft Swiss and Sharp Cheddar now! The only thing we are lacking is sandwich meat which we were informed of a place 9 km away from our work. We will have to check that out. No worries though, we still are eating Indian food every day for lunch at work (yay, free!) and at least once over the weekend when we go out to eat. I don't think J and I were cut out to eat spicy food for every meal.

After we finished our glorious shopping extravaganza at Dorabjees we met with with our friends and some of their co-workers at a place nearby to watch the soccer game. It is nice that J met some friends who are just as excited about soccer as he is here. Can't wait for the Germany game tonight, everyone is coming over to our place to watch it. Hope they bring ice cream or dessert ;)

Weekend is weekend

The last three days have been pretty jam packed. After work on Friday we met up with some friends and headed to Hard Rock Cafe which is located around 45 minutes away from our new flat. We had cheeseburgers! It was glorious! J had a bacon cheeseburger and I had a cheesy cheddar burger. There is only one area in Pune where you can eat beef. Thankfully we have found it!

The boys watched the first game of the Euro Cup over dinner and Michelle and I just hung out and talked. After dinner we went to a place close to our flat called CO2 to watch the second game of the cup then fell asleep after the game.

It was so nice to sleep in saturday morning, nobody woke up until after 11. J, Daniel, Michelle and I went to eat lunch then met Jonas downtown and walked around looking for a cave temple. It took us over two hours and 10 Indians to finally find the temple. It was really cool, everything in the temple was carved from rock. There were some people meditating inside. After we left the temple we went to a coffee shop and had something cold to drink and relax. Jonas left to go to a work meeting but the rest of us walked to a Western mall close by. I think it was one of the nicest malls I've ever been to in my life. There was an orchid garden in the middle of the mall. We went to a German store called Spar and found another place that sells American food. J and I are craving REAL cheese, not the gross paneer cheese that is sold in India.

Everyone watched the first game of the cup at our flat and we ordered pizza. After the game everyone left and J and I watched the Germany v. Portugal game together before going to bed. 

Yesterday, Sunday, everyone slept in again then met up to go to a fort called Sinhagad that houses a village on top. We split up into two rickshaws and headed 50km away. We experienced our first proper traffic jam. It was so bad that even the Indians thought it was a terrible traffic jam. We inched along the side of a lake for a few hours. At least the views were pretty!

When we finally reached the village at the bottom we hired a jeep to get us up the side of the VERY windy mountain. After 6km we reached the top! It was incredibly beautiful from the fort. We spent a little over an hour just walking around the top of the fort and seeing all the views. We took the jeep back to the rickshaws and headed home. Thankfully the traffic jam was cleared by the time we reached the lake. Daniel, Jonas, J and I ate dinner across the street from the guest house we stayed in and then all headed home. J watched the two EuroCup games while I relaxed. 

Now its Monday morning and we just finished our Monday morning meeting with the entire company. Hope today goes well :) Happy Monday!

Also, A big hello to Daniel and Jonas! They finally got the URL to our blog. Hope you enjoy!

About Us

Tonight is night two in our new flat. We went grocery shopping and purchased cheese and chocolate ice cream. I think we are both craving grilled cheese sandwiches and ice cream so that is what we are having for dinner tonight. We have started watching Big Bang Theory and Junior Masterchef Australia every night.

A little bit about us, incase you only know one of us:

My name is Heather. I'm a recent graduate of University of Hawaii at Manoa and I hold a degree in communications. I was born and raised outside of Atlanta, Georgia. I like to read, swim, and watch comedians (live or on TV). I'm pretty outgoing and love to meet new people. I am also somewhat of a cricket prodigy. I batted one run the first time I played! ;) India is a stepping stone for me, hopefully this internship will open many doors so I can find a suitable job.

John is a recent graduate of Georgia Southern University and holds a degree in Graphic Design. He was born in Maine but moved all over the world because his family was in the military. His family settled down in Central Georgia. He likes to play soccer, watch movies, and play golf. He also likes to meet new people, as long as they aren't annoying. He gets to play cricket for the first time tomorrow, but so far he seems like he will be really good thanks to his golf lessons. India, for John, is a way to break into the packaging industry that is very competitive. This internship will give him vital experience working with clients and on a team and hopefully will translate to a good job wherever we move next!

New Flat

We moved into our new flat tonight. It is really nice, we even have our own kitchen. We are planning on going grocery shopping after work tomorrow. Not much else it happening, we will update more when we unpack and get settled.

Team Oceans!

Today was a lot cooler outside than normal. The monsoons are scheduled to start around the 14th. It rained for a few minutes today. J and I are working on a project together. We found out the project this afternoon.

Today marked the first day of the Elephant Premier League (EPL) cricket tournament for work. I am on team Oceans. After a quick five minute crash course, I played in the first game against team DaBung. We lost by three BUT I scored a run! It was super exciting, even though I only batted once. I get to play again on Thursday. J's team will begin playing next week after my side of the bracket finishes.

After the game we all received milkshakes called CAD B for one of the owners birthdays. It was pretty delicious. It was the closest tasting thing that we have had to American food since being here.

We are heading to a place with D to eat dinner called Smokin Joes. It is right down the road and apparently has really good food. Yum! The motto is "I am going to give you an offer....that you can not refuse." That makes me laugh. Lost in translation...

Tonight is our last night in the guest house, tomorrow we get move to the new flat. Hope it is as nice as the guest house. I can't wait to start cooking again :)

Case of the Mondays

Ehh, Mondays in India aren't better than Mondays in the US. Work was okay today. The lunch was incredibly spicy so J and I didn't finish. We went in early so we got off at 6 and just relaxed until dinner.

Dinner was good, we ate at the guesthouse. Only 2 more days until we move to our flat. I can't wait, I need to do laundry. I only have 2 shirts left!

Pune Zoo & Snake Park

Happy Sunday everyone! Today a group of us went to the Pune Zoo & Snake park. Michelle, J and I met up with the two Germans and their two Indian friends. We took a large six person rickshaw to the zoo. There were a TONNNN of people at the zoo today, everyone was outside enjoying the last weekend before monsoons start. The snake park was cool. There were cobras and pythons, among other snakes. There was also a giant iguana that must have been at least 100 pounds.

In the zoo section was the largest tiger I've ever seen. It crouched down and pounced on some food which was really cool to see. The habitats for the animals were a lot nicer than they are in zoos at the US. The fences and things were huge with more than enough room for the animals to walk around. They also kept the habitats really natural. Sometimes it was harder to see the animals but I am sure it is better for them to be in more natural environments.

When we left the zoo a little girl kept trying to steal J's soda. In India there is a brand of Coke called Thumbs Up. It taste just like Pepsi. Super ironic.

After the zoo everyone went home and took showers. Daniel, J and I ate pizza and watched the Diamond Jubilee on BBC. It was a very relaxing evening. We even got to Skype J's parents. Tomorrow I have to be at work super early to finish a project. Good night everyone!

Old City

Yay! It's the weekend! Today we went to Dominos for lunch and got some good pizza. Then we went to the Old City to sightsee. It was exactly like someone would picture India. There were cows in the street, people everywhere, and chaos. It was super fun! I'll upload some pictures later.

Tonight we met up with Jonas, Daniel, and two of their friends. We went to a really loud "American" restaurant that was playing 90s music. It wasn't very American looking, but the food was good.

Tomorrow we're going to the zoo! Can't wait!!

Bob Dylan

Happy Friday! Today was a crazy busy day at work for both J and I. J started a new project today and I was trying to finish one.

After work we met up with Jonas and Daniel to head to Korregan Park which is where a lot of ex-pats live. We went to a place called High Spirits to watch a Bob Dylan cover band. On the way there the 4 of us split a rickshaw. It was super uncomfortable because I had to sit on J's lap.

We met up with some of the Germans' friends who are from Pune. They reserved a table and ordered a ton of starters for everyone. I ate the spicest thing I've ever put in my mouth...and it was a chimichanga. I could barely swollow it. Needless to say I didn't take another bite. J ordered beef tonight, luckily they have beef in the area. It was sooo good...or maybe we are just craving beef.

The cover band was okay. The guy was wearing incredibly short shorts. At the end he invited another local musician up to sing with him. The second guy was much better than the first. The four of us split a cab home and then skyped J's parents.

Tomorrow we are going to the old city to see a more traditional side of Pune.