Labor Day, another US holiday that I have missed. However there are a couple of official Indian holidays coming up at the end of the month.

Last night I ran into a couple from Tokyo at the pool. He works as a construction consultant and is out here for about 9 months. I got the inside scoop that if there is an earthquake here, half the building will be tumbling down since they are all about 10 floors and it is all brick without any additional support. He also commented on the working conditions, weather, and the fact there is nothing fun/relaxing to do in this part of Noida. You have to drive at least an hour to find a place to have a drink.

His wife was wearing a bikini at the pool. I was wondering if any of the locals would give her a hard time. However no one else showed up while we were there.

A few new additions to what is on a resume here and it is all from the same guy. For the first time I have seen “Blood Group”, height and weight. He was O+, 6’1 and 68kg. Plus he put his picture on the resume. Then there is his summary statement “I am young and confident boy with good physical bearing, who would surely prove to be an asset to your company.“ Plus he speaks Assamese. I wonder what that language sounds like.

I took a few pictures of the water buffalo grazing in a field just past the parking lot at work. They come there everyday around noon. These pics are from the 7th story balcony. I think they are the same buffalo that I saw crossing under the bridge a couple weeks ago. There are still a couple puddles from a hard rain we had on Thursday. A couple of the buffalo were lying in the puddles.

I think the storm from Thursday blew away a couple of the construction houses that are outside the apartment. On Saturday I noticed a couple of them were still on the ground and a couple others had shifted around. There were some heavy downpours and strong winds. My windows were whistling with the storm.

There were also big riots on Saturday about 5 miles from me. The city gave eviction notices to the people who put up housing on government property that they are going to begin building on. Most of these houses are one layer of brick or a tarp. The people rioted on the busiest street in the town and shut down traffic for 9 hours. The riot was more of a sit down strike in the middle of the road. Their “houses” will still be bulldozed over in the next week.

Another difference here is how you write a date. In the US 9/7/09 is September 9. In India that is July 9th. Some of the coworkers were talking about a guy from the US who’s visa ended 12/9 and he thought December but it was actually September. He had to run to the Embassy to get it clarified.

It is finally beginning to cool down at night. It was only 75 this morning. Although with the sun and humidity it is still another 15+ degrees warmer in the feels like category. The water in the pool felt cold along with my shower this morning. I am beginning to think that the water heater is the sun.