Samstag, 10. August 2013

Welcome to India

August 09th - 10.30pm: After 12 hours of travel I finally arrived in Mumbai - India's most populous city.  But actually when I entered the plain I already felt like I am in India :-) I was sitting next to two men who were really friendly and very much interested in my person. They asked me where I'm from, what I'm going to do in India, how old I am, whether I'm married or not, if I have children, what my parent's business are, if I have any brothers or sisters...just everything. It was I quite new experience how interested and open people here are.
After arrival in Mumbai I met Gica and Anton (my IBM colleagues from czech republic and slovakia) already at the airport. Shruti, one of the CDS coordinators, welcomed us and took us to the hotel. Since I just had lunch in the plane and a little snack (ice-cream) I was really lucky that I still had my swabian "Butterbrezel" with me, I bought that morning. So this was my first dinner in india :-)

After a short night I met this morning the rest of the team - and after one day I can already say, it's really enriching to meet these people here.
We flew to Jamnagar all together and met Kabi, the other CDS coordinator, there. They brought as to a lovely hotel in a nice and safe neighborhood. Somehow strange is how crowdy the streets are and how many beeings share the space on the streets. People in cars & rickshaws, on bicycles & motor scooters, pedestrians, dogs, cows, camels with carriage - quite new for me :-)

Since alcohol consumption in Gujarat is regulated by the state, tourists have to get a permit for that. So we took a Rishwa ride to an abandoned hotel (the place where you can to get it) and learned how unhurriedly indian processes work. Now I'm officially authorized to have a glass of wine in the evenings with my colleagues.


 We also had a very good introduction to the indian cuisine. Our lunch was very delicious - but I still have to get used to the indian way of spicing.


That's Elyse, Paula, me and Claudia (started by the left hand side).

20ibmcsc india

2 Kommentare:

  1. Hi Katrin, looks really nice! Following you as I am preparing to leave for IBMCSC Brazil14 early September. Have a really great time! Olaf

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    1. Thanks, Olaf. I can reassure, it is really nice. It's a great experience. Do you already know in which kind of project you are?

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