Sucky day

Oh yeah, sucky LA day...the damage: one speeding ticket, two parking tickets (can you believe i actually got a parking ticket because i was parked in a free spot in my appartment complex, but because i have a "reserved parking" sticker it seems i cannot make use of the free-for-all spots...huh? makes perfect sense!), and it's 10 pm, i am still at work and have skipped lunch and dinner...What do they say? Tomorrow is another day...

LA...the city of angels?

I am in a new city, I have a new job, I live in a new apartment (unfortunately, I still sleep on the floor :-)), I have a new roommate (who surpasses all expectations i could possibly have had for a roommate i never met before moving in...she is one of the sweetest and coolest people i have met in LA so far)...and i am trying to make new friends...wow that's a lot of novelty for a shy and reserved person like me. It's overwhelming, exciting, scary, tiring, did i mention overwhelming?, all at the same time...I don't know how permanent or temporary this life is...but i do know that i miss the Bay Area. I don't miss Stanford, I don't miss Palo Alto, but boy, do i miss the life and friends I had up there. The random hot chocolate/mocha from coupa cafe on campus, the bi-weekly swims followed by a cappucino and a nougati, the drives on page mill, the early breakfasts with TJ croissants to start the day well, the lunches at google, the late-afternoon-teas in Blackwelder, the weekly House sessions with my favorite roommies, the crepes parties, the special coffees, that and just the feeling that at any time of the day i could get into my tiny car and go meet someone i liked, someone i could just be silly Sylvie with. So, yeah, so far, I haven't found my angels here...

This is the end...

Yes, my India adventure has come to an end. It finished right where it started, back in Mumbai. I spent a few days with Aparna, walking around the streets of Bombay, taking a boat out to Elephant Caves, eating delicious pani puri (Shardul, you were missed at many occasions during this trip...I still haven't found a better Indian food guide...next time we need to coordinate better!), trying out sizzler's in Santa Cruz, and being used as a "landmark".

Now, i am back home, or at least I think, because honestly, The Shalimar apartment, Komal's singing and laughing, our cute guard, the daily animated auto rides, the climbs on top of the fridge to reset the fuses, the parading monkeys in front of the our living room window on the sixth floor, the arguments with the Fedex people about whether or not a wax pouch can be sent by post ("no, no, it's not a VACCINE, it is food-grade wax, i could eat it if i wanted to...no, it's not food either...argh, never mind") and the insults of the couch manufacturer for being "the most difficult customer he ever had"...they really started to make me feel at home in Bangalore! I miss it, i really do. Belgium is quiet, pale and cold in comparison (hmmm i wonder if this applies to me too)...so India, be aware, I will soon be back!

Dancing the night away...

I am in Baroda, Gujarat, celebrating Navaratri. The word Navaratri actually means "nine nights" in Sanskrit and is celebrated differently in different parts of India. In Gujarat it means that for nine consecutive nights, people dress up in colourful outfits (yes COLOURFUL, Charlene...even me...and I have proves!) and dance Garba to celebrate the goddess Shakti (the supreme goddess ?). So, we did just that. We bought a colourful outfit consisting of a loooooong dress that makes these beautiful waves when you dance in it, a short top (argh, what is it with you indian people always wanting to show your belly...really?) and a Dupata (transparentish scarf you tie in front of you, kind of to hide the above mentioned belly ;-)) and danced all night...Rajan (who dances Garba for the Stanford team) showed us some groovy moves and we just followed. A big success! It was sooooo much fun that we will do it again tonight!

Cultural differences...

You know how in the US they say that diamonds are a woman's best friend? Well, here in India, things are slightly different. Look at the pic below ;-). Oh, and just for the sake of comparison, I also added a pic of Belgian women's best friend ;-)

Quote of the day...

I was trying to recharge my prepaid airtel phone at this little stand around the corner where i am a regular customer. While doing so, i was standing under a bright, white tube light when one of the guys behind the counter tells the other guy behind the counter (who is busy with me) something in a language i do not understand. So, i look up, and the first guy says: "Oh, madam, i did not say anything bad about you. I just said you were very pretty, so white. You whiter than the light! If i were your colour, all women would like me." Ouch, whiter than the light, that hurts...but i guess that was a compliment.

How a saree vendor asked me out...

Komal and I were on a mission today: find a black saree for me. Yes, black! Why? Well...is that even a question...First of all, I love black. Secondly, considering that i am not one of those people blessed with a dark complexion, there aren't too many bright and flashy colours that suit me, so forget orange, yellow or pink...black is what i need. That, and, well, while browsing the internet for some saree blouse designs I stumbled upon some pictures of really, really gorgious black saree's... I want one too! So, destination: commercial street. We have barely entered the first saree store, that, suddenly, out of nowhere, we are surrounded by three men. One pulls out two chairs, one (what looks like the shop owner) tells us to sit down while asking us what we are looking for and the third one starts draping out the most amazing series of sarees...bright red, dark green, deep purple, flashy pink...every single one prettier than the previous one....with beads or embroidery...and then suddenly, there he is, right in front of me, reflecting the light on its 1000 tiny little mirrors...the perfect black saree...with a hint of red...I am mesmerized. Of course, this does not go unnoticed to the shop owner. "I see you like this one madam". "Please come, you should try...here! In front of mirror". The man proceeds by skillfully wrapping me in the saree...one look in the mirror...I am sold. But what about the blouse? I am leaving tomorrow, there is no time to tailor the blouse. "No worries, madam, i will make it for you." Hmmm, ok, let me see, i know someone else who would probably think those look awesome and would not mind wearing one of those: my mom! "So, what other colours do you have?"...and there we go again, one, two, three, four, five sarees fly from above, and fall open on front of me...it rains sarees...so pretty! "Oh look at that green one". I think we have a winner for mama Denuit. (Just to make sure, i tried that one out as well, I might have to steel this one from my mom, just in case one of my friends decide to get married (hint, hint, guys!), since i can't really be wearing a black saree for a wedding, right...hmmm when WILL i wear my black one, then?).
Now, let's move on to the fun part: negotiations..."Special price for both of them?" A few moments later, we settle on a price, the shop owner calls the tailor, he takes the necessary measurements (the tailor does, not the shop owner, although I am sure the shop owner wouldn't have mind doing that himself ;) and promises that it will be ready by tonight, 9pm. Oh and guess what, the owner himself will drop of the saree at our place...
This is how, at 9:30pm at night, I get a call from the shop owner, he is downstairs, waiting with my saree. As soon as i come down, he hands me over a package and askd: "So are you done packing? When will you be back in Bangalore, and can i take you out for a drink?" Euh, well, yeah, almost done with my packing...and no, i am not coming back any time soon, and well, drink is not possible, my roommate is waiting upstairs to have dinner. "Oh, so where in the US are you from?" Euh, I am Belgian, but I work in the US. "Oh really, where about?" Hmmm, California. "Really? Where?" LA "LA? Fantastic! I'll be in LA next month, we have a saree store over there...maybe i can take you out for a drink there. Let me give you my email address...can I have yours? Do you have a cellphone in the US"...well, euh, i have your cellphone, what about i send you my email later..."Good, good, don't forget!"

Happy, happy...

...30th birthday to someone special...yes, yes, you know who you are...yes, you! Girl, I hope you had a perfect party last night, and a perfect day today!

So, to celebrate this special day, Komal (my new roommate who happens to be this amazing person) and I splurged...we had brunch at the Leela. Ooooh-my-god...I mean, seriously, I wish I had brought my camera, because i have never, ever seen such an extended desert buffet that looks, taste, smells that good. I would have started with deserts (and come back to it afterwards) if it hadn't been for the smell of kebab that distracted me from it...and then the other entries, and the setting...one big feast. But to get back to the deserts...I didn't know there were at least 20 different ways to make chocolate mousse (and let me tell you this, if anything at all, I know something about chocolate mousse!), with raspberry, with banana, with caramel, with ce-petit-je-ne-sais-quoi...and have you heard of such things as steamed chocolate pudding? Wow, this is the perfect way to end an almost perfect stay in India. Of course, this was all in honour of you, my friend, because it is your 30st birthday ;-)

What doesn't kill you...

...makes you stronger. This quote applies wonderfully to my trip to India...although, i am not sure, yet, whether it is not going to kill me. No, seriously, India is changing me...it teaches me to say "no" and to not let people take advantage of me, it pushes me out of my comfort zone and enjoy things for what they are. It has also taught me, once again, that there is a positive side to every situation, that there are small, wonderful surprises waiting for me when i least expect them. The past few days have been a series of delightful experiences. I had the chance to eat all kinds of oh-so-unhealthy-but-oh-so delicious street food in bangalore, got to drive in Delhi (man, i miss driving around), discovered the city's varied eating scene (from belgian waffles to cauliflower stuffed paratha's), was introduced to beautiful Sufi music, got my own top-five-must-see-hindi-movies-collection, asked for directions at least a 127 times (and still managed not to find Vatika City) in Gurgaon, relaxed at a wonderfully QUIET farmhouse (and got attacked by soooo many mosquitos), took my first indian railway overnight train (and had lots of chai...mmmm chai), rode on a camel, watched a sunset in the desert with a kingfisher beer in hand (!), enjoyed a quiet, breezy night, on the roof terrace of a colourful rajasthani hotel...and most importantly: met a few amazing and interesting people with whom i could share all this. Oh, and i almost forgot...I found the answer to life and the Universe! I think few things are better than traveling alone in a country like this!

Another auto-adventure...

I sometimes think to myself "ok, that's it, i've seen it all, nothing about this country will surprise me now!" And each time again, i am wrong. Earlier today, I was trying to head back from Commercial Street to the apartment on Residency Road. The auto ride should cost about Rps 25. I talk to the first driver: "fly-over bridge on Residency Rd?". "No ma'am". "What do you mean "no"? No as in no, you don't know? No as in no, you don't want?". "No ma'am". Ok fine, next one: "Rps. 50 m'am" "50?! Ha! You're kidding. Nope, the meter, please." "No ma'am, the meter + Rps. 20, lot's of traffic!" Yeah right, it's not like at any other time there is no traffic, huh? Whatever, i am not in the mood to argue. Next one! "M'am come, come, Residency Rd, yes". "Meter?" "Sit, m'am" (with shake of the head...that means "yes, yes, don't worry, meter is fine". Aaaah there we go, see not that hard after all. Hmmm, wait, 2 min into the ride....the auto slows down (in the middle of a huge boulevard)...oho, what now? "No gas, m'am". Argh, I should have known. Ok, no worries, i'll take the next auto. "No, no, m'am, sit down." The guy gets out and stops another rickshaw-driver (although he has 3 passengers with him). They talk, they shake heads (lots of head shaking, it's a good sign!) and suddenly, there we go again. Huh, what, how? Am i seeing this right...yes, the other guy is driving his rickshaw, while pushing our rickshaw with his foot...cool, i call that solidarity...Ah! I see the gas station. But..wait...no, we are not going to the gas station, hmmm...interesting, is he going to push us all the way to Residency Rd? What about his passengers? At this point, i don't care and decide to just sit back, relax and see what happens. One big push, our rescue-rickshaw turn left, my guy jumps out of the rickshaw and starts pushing the riskshaw across the busy intersection (of course, it goes without saying that this is accompanied with lots of honking and swerving of the cross traffic he is blocking). Hmmm what now? You are not gonna push all the way till Residency Rd, are you? Noooo, the next street is down-hill! What a relieve. Driver jumps back in, there we go again...no braking, we need all the momentum we can get. "Get out of the way, you looser" (I feel like yelling at those stupid motorcycles stopping in front of us)...where is my honk? I wanna honk! Honk!...We finally get to a group of parked rickshaws and my driver shouts: "go m'am, go! Other auto!" and points at what, i presume, is his friend. Sigh, does it mean i will have to redo the whole "Residency Rd? Meter"-game? Perhaps. So i start "Meter?". The other auto driver looks at me and says: "Other auto has meter. You pay what is on other meter" and so he too starts pushing the other auto with his foot while driving. What?? You gonna push that other rick all the way, just for the meter? Seriously, i am not that into the meter, you know. Anyway, I must admit, this driver is pretty skilled. It's like an arcade game. On the small streets, he drives next to the other auto, all the while pushing it, then when someone (or something) is coming in the opposite direction, he gives the auto a big push, swerve behind it, and as soon as the other vehicle has passed, he starts pushing again. I am impressed. This is fun! Then he pushes a little too hard, and the other rick is propulsed 3 cars in front of us. He shakes his head and looks at me in the mirror. "yeah I know, it's not your fault the other drivers are not as skilled". Finally i tell him, not to worry about the meter. Just drop him at the gas station and get met to Residency Rd. Which is finally what he does. We get there, and he asks for Rps 30. Really? After all the entertainment you just provided me? I want to give you more!

Moms!

This post is dedicated to all the moms that have worried about me over the past fews days: thank you! :-) I feel much better now, and i am grateful for all the calls i received from you, to make sure i was doing ok. It's nice to know I am not entirely alone, so far away from home!

Berk!

So, it seems that my cooking skills are terrible! Or that is what my own body thinks at least...after my great cooking experiment yesterday, I decided to meet someone for coffee. He'd take me to one of the supermarkets on the ring road...all was fine till i got into his car. That's when i started to feel pretty bad...upset stomach, it seemed like. But, i thought "oh, no problem, it is just the ride" (i tend to get a little car sick when i am not the one doing the driving :-)). So once back, I went out to get a coke, usually it does wonders to calm down an upset stomach. Wrong! From then on, things went from bad to worse...for the next 5 hours all i could do was throw up-sleep-throw up-sleep-throw up-more sleeping-more throwing-up and finally more sleeping. Ouch, horrible night. I cursed the dal, i cursed the okra, i cursed the curd, I even cursed the pickle and swore i would never eat any of those things again!

This morning, the body felt slightly better...it had a craving for bread and chocolate...aaah i recognize my roots at last! I've been sleeping all day long though...and am ready to nap some more...great way to spend a weekend! :-( Luckily there is JJG to get me through this...nobody can keep you better company on those lousy, lousy days!

My first home-made Indian dish :-)

Look, i just finished cooking my first fully home-made Indian meal. It might not be clear from the pic, but i made Urad daal cooked in curd with rice and fried bindhi (or lady fingers/okra in english). It took me about 50 min to have everything ready...the result, i would give it a 6.5 out of 10. Of course i don't know how it should taste, but the okra could have been cooked a little longer, and to my taste the urad daal/curd mixture could have been a little thicker...anyway, not bad for a first time, i would say!
And of course, the pickle made it all worthwhile! ;-)

Cooking experiments

I am very proud! I got my own spice box...I always wanted one of those stainless steel "lunch boxes" that hides 6 or 7 little other pots with different colourful spices...and most importantly the little spoon...i love the little spoon. My spice treasure box has turmeric, red chili, coriander, cumin, pepper, mustard seeds and some unknown spice...maybe one of you can look at the picture above and tell me what it is. So now i am ready to cook...oh wait, small detail, i have no clue how to make indian food! (oh, and before i can make anything i will also have to overcome my fear of pressure cookers...)
Hmmm, since i don't have a mom to teach me how to make Indian food (vegetarian food is really not my mother's cup of tea :-)), I will have to resort to the "teach-yourself-indian-cooking-in-2-months" method. This method involves the 7 easy cookbooks (ha, there is even one that only talks about pickle!!!) and a fair amount of google-the-unknown-ingredient (I now know what methi, hing and palak means). You can now drop me in any (Indian) supermarket and i can recognize Masoor Daal from Moong Daal from Urad Daal...pretty impressive, huh?
Ok, now all i need is practice...and a willing soul to try out my experiments. Any volunteer? :-)

Happy Independence Day!

Yesterday, Saturday August 15th, was Independence Day in India. Look, look, i got my own flag :-). To celebrate, Jesse and I went to Mysore for the weekend. Mysore is a beautiful town about 130km southwest of Bangalore. It is famous for its Maharaja's Palace (or Indian Versaille as Jesse calls it), its colourful Devaraja Market, its carved sandalwood and beautiful silk sarees. It's also soooo much quieter and peaceful than Bangalore. And so green!
We took the 7am train (who actually left 1t 8:30am) and got there in time for lunch. We stayed at a very pleasant hotel called "green hotel". It's an old palace that used to be a summer retreat for the Wodeyar princesses (hmmm, maybe i am a BP after all). Now, it's a hotel with beautiful gardens, a delicious restaurant, colourfully painted rooms with birds and flowers...and it donates all its profit to charity. Not bad, huh? (besides, the price for a double room is very reasonable).
We spent the afternoon at the Palace, climbed down the stairs of Chamundi hill (or at least the part between the temple and Nandi's statue), walked around the bazaar (i love to listen and watch when Jesse bargains :-)) and finally went back to the Palace to see it all illuminated at night.

Oh, i also bought a silk saree...dark purple and green...very pretty! Now i just need a special occasion to wear it...anybody getting married soon? ;-)

Wisdom from an auto driver

Yesterday, I had the most pleasant encounter so far in India. I needed to go from Richmond town to Jayanagar by rickshaw. I had been warned: watch out for rickshaw drivers, try not to travel alone, and if you do, look for an older driver... they are usually safer. Use the meter, make sure you know the way so they don’t take you for a ride,... My rickwshaw driver must have been “l’exception qui confirme la regle”, the exception to the rule. My rickshaw driver was the third driver I flagged down. First, he was honest enough to tell me he knew the general area I needed to go to, but not the precise address, so he would have to ask once we got there. So I asked him for the meter. “Sure, not a problem m’am.” Then he apologetically told me he needed to stop at the gas station to get some gas, but that he would only turn on the meter once the gas tank was filled. Wow, I was impressed. Once on our way, he turned around, looked at me and said: “You don’t look Indian, m’am” (although he did break my heart by saying that, I must admit he was very observant ;-). “No sir, I am indeed not Indian”. “But m’am, you don’t sound American either, where are you from?”. “I am from Belgium”. Then he turns around and says with a broad smile: “Comment allez-vous, mademoiselle?” The expression on my face must have been priceless. So he continues and says: “Never judge someone by his appearance, m’am. Long time ago, when I was young, I studied French. I owned my own transportation business, then retired and was bored staying at home. So now I drive an auto so I can meet people. My daughters are probably your age. They both graduated from IIT. You know IIT, m’am? Very good school. Very smart girls.” I was starting to really enjoy this ride. A little further into the ride, my rickshaw driver turns around again and asks: “So, are you Christian in Belgium?” “Yes, we are”. “But it doesn’t matter, you know, m’am, ultimately we all believe in the same God. You call him something, I call him something else. To me religion is like food. We all need it for the same purpose, but each cuture has it’s own version of it. Each culture add it’s own spice to eat to make it its own.” Beautifully said, oh rickshaw driver of mine.

I wish I had asked his name. I hope I’ll see my favorite rickshaw driver again. And maybe he can teach me more wisdom.

St. Jozephs Evening College

Considering that i will be "living" in Bangalore for at least 9 weeks (I've been wondering how much time you need to stay in one place to rightfully say you have lived there), I think i ought to learn the local language. Some people think that if i am to learn a language anyway, i might as well learn "something more useful", like Hindi. Some say it's a waste of time to learn a language that is only used in one state in one particular country. But then again, there are more people that speak Kannada in the world than there are Belgians in the world, and besides, I learned flemish, so i am not the right person to talk to about the usefulness of a language :-). So, point is, I want to learn Kannada. I've been looking for teachers online, but they are not that easy to find. So I was told to go check out the St. Jozephs Evening College and see if they have Kannada evening classes for beginners. While checking out there website, i stumbled across their mission. I think this is the best mission statement for an educational institution i have ever read.

"The strategies followed in this college are designed to put students in a position to become lucky, to give them an edge, improve their attitude, sharpen their wisdom and deepen their perspective with a healthy self-esteem and thus become less self-absorbed and more sensitive towards the plight of others and more resilient shock absorbers in the ups and downs of life. The College intuitively feels that self-absorbed people have very poor learning curves."

If they are willing to teach me Kannada there, i am definitely taking their class!

Saturday!

I spent my first saturday afternoon off doing some shopping at Fabindia and other clothes shops. I bought some pretty colourful things. Charlene will be proud of me! :-) And she will be even more proud to know that i went to the gym today. Yes, the gym! Gold's Gym! They have a Bangalore branch, right next to the apartment i am staying at. Good thing i exercised, cause i ate soooo much tonight. Malavika had given me the address of this amazing restaurant called Olive Beach. It's located on a side street of Brigade Rd, one of the main roads in Richmond Town, the area of Bangalore we are staying in. That place was really nice. Perfect setting, a nice outside area, very calm and appeasing surroundings (what a change from the loudness around, at times i feel like my senses are overly ). So yes, the evening was a success. Good company, good conversation, good food, good atmosphere. I am a happy person. (Sunil and Sagarika, i think the two of you would enjoy this restaurant...have you ever been?)

Hyderabad Express

Thursday Aug 7 at around 3pm...Sylvie is sitting quietly in the service apartments in Bangalore, sending emails here and there to set up appointments with manufacturers when suddenly her phone rings. It's Linus (her boss :-)).
Linus: "Sylvie, do you have our prototype of the sleeping bag?"
Sylvie: "Euh, I think it is on the table in your apartment, why?"
Linus: "Shit, I am in Bombay and going to Hyderabad tonight. We have a meeting tomorrow, but I forgot to prototype. I thought Tomak had it with him. Wait, let me call you back in a minute, but i think you should come to Hyderabad. Tonight."

tuut tuut tuut (Linus hang up, i think he was in a cab on the way to the airport)

A few minutes later: driiiiiing

Linus: " Sylvie, yes, you need to come to Hyderabad. Book a flight and meet me there at 9pm. Wait, i need to go, call you back in a minute"

tuuuut tuuut tuuut (Linus hang up again, i think he is still in the cab on his way to the airport)

Driiiiiing

Linus: "Sylvie, is your ticket booked yet? Yes, cool, take a cab to the airport. Here is the number. Oh, btw, can you also take the heater, and the wax pouches?"
Sylvie thinks to herself "Euh, Linus, did you take anything to Hyderabad? :-)

So, this is how i ended up changing my plans to go to Gold's Gym and then dinner for a dinner at KFC in Hyderabad. Yes, KFC! Five years in the States and i have never set foot in a KFC, not even a week in India, and here i am...eating a fried chicken meal. What has the world come to? KFC!!! Aiaiaia

Anyway, my short trip to Hyderabad was definitely worthwhile. We visited a rural clinic about 2 hours away from the city. There, we got to interview a few doctors (OB/GYN and Pediatricians) and got some feedback on our prototype. And then...we got to put a couple of cute little babies in the sleeping bag. The first one didn't like it...but the second one loved it.
We also got the opportunity to see their NICU (those babies look so fragile). It's really interesting. I really hope this product makes it to the market and will hopefully save a lot of baby lives. They seem so small and helpless.

Anyway, sleepy time for me...it's been a hectic day!

Indian phones

I need to figure out how to call an Indian phone. I know, i know, half of you are laughing, really how hard can it be...Aha, that's where half of you are mistaken. Now, first you need to get a sim card, for that you need a proof of residency...yeah and most of us were complaining about the US where you need a SSN or deposit $500...well here, $500 won't do (ok, i didn't try bribing the sim card guy, maybe $500 would have done the trick, but then again, they probably just would have given me the sim card and then close the account 4 days later when they would have done an address check on me)...so yes, first a sim card. That was not too much of a problem, since someone was kind enough to go to the trouble to get one for me. So I have the sim card, i also have a phone that works over here (merci papa!)...simple. You put the sim card in the phone...so far, even i can do this. Now comes the tricky part. What if the phone runs out of battery. Oh, no problem, i even thought about bringing my charger (yes, i also know this will surprise some of you, so far I haven't forgotten anything in Belgium :-)), and even better, it seems that the Indian plugs are the same as the Belgian ones...i like this place more and more...but we are moving away from the topic. Charging my phone. Pfuh, easy, you just plug it in. Sure, but then it seems you have to switch on the plug...strange. And how do i know when it is switched on. You try, or you remember the position, but i am bad at remembering, so i try over and over, till it works. So, now the phone says it is charging, cool, i can go to bed, sleep and have a charged phone in the morning. AHA! Wrong again. It seems somehow in my sleep, the plug stopped working. No more electricity out of that plug. Did i break it? Oh, maybe it is because i turned off the light. No light, no electricity? Hmmm, don't know, what i do know is no electricity, no charging of battery, and no battery, no alarm. But then there is always the school band (? this is Linus plausible explanantion :-) ) that plays every morning at the same time to wake me up and realize my phone is dead. At first I thought the phone had a problem. Maybe the Belgian charger wasn't compatible after all. No, no, charger is fine, back to my initial assumption, it's the plug!
So, I switch plugs, and it works. Now comes the tricky part: make a phone call. It's always a random guess whether you need to add a zero or not. Again, i here some of you think: well, it can't be that hard, if it doesn't ring, you add (or remove) the zero, sure...except that there is no such thing as just a ring tone. Sometimes there is, but then it suddenly stops and you get disconnected. Sometimes it's Tina Turner singing the Eye of the Tiger. When it's Tina, i just call again, but oops, it seems that Tina sings when my caller has hung up on me on purpose because he is in a meeting, so he doesn't quite appreciate me calling Tina about 10 times in 15 minutes. My excuses to him, but i like Tina (and I haven't figured out the proper way to call in India!)

"Notttttttt-hing"

:-) Ah, it feels good to hear familiar sounds again.
I have kept my promises, I am back! Back in India within the year (I had promised myself to make full use of my one-year-multiple-entry Indian Visa)...and even better: back in Bangalore. I even saw St. Patrick's church (where Dev and Karen got married) on my second night in town. Who would have thought...

I am going to be working for a non-profit start-up called Embrace. If you have never heard of them, you should check out their website at embraceglobal.org. We make low-cost baby warmers. In short (in case you are too lazy to check out the website), the baby warmer consist of a sleeping bag where you put the baby in, a pouch that contains a wax that melts arounf body temperature and a heater to melt the wax once it is solidified. Pretty cool! I was supposed to conduct product usability tests, but things change. Instead, i'll be working on setting up the manufacturing and production of the sleeping bags here in India and will be researching all there is to know about logistics. How to import things from Europe and the US to India, how to ship and distribute everything from and too Bangalore, etc...so if you know anything about logistics or shipping in India, let me know, I can use some help. Or if you know someone that knows someone that knows someone (I have found out that this is how things really work over here...my dear American friends, you still have a lot to learn about networking!), let me know as well.

Talking about knowing people. This is a call to all my friends out there that have friends in Bangalore that might want to entertain a cool (?) Belgian girl while here, let me know, i'd love to meet people at night or during the weekend. Otherwise it might get pretty lonely here. And even if they are not that enthusiastic about meeting me, just guilt them into doing so ;-).

My trip so far has been filled with pleasant little surprises. This country keeps on amazing me, especially the people i meet here. I don't think i've met so many friendly, warm and welcoming people in so little time. To all my brown friends out there: your country rocks, really! If i hadn't been Belgian... :-)

Anyway, if you get the sudden urge to talk to me, you can always call me on my Indian cell :-). Number is +91 953505 3837 or email me, of course! Looking forward to hear from all of you!

Sylvie

Meet Annalyssa

Here she is...a very beautiful princess. Annalyssa is my best friend's daughter. Born on July 21st, our national day. As Anouschka said "isn't is cool, she will never have to work on her birthday!". I am officially her "beschermengel" which means "protecting angel" in Dutch. Tough task...but i'll do my best. But i am sure with parents like that she won't need me very much. I am so proud of Anouschka but still can't believe she is a mom!

RTL2, Place du Capitole, Pont Neuf, Metro ligne B

Nothing changes in Toulouse...or so I thought when arriving late last night at Edu's place. I was listening to RTL2 like in the good old days when I used to drive to Airbus every morning. Edu has not changed...still as welcoming, warm and open as always. It's been 4 years since my last visit. Everything feels familiar, but yet, i am a little confused...not sure anymore what the shortest way is from the Place du Capitole to the Pont Neuf. What happened to the Bistro Romain? And to "Boulangerie Paul" in the rue St. Rome? Just when i thought that nothing changes in the old continent...I realize that some of my favorite places have dissapeared. At least i have the memories. And in honour of those, Sunny and I walked all the way back to get an almond croissant from one of their other branches...and I ordered Carpaccio for lunch at the new pizzeria that is replacing the Bistrot Romain...ce n'est pas a volonte, main on fait avec, as we would say in Belgium.

Appart from that, toulouse is still toulouse...a city with beautiful buildings, all made in this pink/red coloured brick, which gives it its name of "Ville Rose", a city small enough to walk around and (almost) not get lost, but the city is also big enough to offer you anything you need...from a new pair of shoes (or was it two?) to a colourful butterfly mobile made of paper...I had forgotten how much i liked this place.

Oh, and in case someone wonders, the metro ligne B is finally finished and the flunch still serves delicious chocolate cake!

Summer fling...

...I have decided that one day i will have a summer fling. A fling...hmmm a brief period of indulging one's impulses...some of us want flings with women (or men), some want flings with cars,...I want flings with cities (although i wouldn't refuse the occasional fling with a sexy fast car ;-). A brief encounter (maybe a summer) with a new city. At first the apprehension about what is to come. The frustration and excitement of finding my way to its streets. Discovering new little cafes to hang out, interesting musea to explore, watching the locals, each day a new place with new faces...then the feeling of wanting to go back to that particular place, craving for that particular snack that only this particular place can make, recognizing faces on the streets, slowly sliding from foreigner to local.
I just spent 4 days in NYC. It is not enough! The City is so exciting...compared to other cities i've been to in the US, this one seems real...not fake, not made, not soulless. Someday...I will be back, for a summer, i know where i'll be living, next to the Brooklyne bridge, with view of Manhattan!

Leaving

I am sitting in the Quito airport, waiting for my flight to Houston. Another adventure is over. A little sad to leave, a little happy to go home. At times i am not even sure about my state of mind. I was telling someone that, although traveling is wonderful, it is also hard at times. Whether it is for a short period or for longer (read: moving to another country for about 5 years or more), it's always exciting, new, enriching, you meet new people, get comfortable around them, learn to know them better, get attached to some of them, and then unevitably something has to change. You leave, they leave, you move, they move...and you wonder "why going through this sadness of parting, leaving and saying goodbye. Is it all really worth it?" And then at times, people leave for good, they are no more, and you don't know how to handle that. You also don't know how to react to it when it happens to someone close. I don't know how to handle someone's sadness. What to say, what to do. It seems that nothing i can say will make a difference. It hurts to know someone is hurt, but since it nearly does not hurt as much to me as to the one that is hurting, I just keep quiet and move along...I think that ultimately we deal with things alone...or so we try. I am not sure i have mastered that yet...but i am trying.

In short: I hate leaving, or saying goodbye, or for that matter "moving on"...and it seems it is what i am doing a lot lately.

Time to go :(

That's it...my days in Cuenca are over...it is with a lot of sadness that I am moving on...to better places? I doubt it...so I'll have to come back, for sure...plans are brewing. Anyway, I am tkaing the 11pm bus tonight to Banos, a hot spring town about 9 hours away by bus from here. Should get there in the morning. Probably exhausted, but who cares. The ideeeee is to explore Banos tomorrow, maybe relex and soak in a hot spring and then rent some bikes to bike down to Pujo...it's a 40 miles bike ride,but supposedly it is downhill...or at least big parst of it...should be doable. And then get the bus back to Banos and then on to Quito...how does that sound?

La Hacienda

The family i am staying with have a 'hacienda' (farm) about an hour away from Cuenca. They have fruit trees, animals, coffee plantations,...on that farm. Today, one of my 'guest mom' brothers took us there in his 35 year old mercedes. We relaxed in the hammocks on the patio, had gin-tonic for aperitif, cevice de camaron for lunch, and freshly brewed coffee for desert...aaaah that's what i call holidays!

Four days in the jungle!

So, I just got back from my tour to the jungle. We left on monday morning with a little van, one of those little tin cans that hold 12 people on those tiny little foldable seats. Needless to say that the roads are horrible, so at the snail pace of 25km/hr (hip, hip, hoera for the ecuadorians who work in meters, km/h, kilos and many other useful units!) we reached the town of Guayaquazil after 5 hours or so. We stopped on the way for many cows, rivers, trucks that blocked the road because they missed their turns, heavy rains, mudslides, etc...a real adventure! We had lunch (man, those people eat a lot of meat...even for a carnivorian like me, it is a little hard to handle...I dream about vegetables in all their forms and colours...red tomatoes, orange carrots, green brocoli, sounds wonderful!))...So after lunch the team headed out to the village of Chumpaias. The team consists of 2 ecuadorian surgeons, 1 anesthesiologist, a general doctor (all 4 ecuadorian doctors), Dr. Laub, a stanford plastic surgeon, apparently once the best plastic surgeon around, but now a sweet, but oh-my-god-sometimes-so-embarrassing grandfather, 3 Ecuadorian medical students, Khai(the other stanford student) and me...a pretty cool combination of people.
Often during the first 5 hours of the trip i was thinking to myself 'my god, what am i doing here and how am i going to survive', but then little by little, i warmed up to these people, and i have to admit that they were a pretty fun and entertaining group to be around...i would even go to the extent of saying that i'll miss them in the coming days...

So, we got to that village, and first thing they did was putting us in plastic chairs around the basket ball field of the town. We on one side, they (the people form the village) on the three other sides. Then came all the important people for a speech...the head of the village, Miss Chumpaias herself!, and some others i don't remember...at the end of all the ceremonies, Miss Chumpaias, came around with a big bowl with some yellow fluid in it, and according to the tradition we were to drink from this bowl one by one...the yellow thing is fermented yucca juice...BERK! more horrible than beer...and even worse, I found out later that this juice is produced by the women of the village by chewing yucca and spitting the chewed yucca parts in a bowl...berk and double berk! Anyway, i survived!
Once the ceremony was over each of the doctors picked a student to go to the different consultation rooms to see the patients and decided which cases would get surgery and which wouldn't...so i got my first lesson in patient consultation...man, man, you see weird cases in those villages (a lady was there because her boyfriend had cut her (accidentally ?) with a chain saw!). This went on for all the afternoon. By the time we got back to the hotel we were pretty exhausted and headed to bed...

Next morning, wake up at 6 o clock (ouch, i thought i was on holiday), back to the village, where surgeries would start at 7:30am...I was allowed to watch the first surgery (and all the ones that followed) and before even starting, i felt a little light headed...at some point i had to sit down, the truck (i forgot to mention that the surgeries take place in aa bog truck that has an OR in it) was spinning a little...i felt a little dissapointed, i thought that i would at least make it to the bloody part of the surgery...but the lady anesthesiologist explained that everybody goes through the same thing, something about being in a tight space with funny smells...i guess she was right, because the cutting and burned smell of flesh did nothing to me afterwards, on the contrary, i must admit it is pretty exciting and cool stuff!

Annnnyway, as the day went by i saw them perform 6 surgeries, and for the last one, the surgeon asked me if i wanted to scrub in...euh...scrub what? Sure! So i got to do the cool things they do in the movies...scrub my hands and arms up to my elbows, enter the operating room by pushing the door with my butt, having someone put a sterile gown around me, put gloves on, and then hand over the tools as the surgeon asked : 'retractor', 'knife', clamps,...and even hold the retractor...pretty cool!

That was probably the coolest part of my trip so far...of course the cuba libre happy hour (or happy hours), the salsa dancing (after the cuba libre ;) on tge main square of Quayalaquiz were pretty fun too...

I rediscovered my love for latin america, the language, the people, their sense of family, their warmness...it's amazing over here...I will have to come back soon!

Cuenca!

I am in Cuenca, the thrid most important city of Ecuador, just 25 minutes away by plane from Guayaquil. The city is in the Andes, at about 8000ft altitude. The weather is perfect. 22 degrees C during the day, a little chill at night, and no mosquitoes, what more can one ask for? I got here some time in the afternoon and was surpised to have a lady come up to me and ask 'are you sylvie?'...so from there three people took care of us (me and the other student from stanford who is travelling with me)...the lady and her daughter as well as a pediatric doctor. They drove us around, showed us the city (which is truly beautiful and has pretty churches at every street corner), took us out for lunch (mmmm all sorts of grilled meat, yep, ecuador is not for vegetarians, potatoes, corn, ...). We are staying at their house...we met their family (the lady has 10 brothers and sister who came to meet us), got converted to being Jehova witnesses,...After that we headed out to the hosue of the ex minister of health of Ecuador, who happens to be the doctor I am going to spend a week with in the jungle. I met a retired anesthesiologist from Stanford and his wife and plenty of other interesting people. This is better than expected, really...Anyway, we are leaving with a truck to the jungle tomorrow morning and will be back on thursday, hopefully with more stories...one recommandation so far...come to ecuador if you can! Oh small technicality, both the currency and the electrical plugs are the same as in the US,...so no excuses not to make the trip!

The Southern Hemisphere

For the first time in my life, I am walking around on the Southern Hemisphere of our little world...I haven't checked yet, if the Coriolis force makes the water turn the other way here...a little experiment for tomorrow in the shower. But i do know that it feels good to be here...Ecuadorians drive like lunatics..."we drive fast in Quayaquil" is the first thing the cab driver told me (in spanish ;-)) yes, yes, i feel home...it is going to be a good trip, i feel it!

Zion

Saturday morning started out well, after a good breakfast at the hotel and with a delicious cappuccino in hand, we continued our journey to the highlight of our trip: the NP in Utah. After driving forever along little country roads (we decided not to take the highway) during which Bruno slept and I ran over a dead animal (I couldn’t avoid it, since it was in the middle of the road and other cars were coming in the opposite direction…so I thought I’d aim for it to pass neatly between the wheels…hmmm, the beast was to big)…so the miata bounced over it and for a while (read a couple of days) we left a incense trail of roasted pig, we finally made it to Zion. I must say that on the way, I was a little skeptical about the grandness of those NP…sure the scenery is beautiful. Yes there are a bunch of huge rocks around, but really, nothing to be blown away by…until we entered the park. Zion is impossible to describe. The park has such a variety of things to see, from tall “cliffs”, to steep climbing rocks, to lush meadows,…and the whole park makes you feel like this world has been designed for creatures much bigger than ourselves, I felt tiny.
When we arrived at the park entrance we were pleasantly surprised to hear that the park was free this weekend. In theory it meant that it was going to be crowded…but luckily for us, it started to rain! So while we drove into the park, most people were heading for the exit. Perfect timing! In Zion, you cannot drive personal vehicles during the summer, everybody needs to park at the visitor center and take the shuttle busses around the park. Bruno and I had decided to hike up to Angle Landing. Supposedly a hike not for the faint of hearts. About half way into the climb, you reach “Chicken Out Point”. Passed this point the trail becomes more of a rock crawling trail rather than a hiking trail…at times a little “scary” if you are afraid of heights, but that’s about it. We did witness the effect of “chicken-out point”. A young couple (read a cool 18 year old kid trying to impress his girlfriend (?)) was hiking in front of us when the guy started “whining” about “how are we going to get down, oh-my-god-I-am-gonna-die, how am I making it out alive”…funny sight! Anyway, all along the way to the top the views are breathtaking…I’d recommend the hike to all of you! By the time we reached the top, the rain had stopped…pleasant surprise. We made it up and down in about 4 hours…so we didn’t have much time to do anything else in the park and headed to our hotel in Cedar City. If you make it to Zion, I’d recommend to stay right outside the park at the western exit of the park. There is a cute little town, with seemingly nice restaurants and little shops…probably very touristy, but very cute, and more interesting than the “towns” a little further out, like Cedar City. The Knight’s Inn where we stayed at wasn’t bad though, free wifi in the room that works (not like the motel 6 wifi a couple of nights before), breakfast (cereals and toasts) included, clean rooms and very decent prices for the area. The steakhouse right across the parking lot is not a must, though ☺

Back again

Back for some updates. I am sitting on a plane from Panama to Quayaquil, Ecuador…so I have plenty of time to hopefully finish the updates of the roadtrip before another adventure starts. So, where was I…the salt flats, on our way to Salt Lake City. We got to Salt Lake City early evening. Bruno and I became avid fans of hotels.com. Super way to book a decent hotel for not too much money. So the way we do it is as follows. Around noon, we more or less know where we’ll be at night (our schedules are pretty unpredictable since we seem to never be able to get out of bed) so we look for a Mc Donald’s. Mc Donald’s has been the constant in this trip: free wifi that you can pick-up from the parking lot, decent iced latte’s for the long road ahead and restrooms ☺. So once we find a Mc Donald we reserve a hotel at hotels.com for the night to come…you get pretty good deals if you reserve last minute. This is how we stayed at the Radisson in Salt Lake City, with sleep number beds! Anyway, apart from the cool hotel, there is not much to do in Salt Lake City…it feels more like a small town than a City (I hope I am not upsetting anybody ☺). Maybe one night is just not enough to find out what the city has to offer other than the famous Temple Square and downtown.

Salt Flats

Time for some updates...where should i start? The Bonneville Salt Flats and how i almost drove the miata into the water! Water? Yep, indeed, water...Bruno and i were driving from Elko to Salt Lake City when we saw the signs to the Bonneville Speedway...how could we not take the opportunity to go to a Speedway? :-) So, I took the exit. The exit lead us to a long straight road, parallel to highway 80 with nobody on the highway...interesting...no cars, no speed limit...Everything is so flat over there that it looks like there is water where the road meets the horizon...optical illusion, or so i thought! So I was driving at about 80 miles an hour, while Bruno was reading the lonely planet, when i suddenly wondered out loud where the road was heading. At the same time Bruno was reading about how the long stretch of road suddenly stops and becomes hard salt...but only in august and september...the rest of the year the salt flats are covered with water. Bruno barely had the time to look up at the road and yell: "STOP"...the miata breaked as hard as possible and stopped right in front of ....a huge water body...hmmm so much for the Bonneville Speedway. Anyway, we got the chance to make some nice pictures.

Lamoille and the Nevada Alpes

Yesterday morning we headed out to the Alpes...but not just the Alpes. The Nevada Alpes...being the eurosnobs that we are, we had to check out what those snowy mountains in the middle of Nevada were all about...and yes, we were pleasantly surprised. After a 20 minute drive from Elko we arrived in the charming little town of Lamoille...well, town is a big word, there is one bar/coffee house, one post office and a church...according to the lonely planet this church is the most fotographed rural church around...I think it is just often fotographed often because the LP says so...anyway....From Lamoille we followed the signs to Ruby Mountains Recreational Area...a long windy road brought us to a parking where a bunch of trails start...we didn't have time for a hike, but had brought our Albertsons Croissants (do not buy croissants at Albertson unless you like chewing on rubber) and were looking for a nice spot to eat them...we found our spot accross the ICE COLD stream! I know now that mosquito bites don't swell when immersed in ice cold mountain water for a while...all in all a fun morning. Oh, and although i wouldn't call them the Alpes, the Ruby Mountains are definitely worth the detour...look at the pics!

Bruno has a new T-shirt...and I have made my first Southern Californian friend!

This morning, in Elko, NV, Bruno and I walked around the "annual motorcycle jamboree"...some pretty cool looking bikes (and bikers? ;-)) took over the town. Mostly harleys, but also some fast sport bikes...mmm, makes me wanna get my bike so badly. Next roadtrip will be on a bike, I promise!

The miata kicks ass!

120 miles per hour! On an endless stretch of road, out in the desert of Nevada...and i was not even pushing it! I am so proud!
Other than that, Bruno and I made it from Reno to Elko after spending the whole morning in a casino desperately trying to finish this ##$% report! But it's done, sent and gone now!

On the way to Elko we passed a little town called Lovelock advertised as the place where romance and race cars meet. We also almost run out of gas...but that should come as no surprise to people who know me and Bruno :-)...stopped along the way to catch the sunset (and get bitten by some nasty, nasty mosquitos :-))) and finally got to Elko in time to eat some real home-cooked basque food at Star Hotel and Restaurant...mmmm, the home-made potato fries were amazing!

I am excited!

So, let me bring you up to speed to why this blog exists. If you are reading it, chances are you know i just graduated from iCME...iC what?? Exactly! This is the reason why i left, in the end i had forgotten why i came here in the first place. To celebrate the fact that i will never ever have to deal again with my loser team (and some other painful and frustrating people i met at Stanford), I decided to take the summer off and travel (ok, ok, the fact that my H1-B still hasn't been approved has something to do with this too). As soon as i found out i would be out in the real world (euh, if you can call LA the real world :-(( starting from October I figured i had 4 months to do something worth telling my grand children (if and when i ever have some ;-))
Last October, I made a promise to myself that i would make full use of my year-long multiple entry Indian VISA (a sweet revenge for the limited number of days i could stay at Dev's wedding), so India was definitely on my list of places to go...but what would i do there? Maybe something useful for a change? That's where Jane, CEO of Embrace, came to the rescue...while attending a presentation on Embrace (check it out at embraceglobal.org, they really do something pretty cool), I found out they were looking for volunteers for summer, both in the US and in India. To keep a long story short, i'll be flying from Brussels to Hubli on July 30st for a 9 week long adventure on Indian soil where I'll be helping out with the usability testing of the incubator...but more on that later! Before that, I'll finally be spending some time at home...wow, i can't imagine how 2 weeks of holiday at home will feel like...two weeks where i don't have a report to finish, or an advisor to please, or some homeworks to grade, or some quals to study for...no, just two weeks of enjoying the sweetest country in the world! Fantastic! (Oh and in those two weeks, i'll be visiting Paris, Toulouse, Barcelona and Madrid with my "surrogate sister" :-)) Are you all jealous, yet? No? Ok here is some more: After finishing this wonderful roadtrip that is taking me from SF to Houston (Houston? Why Houston? What the hell is there to do in Houston?), I'll be heading out to Ecuador to do some volunteer work with a Dr in Cuenca...we'll be driving around in the jungle with a van transformed into a mobile clinic. So yes, i am excited about this summer!

Will I ever leave?

Yes, I did! I left sunny California before it made me soft (or not?). After saying goodbye to Dev and Karen for the 5th time, we did hit the road on wednesday night. All is taken care off, the little one has a safe new home (thank you Shad!), the sofa problem is solved, the storage place completely packed (and so i the miata!)...Reno here we come.
After a loooong drive where Bruno fell asleep and suddenly woke up from his own snoring, we finally reached Atlantis Spa and Casino Resort in Reno. Our first night "on the road"...many more to come! Thank you Bruno for being so patient :-)