It was only 90 outside this morning. A breeze picked up and I actually had goosebumps. I don’t know what you Minnesotan’s are complaining about back home about 90. It is a welcome relief over here even if it might be just for one morning. It still got up to 110 today after an hour of rain.

I ran into the British guy at breakfast that has been here for about 5 months so far. I must have a much higher patience level than him. He got all worked up about all the issues he has been facing and I have been going through the same things. Everything from the newspaper being hand delivered at 6:30 am to the room by a house boy ringing on the door bell to the internet not working. The newspaper thing is ridiculous. How difficult is it to quietly put the newspaper outside the door? Now the person throws the newspaper against the door and it make a loud noise around 6:45 am. It is my new alarm clock.

His best story though was on the third day he was here. He was asked to go out to dinner with a coworker and he agreed. It turned out to be a Delhi Rotary Club dinner with over 100 people there. First the India National Anthem was sung by the group, then they asked him to sing the British National Anthem. He said why the hell not and went for it. There was also an American guest speaker, but he refused to sing the anthem. During the dinner he joined the Rotary Club and then had to give a presentation to the group of why he was thankful to join. He thought he was going out for a one on one dinner and ended up being the main attraction for the Rotary Club.

We are looking at more at work for the Royalty team. A resume is called a CV. Another difference is on the CV they put their date of birth, marital status, sex, father’s name and father’s profession on it. Most of the candidates are right out of college. I am feeling old since most of the CVs have birthdates in 1988. It is also nice to see the optimism in their eyes and the eagerness in their voices that they are ready to take on the world.

At lunch a few people are testing me with new foods. It’s all homemade by their families and vegetarian dishes. I have been sticking with the dryer green vegetable concoctions. They are either salty or spicy or both. Some are deep fried. One thing I had today, it looked like a leaf curled up and filled with crushed up spices and vegetables and deep fried, was salty at first. Then about 2 minutes later my mouth was on fire and I had no water to rescue me. After words they told me there was no English name for the dish. I just keep telling myself it is all about expanding my horizons. However I have stayed away from the red, yellow and watery type dishes so far. The combination of bright colored spices and no refrigeration has me worried.

Many of the people bring in their own food and share it family style on the lunch table. The only thing I do not like about that is they use the same silverware that they eat with to scoop up more food. To me it is much worse than double dipping.