Day 2 and 3 have been all day in the hotel, which all together hasn't been that bad considering how busy I feel right now with everything going on and considering the fact that it seems like every time we go out, at least a few people come back and get sick... more on that later.
Oh before I go any further, I got the rickshaw video to work so here it is in all its glory. :)
Day 2
This is our classroom
After Stats was lunch and then our second GMI course. I really liked Jennifer Francis, I thought she did a good job teaching the course, but again it was macroeconomics so nothing spectacular to report on this letter.
After GMI they scheduled 1 1/2 hours for a CMC course on how to do use the career compass website. Since I have already been using it for a while, I decided to skip it and I went to the gym. I was happy to find out that they actually had a bar and some free weights so I concocted my own crossfit workout. It was really strange having such attentive service in the gym as I worked out. Every time I would go to change weight on the bar, the guy would jump out of his seat and come over to change the weight on the other side trying to anticipate how much weight I was going to put on. It was a very nice gesture, but definitely out of the norm. I starting to wonder if this is how royalty feels with servants attending to their every need.
This is a sidenote from my day record, but I also just wanted to comment on overall how CRAZY involved the service is here. At breakfast they have 2 chefs dedicated to omlets and about 20 staff members just for our group every morning. Then in class there are always staff members around and any time anything happens were the professor needs help with the computer or needs a pen, etc it is like the help is there within seconds. The housekeepers come by the room probably between 5 and 10 times s a day to see if you need anything. Today when I asked him for an extra bottle of water he gave me 4! Oh and here is another crazy thing. Today I got in the shower and went to use my face soap and lo and behold the housekeeper had taken my blue travel soap dish and cleaned out every part of it from the left over soap. Can you believe that? Even more so every public bathroom has a bathroom attendant that keeps the place clean and then when you approach the sink he turns on the water for you as you are walking up, squirts the soap into your hands and then hands you a towel when you are ready to dry your hands off.
Now transitioning back to my day the bathroom attendant led to my next awkward moment. After the gym, I decided it would be nice to go over to the locker room and sit in the steam room for a while. I didn't have a swimsuit, but I figured I would just wrap a towel around myself. Well apparently, I wouldn't have been able to use to swimsuit anyway. When I got to the locker room the attendant gave me a towel and then proceeded to instruct me to undress and put on the towel. Then as I slowly took off my shoes and socks, stopped to get a drink, opened the locker, etc he continued to stand about 2 feet away from me and watch. There was no effort on his part to look away or go about his business while I changed. Finally it got to the point that I just figured, "K, I guess this is how it is going to be." He just watched me the entire time while I undressed and put on the towel. I couldn't believe it. Then even more so when I went into the steam room (now take note I am the ONLY person in the entire locker room) I sat down to relax and then about 2 minutes later I look up at the glass door only to notice he is standing right at the door peering through looking at me. What???? Anyway, I wasn't in there for very long, but that was definitely a weird experience. As we have talked about it with others we have concluded it comes down to more of an issue of most Indian having no sense of privacy and personal space because those are two things that aren't part of their culture. As Americans we are a much more individual culture with personal space and all sorts of privacies where as in India in general, they are a much more communal culture and so I am sure to that guy everything was perfectly normal. However, for me it was NOT!
After the gym, I studied and then went to dinner at the Monsoon restaurant here in the hotel. It was really nice with about a 6 or 7 course meal that took 2 hours to finish. The food was delicious and it was a fun experience to be in that type of restaurant without having to see the check afterwards.
After dinner I did some more homework till I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore and then went to bed.
This is the basement lobby outside our classrooms.
The entire hotel is a contemporary design.
Day 3
This is the view from the courtyard in the middle of the hotel.
Day 3 started out with another stats class and I am really liking our stats professor. I did get cold called today on a homework problem I wasn't prepared for, but I managed to work my way through it ok.
After stats, we had the marketing director of Idea Cellular here in India come speak to us. I was actually much more intrigued then I thought I would be and it was fun to sit and listen without taking notes. All the innovation ideas allowed my mind to wander and contemplate innovates I could create dealing with patient process and patient experience to give them a better experience then they are experience from ANY other medical office. It was fun.
When the speaker was finished we had lunch and then started our Marketing course. I think I am really going to like this semester because I really like this professor as well. He is an Indian and is very engaging when he teaches.
One thing I forgot to mention about yesterday and today that was occurring all the time and even during this marketing class was the power going out. Every 15 to 30 minutes the entire hotel's power would go down and if I was in my room, I'd be sitting in the dark for 30 seconds before it came back on. Apparently this is a very common occurrence for India and we were only seeing the minor amounts of it. Minor or not, I'd say it happened probably a dozen times in a 12 hour period (7 of those hours being while I was asleep so there may have been much more).
After Marketing, I went to the gym again and this time I was able to follow the crossfit workout posted on crossfit dixie's site. It felt really good to do a full workout like that again and I think it has helped keep me healthy why I am here. That is another thing, EVERYONE has been getting sick around here. The common term being used is "Delhi Belly" but essentially it means a lot of people have been laid up and so I have just been trying to be very diligent about washing my hands and staying away from anyone that says they are sick. I feel bad for them because they seem to feel so miserable, but I definitely don't want to join them!
Tonight I worked on more homework and had dinner with my team as we discussed a case assignment we did that was due tonight. And now it is midnight so with my apologies, I am off to bed to get my beauty rest.
Love ya babe,
Brock
Uncle Mark wants to know how much you tipped the bathroom attendant? He was probably not a hotel employee, but someone looking to make some money.
ReplyDelete