The first few days in Bangalore

This is going to be a long post ;-)

So we set off from London on Thursday morning and got driven to Heathrow terminal 5. Saw loads of the sights of London on the way, we were all so excitable! Even ran into the horses from the changing of the guards just by Buckingham Palace. Arrived at the shiny Terminal 5 and am pleased to say the place now runs like clockwork!

The flight was hot and cramped... but I guess they always are right?! But on Mike's recommendation I watched Bucket List and he's right it is good, and then Over Her Dead Body, which was funny I guess, and Then 21, which was pretty good too. The three of us were desperately trying to sleep but it didn't happen! We arrived in Bangalore at 4.15am and waited a long time for ours bags.. literally the last ones off the plane... we joked that maybe they were using an Elephant a small cart to unload them one at a time.... turns out it was probably a goat...We were met by a driver with a ThoughtWorks sign (oh yeh that said Mr Rebecca.... that will stick with her I think!)

We then embarked on probably the scariest car journey of all time... There are no rules of the road in India.. imagine a 3 lane motorway with everything from rickshaws (little moped 3 wheel taxi things) to massive trucks, all going at various speeds, generally as fast a possible, winding in and out of the lanes at a whim, a lot of people straddling the lanes, beeping their horns when approaching another vehicle as they has bashed off all their wing mirrors... there isn't a single car without some kind of dent in it... scary. We also saw a pretty nasty accident as a result... it’s a wonder there are so many Indian people...

We arrived at the Diamond District at about 7.30am, which is the gated compound with the office and loads of apartment blocks. We were met and taken to our different apartments, I have since moved into a different one on my own... They're quite nice, quite basic, but have a kitchen, TV, Air con... Anyways after a quick shower it was off to the office for a day of induction stuff... which unsurprisingly Val, Beccy and myself literally slept through we were so exhausted, we even found a little room to go to sleep in at lunchtime! There are I think 30 something of us on ThoughtWorks University, about 24 from the Indian office, 3 of us from the London office, 1 from Chicago, 1 from Melbourne and then I think there is supposed to be a Canadian and some Chinese coming over the weekend. After a full day of Inductions (which actually could of been done in two hours.. but time keeping or a sense of urgency aren't exactly the Indian's strong point!), The group headed to a restaurant on the complex for a buffet style traditional Indian meal, for all of about 2 pounds.... genius, good for those of us on a western wage! And then a seriously needed sleep was had!

The Trainers from TWU (ThoughtWorks University) arranged for a tour of Bangalore for us today (Saturday). Feeling more optimistic and more energetic we were up for the adventure. We got taken round in a big bus, which made me certainly feel safer on the roads! We visited the Bull temple, and the surrounding gardens, where we discovered the largest bats hanging out in the trees that I have ever seen... gross.

Next we had lunch, apparently it was a very famous place that people love to go from around here, you get a big platter thing which is separated into loads of little sections and 1 big one, and they just kept arriving with more and more things to put into them.... they eat so much but stay so small.... they also traditionally eat with their right hand, some of the guys we are with do it this way some with a spoon, Val is getting pretty good at it.. It’s definitely an art!

There are so many traditions and right way of doing things that it’s had to keep up, let alone remember how to pronounce everyone's names properly. At the moment it’s still quite intense questioning for us from the Indian lot, and we are desperately trying to get to grips with all the different aspects. It also gets a lot of getting used to the fact that as white western girls we get stared at all the time and given dirty looks, despite the fact that we're all conservatively dressed and trying to blend in.... Whilst out and about in Bangalore today we having as many pics of us taken by the locals as we were taking of the sights...

After lunch we went on to the Lalbagh Botanical Gardens, which are supposed to be modelled on the Kew gardens in London. It’s pretty big and is really nice actually, there’s a big lake at one end, with pelicans in, and there are Monkeys wondering about. We hung about there for a few hours watching the world go by. There are just getting the Gardens all ready with new plants in time for the Indian Independence Day in mid August when they have a big flower show there. While we were all sat on this big rock, there was a little police man whose only job was to keep people off a little patch of new grass, and he was furiously blowing his whistle at anyone who even went within 2 feet of it, quite funny watching from a distance!

I've now moved to my new apartment, which is nice, although the electricity supply is sporadic at best, must buy some candles tomorrow! Anyways that’s it for now.....